Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
This policy should be read in conjunction with IJHRB's Guidelines for Editors, Reviewers, and Authors. This policy applies to all peer-reviewed articles in IJHRB and it is important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. The ethics statements for IJHRB are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct guidelines available at www.publicationethics.org .
• Editor
• Publication decisions
- The journal editor is responsible for deciding which of articles submitted to the journal should be published.
- The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may discuss with other editors or reviewers when making publication decisions.
• Fair play
- The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
• Confidentiality
- 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.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest
- Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.
• Reviewer
• Contribution to Editorial Decisions
- Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper.
• Promptness
- Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
• Confidentiality
- Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
• Standards of Objectivity
- Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Acknowledgement of Sources
- Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
• Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
- Privileged 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 connected to the papers.
• Authors
• Authorship
- All those listed as authors should have made significant contributions to the conception; design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Other individuals who have contributed to the study in a lesser capacity should be acknowledged, but not cited as authors.
- All authors should be consulted about any subsequent changes to authorship (e.g. the list of authors) during the publication process, and it should be made clear to the journal that they have given their consent.
- The corresponding author should confirm that all appropriate names and affiliations of the co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
• Originality and Plagiarism
- The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, the authors should make sure that these have been appropriately cited or quoted.
- Plagiarism in all its forms is unethical publishing behavior and thus is unacceptable. Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others' ideas to submission of a complete paper under 'new' authorship.
• Research Integrity
- Authors must not fabricate, falsify or misrepresent data or results. They should strive to be objective, unbiased and truthful in all aspects of their work. Authors must be honest in making claims for the results and conclusions of their research.
- Authors should strive to avoid mistakes in research and exercise due diligence in presenting high quality work for publication. They should critically assess the likelihood of experimental, methodological and human errors and avoid self-deception and bias.
- 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. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper. Corrections should be approved by all authors of the original article unless there is a particular reason why this is not possible.
• Referencing and Citation
- Authors have a responsibility to acknowledge the work of others used in their research and to cite publications that have influenced the direction and course of their study. Information obtained in private correspondence or conversation should only be used with the explicit permission of the individuals involved. Information obtained whilst providing confidential services, such as refereeing research articles or grant applications, should not be used without permission of the original author.
- All sources for the article must be clearly disclosed and permissions obtained from the original authors (and original publishers if they hold the copyright) for any figures or significant extracts that are to be reproduced or quoted.
• Multiple or Concurrent Publication
- An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
- Duplicate publication is the production of multiple papers with the same, or essentially the same, content by the same authors and is viewed as unacceptable. Submitted research articles must be novel and original.
- Publication of some kinds of articles (e.g. translations, expanding upon previously published conference proceedings) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. However, in these cases authors should consult with the journal staff before submission. In all instances, the primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of interest
- A conflict of interest may exist when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work. A conflict can be actual or potential, and full disclosure to the journal is the safest course.
- All authors and co-authors are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest when submitting their article (e.g. employment, consulting fees, research contracts, patent licenses, honoraria, advisory affiliations, etc.). If the article is subsequently accepted for publication, this information should be included in an acknowledgments section.
- All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed in the article. This declaration (with the heading 'Role of the funding source') should be made in a separate section of the text and placed before the References.