Aim and Scope

"Post-Soviet Issues" is an international, peer-reviewed quarterly journal dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary research on the political, economic, social and historical dynamics of the post-Soviet area. Established in 2014, the journal provides a profound platform for publishing high-quality, original articles examining the complex transformations and contemporary challenges facing the region and its constituent states (including the Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia).

Mission: Our mission is to foster critical academic dialogue and contribute to theoretical and empirical debates within Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Sociology and History by publishing innovative research on the post-Soviet area. We seek to bridge disciplinary boundaries and promote a deeper understanding of the region's evolving realities.

Scope: "Post-Soviet Issues" welcomes original research articles, comprehensive reviews and scholarly commentaries. Core areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

• Political Transformation: State formation, governmental dynamics, institutional development, political processes, ideologies, civil society and political culture.
• International Relations & Security: Foreign policies, regional integration/conflicts, multilateral cooperation, security challenges and geopolitical shifts involving post-Soviet states along with non-regional actors.
• Economic Development & Transition: Economic reforms, regional economic cooperation, development trajectories, resource economies, logistic projects and integration into global markets.
• Changes in Culture & Society: Social structures, identity politics (national, ethnic, religious), migration, demographic trends and cultural transformations.
• Historical Legacies & Contemporary Implications: The historical background of current political, economic and social phenomena in the region.

Section Policies

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL POLICY

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

ECONOMY

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

HISTORY AND RELIGION

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

POLITICS

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Publication Frequency

4 issues per year

Open Access Policy

"Post-Soviet Issues" is an open access journal. All articles are made freely available to readers immediatly upon publication.

Our open access policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition - it means that articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.

For more information please read BOAI statement.

Archiving

• Russian State Library (RSL)
• National Electronic-Information Consortium (NEICON)

Peer-Review

All scientific manuscripts submitted to the editorial board of "Post-Soviet Issues" undergo a mandatory double (blind) peer-review. The authors do not know the reviewers, the reviewers do not know the authorship. After the reviewal the authors receive a letter with comments signed by the editor-in-chief.

1. Articles are reviewed by members of the editorial board. To improve the quality of the peer-review, leading experts in the relevant areas of scientific research in Russia and other countries are invited to the editorial board. The decision to select an expert to conduct a peer-review and analysis of the article is made by the editor-in-chief depending on the academic interests of the reviewers. The peer-review process lasts from 6 to 8 weeks.
2. Each article is sent to 2 reviewers.
3. Based on the results of the review, the expert gives a reasonable conclusion and recommendations. On their basis the editorial board makes a decision. The peer-review contains the key parameters by which the manuscript is assessed: the relevance of the topic, its novelty, the completeness of the topic and the contribution to science. The peer-review should reflect the following aspects: the style of the article, the validity of the topic, the proposed conclusions. The peer-review should result in a decision which should have one of the following recommendations:

• to accept the paper in its present form;
• to accept the paper after revising the drawbacks mentioned by the reviewer;
• the article requires additional review (by another specialist or by specialists from a related area of expertise);
• to reject the manuscript (the reason should be specified).

4. The reasons to reject a manuscript could be the following: violation of legislation and ethical principles, non-compliance with the subject of the journal, copyright violations, low quality of the article: lack of relevance, novelty, ambiguous aim of the research, etc.
5. If the results of the peer-review contain recommendations to revise the article, the editorial board will suggest the author improving the text and take them into account when preparing the final version of the article or to refute them in a reasoned manner (partially or completely). Authors are kindly required to limit their revision to not more than three months from the moment the email was sent to the authors about the necessity to make changes. The adapted manuscript is repeatedly submitted for a peer-review.
6. We kindly request to notify the editorial board in written form if the author decides not to revise the manuscript and refuses to publish the article. If in three months' time since the receiving of the initial review there is no new version of the text or any information from the author, the editorial board will exclude the manuscript from the publication plan and notify the author.
7. If the author and reviewers have irresolvable disagreements regarding the revision of the manuscript, the editorial board sends the manuscript for an additional peer-review. The decision will be made by the editorial board.
8. All articles submitted to the editors are checked using the Antiplagiarism system (https://antiplagiat.ru/). In case of a copyright violation, the article is rejected. The author will be notified about it in written form.
9. The decision to reject a manuscript is made at a meeting of the editorial board based on the conclusions provided by the reviewers. An article that is not recommended for publication is not accepted for re-consideration. A notification of a refusal to publish the text is sent to the author by e-mail.
10. Upon the decision to accept the manuscript for publication, the editorial staff notifies the author about it and indicates the approximate publication date.
11. A positive review does not guarantee the acceptance of the article. The final decision about a publication in all cases is made by the editorial board. In case of any conflict situations, the decision is made by the editor-in-chief.
12. The original reviews of submitted manuscripts remain in the editorial office of the journal for 5 years.

Indexation

Articles in "Post-Soviet Issues" are indexed by several systems:

• Russian Scientific Citation Index (RSCI) – a database, accumulating information on papers by Russian scientists, published in native and foreign titles. The RSCI project is under development since 2005 by “Electronic Scientific Library” foundation (elibrary.ru).
• Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. The Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest scholarly publishers, plus scholarly books and other non-peer reviewed journals.
• DOAJ
• SOCIONET
• Base
• Dimensions

Publishing Ethics

The Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct guidelines available at www.publicationethics.org, and requirements for peer-reviewed journals, elaborated by the "Elsevier" Publishing House (in accordance with international ethical rules of scientific publications).

1. Introduction

1.1. The publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal serves many purposes beyond simple communication. It is a meaningful contribution to the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. For these and other reasons it is important to lay down the standards of expected ethical behavior by all the parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the editors of the journal, the peer reviewers, the publisher and the academic community for the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues".

1.2. The publisher has a supporting, investing and nurturing role in the scholarly communication process but is also ultimately responsible for ensuring that best practice is followed in its publications.

1.3. The publisher is committed to the strictest control of scholarly material. Our journal programs provide an impartial "report" of the development of scientific thought and research, so we also recognize the responsibility for the proper presentation of these "reports", especially in terms of the ethical aspects of publication outlined in this document.

2. Duties of the Editors

2.1. Publication decision – The editor of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. Such a decision is often made in cooperation with the relevant academic community (for society-owned or sponsored journals). Veracity of the work in question along with its importance to researchers and readers must always be in the basis of such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the editorial board of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" and be constrained by various legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or Reviewers (or officers of the academic community) in deciding about publications.

2.2. Principles of Justice – The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors.

2.3. Confidentiality – The editor and any member of the editorial board of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers and the publisher, as appropriate.

2.4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

2.4.1. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer-reviews must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

2.4.2. Editors should recuse themselves (i.e. should ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board instead to review and consider) from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers.

2.5. Vigilance over published record – The editor presented with convincing evidence that the substance or conclusions of a published paper are erroneous should coordinate with the publisher (and/or the academic community) to promote the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern or any other note, as may be relevant.

2.6. Involvement and cooperation in investigations – The editor should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints are presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper, in conjunction with the publisher (or the academic community). Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies.

3. Duties of the Reviewers

3.1. Contribution to the Editorial Decisions – Peer-review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer-review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of the scientific method. Publisher shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

3.2. Promptness – Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" and excuse himself from the review process.

3.3. Confidentiality – Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

3.4. Standard and objectivity – Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

3.5. Acknowledgement of Sources – Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement (observation, conclusion or argument) that had been previously mentioned in other works should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have academic knowledge.

3.6. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

3.6.1. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer-review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

3.6.2. Reviewers should not assess the manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the papers.

4. Duties of the Authors

4.1. Manuscript Standards

4.1.1. Authors of original research should provide an accurate result of their work as well as an objective discussion of its significance. All data in the basis of the paper should be represented accurately. Each article should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

4.1.2. Reviews and professional articles should also be accurate and objective, editorial "opinion" works should be clearly identified as such.

4.2. Data Access and Retention – Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any situation be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

4.3. Originality and Plagiarism

4.3.1. The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

4.3.2. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

4.4. Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

4.4.1. The author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal of primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

4.4.2. In general, the author should not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper.

4.4.3. Publication of some kinds of articles (e.g., clinical guidelines, translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. The authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication. Further detail on acceptable forms of secondary publication can be found at www.icmje.org.

4.5. Acknowledgement of Sources – Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. The authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

4.6. Authorship of the Paper

4.6.1. The authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the preparation, planning, execution or interpretation of the conducted research. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. If there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

4.6.2. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

4.7. Hazards and the Use of Humans or Animals

4.7.1. If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

4.7.2. If the work involves the use of animals or humans, the author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) have approved them. Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with humans. The privacy rights of humans must always be observed.

4.8. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

4.8.1. All the authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All the sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

4.8.2. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.

4.9. Fundamental errors in published works – When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in a published paper, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the editor of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" and cooperate with the publisher to retract or correct the text. If the editor or the publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper.

5. Duties of the Publisher (and if relevant the academic community)

5.1. The publisher should adopt policies and procedures that support editors, reviewers and authors of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" in performing their ethical duties under these ethics guidelines. The publisher should ensure that the potential of getting revenue from advertising or reprint has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.

5.2. The publisher should support the editors of the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" in the review of complaints concerning ethical issues and help in communication with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful to the editors.

5.3. The publisher should develop codes of scientific research and introduce necessary standards for best practice on ethical matters, errors and retractions.

5.4. The publisher should provide specialized legal review and counsel if necessary.

The section is prepared according to the files (http://health.elsevier.ru/attachments/editor/file/ethical_code_final.pdf) of Elsevier publisher (https://www.elsevier.com/) and files (http://publicationethics.org/resources) from Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE - http://publicationethics.org/).

Founder

• Autonomous non-profit organization on research of introduction of scientific innovation and public opinion analysis "The Centre of Regional Research".

Author fees

Publication in the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" is free of charge for all the authors.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer's own research without the written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through a peer-review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Reviewers should not assess the manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Plagiarism detection

The Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" uses the Russian-language plagiarism detection software Antiplagiarism to screen the submissions. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.

Preprint and postprint Policy

Prior to acceptance and publication in the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues", the authors may make their submissions available as preprints on personal or public websites.

As part of a submission process, the authors are required to confirm that the manuscript has been neither previously published nor submitted elsewhere. After a manuscript has been published in the Journal "Post-Soviet Issues" we suggest that the link to the article on journal's website should be used when the article is shared on personal or public websites.

Glossary (by SHERPA)

Preprint - In the context of Open Access, a preprint is a draft of an academic article or other publication before it has been submitted for peer-review or other quality assurance procedure as part of the publication process. Preprints cover initial and successive drafts of articles, working papers or draft conference papers.

Postprint - The final version of an academic article or other publication - after it has been peer-reviewed and revised into its final form by the author. As a general term this covers both the author's final version and the version as published, with formatting and copy-editing changes in place.