This journal is committed to ensure critical ethics as mandated in the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) at every level and with every stakeholder i.e. the author, the Journal editor/Editorial team, the blind peer reviewer/ reviewers and the publisher involved in the act and process of publication.
Ethical Guidelines for Author/Authors
- Authors are required not to submit the manuscript of the article for publication in any other journal simultaneously.
- Authors are mandated not to misrepresent research results.
- It is important that the submitted manuscript should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about self-plagiarism )
- Authors are required to submit the report of plagiarism check undertaken on the article by using recognised softwares like Urkund/Ouriginal.
- Plagiarism detection software may be used by the Journal to check for plagiarism. In the event of detection of Plagiarism, action mandated under COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be invoked.
- In case of more than one Author, Authors are s advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Any subsequent request for addition and/or deletion when the article is in revision stage is generally not permitted (except in cases justified subsequently).
- If at any point of time, the journal or its editor suspects misbehavior or alleged fraud, they/he/she may undertake appropriate investigation as per COPE guidelines.
- In the case of Manuscripts of medical studies involving human participants, Authors are required to submit a statement mentioning clearly the ethics committee approving the study and a certificate from the same committee mentioning that the study confirms to the recognized standard procedures identified in established protocols.
- Author/Authors submitting manuscripts based on animal studies, is/are required to provide a statement indicating that the established protocols and procedures employed for such studies were strictly adhered to.
- Authors submitting manuscripts on animal studies need to submit a statement indicating that the protocols and procedures employed for such studieswere strictly adhered to.Authors should also mention the name of the institutional ethics committee giving approval for such study/s along with the approval number. This must also be clearly indicated in the section of the paper dealing with research methods.
Ethical Guidelines for the Editor/Editorial Team
The editor and his/her team shall evaluate each submitted manuscript with fairness. They are to maintain strict confidentiality about the manuscripts. In the event of any potential conflict of interest, members of the editorial board should report the same to the board and rescue themselves from the process of screening and pre-reviewing the relevant articles/articles. The editor and his/her team have to work with utmost professionalism while dealing with the process of review of the articles.
Code of Ethics for Reviewer/Referee
The journal expects maintenance of highest degree of integrity from its valued reviewers. They shall not divulge the details of the review process to another person/institution except the editor of the journal. He/She is expected to evaluate the manuscript based on merit as laid down in the guidelines sent to them. The reviewer in the process of review, if finds any research misconduct on the part of the author/authors, shall bring the same to the notice of the editor.
