Publication Ethics
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International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals follows guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in addressing all aspects of publication ethics, particularly in handling cases of research and publication misconduct. The International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals adopts COPE principles to uphold high ethical standards for publishers, editors, authors, and reviewers. As an essential issue, publication ethics must be clearly defined to enhance the quality of research worldwide. In this section, we outline the ethical responsibilities applicable to authors, editors, and reviewers.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors 1. Authors should comply with the ethical guidelines adopted by International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals when writing and submitting their reports. Authors must be aware that any unethical practices could lead to severe consequences, including retraction of a published article or even being banned from publishing in this journal. 2. Authors must be fully aware of the contents of their submitted manuscripts. The presented data should be accurate and free from fabrication and fraud. 3. Authors must ensure the originality of their reports. International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals does not accept manuscripts or any parts of manuscripts that have been previously published or are under consideration for publication elsewhere. Please see the journal’s policy regarding reproducing published material from other publishers. 4. Authors must ensure that their original report is free from plagiarism. They are advised to maintain the similarity index of their manuscript at no more than 15%. 5. Authors should do their best to ensure the availability of the underlying data. Raw data may be requested by editors or reviewers during evaluation. Authors are encouraged to make their underlying data publicly available through institutional or subject-based data repositories. Exceptions are made for private data of research subjects, which are meant to be kept confidential by the authors. 6. Authors should disclose any competing interests and their funding sources in a separate section (see Instructions to Authors). They must ensure that funders do not play a role in designing the experiment or interpreting its results. 7. Authors must notify editors regarding any incorrectness or inaccuracies in their manuscripts before publication for immediate correction. Additionally, they have a responsibility to report significant errors or inaccuracies observed post-publication to the journal or the Editor-in-Chief. In response, the journal will release an erratum for the correction(s) or retract the article following consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, handling editor, and reviewers.
Ethical Responsibilities of Editors 1. Editors must comply with COPE practices when evaluating and making decisions on submitted manuscripts. 2. Editors shall judge submitted manuscripts based on academic merits (such as originality, scientific correctness, and readability) and their relevance to the scope of International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals. Discriminatory behavior based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy, or institutional affiliation is not permissible during the editorial process. 3. Editors’ decisions should not be influenced by the policies of governments or any other agencies outside the journal itself. The decision to accept a manuscript should be supported by recommendations from reviewers. 4. Editors are responsible for informing authors regarding the acceptance or rejection of their manuscripts. 5. Editors must treat submitted manuscripts with full confidentiality and prevent the disclosure of any information contained in the manuscript to parties who have no role in the evaluation and publication process. 6. Editors must respect an author's request not to invite certain reviewers, provided the request is based on objective considerations.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers Reviewers hold a critical role in maintaining the quality of paper published in our journals. Prior to publication, each submitted manuscript should undergo a peer-review process by ideally two independent reviewers, invited by the editors based on their expertise, suitability and professional track record in the subject area of the manuscript. Once reviewers are appointed, they are bind to the following ethical responsibilities: 1. The primary responsibility of reviewers is to perform objective adjudication on the submitted manuscript on the basis of scientific merits and publication standards. 2. Document sent to the reviewers for peer-review shall be treated as confidential. 3. Reviewers should respect the single-blind peer-review policy adopted by the journal. Reviewers must not disclose their identity to the authors during the evaluation process. 4. In making review reports, reviewers should give their best in explaining their suggestions point-by-point to authors. 5. Reviewers are expected to submit their reports in a timely manner and encouraged to reach the handling editor if extra time is needed to evaluate the manuscript. 6. Reviewers must notify editors when any scientific and ethical misconduct is found in the experiment or in the manuscript. These include the indication of plagiarism and data fabrication or manipulation.
Conflict of Interests For all types of submission. Authors must indicate whether or not there is a financial relationship between them and the organization that sponsored the research. This note should be added in a separate section previous to the reference list. If no conflict exists, authors should state so. See the details in Instruction to Authors. Conflict of interest may also emerge during the manuscript evaluation that may disrupt the fair play process. To anticipate, editors are prevented from handling manuscripts whose authors are from the same institution with them, or by research collaborators, or co-authors, or competitors. In such a case, another editor will be appointed to handle the manuscript.
Ethical Approval Requirements Any experiment involving human or animal subjects is required to obtain the ethical clearance from the institutional review board or ethics committee prior to the experiment. Infringement to this policy may be regarded as research misconduct.
Human Subjects All human studies should have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. It should also be stated clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study should be omitted. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. Animal Subjects Reviewers and editors are advised to refer to the ARRIVE checklist when assessing manuscript reporting experiments using animal models. When using animal model in experiments, authors should comply with commonly-accepted '3Rs': (1) Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible; (2) Reduction in number of animals used; And (3) refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals. During the experiment, authors are advised to refer to the following international guidelines: 1. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes (See here) 2. The Scientific Basis for Regulation of Animal Care and Use by American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (See here) 3. EU regulations on animal research (See here) Reproducing Published Material from other Publishers It is absolutely essential that authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, schemes, tables or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyright holder (usually the Publisher, please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyright holder). Permission is required for: 1. Your own works published by other Publishers and for which you did not retain copyright. 2. Substantial extracts from anyone's works or a series of works. 3. Use of Tables, Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified. 4. Photographs for which you do not hold copyright. 5. Permission is not required for: 6. Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please notice that in this case you must cite the source of the data in the form of either "Data from..." or "Adapted from...". 7. Reasonably short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission. 8. Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks that are completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission. Obtaining Permission In order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication process, you should start obtaining permissions as early as possible. If in any doubt about the copyright, apply for permission. Manuscript containing materials from other publications without permission cannot be published in the International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals. The copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed; otherwise follow the style: "Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].' at the end of the caption of the Table, Figure or Scheme.
Publication Misconducts Publication misconducts include data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and improper authorship. These terms are defined as follows:
In Case of Research and Publication Misconducts Editors, in collaboration with reviewers, maintain the accuracy and integrity of the contents published in the International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals. In addressing misconduct allegations, editors will follow the COPE guidelines, including conducting a thorough investigation. If a manuscript is found to have committed misconduct during the editorial or peer-review process, it will be rejected. If misconduct is discovered post-publication, editors will retract the paper by releasing a notification indicating the paper has been retracted along with the investigation results. Another sanction for committing scientific misconduct is restricting the author(s) from publishing in the International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals for a certain period as determined by the editorial board. Any allegation will be reviewed by the editorial board and investigated for validity, including assessing its consistency with the definition of research misconduct. The investigation will also consider potential conflicts of interest from the individual(s) reporting the allegation. If scientific misconduct or other substantial research irregularities are suspected, the allegations will be shared with the corresponding author, who, on behalf of all co-authors, must provide a detailed response. Once the response is received and evaluated, additional review and involvement of experts (such as statistical reviewers) may be required. If misconduct is deemed unlikely, clarifications, additional analyses, or both—published as letters to the editor, along with a correction notice—may be sufficient. Institutions with which the authors are affiliated should conduct their own investigations into allegations of scientific misconduct. The responsibility for maintaining and ensuring the accuracy of scientific content in published articles is shared among authors, journals, and institutions. Actions taken by the journal may include corrections, retractions with replacement, or full retractions of the article in question. Through these measures, the International Journal of Community Service for Sustainable Development Goals continues to uphold its responsibility to ensure the validity and integrity of the scientific record.
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