Ethical Guidelines

Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards throughout the publication process, upholding principles of transparency, integrity, and responsible scholarship. The journal follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the study. Proper acknowledgment of the contributions of others, including funding sources, is essential.

Peer review process

The peer review process should be transparent and fair, with appropriate experts selected to review the manuscript. Reviewers and editors adhere to COPE's guidelines on confidentiality, objectivity, and constructive feedback.

Conflict of interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the objectivity of their work, including relationships or connections with any authors, companies, or institutions associated with the paper.

Data integrity and Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged to present accurate and complete data, maintain the originality of their work, and uphold the integrity of research data, promoting transparency and reproducibility. Authors should be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Ethical concern

Authors, reviewers, and readers can submit concerns or observations related to ethical issues by contacting the editorial office. We encourage the reporting of any ethical concerns or misconduct encountered. All reports will be handled with confidentiality and sensitivity, and appropriate actions will be taken to address the concerns.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

ABE enforces strict measures when handling allegations of research misconduct, including plagiarism, falsification of data, citation manipulation, submitting a manuscript to multiple journals, and text recycling. ABE’s policy for handling allegations of research misconduct is based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Reports of research misconduct may pertain to a published article or a manuscript undergoing peer review. The process for submitting and handling complaints of author misconduct will be conducted with sensitivity, professionalism, and confidentiality. If an inquiry uncovers evidence of misconduct, necessary measures will be taken, which may include retraction, correction, or the issuance of a statement of concern, in adherence to ethical standards.

AI-generated contents

If generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies are employed during the writing process, authors should carefully review and edit the results, as AI may generate output that is incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should clearly state in their manuscript any use of AI or AI-assisted technologies during the writing process. Such statements will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the content of the work.

 

Publication Ethics

Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) adheres to the Code of Conduct and Best practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf).

 

The editorial team of ABE:

-  Should constantly improve the quality of the journal by publishing high quality research work, update the review process to meet up-to-date publishing technology.

- Must not disclose any information related to a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher as appropriate.

- Should be fair to all authors and evaluate a manuscript for its intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

-  Pursue and try to prevent misconduct in published and unpublished work related to: plagiarism of other works, data fabrication and/or falsification, manuscripts with duplicate submissions, ghost authors, and citation manipulation. An article corresponding to the aforementioned violations must be withdrawn or retracted from the journal.

-  Take reasonable steps to publish corrections clarifications, and apologies when needed.

-  Consult editorial board members periodically, and inform them of any changes made to the journal.

 

The reviewers should:

- Maintain confidentiality of all information and documents in the review process.

- Provide timely and unbiased feedback on the manuscripts to the editorial office.

- Immediately decline to review a manuscript that is out of their fields of expertise.

- Advise the Editors in cases of possible misconduct related to manuscripts that: plagiarize other works, contain data fabrication and/or falsification, contain ghost authors, and contain citation manipulation.

-  Never use unpublished materials disclosed in the review process in their own research without permission of the authors.

 

The authors should:

- Ensure that the submitted manuscript contains original work with proper citations and sufficient details. The manuscript should at least have acceptable English expression.

- Never submit a manuscript that plagiarizes other works, contains data fabrication and/or falsification, has duplicate submission, has ghost authors, and contains citation manipulation.

-  Provide sufficient information of all authors of the manuscript.

-  Provide proper acknowledgement of research funding.