Publication Ethics

The journal is committed to maintaining the highest level of integrity in the content published. This journal has a Conflict of Interest policy in place. 
Currently the journal is not a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) but will soon apply for its membership. However we follow its principles on how to deal with acts of misconduct thereby committing to investigate allegations of misconduct in order to ensure the integrity of research. The journal takes issues relating to publication ethics very seriously. We strictly follow the guidelines and best practice recommendations published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Authors are expected to abide by ethical standards in regards to the attribution of authorship, conflicts of interest, respect of ethical considerations in the use of experimental animal and human participants, financial support disclosures and participation in the peer review process. Additionally, cases of invalid or fraudulent data, plagiarism and dual submissions will constitute grounds for rejection.
The journal may use plagiarism detection software to screen the submissions. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.
Content published in this journal is peer reviewed. For details about the peer review process please visit our page for it.

Editors' Responsibilities

The editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The editor will evaluate manuscripts, and decision will be based on the paper's importance, originality and clarity, and the study's validity and its relevance to the journal's scope. The editor is responsible for plagiarism and Current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement as well. The editors will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s).  

In making publication decisions, the editor may consult with the associate editor and other members of the editorial team, as well as with reviewers. Additionally, the editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author's explicit written consent. It is necessary to recognize that laws and regulations regarding research ethics and ethical approval vary worldwide. As such, the editors may need to seek clarification in this regard with the author(s) and request that they supply a letter from the relevant institutional ethics committee or board that approved the research. The editors will be guided by CORE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles. 

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors will submit only entirely original works, and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited. Authors of manuscripts reporting on original research should present an accurate account of the work performed, accompanied by an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. The fabrication of results and the making of fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and may be cause for rejection or retraction of a manuscript or published article.

 

Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be resubmitted to copyrighted publications. However, by submitting a manuscript, the author(s) retain the rights to the published material. In case of publication they permit the use of their work under a CC-BY license [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/], which allows others to copy, distribute and transmit the work as well as to adapt the work and to make commercial use of it.

 

All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Authors could be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the paper for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data center), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in form of an erratum.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

The reviewer's assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and may also serve the author in improving the paper. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate and  Reviews should be conducted objectively.as well as  Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. They should also not accept manuscript review assignments for which they feel unqualified. Reviewers who have accepted manuscript assignments are normally expected to submit their reviews within three weeks. Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers. Also Reviewers will notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.