Publication Ethics

Agreement upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editors, the peer reviewers and the publisher. (The following ethic statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors).

  • Publication decision
  • Fair play
  • Confidentiality
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of interest
  • Involvement and cooperation in investigations

 

Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decision
  • Promptness
  • Confidentiality
  • Standards of Objectivity
  • Acknowledgement of Source
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

 

Duties of Authors

  • Reporting standards
  • Data Access and Retention
  • Originality and Plagiarism
  • Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
  • Acknowledgement of Sources
  • Authorship of the Paper
  • Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
  • Fundamental errors in published works

Authors of contributions and studies research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review. The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. 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. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict 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. When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

Duties of the Publisher

We are committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions. In addition, we will assist in communications with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful to editors. Finally, we are working closely with other publishers and industry associations to set standards for best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions--and are prepared to provide specialized legal review and counsel if necessary.