An-Najah University Journal for Research - A (Natural Sciences)

Publications Ethics

The Ethics and Malpractice statement

ANUJR-A trusts its editors, who in turn trust peer reviewers to provide fair assessments, and authors trust editors to select appropriate peer reviewers, and readers put their trust in the peer-review process. To fulfil the academic publishing standards, all parties should abide to the following ethics.

1 Ideas and expression

Our editors and readers have a right to expect that submitted work is the author’s own, that it has not been plagiarized, i.e. taken from other authors without permission where required, and that copyright has not been breached, e.g. if figures or tables are reproduced.

2 Ethical obligations

ANUJR-A expects authors to maintain the highest ethical standards when conducting research and in the publication process. The following principles, which are not an exhaustive list, should apply:

2.1 Soundness and reliability

The research being reported should:

The authors should:

2.2 Honesty

Researchers should:

• present their results honestly and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation;
• present research images, e.g. micrographs, X-rays, pictures of electrophoresis gels, without them being modified in a misleading way;
• follow applicable reporting guidelines;
• provide sufficient detail and describe their methods clearly and unambiguously and with reference to public sources of information, in order to permit others to repeat the work and confirm the findings. Data should always be reported accurately and never be manipulated, with any problematic data also treated accordingly;
• present reports of complete research. They should not omit inconvenient, inconsistent or inexplicable findings or results that do not support the authors’ or sponsors’ hypothesis or interpretation;
• alert the editor promptly if they discover an error in any submitted, accepted or published work. Authors should cooperate with editors in issuing corrections or retractions when required;
• represent the work of others accurately in citations and quotations;
• not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work; and
• • identify any hazards inherent in conducting the research.

Special notes:

• Researchers should not enter agreements that permit the research sponsor to veto or control the publication of the findings (unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as research classified by governments because of security implications).
• If investigations have involved animals or human subjects, authors should provide all the statements required by the journal in order to prove that the experimental protocols were approved appropriately and that they meet all the guidelines of the agency involved, including obtaining informed consent where required.
• Information obtained privately should not be used without the explicit permission of the individuals from whom it was obtained, and appropriate letters confirming permission to include this information must be acquired.

2.3 Balance

Researchers should:

• present new findings in the context of previous research. The work of others should be fairly represented. Scholarly reviews and syntheses of existing research should be complete, balanced, and should include findings regardless of whether they support the hypothesis or interpretation being proposed. Editorials or opinion pieces presenting a single viewpoint or argument should be clearly distinguished from scholarly reviews;
• address study limitations in their manuscript; and
• avoid criticisms of a personal nature, although well-supported criticism of a piece of work is always welcomed.

2.4 Originality

Researchers should:

• adhere to the accepted publication requirements that submitted work should be original and has not been published elsewhere in any language without express citation and acknowledgement of the previously published work;
• adhere to and follow all applicable copyright laws and conventions. Copyright material, e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations, should be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement;
• properly acknowledge and reference relevant previous work and publications, both by other researchers and the authors own. The primary literature should be cited where possible;
• properly acknowledge data, text, figures or ideas originated by other researchers, and these should not be presented as if they were the authors’ own work. Original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations;
• inform editors if findings have been published previously or if multiple reports or multiple analyses of a single data set are under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors should provide copies of related publications or work submitted to other books/journals; and
• not claim originality if others have already reported similar work in part or as a whole, and credit should always be given to the work and findings of others that have led to their findings or influenced them in some way.

Special notes:

• Multiple publications arising from a single research project should be clearly identified as such and the primary publication should be referenced. Translations and adaptations for different audiences should be clearly identified as such, should acknowledge the original source, and should respect relevant copyright conventions and permission requirements. If in doubt, authors should seek permission from the original publisher before republishing any work.
• Avoid fragmenting research to maximize the number of articles submitted to a journal, and the submission of the same research to multiple books/journals or other publication media. Both these practices seriously undermine the innovative nature of research findings.

3 Respecting confidentiality

4 Supplements/funded publications

In the case of journals that choose to publish supplements, special issues, sections, or similar materials that are funded by a third-party organization, e.g. a company, society or charity – the supporter or sometimes sponsor, the content of funded items must align with the purpose of the journal. They must also include:

• explicit declaration of conflicts of interest or absence thereof for all contributions, including those of authors, editors and co-editors;
• explicit acknowledgement of any contributions (for example, editorial assistance) made by anyone other than named authors, including their affiliations;
• description of the processes used to select, review and edit the content, especially the differences in this process (if any) from the journal’s normal content selection and peer-review processes; and
• details of the journal’s affiliations and Editorial Board.

Journals that choose to publish supplements should appoint co-editors (including the individual who proposed the initial idea for the funded material and a second individual appointed by the journal) as standard procedure for all funded materials. This enables editorial decisions to be easily deputized, as should be the case when one editor is an author or is acknowledged as a contributor of a particular article, or when one editor is presented with manuscripts where their own interests may impair their ability to make an unbiased editorial decision.

A short statement explaining the process used to make editorial decisions must be included in the editorial of such an issue.

Journals should not permit funding organizations to make decisions beyond those about which publications they choose to fund and the extent of the funding. Decisions about the selection of authors and about the selection and editing of contents to be presented in funded publications should be made by the editor (or co-editors) of the funded publication.

ANUJR-A reserves the right not to publish any funded publication that does not comply with the requirements defined for the journal to which the manuscript or supplement has been submitted.

5 Human/animal rights

ANUJR-A promotes ethical and responsible research practices:

• Authors should provide evidence that research has adhered to national standards for research practices (in human and animal studies).
• Authors should provide evidence that studies have been approved by relevant bodies, the relevant research ethics committee or institutional review board, e.g. institutional review board, research ethics committee, data and safety monitoring board, and regulatory authorities including those overseeing animal experiments.
• If human participants were involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and appropriate informed consent of each.
• If experimental animals were used, the materials and methods (experimental procedures) section must clearly indicate that appropriate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort, and details of animal care should be provided.
• Editors should encourage peer reviewers to consider ethical issues raised by the research they are reviewing.
• Editors should request additional information from authors if they feel this is required.
• Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been followed.
• If a manuscript has been submitted from a country where there is no ethics committee, institutional review board, or similar review and approval, editors should use their own experience to judge whether the manuscripts should be published. If the decision is made to publish a manuscript under these circumstances, a short statement should be included to explain the situation.

Where individual human subjects or case studies are discussed, e.g. as in medicine, psychology, criminology, journals should protect confidentiality and should not permit publication of items that might upset or harm participants/subjects, or breach confidentiality of, for example, the doctor-patient relationship.

• ANUJR-A will not publish individual information and identifiable images from patients/ human subjects. We will also require explicit consent from any patients described in case studies or shown in photographs.

6 Plagiarism and fabrication

Plagiarism can be simply defined as using others’ ideas, phraseologies, information, or other sources of material without acknowledging the original owners of these materials. Thus, it is important to point out that plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including: text, illustrations, images, long quotations, recordings, etc.; material downloaded from websites on the Internet or taken from manuscripts or other forms of media;

published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations, MA dissertations and PhD theses. Plagiarism cannot be tolerated at all costs in our journal whose editorial team has the right to check all submissions through different technological tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be instantly rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after the publication of a manuscript, we will consult our editors about following some guidelines such as correction, author(s)’ restriction or complete retraction. We also expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism if they find out that some parts of the submitted work are incompatible with the rest of the work.

ANUJR-A subscribes to Turnitin, a tool to help editors verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. As part of this process all manuscripts are scanned and compared with the Turnitin database.

If a case of plagiarism comes to light after a manuscript is published in an ANUJR-A journal, the journal will conduct a preliminary investigation. If plagiarism is found, the journal will contact the author’s institute and funding agencies. A determination of misconduct will lead the ANUJR-A journal to publish a corrigendum linked to the original publication, with an explanation. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the manuscript may also be formally retracted.

7 Reused and Redundant Publication

Reused or redundant publication occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is appropriated and sent to different journals more than once by the author(s) without adhering to cross-referencing or providing sufficient justification for the overlap in different publications. This can happen in the same language or in more than one language, especially Arabic and English in our case. We do not support and acknowledge substantial overlap between publications, unless:

• the editors agree that this overlap will strengthen the academic discourse;
• the editors get clear approval from the original publication;
• the author(s) include citation of the original source.

As we expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of reused or redundant publication, authors must make sure that manuscripts are not under consideration elsewhere, whether accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or other places.

For ethical reasons, it is advisable that author(s) check their submitted field-research and remove any prejudices or provocations involving vulnerable humans, beliefs of religious minorities, foreigners or even endangered animals. Submissions are approved by relevant editorial members who will ensure that the submitted work conforms to international ethical and legal standards for research. We, therefore, expect authors to respect human participants’ right to privacy, and to gain any necessary consent by participating individuals to publish before submitting to us.

8 Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors are entitled to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could affect the integrity of their research. Conflicts of interest, which could be financial, professional or personal, may cause an undue influence on the presentation, review or publication of a piece of work.

9 Defamation and Freedom of Expression

Although freedom of expression is significant to our journal, we refrain from publishing harmful statements that damage the reputation of individuals, groups, or institutions.

10 Image Manipulation, Falsification and Fabrication

If researchers change the images presented in their work as integral data, the outcomes and significance of the work can be disqualified on the basis of misrepresentation. Unless there are valid reasons for modifying these images, we strongly urge authors to present these images as they appear in the original sources. Changes to original images can easily lead to falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of intended results.

11 Research Frauds and Misconduct

We always seek to ensure that the content of all submitted research is ethical. If we discover that any research includes fraudulent information or results, the published work will be corrected or retracted, and the author(s) will be officially notified of our decision.

12 Transparency / Data and Supporting Evidence

Transparency and openness around all types of research material are vital components of our ethical codes of publication. Authors are expected to maintain accurate records of supporting evidence. This is necessary to help others understand and verify new findings, and to supply or provide access to this supporting evidence, if requested.

13 Integrity of Record

We maintain an excellent record of all published material and we do not modify or manipulate the presentation of our academic records even for marketing purposes. The published information provided by our journal describes each publication in details. We preserve our records as much as possible if it is necessary for us to change the publication records in one way or another.

Our journal takes full care and respect for all participants contributing to our input in all fields of research. In addition to the general principles mentioned earlier, our journal and editorial teams are also responsible for responding to all authors in different research areas concerning ethical issues and policies appropriate to their subject matter and discipline. If author(s) have any concern regarding these publication ethics, principles or procedures, please do not hesitate to email the editor-in-chief at [email protected].

14 Editors

Fair Play: The editors 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 editors 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. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations: The editors should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

15 Duties of Reviewers

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. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication, and lies at the heart of the scientific method.

Promptness: Any selected 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: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

16 Duties of Authors

Reporting standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.

Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review.

Acknowledgement of sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

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 those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Authorship and Contribution:

1. Author(s) must abide by certain ethical commitments relating to the accuracy, originality or integrity of any part of the work, and if any of these ethical commitments are violated during or after the process of writing, drafting and revising, the author(s) must adequately investigate, address and resolve these issues before we proceed with publication. The corresponding author is the main person who manages the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process in all possible ways.
2. The corresponding author must confirm that he/she has the full authority to act on behalf of all co-authors, whose names must be listed in a non-review document upon submission, in all matters pertaining to submission, correspondence and publication of the manuscript. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain the agreement to act on behalf of all participating authors and to inform them constantly of the manuscript’s status throughout the submission, review, and publication process. In case of general or specific enquiries pertaining to the submitted work, the corresponding author must also handle any communication on behalf of other authors. Moreover, our journal editorial team encourages authors to list anyone who provided research, proofreading, editing and writing assistance in the Acknowledgments section in their publication.