About the Journal

Journal Conception

Subject Headings and Trend of the Journal

Dear Authors, the journal “Problemy musical’noy nauki / Music Scholarship” offers the following thematic headings in accordance with the profile of the edition on scholarly papers in the fields:

5.10.3 Types of Art (Musical Art)

International Department
Musical Culture of World Peoples
Musical Culture of the Peoples of Russia
Artistic World of Musical Work
Poetics and Semantics of Musical Text
Music of the XX - XXI Centuries
Musical History and Theory
Musical Local History
Composer and Folklore
Ethnomusicology Issues
From Foreign Music History
Musical Theatre
Musical Style and Genre
Musical Performance: History and Present
From the History of Russian Music
Musicology Horizons
Musical Instruments of Peoples of Russia
Sacred Music
Word and Music
Film Music

5.10.1 The Theory and History of Cultures, Art

Culture Theory and History
Music in Culture System

5.8.2 The Theory and Methodology of Education and Upbringing

Musical Performance and Pedagogy
Musical Education in Russian Regions
Information Technology in Musical Education
Interdisciplinary Research in Musical and Psychological Sciences

The journal also contains headings:

Creative Portraits of Scholars
Congratulations. Interview
Dissertation Councils: Scientific Review, Chronicle Archives
Conferences, Seminars, Symposia
Opponent Tribune
International Division

Under the heading “International Division” are published:

1) papers by Russian authors translated into English, German and French;
2) papers by foreign authors in the original languages (English, German and French) and translated into the Russian one.

Peer Review Process

The Order of Reviewing Manuscripts

Review of making decision about publishing a work.

The publisher distinguishes internal and external reviews.

Internal reviewing is implemented by the editorial board and editor-in-chief.

The essence of the internal review consists in assessing the manuscript in terms of suitability of the author's text for publication, considering the question of additional work over the text by the author, involving scientific and technical editors, giving a manuscript for external review, etc. The editor accesses the meaning of the theme, its relevance, the quality of the material exposition; the significance for the scholarly fields.

Peer Review Process 

  1. The Editorial Board takes into consideration and reviewing the following manuscripts (not previously published): articles, essays, abstracts scientific surveys, reports on conferences, etc. (see “Requirements for Manuscripts ").
  2. The initial review is carried out by the editor-in- chief that assesses compliance of manuscripts with journal themes and general requirements as well as the correspondence of the article to the style, format and volume.
  3. The review processing is obliged for all authors’ manuscripts submitted to the editors, regardless of academic degrees, titles and official positions.
  4. The review processing (peer review) is performed by the members of the editorial board or reputable scientists - experts. Ph.D., D. Sci. Arts), Academicians, Professors and University lecturers of Higher Educational Establishments of Culture and Art shall be involved as the reviewers.
  5. The editorial board stipulates objective process of reviewing and tracks the movement of the manuscript before putting into production.
  6. The repeated review processing will take place in the following cases:
         - If only in the manuscript were declared controversial issues requiring the comparison of different points of view of experts making a decision about its publishing;
        - If the author submitted a radically new version of the article in correspondence with the critical remarks of the review and established time.
  7. He review processing will take place within a period of 14 to 30 days after receiving the manuscript.
  8. In the review shall be noted: the scholarly significance of the chosen work, actuality of the theme, completeness of using sources and literature, depth of their analysis, effectiveness of the chosen research methods, the degree of the novelty, validity of conclusions, practical and theoretical significance of researching.
  9. The content of the review shall be communicated to the author (s) within 10 days after receiving specialists’ reviews by the Editorial Board.
  10. The review processing of submitted materials to the journal "Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal'noj Nauki" remains confidential.
  11. The journal is based on the model of the "double-blind peer review." It means when reviewing, the personal data of reviewers and authors shall be hidden.
  12. All reviewers are recognized experts on the themes of the peer-reviewed materials and have publications on the subject of the peer-reviewed article over the past 3 years.
  13. Reviews are being kept in the publishing house and in the editorial office for 5 years.
  14. The editorial board send copies of the reviews to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation when the corresponding request enters the editorial office

Publication Frequency

The journal is published four times a year.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the basis of the following principles: free open access to information stimulates global knowledge sharing.

The journal has joined the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

The PMN journal is part of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Readers and authors can familiarize themselves with the electronic version of the journal issues free of charge in the “Archives” section (materials are provided for download free of charge). PDF versions of scientific articles of the journal PMN ISSN: print 2782-3601, online ISSN: 2782-361X are freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

When using the materials, be sure to refer to the journal and the authors of the articles.

It is allowed free reproduction of journal materials for personal purposes and free use for informational, scientific, educational or cultural purposes in accordance with Article 1273 and 1274 Chapter 70 Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Other types of using are possible only after having appropriate written agreements with the copyright holder.

Authors' preprint: Authors have the right to replace their material as a manuscript in the Internet (for example, on a personal site or an organization's site) before and during the process of reviewing it by the PMN journal.

Using the published text by the authors: The authors have the right to replace their work in the Internet after publishing.

Using the PDF version: Authors have the right to replace their published work in the Internet in the form of the publisher’s PDF version.

Editorial Ethics

Ethical Aspects and Legal Basis of the Editorial Policy of the Journal

The editorial board bears responsibility for making decisions about publishing submitted articles.

The decision of publishing shall be made with the consideration of the authenticity, the scholarly significance and the actuality of the examined work.

The editorial policy of the journal is based on the current legal requirements in respect of copyright law, stated in the Russian legislation, and ethical principles, and supported by the community of the leading publishers of scientific journals.

Abidance by ethical norms and rules is mandatory for all the participants of the process of publication of scholarly materials: the authors, reviewers, members of the editorial board, editors and employees of the publishing house.

Upon elaborating on the principles of publication ethics, the editorial board of the journal was guided by the recommendations of:

All the participants of the process of publication of scholarly materials (authors, reviewers, members of the editorial board, publishers) must abide ethical principles set out below.

In case of suspicion of breaking ethical principles set out below, the editorial board shall be guided in accordance with the COPE Guidelines.

The Editorial Ethics

  1. The editor-in-chief shall maintain general guidance over the edition and bear responsibility on the basis of the Statute of the Founders and the conception of the journal “Problemy muzykalnoy nauki/Music Scholarship” for making decisions about publishing articles with the consideration of their novelty, the quality of the submitted materials and their correspondence to the profile of the edition and the scholarly specialization.
  2. In coordination with the administration of the founders among the institutes for higher education, the editor-in-chief shall regulate the order of submission of the authors’ manuscripts to the editors for consideration for publication in correspondence with the annually established quota. The authors who do not represent anyone among the cofounders shall be published in the general order of their submission of their articles on the usual terms. Publication of manuscripts by authors pertaining to the founding institutions shall take priority over all others.
  3. The decision of publication shall be made according to the results of scholarly reviewing and with the consideration of the opinions of the members of the editorial board. When making a decision of publication, the editorial board and editor-in-chief shall be guided by the scholarly significance of the examined work, the quality of the exposition of the material, as well as the correspondence of the article to the scholarly specialization, style, format and profile of publication.
  4. Editorial ethics stipulates a fair and objective process of reviewing, independent of commercial interests or conjuncture-related needs.
  5. Upon making the decision of publication, no type of discrimination of the authors’ rights on the basis of sex, race, sexual orientation, ethnic background, religious beliefs, citizenship or political views shall be tolerated.
  6. The editor-in-chief authorizes to accept the work for publication or reject. The editor-in-chief reserves the right not to accept works executed with deviations from the present rules or violating the requirements exerted upon authors of articles (see “Requirements for Manuscript”).
  7. The manuscript may be rejected by an editor at the stage prior to the peer review, if there are solid grounds for it:
    - The expounded material doesn’t correspond to the scholarly specialization;
    - The article was prior published in another journal;
    - The manuscript contains substantial mistakes;
    - Violating the editorial ethic principles by authors of article.

    All submitted manuscripts, not being rejected in accordance with the above-mentioned reasons at the first stage of the consideration, the editor shall send for reviewing (see “Rules of Peer Review”).

  8. The editor shall accept the work in correspondence with “Requirements of the Journal”. The editors must guarantee the correspondence of the published materials to the international standards of scholarly and editorial ethics.
  9. The editors are obligated to guarantee the high quality of the published materials and their scholarly significance, to publish corrections, explanations, apologies in case of need.
  10. Upon the emergence of a conflict of interests of the editor with the author of the manuscript, the article must be given to other editor (see “Conflict of interests”).
  11. Upon the detection of plagiarism the editorial board shall be guided by the rules of withdrawal the manuscript (see “Plagiarism”).

Ethical Principles in Terms of Repeated or Double Publications

  1. Publishing the original work is prior for the journal. A multifold (repeated) publication in the journal “Problemy muzykalnoy nauki” is prohibited.
  2. Upon the submission of an article to the journal’s editorial board authors should communicate the editor-in-chief about previously published works or materials included in the submitted articles(abstract of a thesis, points of conferences, presentation of previously published work, chapters of a book). Copies of such materials must be enclosed to the submitted article, which will help the editorial board decide whether the submitted article may be counted as a multifold (repeated) publication.
  3. The publisher reserves the right to carry out inspection in regard to publication of other articles by the authors in international databases. If it is determined that authors are attempting to submit a repeated or double publication without notification, the editorial board has the right of denying the opportunity of examining the manuscript. In the case when after publication of an article in a journal it would be determined that an analogous article has been published in other editions had not informed the editorial office about this, the subsequent issue of the journal will contain a notice that the present publication is disavowed.
  4. Repeated publications are carried out in strict correspondence with international copyright laws and ethical norms at the discretion of the editorial board.

Malpractice Statement

The statement clarifies the ethical norms of behavior of the parties involved in the process of publishing articles of the Journal “Problemy musical’noy nauki / Music Scholarship” (see "Ethics"). This statement is based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and takes into account the interests of the founders represented by 12 Russian conservatories.

Editing and publishing the Journal is carried out on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Ufa State Zagir Ismagilov Institute of Arts”.

The order of submitting author's manuscripts to the editorial board takes into account the approved quota. The territorial location of the editorial board does not affect the decision to publish.

Considering author's manuscripts of co-founding universities is a priority. Authors who do not represent any of the co-founders are reviewed and published on a first-served basis.

The co-founders are not entitled to interfere with the professional activities of the Journal, except in cases stipulated by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

When selecting a manuscript and taking a decision to publish, the editorial board and the editor-in-chief are guided by the scholarly significance of the work, the quality of the material presentation, the correspondence of the article to the scientific specialty, style, format and profile of publication.

The editorial board make sure that information or ideas obtained during editing and reviewing remain confidential and are not used for personal gain.

Unpublished materials of the submitted manuscripts are not used or distributed to the third parties without the written author’s approval.

For detailed information about ethical norms and rules in the activities of reviewers and authors, see: “Ethics”, “Peer Review Process”, “Criteria for authorship”, “Plagiarism and Editorial Policy”.

All articles that are not corresponding with the specified standards will not be published in case if an abuse of office is identified. The use of the official powers by an official contrary to the interests of the journal and if such an act is committed out of selfish or other personal interest and entails a significant violation of the rights and legitimate interests of all participants in the editorial and publishing process, violates the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

Conflict Situations

Conflict of Interests

1. General Principles

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in its guidelines defines a conflict of interests in the following way:

A conflict of interests takes place when authors, reviewers and editors have implicit interests that could have an influence upon their opinion about the published material.

A potential conflict of interests occurs when there are financial, personal or professional conditions that could have an effect on the scientific opinion of the reviewer or editor and as a consequence, on the decision of the editorial board concerning the publication of the article.

2. Obligations in Relation to a Conflict of Interests

The journal “Problemy muzykalnoy nauki” does not require a formal declaration upon the emergence of a conflict of interests. Nevertheless, it is believed, that the author submitting the article to the editorial board of the journal, states that:

- All sources of funding for research activity are indicated in the text of the article;

- There are no commercial, financial, personal or professional factors that could cause a conflict of interests in relation to the submitted for the consideration article.

Upon the emergence of a conflict of interests the author can:

- Ask for excluding a concrete editor and / or reviewer from the process of reviewing the corresponding manuscript;

- Utter the explicit statement about a possible conflict of interests in the text of a cover letter when submitting an article to the editorial board.

Editors jointly with reviewers shall not leave unnoticed any conflicts of interests that may have an influence on the decision of the editorial board.

Upon the emergence of a conflict of interests of an editor and / or a reviewer with the author of the manuscript, the article is transferred to another reviewer.

The emergence of a conflict of interests claimed by one of the participants of the process of consideration or reviewing does not mean the rejection for publishing.

All interested parties should avoid the emergence of a conflict of interests in any forms at all stages of passing the article for publishing. Upon the emergence of conflict situations in any form, the person first discovered such a conflict must immediately inform the editor and shall take all the necessary measuring for restoring infringed-upon rights.

Retracting articles

In some cases, the editorial board may decide to withdraw the article (the retraction).

The reasons for the retraction (withdrawal) of an article from the publishing house:

  • revealing plagiarism in an article before or after its publication, including borrowing figures, graphs, tables, etc. (see: “Plagiarism”);
  • the emergence of claims in terms of copyright on the article or its certain parts by a third party;
  • revealing the fact about prior publication of the article in another journal;
  • discovering in the published article substantial mistakes, disputing its scholarly significance. 

Under such circumstances, the editorial board initiates the examination and in accord with results of this examination the submitted article may be withdrawn from the publication. It draws up a statement of withdrawing the article, which is signed by the editor-in-chief. A copy of the statement shall be sent to the author.

The article is not physically removed from the published edition and the file of issue on the website. The editorial board shall publish a statement about the withdrawal of the article with its placing on the appropriate page of the content of the issue on the official website of the Journal.

The editorial board shall consider with carefulness and responsibility all reasonable treatments on the subject of the violations discovered in the published materials.

The editors believe an author and a reviewer are obligated as quickly as possible to inform the editorial board about missed mistakes and violations discovered by them after publishing the article.

Plagiarism and Policy of Editorial Board

The authors of the articles shall provide a guarantee that the submitted manuscript is an original work. If the articles make use of works and/or fragments of texts of other authors, the authors provide the corresponding citations on the published works.

All materials submitted to the editorial board in a mandatory fashion at an early stage of accepting are checked for corresponding citations on the published works in the "Anti-plagiarism" as well as via other network search engines in the Internet and only after that the articles are sent for reviewing. Upon the emergence of unidentified citations in the submitted article all cases of such an adoption are considered individually.

In the case of reasonable suspicion on plagiarism or the elicitation of techniques which allow to hide its presence, the article shall not be accepted for further consideration. Authors shall be informed about refusing in the consideration by reason of suspected plagiarism. If plagiarism is detected in the published article, such a work is disavowed without the possibility to restore status (without physical withdrawal of the article, by publishing corresponding documents and materials on the website and in the journal in a special rubric "The Black Page").

Characteristics of plagiarism include various forms of its presence in the text: from presenting somebody else’s work as one’s own to copying or rephrasing essential sections of other people’s works (without indicating their authorship) and up to claiming one’s own rights to the results of other people’s research.

Deliberate assumption of authorship of somebody else’s work of scholarship or art, other people’s ideas or inventions is an infringement of copyright laws and patent laws and as such may entail legal action.

he editorial board considers the next forms of plagiarism:

- Making use (citations verbatim) of any material in any amount without indicating the source;
- Making use of images, drawings, photos, tables, graphs, charts and all other forms of graphical representation of information without indicating the source;
- Making use of images, drawings, photos, tables, graphs, charts and all other forms of graphical representation of the information published in scholarly and popular publications without the accordance of the right holder;
- Making use of materials without written permission of the authors or copyright holders that prohibit the use of their materials without special approval.

The editorial board considers the next forms of incorrect adoptions:

  • Reference not to the first source of the adopted text without an explicit indication of this fact (the error in determining the source);
  • Incomplete list of  bibliographic description of sources, obstructing their identification;
  • The absence of references from the text on sources quoted in the reference list;
  • Excessive citations (with references to the sources), the amount of which is not substantiated by the genre and the objectives of the article.

Upon the emergence of editorial grounds for more detailed inspections can be involved additional tools to find adoptions.

The editorial board does not strongly recommend using any technical tricks for improving the assessment of the text in the system "Anti-plagiarism".

If in the articles were detected some signs of technical modifications for the purpose to artificially enhance the uniqueness of the text, the manuscripts shall not be published in the journal, even in the case of additional work. About all these facts the editors communicate the reviewer and, in the case that the author works in an educational institution, his or her management.