About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering (Agricultural Sciences Series) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original research findings from fundamental and applied studies in the field of agriculture and related areas.

Based on the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated 24 September 2020 No. 1188, the journal is included in the List of Professional Scientific Publications of Ukraine (Category “B”) in the field of Agricultural Sciences (101 – Ecology, 201 – Agronomy).

The aim of the scientific journal Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. Agricultural Sciences is to publish research findings and ensure their independent peer review in accordance with established academic standards.

The journal is intended for academic and research staff, doctoral and postgraduate students, as well as practitioners in the field of agricultural sciences, and for all those interested in current issues and research findings in relevant fields.

The objectives of the journal are:

to present current research findings in the field of agricultural sciences;
to promote the development of interdisciplinary research;
to facilitate scholarly exchange among researchers, academic staff, students, and practitioners;
to support the implementation of research findings into practice;
to ensure adherence to the principles of academic integrity and publication quality;
to broaden access to contemporary scientific knowledge in relevant fields.

Peer Review Process

The author submits to the editorial board an article that meets the requirements of the journal's policy and the rules for preparing articles for publication. Manuscripts that do not meet the accepted requirements are not registered and are not allowed for further consideration, and their authors are notified accordingly. The article is registered by the responsible secretary in journal's article registration log indicating the date of receipt, title, author(s)' full name, and author(s)' affiliation. An individual registration number is assigned to the article.
The responsible secretary conducts a preliminary evaluation of the articles received by the editorial office, for correspondence of the content of the material to the journal's subject matter, sends them for review to the members of the editorial board, scientific editors of the sections, and experts on the stated problems.
All manuscripts submitted to the editorial board are sent according to the research profile to one, and if necessary, to two reviewers. Reviewers are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. According to the decision of the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine (for certain tasks), the appointment of reviewers can be entrusted to a member of the editorial board. In some cases, the issue of selecting reviewers is decided at a meeting of the editorial board.
The peer reviewers for the articles can be both members of the editorial board of the scientific journal and external highly qualified experts who possess profound professional knowledge and experience in a specific scientific field, typically holding doctoral degrees and professorships.
After receiving the article for consideration (within 4 days), the reviewer evaluates the possibility of reviewing materials based on his own qualifications in the author's field of research and identifies any conflict of interests. If there are any competing interests, the reviewer can refuse to review and inform the editorial board about it. The last question concerns the appointment of another reviewer
The reviewer, as a rule, makes a conclusion about the possibility of printing the article within 14 days. The review period may vary in each individual case depending on the conditions of the formation results for the most objective assessment of the quality of the submitted materials, but should not exceed 1 calendar month.
Peer-review is conducted confidentially following the principles of double-blind peer-review, when neither the author nor the reviewer knows about each other. Іnteraction between authors and reviewers is carried out through the responsible secretary of the journal. At the request of the reviewer with the approval of the working group of the editorial board, the interaction between the author and the reviewer can take place in an open mode (decisions can be made only if the openness of the interaction improves the style and logic of the presentation of the research material).
For all articles submitted for review, the level of uniqueness of the author's text is determined using the appropriate software that shows the level of uniqueness, sources and matches of the text ("Unicheque").
After the final analysis of the article, the reviewer fills out a standard form (Review Form), which contains final recommendations. The editorial office notifies the author of the results of the review by e-mail.
If the reviewer indicates the need to make certain adjustments to the article, the article is sent to the author with a proposal to take the comments into account when preparing an updated version of the article or to refute them with arguments. To the revised article, the author adds a letter that contains answers to all comments and explains all the changes that were made to the article. The revised version is provided to the reviewer for making a decision and preparing a reasoned conclusion about the possibility of publication. The date of acceptance of the article for publication confirms the data for the editorial office to obtain a positive opinion of the reviewer (or the decision of the editorial board) regarding the feasibility and publication of the article.
In case of disagreement with the opinion of the reviewer, the author of the article has the right to submit a reasoned answer to the editorial office of the journal. In this case, the article is discussed at a meeting of the working group of the editorial board. The editorial board may decide to send the article for additional or new review by another expert. The editorial board reserves the right to reject articles if the author is unable or unwilling to consider the suggestions and comments of the reviewers. At the reviewer's request, the editorial board can provide the article to another reviewer while ensuring adherence to the principles of double-blind review.
The final decision regarding the possibility and expediency of user publication is made by the еditor-in-сhief (or, on his behalf, by a member of the editorial board), and, if necessary, by a meeting of the editorial board as a whole. After making a decision to accept an article for publication, the responsible secretary notifies the author and indicates the expected publication date.
In case of receiving a positive decision about the possibility of publication, the article is sent to the journal's editorial portfolio for publication in order of priority and relevance (in some cases, at the decision of the еditor-in-сhief, the article may be published out of sequence, in the nearest issue of the journal).
The final decision on the composition of the published articles is recorded in the protocol of the meeting of the Scientific Council of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, which is noted on the second page of the magazine cover.
The article approved for publication is submitted to the technical editor. Minor stylistic or formal corrections that do not affect the content of the article are made by the technical editor without agreement with the author. If necessary or at the request of the author, manuscripts in the form of an article layout are returned to the author for approval.
The author of the article is responsible for copyright infringement and non-compliance with current standards in the materials of the article. Both the author and the reviewer are responsible for the reliability of the given facts and data, the validity of the conclusions and recommendations, the scientific and practical level of the article.

Frequency of publication

Collection of scientific works «Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering» Series «Agricultural Sciences» is published quarterly (3 times a year).

Publication Ethics and Editorial Policy

The editorial policy of the scientific journal “Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. Series: Agricultural Sciences” is based on the principles of academic integrity, scientific objectivity, transparency, and responsibility. The journal adheres to international standards of publication ethics, in particular the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and is guided by the current legislation of Ukraine and the internal regulations of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering.

The editorial board ensures an unbiased consideration of submitted manuscripts, evaluates submissions solely on their scientific merit, guarantees confidentiality, adheres to the principle of editorial independence, and does not permit any form of discrimination. The editorial board reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s scope or requirements, as well as to perform editorial revisions without altering the scientific content.

The journal applies a double-blind peer review process. Manuscripts may be rejected without peer review if they do not comply with the journal’s scope or basic submission requirements. Reviewers are required to provide objective evaluations, maintain confidentiality, disclose any conflicts of interest, and refrain from using unpublished materials for their own research.

Authors are required to submit original research papers, avoid plagiarism, not submit the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously, properly cite all sources, ensure the accuracy of data, obtain consent from all co-authors for submission, and disclose any conflicts of interest. Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their articles.

Editors make publication decisions based on peer review and the scientific merit of the work, ensure adherence to ethical standards, maintain confidentiality, and avoid conflicts of interest. Reviewers evaluate manuscripts objectively, provide reasoned and constructive feedback, report any suspected ethical violations, and decline to review manuscripts in case of a conflict of interest.

The editorial board conducts plagiarism screening, peer review, and scientific evaluation of submitted manuscripts. In cases of misconduct, the journal follows the recommendations of COPE. All participants in the publication process are required to disclose any conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity of the evaluation or interpretation of the research.

An article may be retracted in cases of plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, or significant errors. Retraction notices are published openly with a clear indication of the reasons.

The journal evaluates manuscripts based on their scientific content rather than journal-level metrics, does not use the Impact Factor as a criterion for assessment, and does not encourage citation manipulation. The editorial board reserves the right to revise and update this policy in accordance with international standards.

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

The scientific journal Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. Agricultural Sciences recognises the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies as an auxiliary tool in the preparation of scholarly publications, provided that the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and authorial responsibility are strictly observed.

The use of AI tools is permitted for:

language editing and improvement of text style;
grammar, spelling, and formatting checks;
searching for and systematising publicly available information;
auxiliary data analysis, subject to subsequent verification by the author;
preparation of tables, figures, and technical elements of the manuscript.

The use of AI is not permitted for:

generating research results, data, or conclusions without their actual acquisition by the author;
substituting the author’s contribution in problem formulation, methodology, analysis, and interpretation of results;
producing fully or predominantly AI-generated scientific manuscripts;
falsification or distortion of data, sources, or research findings.

Authors bear full responsibility for the content of submitted manuscripts, irrespective of the use of AI tools. Any use of artificial intelligence that has had a substantial impact on the preparation of the manuscript must be clearly disclosed, including a description of the nature of such use.

The editorial board reserves the right to screen submissions for inappropriate use of AI and to reject manuscripts in cases of breaches of academic integrity principles.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Type of licensing for the use of copyrighted materials

The journal adheres to an open access policy. All scientific publications are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright to their works while granting the journal the right of first publication. Any use of the materials is permitted provided that proper attribution to the original source is given.

Archiving and Long-Term Preservation Policy

The journal ensures the long-term preservation and open access to published materials by archiving them in the institutional repository of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering.

All issues of the journal are available in the university repository at:
https://ep3.nuwm.edu.ua/view/subjects/vns/

The university repository functions as an open electronic archive of scientific and educational materials, providing their free dissemination, indexing, and long-term storage. The repository supports the international metadata harvesting protocol OAI-PMH, which enables integration with global scientific databases and search engines.

The technical infrastructure of the repository is based on specialized software (EPrints).

Availability is ensured through:

unrestricted open access to materials;
compliance with open archive standards;
storage of materials on the university’s server infrastructure;
the possibility of long-term preservation and data recovery.

Procedure for Handling Complaints Regarding Breaches of Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics

The journal Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. Agricultural Sciences adheres to the principles of academic integrity and publication ethics in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Complaints regarding potential breaches of academic integrity, including but not limited to plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship attribution, or conflicts of interest, may be submitted to the Editorial Office in writing by any interested party.

Upon receipt of a complaint, the Editorial Board shall:

register the complaint and acknowledge its receipt to the complainant;
conduct an initial assessment of the submitted materials;
initiate further investigation where necessary, including additional peer review or screening using recognised plagiarism detection software;
involve independent experts or members of the Editorial Board, where appropriate, for an impartial evaluation of the case.

The decision on the complaint is made by the Editorial Board on the basis of available evidence, ensuring impartiality, confidentiality, and adherence to academic integrity principles.

Where a breach is confirmed, the Editorial Board may:

reject the manuscript at any stage of consideration;
retract a published article;
notify the author’s institution of the violation;
apply other measures in accordance with the journal’s editorial policy and international ethical standards.

All procedures are conducted in strict confidentiality, and personal data of all parties involved are protected, except where disclosure is required by applicable legislation.

Procedure for Withdrawal of a Published Article

The journal Bulletin of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. Agricultural Sciences adheres to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines and the principles of academic integrity.

A published article may be withdrawn in cases where significant ethical or scholarly violations are identified, including plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, substantial errors affecting the validity of the research results, authorship misconduct, or undeclared conflicts of interest.

The decision to withdraw an article is made by the Editorial Board following a thorough review of the circumstances. If an article is withdrawn, it remains accessible in the journal archive but is clearly marked as withdrawn, with an explanation provided.