Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

This publication ethics and malpractice statement was collaboratively developed by the editors of the CriSTaL journal (Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning) and SOTL in the South has provided it here with their kind permission. The original statement can be found at http://cristal.epubs.ac.za/index.php/cristal/ethics. CriSTaL’s editors shaped this statement using the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics 2011). A similar statement by PsychOpen was also helpful in preparing the document (PsychOpen n.d). It also adopts certain policies listed in the MET journal: https://hrcak.srce.hr/upute/etika_hr_Migracijske_i_etnicke_teme.pdf

 

Editors' responsibilities

Publication decisions: editors are collectively responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. Our editors evaluate manuscripts without regard to the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. Decisions on publication are ultimately based on the paper’s contribution to the field, its originality and clarity, and its relevance to the journal's aims and scope. Current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism are also considered. Editors will screen all submission using plagiarism checking software.

Confidentiality: the editors and editorial staff undertake not to 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Disclosure and conflicts of interest: unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the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.

Editors will publish errata, retractions or clarifications when necessary.

New editors will not overturn previous editors’ decisions to publish submissions, unless serious problems are identified, e.g. suspected misconduct in published and unpublished papers.

Reviewers' responsibilities
Contribution to editorial decisions: the peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and, in many cases, reviewer feedback is also useful to the author/s in revising and improving the paper.

Promptness: any selected peer reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or knows that responding within the journal’s preferred four-week peer review period will be impossible, should notify the editor timeously and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality: any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shared or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor/s.

Standards of objectivity: reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Papers should be fairly evaluated in respect of their fit with the journal, their contribution to the field of research, and the way in which the author has expressed and substantiated their argument.

Acknowledgement of sources: in instances where published work referred to in submissions has not been cited in the reference section (mismatch between in-text references and the reference list), reviewers must report this to the journal editors. They should also indicate instances where they believe observations or arguments derived from other publications are not accompanied by the relevant source or reference. Reviewers should notify the editors of any notable similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper or papers of which they have personal knowledge. Reviewers should not personally investigate these instances unless the journal editors ask for further information or advice.

 

Disclosure and conflict of interest: privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage, and should be kept confidential. Reviewers approached to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors or institutions associated with the manuscripts should remove themselves from the review process.

Authors' duties
Reporting standards: authors of original research papers should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as a clear discussion of its significance. Relevant data should be represented accurately and appropriately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit readers to access works referenced in the paper, and draw on the work in their own research if desired. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unethical and unacceptable.

Data access and retention: authors should ensure accessibility of raw data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources: authors will submit only entirely original works, and will cite or quote the work and/or words of others in an appropriate manner and in line with the journal’s published guidelines. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: submitting the same paper to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Authors submitting an original paper to the journal should not have the paper under consideration with any other journal at that time. Authors of submitted articles must participate in the peer-review process. Authors may only withdraw their paper if the paper is: rejected before or after peer review, or if authors notify the editor of their intention to withdraw as soon as a decision on the manuscript is communicated by the editors, including where such a decision indicates the need for revisions. 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/4.0/], which allows others, with appropriate attribution, to ‘copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format’ and to ‘remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercial’.

Authorship of the paper: authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All authors who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors are included in the author list. 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 communication will be conducted between the editor/s and corresponding author only, except where co-authors request otherwise.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: all authors should include in their submission a clear statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be interpreted as influencing the research included in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed, including where relevant project or funding reference numbers.

Fundamental errors in published works: if an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her own published work, the author is obliged 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. Authors should take care to review their own manuscripts carefully during the production process to avoid such errors being published.

 

Complaints and appeals: authors or reviewers who wish to lodge a complaint and/or appeal can do so directly with the managing editor who will forward the complaint/appeal to the editor-in-chief.  The editor-in-chief, in consultation with the editorial board, will then reach a final decision or response, which the managing editor will then communicate to the author/reviewer.

References
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). 2011. Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. 7 March. Available: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf
Accessed 28 January 2016.

PsychOpen. n.d.. Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement. Available:
http://www.psychopen.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/guidelines/publication_ethics_and_publication_malpractice_statement.pdf
Accessed 27 January 2016.

MET journal. n.d. PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
https://hrcak.srce.hr/upute/etika_hr_Migracijske_i_etnicke_teme.pdf
Accessed 31 May 2018.