Publication Policy

Scientific Journals (SJ) supports the highest standards of intellectual discourse in its publications.

All members of the publication process- authors, editors and reviewers- should be treated with fairness and balance, and adhere to the principles in Section of “Publication Principles”. The principles in this document repre-sent a minimum set of requirements. Individual publications may have ad-ditional requirements.

A publication with additional requirements shall have a publicly available statement of publication policies and procedures.

Publication Principles

A. Authorship

B. Responsibilities of Manuscript Authors

C. Reference of Manuscripts

D. Editors of Scientific Journals

A. Authorship

1.	Authorship credit should be based on a substantial intellectual co-ntribution. It is assumed that all authors have had a significant role in the creation of a manuscript that bears their names. Therefore, the list of authors on an article serves multiple purposes; it indi-cates who is responsible for the work and to whom questions rega-rding the work should be addressed. Moreover, the credit implied by authorship is often used as a measure of the contributors’ produ-ctivity when they are evaluated for employment, promotions, gran-ts, and prizes.
2.	The SJ affirms that authorship credit must be reserved for individ-uals who have met each of the following conditions: Made a signifi-cant intellectual contribution to the theoretical development, syst-em or experimental design, prototype development and/or the ana-lysis and interpretation of data associated with the work conta-ined in the manuscript. Contributed to drafting the article or reviewing and /or revising it for intellectual content.
3.	Approved the final version of the manuscript, including references. (Deceased persons deemed appropriate as authors should be so included with a footnote).
4.	In papers with multiple authorship, the order of the authors shall be at the discretion of the authors.
5.	Once the list and order of authors has been established, the list and order of authors should not be altered without permission of all living authors.
6.	Any part of an article essential to its main conclusions must be the responsibility of at least one author.
7.	In the case of papers with multiple authors, a “corresponding” aut-hor must be designated as having responsibility for overseeing the publication process and ensuring the integrity of the final docum-ent. The corresponding author accepts the responsibility for: Incl-uding as co-authors all persons appropriate and none inappropri-ate; Obtaining from all co-authors their assent to be designated as such, as well as their approval of the final version of the manus-cript; and keeping all co-authors apprised of the current status of a manuscript submitted for publication, including furnishing all co-authors with copies of the reviewers’ comments and a copy of the published version, as appropriate.
8.	Co-authors have responsibility for work submitted under their na-mes. They should remain knowledgeable in so far as possible regar-ding the status of the manuscript, including the nature of any revis-ions.
9.	If a manuscript is revised and resubmitted to the same journal, co-authors should be asked by the corresponding author to reaffirm their assent to be listed as co-authors and to approve the revised version. In addition, if the manuscript is rejected or withdrawn fr-om a journal and then submitted to a different Journal, the co-authors should be asked again by the corresponding author to affi-rm their assent to authorship even if no substantive changes have been made.
10.	Co-authors have the right to withdraw their names from a manusc-ript at any time before acceptance of the manuscript by the editor. However, an author’s or co-author’s name should not be removed from a manuscript without his or her permission. The responsible editor shall be notified of any change in authorship. Top

B. Responsibilities of Manuscript Authors

1.	Peer review is essential to scientific and technical discourse. Autho-rs are encouraged to have the first formal publication of their res-ults be a peer-reviewed paper.
2.	Financial support of the work being reported and of the authors should be clearly acknowledged, as should any potential conflict of interest.
3.	Methods and materials should be described in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and replication.
4.	All data should be presented upon request by the editor, to facilita-te the review process.
5.	Authors have an obligation to correct errors promptly.
6.	SJ defines plagiarism as the use of someone else’s prior ideas, proc-esses, results, or words without explicitly acknowledging the origi-nal author and source. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and is considered a serious breach of professional conduct, with potent-ially severe ethical and legal consequences.
7.	Fabrication and falsification are unacceptable
8.	Authors should only submit original work that has neither appea-red elsewhere for publication, nor which is under review for anot-her refereed publication. If authors have used their own previously published work(s) as a basis for a new submission, they are requir-ed to cite the previous work(s) and very briefly indicate how the new submission offers substantively novel contributions beyond th-ose of the previously published work(s).
9.	Peer review is essential to scientific and technical discourse. Autho-rs are encouraged to have the first formal publication of their res-ults be a peer-reviewed paper.
10.	Financial support of the work being reported and of the authors should be clearly acknowledged, as should any potential conflict of interest.
11.	Methods and materials should be described in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and replication.
	Note: Authors should not discuss any aspect of a manus-cript under evaluation with reviewers of the submitted manuscript. Manuscript evaluation with reviewers of the submitted manuscript.
12.	Only those articles of a researcher’s publication record that are dir-ectly relevant to the subject matter of the paper under considerat-ion should be included in the bibliography.
13.	The SJ assumes that the material submitted to its journals for pub-lications is properly available for general dissemination to the read-ership of those journals. It is the responsibility of the authors. Only those articles of a researcher’s publication record that are directly relevant to the subject matter of the paper under consideration sh-ould be included in the bibliography. Furthermore an article should be appropriately labelled as "submitted" when still in the review process or "in press" when it has been accepted for publication but has not yet appeared in print.
14.	The SJ assumes that the material submitted to its journals for pub-lications is properly available for general dissemination to the rea-dership of those journals. It is the responsibility of the authors, not the SJ, to determine whether disclosure of their material requires the prior consent of other parties and, if so, to obtain it. If authors make use of charts, photographs, or other graphical or textual mat-erial from previously published material, the authors are responsi-ble for obtaining written permission to use the material in the ma-nuscript. Top

C. Referees of Manuscripts

1.	Referees should be chosen for their high qualifications and objecti-vity regarding a particular manuscript.
2.	Reviews should be prompt and thorough.
3.	Anonymity of referees should be preserved to the extent possible.
4.	Information contain in a manuscript under review is confidential and must not be shared with others, nor should referees use non-public information contained in a manuscript to advance their own research or financial interests. Top

D. Editors of Scientific Journals

1.	The sole responsibility for acceptance or rejection of a manuscript rests with the editor.
2.	Editors should generally grant the request of an author who asks that particular individual(s) be excluded from the review of a part-icular manuscript.
3.	Editors should establish a review process that minimizes bias.
4.	Editors should subject all manuscripts of a given type to equivalent and unprejudiced reviews. Decisions about acceptance for publicat-ion should occur in a reasonable time frame, and (except for issues devoted to special topics) manuscripts should, to the editor’s best ability, be published in the chronological order of acceptance.
5.	Editors should provide to the authors a written rationale for edito-rial decisions regarding a manuscript submitted for publication. Th-is is especially important if the manuscript is being rejected.
6.	Unpublished manuscripts must be treated as confidential docum-ents by all individuals involved in the editorial process.
7.	Editors should correct errors in a manuscript if the errors are det-ected or reported before publication, or publish corrections if they are detected afterward.
8.	Editors should handle cases of alleged misconduct at the lowest po-ssible organizational level, and should usually involve the institutio-ns at which the research in question was performed.
9.	Papers submitted by an editor or associate editor should be handled by another member of the editorial board. Top