International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal "Expert"
Publication Conditions
Author requirements for manuscript preparation, submission, editorial processing, scholarly transparency, and publication in the International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert”.
The International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert” welcomes original scholarly manuscripts from researchers, academics, doctoral candidates, practitioners, and other scholarly contributors whose work falls within the Journal’s academic profile and satisfies the applicable submission requirements.
Only manuscripts that constitute original scholarly work and have not previously been published in another publication are eligible for consideration.
Submissions must comply with the Journal’s requirements concerning academic integrity, authorship, citation and attribution, research and publication ethics, scholarly transparency, and manuscript preparation.
Plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data or results, deliberately false information, inappropriate attribution, or other forms of research or publication misconduct are unacceptable.
The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must comply with the Journal’s Generative AI Policy.
Limited use of such technologies for language editing, grammar correction, readability improvement, and other non-substantive linguistic assistance is permitted subject to the Journal’s disclosure requirements.
Generative AI and AI-assisted systems must not be used to generate or substitute substantive scholarly content, scientific interpretation, research results, scholarly judgement, substantive AI-assisted paraphrasing, or material reformulation of manuscript content.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, sources, citations, scholarly validity, and final content of the manuscript.
1. Continuous Publication and Volume Assignment
Since January 2025, the Journal has operated on the basis of an annual volume with continuous publication.
Accepted articles are published online on a continuous basis following completion of the applicable post-acceptance and production procedures.
Beginning with Volume 3 (2026), assignment of an accepted article to an annual volume is determined by the date of final editorial acceptance.
An article that receives final editorial acceptance within a particular calendar year is assigned to the annual volume corresponding to that year.
Final editorial acceptance means that the manuscript has successfully completed all applicable scholarly editorial assessment, external peer review, author revision and reassessment, and that a final decision to accept the manuscript for publication has been made by the Editor-in-Chief.
Where the Editor-in-Chief has a relevant conflict of interest, decision-making authority is transferred to a qualified non-conflicted member of the Editorial Board or another appropriately designated independent editor in accordance with the Journal’s Editorial Policies.
Following final editorial acceptance, the article may undergo applicable post-acceptance production procedures, including technical preparation, copyediting, author proofing, metadata preparation, DOI registration, and preparation of the Version of Record for online publication.
Where an article has received final editorial acceptance within the relevant calendar year, completion of applicable post-acceptance production procedures and online publication in the following calendar year does not, by itself, change its assignment to the annual volume corresponding to the year of final editorial acceptance.
The dates of submission and revision do not determine or guarantee assignment of a manuscript to a particular annual volume.
Where final editorial acceptance is not reached within the relevant calendar year, the manuscript is not assigned to that annual volume and, if subsequently accepted, is assigned to the annual volume corresponding to the calendar year in which final editorial acceptance is reached.
The actual dates of receipt, revision, acceptance, and online publication are presented transparently in the Article History and reflected in the Journal’s publication metadata as applicable.
Each published article receives a DOI, pagination, and a complete bibliographic record within the annual volume to which it has been assigned.
Related: Editorial Policies
2. Types of Publications
The Journal considers the following types of scholarly contributions for publication:
- Original Research Articles;
- Review Articles;
- Theoretical and Conceptual Papers;
- Methodological Papers;
- Analytical and Applied Studies;
- Analytical Case Studies;
- Other Scholarly Contributions within the Journal’s scope and eligible under the applicable editorial policies.
Eligible publication types may employ disciplinary, interdisciplinary, comparative, theoretical, empirical, methodological, analytical, or applied research approaches, where appropriate to the research question, methodology, and scholarly purpose of the manuscript.
Scholarly manuscripts that successfully complete initial editorial assessment and remain under consideration for publication undergo external double-blind peer review by two independent reviewers in accordance with the Journal’s Peer Review Process.
Submissions that do not demonstrate sufficient scholarly contribution, methodological or analytical soundness, relevance to the Journal’s scope, or compliance with essential editorial requirements may be declined during initial editorial assessment.
Related: Aims and ScopePeer Review Process
3. Submission Procedure
- Complete the Manuscript Submission Form.
- Upload the manuscript and the completed Manuscript Submission Form through the Article Submission Application service.
- The submitted manuscript undergoes initial editorial assessment in accordance with the Journal’s applicable editorial policies.
- Scholarly manuscripts that successfully complete initial editorial assessment and remain under consideration for publication proceed to external double-blind peer review by two independent reviewers.
- Authors may be requested to revise the manuscript in response to editorial or peer-review comments, where applicable.
- Following completion of the applicable editorial assessment, peer review, and reassessment procedures, the corresponding author is informed of the editorial decision.
Final editorial decisions concerning acceptance, revision, or rejection are made by the Editor-in-Chief. Where the Editor-in-Chief has a relevant conflict of interest, decision-making authority is transferred to a qualified non-conflicted member of the Editorial Board or another appropriately designated independent editor in accordance with the Journal’s Editorial Policies.
- Where a manuscript is accepted for publication, the author must complete the applicable post-acceptance publication requirements, including payment of the applicable publication fee where required.
- Following completion of the applicable post-acceptance and production procedures, the article is published in the annual volume to which it has been assigned in accordance with the Journal’s Continuous Publication and Volume Assignment rules set out above.
Payment of an Article Processing Charge or fulfilment of other administrative obligations does not determine scholarly evaluation, reviewer selection, peer-review outcome, final editorial acceptance, or assignment of a manuscript to an annual volume.
Failure to fulfil applicable post-acceptance contractual or publication obligations may be addressed separately under the Journal’s Administrative Article Withdrawal Policy and does not alter the scholarly basis on which the manuscript was accepted.
Related: Action Algorithm for Prospective AuthorsEditorial Policies
4. Language of Publication
The Journal accepts manuscripts in:
- English;
- Bulgarian;
- Polish;
- Ukrainian.
English is the preferred language of publication, reflecting the Journal’s international orientation and supporting broader accessibility, discoverability, and dissemination of published research.
Manuscripts submitted in Bulgarian, Polish, or Ukrainian are subject to the same scholarly, editorial, and ethical requirements and to the same peer-review framework, where applicable, as manuscripts submitted in English.
Where a manuscript is submitted in a language other than English, the following elements must also be provided in English:
- article title;
- abstract;
- keywords;
- author names;
- institutional affiliations;
- Article Declarations.
References must comply with the Journal’s citation and reference requirements set out below, including the applicable Roman-alphabet requirements.
Where necessary, the Editorial Office may assist in checking the linguistic accuracy of translated article metadata.
5. Structure of the Manuscript
Every manuscript must contain the following general elements in the applicable order:
- UDC index;
- Article title;
- Author metadata block;
- Abstract;
- Keywords;
- Main text;
- Article Declarations;
- References.
Authors should identify the applicable publication type when preparing and submitting the manuscript.
The structure of the main text must correspond to the type, methodology, and scholarly purpose of the manuscript.
Equivalent or discipline-appropriate section headings may be used where academically justified, provided that the required scholarly elements are clearly presented.
Contribution-Specific Manuscript Structures
Original Research Articles
The main text should normally include:
- Introduction / Problem Statement;
- relevant scholarly literature and research background;
- research objective(s), question(s), and/or hypotheses, where applicable;
- Materials and Methods / Methodology;
- Results / Findings;
- Discussion and Interpretation;
- Limitations, where applicable;
- Conclusions and contribution to knowledge.
Review Articles
The structure must correspond to the type of review.
Critical or Narrative Review
- Introduction;
- review objective or research question;
- relevant scholarly background;
- review approach and literature-selection approach;
- thematic, conceptual, or analytical synthesis;
- Discussion;
- Limitations, where applicable;
- Conclusions.
Systematic or Scoping Review
- Introduction;
- review objective / research question;
- eligibility criteria;
- information sources and search strategy;
- review methodology;
- results of the review;
- synthesis and Discussion;
- Limitations;
- Conclusions.
Theoretical and Conceptual Papers
- Introduction;
- theoretical or conceptual background;
- scholarly problem and purpose of the paper;
- relevant literature and theoretical foundations;
- conceptual framework or theoretical perspective;
- development of arguments, relationships, propositions, or interpretations;
- Discussion and scholarly implications;
- Limitations, where relevant;
- Conclusions and contribution to knowledge.
Methodological Papers
- Introduction and methodological background;
- methodological problem and purpose of the paper;
- relevant methodological literature;
- proposed method, model, framework, research design, or analytical approach;
- development or construction process;
- validation, testing, demonstration, or application, where applicable;
- discussion of applicability;
- advantages and limitations;
- Conclusions and methodological contribution.
Analytical and Applied Studies
- Introduction and relevant context;
- scholarly or applied problem;
- purpose and research objective(s);
- theoretical, analytical, or conceptual basis;
- methodology, data, sources, or analytical approach, where applicable;
- analysis and findings;
- application, implications, or practical relevance, where appropriate;
- Discussion;
- Limitations, where relevant;
- Conclusions and scholarly contribution.
An applied orientation does not remove the requirement for a clear scholarly basis and identifiable contribution to knowledge.
Analytical Case Studies
- Introduction and relevant context;
- research problem and objective(s);
- rationale for case selection;
- analytical or theoretical framework;
- data, sources, and methodology;
- case analysis and findings;
- Discussion;
- broader, generalisable, or transferable scholarly implications;
- Limitations;
- Conclusions.
An Analytical Case Study must provide scholarly insight extending beyond a merely descriptive account of the case.
Other Scholarly Contributions
Other scholarly contributions may use a structure appropriate to their nature, methodology, and scholarly purpose.
Such manuscripts must nevertheless clearly present:
- the scholarly problem or purpose;
- relevant academic context;
- the methodological, analytical, theoretical, or evidentiary basis, where applicable;
- the principal analysis, argument, or findings;
- a clearly identifiable scholarly contribution;
- appropriate conclusions.
Eligibility under this category does not exempt a manuscript from the Journal’s applicable scholarly, ethical, structural, editorial, and peer-review requirements.
7. Abstract and Keywords
Each manuscript must contain:
- an abstract in the language of the manuscript;
- an abstract in English where the manuscript is not written in English;
- at least five keywords reflecting the principal subjects of the work.
The abstract must provide a concise, clear, objective, self-contained, and sufficiently informative summary of the manuscript. Its length should be appropriate to the publication type, methodology, and scholarly content of the work and sufficient to enable readers to understand the purpose, principal approach, main findings or arguments, scholarly contribution, and conclusions, as applicable.
As applicable to the publication type, the abstract should identify:
- the purpose or research objective;
- the scholarly problem or context;
- the methodology or analytical approach;
- the principal findings, arguments, or results;
- the scientific novelty or scholarly contribution;
- the principal conclusions.
The abstract should not contain:
- unexplained abbreviations;
- unnecessary quotations;
- secondary or irrelevant information;
- claims, findings, or conclusions not supported by the manuscript.
The Editorial Office may request the abstract to be clarified, expanded, or shortened where its content is insufficient for an adequate understanding of the manuscript or is disproportionately detailed in relation to its purpose.
8. Article Declarations
The Article Declarations block is mandatory for all manuscripts intended for publication in Volume 3 (2026) and subsequent volumes.
It must be placed after Conclusions and before References.
The Article Declarations block must contain:
- Funding;
- Author Contributions;
- Conflicts of Interest;
- Acknowledgements;
- Data Availability;
- AI Use Disclosure.
The inclusion of these declarations supports transparency, accountability, consistency, and responsible scholarly publishing.
Authors must prepare each declaration carefully at the time of submission.
The Editorial Office may request clarification, correction, or completion of declarations where necessary.
Funding
Authors must identify the source(s) of financial support for the research and/or publication, including grant or project numbers where available.
Funding: Not applicable.
Author Contributions
Authors must provide an Author Contributions statement describing the contribution of each author.
For multi-author papers, individual contributions should be identified clearly.
For single-author papers, the statement should confirm the author’s full responsibility for the scholarly work.
The Journal encourages the use of CRediT contributor role terminology where appropriate.
The author solely contributed to the conceptualization, literature review, analysis/interpretation, and writing of the manuscript.
Conceptualization: A.B., C.D.; Methodology: A.B.; Formal analysis: C.D.; Writing—original draft: A.B.; Writing—review & editing: A.B., C.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
A Conflicts of Interest statement is mandatory for all articles.
The author(s) declare(s) no conflicts of interest.
Financial, personal, professional, institutional, editorial, or other relevant conflicts must be disclosed transparently.
Where an author is a member of the Journal’s Editorial Board or otherwise holds an editorial role, the manuscript must be handled independently in accordance with the Journal’s conflict-of-interest procedures.
[Name] is a member of the Editorial Board of this Journal and was not involved in the editorial handling or decision-making concerning this manuscript. The manuscript was handled independently in accordance with the Journal’s conflict-of-interest procedures.
Where appropriate, the declaration may additionally specify exclusion from reviewer selection, peer review, or other relevant editorial functions.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements should identify support or contributions that do not satisfy the applicable authorship criteria, including technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, or other appropriate contributions.
Acknowledgements: Not applicable.
Data Availability
A Data Availability statement is mandatory for all articles.
Authors must state where and how data supporting the reported work can be accessed or provide a clear explanation where data cannot be shared.
AI Use Disclosure
An AI Use Disclosure statement is mandatory for all manuscripts, irrespective of whether generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used.
AI Use Disclosure: No generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of this manuscript.
Where permitted limited linguistic assistance was used, authors must identify the tool and the purpose of its use.
During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [Tool name] solely for language editing, grammar correction, and improving the readability of the text. The author(s) remain(s) fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, sources, citations, and final content of the manuscript.
Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be used to:
- fabricate or falsify data;
- generate scientific results;
- generate or substitute substantive scholarly interpretation;
- produce misleading analysis or conclusions;
- generate substantive manuscript content;
- perform substantive AI-assisted paraphrasing or material reformulation of scholarly content;
- substitute the accountable scholarly judgement of the author(s).
Related: Generative AI Policy
9. References and Citation Style
The Journal uses a numbered in-text citation system. Each source cited in the manuscript must be identified by the corresponding number assigned to that source in the References list. In-text citations are placed in square brackets.
[1] — one source;
[3; 7] — several separate sources;
[5–8] — a consecutive range of sources;
[12, p. 45] — reference to a specific page, where applicable;
[59–61; 64] — a combination of a consecutive range and an additional source.
Each source must retain the same reference number throughout the manuscript. All sources cited in the text must be included in the References list, and all sources included in the References list must be cited in the text.
The References list must be presented as a numbered list. Authors are recommended to format individual bibliographic entries in accordance with the APA Style (7th edition) conventions for reference formatting. These conventions are used by the Journal as the standard for the bibliographic formatting of individual reference-list entries.
The use of APA conventions for bibliographic entries does not mean that the Journal uses the APA author–date in-text citation system. In-text citations must follow the numbered citation system described above.
Bibliographic entries must contain complete and accurate information sufficient to identify and retrieve the cited source.
Where a source has a DOI, authors are recommended to provide it as an active link in the format https://doi.org/.... Where no DOI is available, another persistent identifier or a direct link to an official or authoritative online source should be provided, where applicable. For online resources whose content may change over time, the date of access should be indicated where appropriate.
General requirements:
- all entries in the References section must be presented in the Roman alphabet;
- references to statistical sources are mandatory where statistical data are used;
- references to relevant scholarly publications must adequately support the research context, methodology, analysis, or argument;
- references to online resources must lead as directly as practicable to the cited document, dataset, report, publication, or official source;
- works referred to in the text by author name must be cited appropriately using the Journal’s numbered citation system and included in References;
- use of textbooks and manuals should be limited to cases where they are academically appropriate and relevant.
Citation Integrity and Citation Manipulation
Citations must be selected solely on the basis of their scholarly relevance to the manuscript.
Author self-citations and citations to articles previously published in the Journal must be academically justified, relevant, and proportionate to the subject and development of the manuscript. Excessive, irrelevant, disproportionate, or strategically inserted citations intended primarily to influence citation metrics are not acceptable.
The Journal does not require authors to cite its own publications unless such references are genuinely relevant to the scholarly content of the manuscript.
Where citation patterns appear excessive, disproportionate, or insufficiently relevant, authors may be asked to justify, remove, or replace individual references as part of the editorial assessment or peer-review process.
Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy, completeness, consistency, relevance, and compliance of all in-text citations and bibliographic entries with the Journal’s citation and reference-list requirements.
10. Technical Formatting Requirements
The entire manuscript, including the main text, References, abstracts, Article Declarations, tables, and other textual elements, must be prepared consistently.
11. Tables, Figures, and Formulas
If a manuscript contains tables, figures, illustrations, diagrams, charts, images, or mathematical formulas, these elements must comply with the requirements below.
General Principles
- All visual and mathematical elements must be relevant to the manuscript, scientifically justified, and limited to what is necessary for clear presentation of the scholarly content.
- Each table, figure, and numbered formula must be cited in the main text and numbered consecutively according to the order of appearance.
- Authors are responsible for the accuracy, consistency, quality, and readability of all tables, figures, graphical materials, and formulas included in the manuscript.
Technical and Editorial Requirements
The Editorial Office may request technical correction, replacement, or resubmission of tables, figures, or formulas that do not comply with the Journal’s applicable technical requirements.
Scientific or scholarly concerns relating to such materials are considered through the applicable editorial assessment and peer-review procedures.
Manuscripts containing improperly prepared tables, low-quality figures, unreadable graphical elements, or non-editable formulas may be returned to the author for technical revision before external peer review or during subsequent editorial processing.
Tables
- Tables must be submitted as editable text and must not be inserted as images.
- Each table must have a clear number and title.
- Tables should be positioned close to the relevant text or, where required for technical preparation, placed on separate pages at the end of the manuscript.
- Notes, explanations of abbreviations, and source references relating to a table must be placed below the table body.
- Tables must be compact, clearly formatted, and must not exceed the width of the page.
- The font used in tables must be Times New Roman, 12 pt.
- Where technically necessary to ensure proper fit and readability, the font size may be reduced, but not below 10 pt.
- Tables on landscape-oriented pages will not be accepted.
Figures, Illustrations, and Other Graphical Materials
- All figures, images, illustrations, diagrams, charts, and other graphical materials must be cited in the text and numbered consecutively according to their order of appearance.
- Each figure must have a clear caption consisting of a figure number and a concise descriptive title.
- Text placed inside figures should be kept to the minimum necessary for interpretation.
- Symbols, abbreviations, legends, or markings must be explained in the caption or main text.
- Text within figures, charts, diagrams, and similar materials should, where possible, use Times New Roman, 12 pt.
- Where technically necessary to ensure proper fit and readability, the font size may be reduced, but not below 10 pt.
- Figures must be clear, proportionate, and of sufficient quality for publication.
- Low-resolution, blurred, distorted, or unreadable graphical materials will not be accepted.
- Figures must be compact and must not exceed the width of the page.
- Figures on landscape-oriented pages will not be accepted.
- Where appropriate, figures should also be supplied as separate files in suitable editable, vector, or high-quality raster formats, such as PDF, PNG, or JPG, depending on the nature of the material.
- Raster images must have adequate resolution for publication-quality reproduction.
Formulas
- Mathematical formulas must be submitted in an editable form and must not be inserted as raster images.
- Formulas must be created using an editable equation tool compatible with Microsoft Word.
- Authors must verify mathematical accuracy, completeness, and consistency with the manuscript.
- Displayed formulas should be clearly separated from the surrounding text and, where appropriate, numbered consecutively in the order in which they are referred to.
- Symbols and variables must be used consistently throughout the manuscript.
- Mathematical notation must be clear, standardised, and suitable for scholarly publication.
12. Final Compliance Note
Manuscripts that do not comply with the Journal’s applicable scholarly, ethical, structural, citation, declaration, or technical requirements may be returned to the author for correction or clarification.
Where deficiencies are identified during initial editorial assessment and the manuscript does not satisfy the essential requirements necessary for further consideration, it may be declined before external peer review in accordance with the Journal’s applicable editorial policies.
Technical correction of a manuscript does not imply acceptance for publication and does not replace scholarly editorial assessment or peer review.
Acceptance for publication is based on the Journal’s applicable editorial assessment, external peer-review, ethical, and decision-making procedures.