Publication Ethics

  • As a Publisher or Editor, everything that is being published in a journal should be accounted for. For instance, measures must be put in place when assessing quality of material, making sure all corrections and clarifications are properly done before the Journal accepts to publish it.
  • An Editor must not be biased when discharging his duties. There should be no discrimination when editing. Be it, ethnicity, gender, religious or political beliefs.
  • Guidelines or guidance should be provided to Authors and Reviewers in order for them to know what they are expected to do.
  • Firm decisions must be taken by Editors based on the quality and capability of Journals they publish without any form of interference from the Publisher.
  • Editors must be fair and unbiased when handling submissions. Also, there should be confidentiality in the treatment of Manuscripts when distributing it to others for the purposes of review.
  • There should be a system put in place that ensures the protection of the Reviewer’s identity.
  • Policies and systems must be put in place by Journals to ensure that considerations on commercial bases are not affected by editorial decisions and submissions for funded issues must be handled by Editors, the same way they handle standard issues in order for articles to be accepted purely on academic merits without commercial influence.
  • In the case of any form of suspected misconduct which includes plagiarism and disputed authorship a COPE Flowcharts must be a guide for Editors.
  • A declared mechanism should be put in place by Journals to help authors appeal against any editorial decision.
  • A system must be put in place where Editors can manage their own conflicts of interest with their Staff, Authors, Reviewers and Editorial Board Members.
  • Every work submitted by Authors should be original, contents from other sources cited properly and devoid of any form of plagiarism.
  • There should be assistance from Reviewers to improve the quality of articles that are submitted for review. Manuscripts should be reviewed with care, objectivity and consideration.
  • Materials that are similar to any materials under review or suspected to be plagiarized must be reported to the Journal editor by the Reviewer.
  • Confidentiality of any information or material supplied during the process of review should be respected by Reviewers.