Publication Ethics

Responsibilities of Authors

  1. Originality and Plagiarism

    • Authors must ensure that their work is original and has not been previously published elsewhere.
    • Proper acknowledgment and citation of all sources and contributions of others must be provided.
    • Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

  2. Data Integrity

    • Authors must accurately present their research findings and ensure the integrity of their data.
    • Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of data is considered unethical.

  3. Authorship

    • Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.
    • All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
    • The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

  4. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

    • Authors must disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.
    • All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

  5. Acknowledgment of Sources

    • Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have influenced their work.

  6. Ethical Research

    • Authors must ensure that their research involving human subjects or animals complies with all relevant ethical guidelines and regulations.
    • Authors should obtain appropriate institutional review board (IRB) approval and informed consent where required.

Responsibilities of Editors

  1. Publication Decisions

    • Editors are responsible for making publication decisions based on the manuscript’s significance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
    • Editors should be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

  2. Confidentiality

    • Editors must treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents.
    • Information about submitted manuscripts should not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.

  3. Fair Play

    • Editors should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

  4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

    • Editors should recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.
    • Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

  1. Confidentiality

    • Reviewers must treat manuscripts received for review as confidential documents.
    • They must not share or discuss the manuscript with others except as authorized by the editor.

  2. Objectivity

    • Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
    • Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

  3. Acknowledgment of Sources

    • Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
    • Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation.

  4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

    • Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

  1. Ethical Oversight

    • The publisher should ensure that the journal’s policies and practices support ethical research and publication practices.
    • The publisher should work closely with the editors to address any potential ethical issues that arise.

  2. Access and Archiving

    • The publisher should ensure the long-term availability and preservation of the published content.
    • The publisher should collaborate with indexing and abstracting services to ensure the wide dissemination of published work.