Policy of the Journal

General Provisions

The Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly publication, founded in 1992, and published by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
Frequency: 4 issues per year (quarterly).

"Farabi Journal of Social Sciences" accepts articles that have not been previously published, which correspond to the thematic areas of the journal, and are formatted strictly according to the manuscript requirements.

Language Policy and Metadata Requirements

Manuscripts are accepted in English only.

For each submission, authors must provide complete metadata, including full names, institutional affiliations, country, and contact details. One author must be designated as the corresponding author.

Each manuscript must include a title, abstract, and keywords in English.

References must be provided in accordance with the journal’s citation style and presented in the Latin alphabet.

Manuscript Submission and Length Requirements

Manuscripts are submitted by the corresponding author via the Journal’s online platform (OJS) with completed metadata for the article and all co-authors. Communication “editorial office – author – reviewers” is conducted via OJS; in exceptional cases, via email.

Recommended submission time: at least 2 months prior to the planned publication date of the nearest issue.

Recommended manuscript length: 3,000–7,000 words (excluding the title, author information, abstract, keywords, and references).

An article by the same author (single-authored or co-authored) may be published no more than once per calendar year.

Originality, Simultaneous Submission, and Duplicate Publication

Only original manuscripts that have not been published previously and are not under consideration elsewhere are accepted. Authors are responsible for accuracy, scientific novelty, and proper use of data and citations.

Duplicate publication, substantial undisclosed text recycling (self-plagiarism), citation manipulation, and other forms of publication misconduct are not permitted.

Authorship and Contribution

Authorship is attributed to researchers who made a substantial contribution to the study concept, research conduct, analysis/interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation.

The corresponding author confirms that all co-authors approved the submission and the final version.

Changes to authorship (addition/removal/reordering) after submission are permitted only upon a reasoned request by the corresponding author, with written consent from all co-authors, and subject to an editorial decision.

Plagiarism and Text Similarity Policy

All submitted manuscripts are screened for text similarity using plagiarism detection tools, including Antiplagiat KazNU.

Manuscripts proceed to peer review only if the similarity level does not exceed 20% (equivalent to at least 80% originality) and all sources are properly cited and formatted.

If plagiarism or inappropriate borrowing is identified, the editorial office may request revisions, reject the manuscript, or take appropriate post-publication actions, including correction, expression of concern, or retraction.

Peer Review

The Journal applies double-blind peer review. Each manuscript is sent to at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

Peer review is confidential: authors do not receive reviewers’ identities; reviewers receive manuscripts without author identification.

Reviewers evaluate scholarly significance, originality, methodology, quality of argumentation, accuracy of references, and alignment with the Journal’s scope.

Possible decisions: accept; accept with revisions; further review; reject.

In case of divergent reviews (one positive and one negative), the manuscript may be sent to a third reviewer; the final decision is made by the responsible (academic) editor / handling editor.

Recommended peer-review timeframe: up to 2 months from the date the manuscript is sent to reviewers.

Editorial Decision, Revision, and Resubmission

Reviewers’ comments are sent to the corresponding author via OJS. Authors submit:

a revised manuscript;
a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments.
Author(s) may withdraw the manuscript from consideration by notifying the editorial office via OJS.

Publication Ethics and Editorial Actions

The Journal adheres to the principles of academic integrity and follows internationally recognized standards of publication ethics, in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Violations include plagiarism, fabrication/falsification of data, unethical authorship practices, undisclosed conflicts of interest, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, and other violations of publication ethics (publication misconduct).

Corrections, Expression of Concern, and Retraction

If errors or potential violations are identified after publication, the editorial office applies post-publication actions: correction (erratum/corrigendum), expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature of the issue and the degree of substantiation.
An expression of concern is issued where there are substantiated doubts regarding reliability/accuracy/ethical compliance, but the inquiry is not yet completed. Following the outcome, the editorial office decides whether to remove the expression of concern, publish a correction, or proceed with a retraction.
In the event of retraction, the article is not removed: it remains part of the scholarly record, is marked “Retracted,” and a separate notice is published with date and rationale; where possible, the PDF is labeled accordingly.

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automated Tools

The use of AI as an auxiliary tool (language editing, translation, formatting, bibliography preparation, technical data processing) is permitted subject to mandatory author verification.
If AI was used, author(s) must disclose this in the cover letter upon submission, specifying the tool and the purpose of use. Upon request, author(s) provide additional information to ensure publication transparency.
AI cannot be listed as an author/co-author. Authors bear responsibility for content accuracy, referencing, and ethical compliance.
AI must not be used for fabrication/falsification of data, creation of fictitious references/sources, or presenting unverified generated text as research results.
Uploading unpublished manuscripts, reviews, or editorial correspondence to third-party AI services is prohibited where it violates confidentiality or applicable rules.

Open Access Policy and Archiving

The Farabi Journal of Social Sciences provides immediate open access to all published content on its official website, ensuring free and unrestricted access to research for the global scholarly community.

All articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Copyright and Licensing

Authors of articles published in the Farabi Journal of Social Sciences grant the publisher the right of first publication and license their work under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

The copyright of the published work is held by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Under the terms of this license, authors retain moral rights to their work, while granting the public a non-exclusive right to access, read, download, copy, distribute, reproduce, and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the author(s), the original publication in the journal is properly cited, and any changes are clearly indicated.

Any use of the published material for commercial purposes requires prior written permission from the copyright holder.

Authors may deposit and disseminate their published articles in institutional repositories, academic networks, personal websites, and other non-commercial platforms, provided that a full bibliographic reference to the original publication in the Farabi Journal of Social Sciences is included.