Ethical Publication

Ethical publication and declaration of unethical publication

The declaration of publication ethics and the declarationof unethical publication are mainly based on the Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines) for journal publishers. All parties involved in the publication process (the author, the editor of the journal, the independent reviewer, and the publisher) must agree on the criteria of expected ethical behaviour.

 

Responsibilities of the editor-in-chief

Publication decisions

The editor-in-chief is responsible for deciding which of the submitted works will be published in the journal. Submitted documents will be evaluated for their academic quality, without consideration of race, colour, gender, religious beliefs, national origin, citizenship, disability, genetic predisposition, professional career, sexual orientation, marital status, or political philosophy of the authors. The decision to publish or not will be based on the significance, originality, and clarity of the submitted document, as well as the validity of the study and its relevance to the journal's scope. The editor-in-chief may be guided by the principles of the journal's editorial and publication committee and may be restricted by applicable legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

 Confidentiality

The editor-in-chief and any member of the editorial and publication committee must not disclose information about the submitted works to anyone other than the author, independent reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher, as needed.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

The unpublished material disclosed in a submitted article shall not be used by the editor-in-chief or any member of the editorial and publication committee for their research purposes without the explicit written consent of the author.

 

Duties of independent reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

The peer review process assists the editor-in-chief and the editorial committee in making decisions regarding publication and may also guide the author in improving the submitted article.

Timely response

An invited independent reviewer who feels they cannot review the submitted work in an article or believes that the timely review will not be within the deadline, should inform the editor-in-chief promptly, so that alternative reviewers can be found.

Confidentiality

Any submitted work received by the journal for review must be treated as confidential and must not be disclosed or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor-in-chief.

Criteria for objectivity

The evaluations of the submitted works must be conducted objectively. Any personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers must express their opinions clearly and with appropriate arguments.

Disclosure of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, source, or argument has been previously reported or published should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reviewers should also inform the editor-in-chief of any substantial similarity or overlap between the article under review and any other published document they are personally aware of.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. All authors are required to disclose any conflicts of interest, including financial or personal relationships with other individuals or organizations within the last three years from the submission of the work that could inappropriately influence the work, Independent reviewers should not review these submitted works.

 

Duties of the authors

Reference standards

Authors of original research papers should provide an accurate description of the research being conducted, and an objective discussion of its significance, with key data presented accurately in the article. Whenever possible, an article should contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to reproduce the work. It is unethical and unacceptable to make statements that are false or knowingly inaccurate.

Access and data retention

Authors may be required to provide the raw data of their study along with the submitted article for review and should be willing to make the data publicly available. In any case, authors should make sure that this data is accessible to other qualified professionals, but only if the participants' confidentiality is protected and legal rights regarding exclusive data are not restricting their distribution.

Originality, plagiarism, and source publication

Authors are required to present their work and properly cite or give credit to the work or words of others. References to publications that have had a significant impact on the work under consideration are essential.

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication

Submitted articles describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same article to more than one journal simultaneously is an unacceptable practice.

Articles that have been published under copyright cannot be submitted. Furthermore, articles being evaluated by the journal must not be submitted for publication with copyright to any other source. However, by submitting an article, authors retain rights to the published material.

Authorship of the article

It is important to limit authorship to those who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the submitted article. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors and non-contributing individuals are included in the author list. The corresponding author will be able to confirm in writing that all co-authors have approved the final version of the document and have agreed to submit it for publication.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be perceived to affect the results or interpretation of their article. It is important to disclose all sources of financial support for the work.

Major errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, the author must promptly notify the journal's editor-in-chief or publisher and cooperate with the editor-in-chief to retract or correct the document in the form of an erratum.