Publication Ethics and Guidelines

1. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for everything published in the journal under their supervision. Specifically, editors should:

• Act in accordance with the needs of readers and authors.
• Continuously improve the quality of the journal.
• Ensure the quality of published research.
• Support freedom of expression.
• Maintain the integrity of academic records.
• Protect intellectual property standards from commercial interests.
• Be willing, when necessary, to issue corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies regarding publication errors.

1.1 Duties of Editors toward Authors

• Editors should make every effort to ensure the quality of published articles in order to uphold the standard of published research, while recognizing that each journal and each section within a journal may have different aims and standards.
• Editorial decisions to accept or reject manuscripts for publication should be based on the importance, originality, and clarity of the research, as well as its relevance to the journal’s scope.
• Information regarding the peer review process should be clearly provided. Editors should also be prepared to explain any deviations from the stated review process.
• The journal should provide a mechanism for authors to appeal if they disagree with editorial decisions.
• Editors should publish guidelines for authors covering all matters expected of contributors and all information authors need to know. Such guidelines should be regularly updated and should include references or links to these ethical regulations.
• Editors should not reverse decisions to reject manuscripts unless serious problems are identified during the submission and review process.
• A newly appointed editor should not overturn publication decisions made by a previous editor who rejected a manuscript, unless serious problems are proven.

1.2 Duties of Editors toward Reviewers

• Editors should publish guidelines for reviewers covering all matters expected of them, regularly update those guidelines, and provide references or links to these ethical regulations.
• Editors should have systems in place to protect the confidentiality and personal information of reviewers, except in the case of open peer review, where authors and reviewers have been informed in advance.

2. Roles and Responsibilities of Authors

1. Authors must ensure that the submitted work is original and has not been previously published elsewhere.
2. Authors must prepare manuscripts in accordance with the journal’s required structure, format, and submission guidelines.
3. Authors must properly cite the work of others whenever such work is used in their manuscript through appropriate in-text citations and references to demonstrate scholarly evidence.
4. Authors must report research findings or academic investigations honestly and with academic integrity, without falsifying or distorting data, and without pursuing academic benefit at the expense of personal rights or human rights.
5. Authors must not submit the same work for publication in more than one academic journal, nor reuse text from their own previously published work without proper citation in a manner that could mislead readers into believing it is new work (self-plagiarism).
6. Authors must disclose all sources of research funding in the manuscript.
7. All individuals listed as authors must have made genuine contributions to the research, investigation, and writing of the article.
8. Authors must disclose any conflicts of interest related to the manuscript to the editorial office at the time of initial submission.
9. Authors must provide evidence of approval from an institutional research ethics committee or other relevant authority when the manuscript involves research involving human participants or animals.
10. Authors must not interfere in any way with the manuscript review process, peer review process, or the journal’s editorial operations.
11. Manuscripts that do not pass the peer review process shall be considered rejected and may not be resubmitted or reconsidered under any circumstances, even if revised in accordance with reviewers’ comments

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

1. Reviewers shall evaluate assigned manuscripts within their area of expertise, considering whether the manuscript is accurate, appropriate, of high quality, and beneficial to the academic community.
2. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of all manuscripts submitted for review and must not disclose or share them with the public or with unauthorized individuals.
3. Reviewers must have no conflicts of interest and must not allow personal opinions, or differences related to race or religion, to influence their judgment. If a conflict of interest exists, reviewers must inform the editor and decline the review assignment.
4. If reviewers discover that a submitted manuscript contains content that is identical or substantially overlaps with other published works, they must immediately notify the journal editor.
5. Reviewers should provide constructive recommendations for improving the manuscript, including suggesting relevant references or internationally accepted practices related to the submitted work that the authors may have overlooked.