Everyone who participates in the publishing process (the author(s), the editor(s), the reviewers and the publisher) is committed to upholding our journal’s ethical principles. The ethics statements for our journal are based on the best practice (https://publicationethics.org/files/Best_Practice.pdf) for Journal Editors:
The Editor-in-Chief and any member of editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone besides the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the submitted manuscripts should be published. The Editor-in-Chief may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
Research results
Results of the research are to be presented with due accuracy. Fabrication, falsification and selective reporting of data with the intent to mislead or deceive are unethical. The results of research should be recorded and maintained to allow for analysis and review. Following publication, the data should be retained for a reasonable period and made available upon request. Exceptions may be appropriate in certain circumstances in order to preserve privacy, to assure patent protection, or for similar reasons.
Authorship
All those who have made a contribution should be given as authors. Manuscripts should include a full list of the current affiliations of all authors, both academic and corporate.
Responsibility of the corresponding author
- It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all named authors have approved the submitted version of the manuscript, and all further revisions, agree to its submission and are willing to take appropriate responsibility for it.
- It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure the manuscript is not under consideration by any other journal/publishing house at the time of submission.
- It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure the contact details for all co-authors are entered and correct at the time of submission.
Changes in authorship
Any changes to authorship during the publication process must be approved by all authors of the manuscript, and all authors must confirm that they give their consent and made a genuine intellectual contribution to the paper. In addition, all the changes in authorship have to be explained to the publisher.
Plagiarism
- Authors may not present results obtained by others as if they were their own. Authors should acknowledge the work of others used in their research and cite publications that have influenced the direction and course of their study.
- Reproducing text from other papers without properly crediting the source (i.e., plagiarism) and producing papers with almost the same content by the same authors (i.e., self-plagiarism) is not acceptable.
- Submitting the same results to more than one journal/publishing house concurrently is unethical.
Duplicate submission
Simultaneous submissions of the same manuscript to different journals are not tolerated. The submitted article will be removed without consideration.
Corrections and retractions
All authors have an obligation to inform and cooperate with editors to provide prompt retractions or correction of errors in published works.
When an error is discovered in published or submitted work, the mistake should be admitted and an erratum or retraction will be published. Corrections should be approved by all authors of the original article, unless there is a particular reason why this is not possible. In these cases, any dissent among the authors should be noted in the published correction.
An Erratum, a Retraction, and Expressions of Concern will be published in such a manner, and it will be free to access.
- A text will be provided with an appropriate title (Erratum, Retraction, or Expression of Concern) as well as information to identify the article that it refers to.
- It will be published on a numbered page (both in print and online) and listed in the journal’s table of contents.
- It will cite the original article and link it electronically with the original electronic publication wherever possible.
- It will enable the reader to identify and understand why the article is being retracted, or should explain the editor’s concerns about the contents of the work.
- It will be in a form that enables indexing and abstracting services to identify and link to original publications.
Publisher will issue retractions if:
- there is clear proof that the results are unreliable, either because of misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error);
- the outcomes have been published before elsewhere without proper cross-referencing;
- article contains plagiarism or reports unethical research;
Publisher will issue errata upon the request of authors if:
- a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication is misleading;
- the author list is not valid (i.e., omitting somebody or including somebody who does not meet authorship criteria).
The new content will be reviewed and subject to editorial approval considering the impact of the change.