Lawful content and prohibited materials

The editors review submitted and published materials for compliance with applicable laws of the Russian Federation. This policy covers articles, abstracts, illustrations, supplementary materials and links published by the editors. The principal legal grounds are Article 4 of Russian Federation Law No. 2124-1 of 27 December 1991, On Mass Media (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102013812), and Articles 10, 15.1 and 15.3 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ of 27 July 2006, On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102108264). Mass media legislation applies in accordance with the publication's legal status.

Materials must not contain unlawful calls to action, propaganda or justification of terrorism or extremist activities, incitement to hatred or hostility, legally prohibited promotion of violence, cruelty, pornography, illicit drug trafficking or drug use, calls for suicide, or other content whose dissemination is prohibited by law. The editors comply with Federal Law No. 114-FZ of 25 July 2002, On Countering Extremist Activity (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102079221), and Federal Law No. 35-FZ of 6 March 2006, On Countering Terrorism (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102105192), together with the restrictions established by the information and mass media laws cited above.

Scholarly analysis of social phenomena, historical events, ideologies or unlawful conduct is not, by itself, treated as propaganda or justification of them. The editors assess the content, purpose and context of a submission and whether statutory exceptions apply. Where relevant attributes or symbols are used, the conditions in Article 1 of Federal Law No. 114-FZ are taken into account: fostering a negative attitude towards Nazi and extremist ideology and the absence of propaganda or justification of that ideology. Describing material as scholarly does not, by itself, remove statutory prohibitions.

Before publishing material on a relevant subject, the editors check the legal status of the organisations concerned against the relevant official lists and information. Source material is checked separately against the Ministry of Justice’s Federal List of Extremist Materials (https://minjust.gov.ru/ru/extremist-materials/). Where required by law, publications include notices concerning organisations’ legal status and other mandatory labels. A scholarly reference to a source does not authorise the dissemination of prohibited material.

The unlawful disclosure of state secrets, commercial secrets or other legally protected confidential information is prohibited. Before submitting a manuscript, authors check whether its information may lawfully be disclosed and obtain any required approvals; the editors may request supporting documents. The legal grounds include Russian Federation Law No. 5485-1 of 21 July 1993, On State Secrets (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102025035), and Federal Law No. 98-FZ of 29 July 2004, On Commercial Secrets (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102088094). The rights of personal data subjects and rights holders are also addressed in the journal's respective policies.

The editors consider the nature and purpose of information products when determining child protection requirements. Article 1(2)(1) of Federal Law No. 436-FZ of 29 December 2010, On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development (https://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102144583), excludes the circulation of products containing scientific, scientific and technical, or statistical information from its scope. This exception does not automatically cover all website content or override prohibitions under other laws. Applicable restrictions and labelling for other materials are assessed separately.

Authors inform the editors of known legal restrictions affecting their submissions. An author's notification or assurance does not replace editorial review. Where reasonable concerns arise, the editors request explanations and documents, seek specialist advice where necessary, and suspend publication until a decision is reached. Material whose dissemination is unlawful will not be published.

Reports of a possible violation should be sent to the journal's email address, identifying the publication, the passage concerned and the grounds for the report. The editors examine the report, verify the circumstances and take proportionate action, which may include correction, restricted access, removal of unlawful content or retraction under the journal's policies. Binding requirements of a court or authorised public body are fulfilled in the prescribed manner and within the applicable time limit. Information about changes is retained to the extent permitted by law; correcting the scholarly record must not result in renewed dissemination of prohibited information.