Publication Ethics (COPE)

As journals serve as a medium for communicating research findings and new discoveries between researchers and the public, it is essential that scholarly communication is accurate, quality-driven, transparent, and aligned with international publishing standards. Relevant organizations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as prominent publishers like Elsevier, have established guidelines, best practices, and publication ethics for journal operations. Each journal must operate according to these specified criteria and must display a clear Publication Ethics policy on its website to inform all involved parties.

Furthermore, COPE and various publishers have defined roles and duties for three key groups within the publication cycle: Authors, Editors, and Reviewers. This ensures that these three groups strictly study and adhere to the regulations for the benefit of all stakeholders, readers, the academic community, and global society as a whole.

Duties of Authors

1. Authors must certify that the submitted manuscript is original and has never been published anywhere before.

2. Authors must report the actual facts resulting from the research, without fabricating or falsifying data.

3. Authors must properly cite the work of others if it is used in their own manuscript, and must include a reference list at the end of the article.

4. Authors must write the research article strictly according to the format specified in the "Instructions for Authors."

5. All authors listed in the article must have genuinely contributed to the execution of the research.

6. Authors must specify the funding sources that supported the research (if any).

7. Authors must declare any conflicts of interest (if any).

Duties of Editors

1. Editors are responsible for evaluating the quality of manuscripts for publication in the journals they oversee.

2. Editors must not disclose information about authors and reviewers to other unrelated individuals during the manuscript review period.

3. Editors must make the decision to select manuscripts for publication after the peer-review process, primarily considering importance, originality, clarity, and the relevance of the content to the journal’s policy.

4. Editors must not publish manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere.

5. Editors must not reject a manuscript based on mere suspicion or uncertainty; they must obtain evidence to prove those suspicions first.

6. Editors must have no conflicts of interest with authors, reviewers, and the executive team.

7. Editors must seriously inspect manuscripts for plagiarism using reliable software to ensure that articles published in the journal do not contain plagiarized content.

8. If plagiarism is detected during the review process, editors must halt the evaluation process and immediately contact the corresponding author for clarification to assist in the "acceptance" or "rejection" of that manuscript.

Duties of Reviewers

1. Reviewers must maintain confidentiality and must not disclose any part or all of the submitted manuscript to other unrelated individuals.

2. Upon receiving a manuscript from the editor, if reviewers realize they may have a conflict of interest with the authors—such as being a co-investigator, knowing the authors personally, or having other reasons that prevent them from providing independent feedback and suggestions—they should notify the editor and decline to review that manuscript.

3. Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts within their fields of expertise, considering the significance of the content to that field, the quality of the analysis, and the rigor of the work. They should not use personal opinions unsupported by data as criteria for judging a research article.

4. Reviewers must identify significant and relevant research works that the author has omitted from the citations and include them in the evaluation. Additionally, if any part of the manuscript is identical to or overlaps with other works, reviewers must notify the editor.