Publication Ethics
The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher and the society of society-owned or sponsored journals.
Our ethic statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
Authorship in Publication
Authorship : The
authorship is for significant research
contribution in the current content of
manuscript. It should not be for
technical assistance in the
lab/instrument operation/ field work or
participating in software handling/
graphical output/ word-processing the
script.
Co-authors : The
communicating author should submit the
postal and e-mail addresses of all
co-authors. The deletion of any author
is not permitted after submission of
manuscript. In case of major revision of
the paper, a co-author can be added with
detailed explanation of the
contribution.
Plagiarism : The
journal publishes current research
findings. Even self-plagiarism is a
taboo in the final draft of the
manuscript. Too many of references,
except where the context demands, it is
a subset of self-plagiarism.
Conflict of Interest :
The manuscript should include authors'
competing interests, if any. The authors
should declare conflict of financial and
IPR interest.
Authors' Responsibilities
To participate peer review
process : The authors with Ph.D
degree and at least two years of
published post-doctoral experience are
eligible to participate in peer review
process in their field of experience and
expertise.
Arena of research : The
manuscript should contain research
results with sharable new findings
amongst scientific personnel and falling
within the broad spectrum of the
journals' prime focus.
Raw data and experimental proof
: Prior permission from Animal
Ethics Committee for experiments
involving live animals is to be
submitted along with manuscript.
Errata : Even after the
publication, the authors are obliged to
bring to the notice of editors the major
mistakes in figures or formulae for
subsequent Erratum column of the
journal.
Review Process
Review process : A
multi-level review process is adopted.
After a preview by one of editorial
board members for the suitability of
manuscript, it will be sent for experts
from India and abroad in the concerned
field. The paper may be accepted,
accepted with revision, or rejected.
After iterative modifications, the
Editor-in-chief forwards for
publication. The identity of reviewers
is kept confidential in the editorial
office.
Reviewers role :
# If the one of editors acts as referee
for a manuscript, the same pattern of
reviewing process by an external
scientist is adapted.
# The comments are only medium of transmission to modify the script and they should never be hostile, inflammatory or derogatory style /language.
# The reviewer comments should be only in the direction of improving the readability of manuscript, adept to international scientific script style. The manuscript is author's brain child and it should not be molded into any personalized frame.
# The referees remarks in a classical tone that 'This work is not interesting', ' Similar studies were made earlier', It is not in frame of today's inter-disciplinary pursuit etc. are discouraged. # The critical comments should be annexed with earlier literature evidence, references to make things easier to the editors for final decision. The comments can even be categorized as 'Authors only', 'Editors only', 'Both for authors and editors'.
# The reviewer should not use information in the manuscript for the benefit of himself/his school or organization. Also it should never be revealed to discredit anyone in the ladder. # The reviewer should not accept the manuscript, if his research group is on way of preparation of similar content or when under editorial processing in the same or any other journal.
# The reviewer should not contact the author(s) by any communication means during the entire process.
# The reviewer is to be immune in
refereeing process to nationality/religion/political arena of origin of
manuscript or even gender of author(s).
Editorial Board Responsibilities
Quality of manuscript : The factors considered are objectives
of study, equipment/instruments, computations, current results adhering to
existing theories, new findings and extension/future scope of the study.
Copyright : The contents are in open access for reading and
printing, but the publisher of journal has full rights on published papers.
Authors should seek prior permission to reproduce in any form.Typical tit-bits
of e-Learning program in operation by standard organizations are adapted to
avoid fabrication of manuscripts, plagiarism and diminished quality.The
contribution of authors is for web site maintenance for the open access journal.
Errata : Corrections to minor errors of typographic,
transcription etc. (brought to the notice of editor-in-chief after publication)
will be published under errata in the subsequent issue of the journal.
Credit : The guidelines are prepared based on state-of-art of
publication standards and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines. The policies of
journal publication are reviewed in bi-annual meetings of editorial board to
arrive at titbits for authors and referees for prospective publication process.
The revisions are updated from the immediate next issue.