Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

Ethical Guidelines for Zien Journals

Zien Journals Publishing strives for the development of a coherent network of knowledge. The stakeholders of the peer-reviewed journals must contribute to maintain the quality of published manuscripts. The authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers will follow professional ethics and standards to comply with the worldwide accepted publication ethics and practices.  

     Responsibilities of-

  1. Publisher
  2. Editors
  3. Authors
  4. Reviewers

 

Policy on-

  • Modifications in Published Manuscript
  • Penalties
  • Plagiarism

 

1.    The publisher:

We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.

We are making an effort to support the policies on ethical publishing. We are taking care of the smooth functioning of the system right from submission of the manuscript to publication. We are coordinating between the authors, reviewers, editors and indexing service providers to insure the smooth functioning of the journals.

 

2.    The Editors:

We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. In addition, some key points are listed below.

  • Editors will acknowledge the received manuscript through the online submission system.
  • The editor should cross-check for the basic requirements of the manuscripts, such as plagiarism, grammatical mistakes, etc.
  • Editors must assign the reviewers to conduct the double-blind peer review of the manuscript upon clearing the first primary check.
  • The handling of the manuscript must be in a confidential manner in order to avoid conflict amongst the stakeholders.
  • The editor has the right to decide whether to accept or reject a manuscript regarding its significance, originality, clarity and relevance to the journal.
  • The editor should not make any effort to oblige the authors to cite their journal as an implied or explicit condition of accepting their manuscripts for publication.
  • The editor should not use any part of any data or work reported in submitted and unpublished articles for their research.
  • The editor should respond promptly and take reasonable measures when an ethical complaint occurs concerning a submitted manuscript or a published paper. The editor should immediately contact and consult with the author. In this case, a written formal retraction or correction may also be required.

 

3.    The Author:

Authors have to play a vital role in scholarly publishing to enhance the quality of the publications.

Following are the ethical guidelines for the authors:

  • Authors must not submit the same manuscript to multiple journals.
  • Authors must not submit copied or previously published papers to any journal.
  • The information presented in the paper must be precise and brief.
  • All the data gathered must be honest/ original and without conflict.
  • The revised versions of anyone else’s work or self-work must not be produced unless there is a significant conclusion and necessity.
  • All the sources that have supported the authors to carry out the research must be declared and acknowledged
  • Those who have contributed significantly to the research should be listed as co-authors. The author should ensure that all co-authors have affirmed the paper's final version and agreed on its final publication.
  • The author should promptly inform the journal editor of any obvious error(s) in their published paper and cooperate earnestly with the editor to retract or correct the paper.
  • If the editor is notified by any party other than the author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.

 

4.    The Reviewers:

We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. In addition, some key points are listed below.

  • Reviewers must check the area of their expertise before accepting the manuscript for review.
  • Reviewers must not suggest the authors to cite their work in the papers
  • The Reviewers must inform the editors if they are not available to complete the review work in the specified time
  • The reviewer should inform the editor and recuse themself from reviewing the manuscript if there is a conflict of interest.
  • The reviewer should treat the manuscript confidentially. The manuscript should not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor.
  • The reviewer should approach the peer-review job objectively. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
  • The reviewer should immediately call the editor’s attention to a manuscript containing plagiarised material or falsified data.

 

Policy on Modification of Published Manuscript:

The published manuscript can be replaced, provided the author must send the updated manuscript in the template format of the journals with proper justification of the replacement through email. The replacement of the manuscript is subject to the decision taken by the editorial board and reviewer board of the journal. If the paper is agreed to be replaced, the following will be implemented:

  • The manuscript in the journal database will be replaced.
  • The link in the online publication site will be replaced.
  • The old version should be kept separately; if someone wants to check the old version, the editor can send the PDF to them.
  • Note that the replacement is acceptable only once and for technical advances.

 The paper published in any journal's issues can be removed upon complaint from the reviewer, author, reader, librarian, publisher, or anyone else subject to noticing significant errors or plagiarism. Before removing the paper, a formal notice will be sent to the author to justify the said cause. If the paper was agreed to be removed, the following will be implemented:

  • The paper in the journal database will be removed.
  • The link in the online publication site will be removed.
  • Next phrase or similar phrase stating the reason will be shown below the paper title in the Table of Contents and journal volume page: (This paper was removed because of plagiarism).

 

Policy on Penalty:

  • The submission is removed if it is found to be a duplicate.
  • The author with multiple submissions is restricted to submitting any papers to the journals for the following year.
  • The double publication, if found from any source, will be reported to the authors and the editorial board members.
  • The publisher will be informed about publishing the same manuscript.
  • The authors are blacklisted for five years from submission to the journal.

 

Policy on Plagiarism:

The editor carries out the primary screening of the article. After completion of preliminary screening, if the article is found suitable according to the scope of the journal, then it is checked for plagiarism using appropriate software. If the plagiarism is below the specified limit of 20%, then the article is processed for peer review. If the article is found plagiarised above 20% then it is rejected.