Publication Ethics
. Publication Ethics
First: Duties of the Editorial Board
- Justice and independence: the Editorial Board evaluates the manuscripts submitted for publication on the basis of importance, originality, validity, clarity and relevance of the journal, regardless of the gender of the authors, their nationality or religious belief, so that they have full authority over the entire editorial content and timing of publication.
- Confidentiality: the Editorial Board and editorial staff are responsible for the confidentiality of any information about the submitted manuscripts and not to disclose this information to anyone other than the author, reviewers, and publishers, as appropriate.
- Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: the Editorial Board and editorial staff are responsible for the non-use of unpublished information contained in the research submitted for publication without the written consent of the authors. The Editorial Board themselves avoid considering research with which they have conflict of interest, such as competitive, cooperative, or other relationships with any of the authors.
- Publishing Decisions: the Editorial Board shall ensure that all manuscripts submitted for publication are subject to reviewing by at least two reviewers who are experts in the field of manuscript. The Board is responsible for determining which of the research papers will be published, after verifying their relevance to researchers and readers, and the comments of the reviewers.
Second: Duties of the Reviewers
- Contributing to the decisions of the Editorial Board.
- Punctuality: Any reviewer who is unable to review the submitted manuscript for any reason should immediately notify the Editorial Board, so that other reviewers can be contacted.
- Confidentiality: Any manuscript received by the Journal for reviewing and publishing is confidential; it should not appear or discussed with others unless authorized by the Editorial Board. This also applies to the invited reviewers who have rejected the invitation for reviewing.
- Objectivity: The reviewing process of the submitted manuscript should be objective and the reviewer comments should be clearly formulated with the supporting arguments so that the authors can use them to improve the quality of their manuscript away from the personal criticism of the author(s).
- Disclosure and Conflict of Interests: Any invited reviewer must immediately notify the Editorial Board that he/she has a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, cooperative or other relations with any of the authors so that other reviewers may be contacted.
- The confidentiality of information or ideas that are not published and have been disclosed in the manuscript submitted for reviewing should not be used without a written permission from the author(s). This applies also to the invited reviewers who refuse the reviewing invitation.
Third: Duties of the Authors
- Manuscript preparation: Authors should abide by publishing rules, technical specifications, publication procedures, and publication ethics available at the Journal website.
- Plagiarism: Authors must not in any case steal the rights of other authors in any manner, as doing so is considered plagiarism, which entails burdening the legal and ethical responsibilities.
- Originality: Authors must ensure that their work is original and relevant work of other authors is documented and referenced. Absence of documentation is unethical and represents plagiarism which takes many forms, as mentioned at https://www.elsevier.com/editors/perk/plagiarism-complaints
- The author(s) should not send or publish the manuscript to different journals simultaneously. Also, authors should not submit a manuscript that has already been published in another journal, because submitting the manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable.
- Authorship of the Manuscript: Only persons who meet the following authorship criteria should be listed as one of the authors of a manuscript as they should be responsible for the manuscript content: 1) present significant contributions to the design, implementation, data acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the study; 2) critically contribute to the manuscript writing and revision or 3) have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to submit it for publication.
- Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Authors must report any conflict of interest that can have an impact on the manuscript and its reviewing process. Examples of potential conflicts of interest to be disclosed such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, and knowledge of the subject or material discussed in the manuscript.
- Hazards of Material, Human, or Animal Data: If the research involves the use of chemicals, procedures, or equipment that may have any unusual risks, the authors must clearly identify them in their work. In addition, if it involves the use or experimentation of humans or animals, the authors must ensure that all actions have been carried out in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and that the authors have obtained prior approval of these contributions. Moreover, the privacy rights of human must also be considered.
- Cooperation: Authors must fully cooperate and respond promptly to the requests of the Editorial Board for clarifications, corrections, proof of ethical approvals, patient approvals, and copyright permissions.
9. Fundamental Errors in Submitted or Published Work: If authors find significant errors or inaccuracies in their submitted or published manuscripts, they must immediately notify the Editorial Board to take the action of correcting or withdrawing their work.