Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

International Journal of Aquatic Biology (IJAB) is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. The editorial board of IJAB is responsible for preventing publication malpractices. Unethical behavior is unacceptable and plagiarism is not tolerated in any form. Authors, reviewers and editors are to be fully committed to good publication practice and take charge for fulfilling the following responsibilities.

 Publication and authorship

- All submitted manuscripts are subject to single blind peer-review process by at least two international reviewers that are experts in the subject matter of the submitted manuscript. The factors that consider in review are relevance, significance, originality, readability and language.

- Authors can suggest five potential reviewers - experts in the subject matter of the article - but the editorial board of IJAB can accept or reject suggested referees.

- The accepted articles may subject to further editing by journal editorial staff before they appear in print.

- The possible decisions include acceptance, acceptance with revisions, or rejection based on reviewers comments or editorial board decision. If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a manuscript, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted. Rejected manuscripts will not be considered for further reviewing process.

- IJAB is committed to complete reviewing process, if there is no response from any requested potential reviews. The editorial board can assign the manuscript to section editor to make final decision or reject the manuscript.

- Review articles should also be objective, comprehensive, and accurate.

- No research can be included in more than one publication.

 

Authors' responsibilities

- Authors should certify that their manuscripts are their original work and not previously been published elsewhere and not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

- If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that should be appropriately cited or quoted.

- Authors are obliged to provide accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.

- Authors must provide corrections of mistakes.

- All Authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.

- Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.

- Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.

- Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior are unacceptable.

- Authors must notify the journal editor of any errors or inaccuracy in their published work, when they discover in their published paper.

- 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 cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

- Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access as well.

- Acknowledgment of the work of others must be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

 

 Reviewers' responsibilities

- Reviewers should keep all information regarding manuscript confidential and treat them as privileged information.

- Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.

- Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

- Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.

- Reviewers should also call to the Editor-in-Chief or Managing editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

- Reviewers should not review 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 connected to the papers.

 Editors' responsibilities

- Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept a submitted manuscript.
- Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication.

- Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record.
- Editors should have a clear picture of a research's funding sources.

- Editors should base their decisions solely one the papers' importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication's scope.

- Editors should not reverse their decisions nor overturn the ones of previous editors without serious reason.

- Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.

- Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.

- Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem.

- Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers and board members.

- 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.