Ethical Policy

Research publications significantly contribute to the existing body of knowledge, development of the discipline, and progression in intellectuality. Therefore, it is essential to clearly chalk our ethical policy and guidelines to bring clarity for our authors, reviewers, and editors in the process of publishing the journal so that they can work in accordance with the highest level of professional ethics and standards. For our double blind and peer-reviewed journal, we are following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.

The publisher is dedicated to supporting the vast efforts of the editors, the academic contributions of authors, and the respected volunteer work undertaken by reviewers. The publisher is also responsible for ensuring that the publication system works smoothly, and that ethical guidelines are applied to assist the author, reviewer, and editor in performing their ethical duties.

Author's Responsibilities: 

• The author should guarantee that the works he or she has submitted are original. If the author has used work and/or words by others, appropriate citations are required. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
• Since it is author’s responsibility to submit original article, however after plagiarism test, author will be approached in case of any violation.
• The author should remove his/her identity from the prescribed main documents and should not include any content that discloses author’s identity.
• The author should honestly gather and interpret his or her research data. Publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers are entitled to request the author to provide the raw data for his or her research for convenience of editorial review and public access. If practicable, the author should retain such data for any possible use after publication.
• The author should not submit concurrent manuscripts (or manuscripts essentially describing the same subject matter) to multiple journals. Likewise, an author should not submit any paper previously published anywhere to the journals for consideration. The publication of articles on specific subject matter, such as guidelines and translations, in more than one journal is acceptable if certain conditions are met.
• The author should present a precise and brief report of his or her research and an impartial description of its significance.
• The author should indicate explicitly all sources that have supported the research and also declare any conflict(s) of interest.
• The author should give due acknowledgment to all of those who have made contributions to the research. Those who have contributed significantly to the research should be listed as coauthors.
• The author should ensure that all coauthors have affirmed the final version of the paper and have agreed on its final publication.
• The author should promptly inform the journal editor of any obvious error(s) in his or her published paper and cooperate earnestly with the editor in retraction or correction of the paper. If the editor is notified by any party other than the author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.

• Fabrication and Falsification are serious forms of misconduct and in order to avoid it, Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of the manuscript for editorial review.

• Redundant publication (also known as ‘salami publishing) involves segmenting or breaking up a large study into two or more publications. Authors are requested to be transparent. If they feel that their manuscript is closely related to some other manuscript, they are requested to send copies of that manuscript. This includes any manuscripts recently submitted, published, or already accepted. 

Reviewer's Responsibilities:

We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. In addition, some key points are listed below.

• The reviewer who feels unqualified to review the assigned manuscript or affirms that he or she cannot meet the deadline for completion of the review should immediately notify the editor and excuse himself or herself from the process of reviewing this manuscript.
• The reviewer should inform the editor and recuse himself or herself from reviewing the manuscript if there is a conflict of interest. Specifically, the reviewer should recuse himself or herself from reviewing any manuscript authored or coauthored by a person with whom the reviewer has an obvious personal or academic relationship, if the relationship could introduce bias or the reasonable perception of bias.
• The reviewer should treat the manuscript in a confidential manner. The manuscript should not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
• The reviewer should approach the peer-review job objectively. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
• The reviewer should not use for his or her own research any part of any data or work reported in submitted and as yet unpublished articles.
• The reviewer should immediately notify the editor of any similarities between the manuscript under review and another paper either published or under consideration by another journal. The reviewer should immediately call to the editor’s attention a manuscript containing plagiarized material or falsified data.

Editor's Responsibilities:

We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. In addition, some key points are listed below.

• The Managing Editor acknowledges receipt of submitted manuscripts within one week of receipt and ensures an efficient, fair, and timely review process.
• The Managing Editor ensures that submitted manuscripts are processed in a confidential manner, and that no content of the manuscripts will be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• The editor will recuse herself from processing manuscripts if she has any conflict of interest with any of the authors or institutions related to the manuscripts.
• The editor will not disclose the names and other details of the reviewers to a third party without the permission of the reviewers.
• The editor has the right to make the final decision on whether to accept or reject a manuscript with reference to the significance, originality, and clarity of the manuscript and its relevance to the journal.
• The editor will by no means make any effort to oblige the authors to cite her journal either as an implied or explicit condition of accepting their manuscripts for publication.
• The editor cannot use for her own research any part of any data or work reported in submitted and as yet unpublished articles.
• The editor will respond promptly and take reasonable measures when an ethical complaint occurs concerning a submitted manuscript or a published paper, and the editor will immediately contact and consult with the author. In this case, a written formal retraction or correction may also be required.