Publication Ethics

 

 Publication Ethics

The authors, reviewers, editor-in-chief and board of editors of the Journal of Philosophical Theological Research(JPTR) are required to adhere to a professional code of ethics. The Journal of Philosophical Theological Research follows the codes and regulations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in this regard and follows the COPE Flowcharts for Resolving Cases of Suspected Misconduct. Going forward, some of the most important principles of publication ethics will be mentioned. 

Authors, reviewers, editors-in-chief and editorial board members can refer to the COPE site for more information regarding the rules and code of ethics for journals.

 

Code of Ethics for Authors:

  1. The final responsibility of the contents of the article belongs to the author (or authors) of the article. Therefore, authors are bound to provide a precise explanation and analysis of their views. Similarly, the article must contain sufficient details and sources; such that it is possible for all researchers to access the same set of information to repeat the research.
  2. The article should be a novel and original work, i.e. it should be the product of the study, experiences and research of the author or authors themselves. As a result, an article that has been copied from others (even though it may be referenced) or is a repetition of their idea is not acceptable.
  3. The author must not simultaneously submit an article or a part of it to another journal or to be presented in a conference.
  4. The author must refrain from all types of non-ethical research conduct in his/her work, such as: falsifying information, distorting information, plagiarizing, benefitting from others for the research and submitting the article under one’s own name, resending an article or a part of it that has been published in national and international journals. 
  5. The article must be free of all types of plagiarism (from the works of others and oneself, be it in quoting an exact phrase or quoting content or plagiarizing others’ ideas without citation) and the authors are bound to be certain of the correctness of their work before submitting it to a journal (refer to the authors guide).
  6. Authors are bound to address any conflicts of interest which may influence the conclusion of the research or explanation of its data or which may be in conflict with the interests of other institutes or people. They must also mention the sources of economic support for the research (to access the lack of conflict of interest form, refer to the authors guide).
  7. If an author learns of an important mistake or inaccuracy in his/her work, he/she is bound to report it to the editor-in-chief and to cooperate in the process of revising and rectifying the article.
  8. The corresponding author must simultaneously submit the names and information of all associate writers in the system and must not add the name of another writer after that.
  9. The commitment form must be signed by all authors and submitted along with the article. The responsibility of the validity of the article contents belongs to all authors (to access the form please refer to the authors' guide).
  10. The article must be free of all types of racial, ethnic, gender or political discrimination.
  11. In order for the review process to remain blind, the authors must refrain from presenting any personal information in the article which may result in their being recognized.

 

Code of Ethics for Reviewers

  1. The reviewers must help the editor-in-chief and editorial board in accepting or rejecting an article by studying the content and quality of the article and to share in elevating the quality of the article and journal by sending the amendments to the authors.
  2. The chosen reviewer must inform the editor-in-chief of the journal of his decision to accept or reject reviewing an article immediately after studying the summary of the article (due to the article topic not being in the field of expertise of the reviewer, lack of time, etc.) and must review the article in the given time if he accepts to do so.
  3. If the article is outside the expertise of the reviewer, he/she must refuse to review it.
  4. Reviewers must respect the blind process of the review process and must not pass on the information to others before, during or after the review.
  5. Reviewers must review the articles objectively, impartially and fairly and refrain from personal bias in his/her advice and judgments. The review of articles must be based on scientific references and sufficient arguments and explained clearly and one must refrain from allowing ethic, national, racial, political, religious and gender issues to affect the review.
  6. Reviewers are bound to identify and study the references that the author has cited. All forms of conclusions and discussions presented must be referenced. Similarly, reviewers are bound to inform the editor-in-chief if they observe any similarity or overlap between the submitted work and another article.
  7. Reviewers must not use the information or ideas that they have obtained during the review process for their personal benefit. Similarly, it is required that he/she refrain from reviewing articles which, according them, include conflict of interests, whether it is common economical interests, personal or any other type of relation or connection to corporations, institutes or people connected to the article.
  8. If the reviewers are aware of the identity of the author, they must not enter directly into discussion with him/her without the permission of the editor-in-chief.
  9. In case the reviewers of the article become aware that it has been submitted for another journal or that it has been retrieved from someone else’s published or unpublished work, they must apprise the editor-in-chief of this fact.
  10. Reviewers must refrain from employing disparaging, rude and unscientific terms in their review.
  11. Reviewers must not relegate the review of the article to another person without informing the editor-in-chief.

 

Code of Ethics for Editors-in Chief

  1. The editor-in-chief of the journal is responsible for making the final decision in accepting or rejecting submitted articles and this is done with help from the editorial board and by adhering to rules related to copying material from others, plagiarism, etc. and also the recommendations of the reviewers.
  2. Editors-in-chief must always strive to improve the quality of the journal.
  3. Editors-in-chief must perform their editorial duties like accepting or rejecting articles freely and voluntarily and with scientific independence and must not be come under the influence of non-scientific and non-expert factors in this regard.
  4. The decision of the editor-in-chief regarding articles must be based solely on scientific competence. Therefore, personal bias or taking into consideration nationality, gender, religion or racial, ethnic and political matters, must not be the criteria in accepting or rejecting articles.
  5. The editor-in-chief and the editorial board must not reveal information pertaining to articles to anyone except the reviewers, authors or editors.
  6. The parts of the content of articles that are not published must not be used in the editor-in-chief or editorial board’s personal research. Confidential information or ideas that have been gained through the review of articles must be protected in their confidentiality and not be used for personal benefit.
  7. Editors-in-chief must always suggest and execute strategies for improving the quality of the articles.
  8. Editors-in-chief must strive to answer to the needs of the audience and authors.
  9. Editors-in-chief must make an effort to educate the authors and audience regarding research ethics.
  10. In performing the editor-in-chief duties, intellectual and moral criteria must not be affected by economic needs.
  11. Editors-in-chief must respect the suggested improvements of the reviewers and also to the logical and valid responses of the authors in reply to those suggestions.
  12. Editors-in-chief are bound to choose suitable reviewers in keeping with the topic of each article and in accordance to their expertise.
  13. Editors-in-chief must be careful that articles do not include copyright or plagiarism.

 

Plagiarism

**It is noteworthy that according to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), plagiarism refers to when an author brings the contents of a published or unpublished article, book, thesis (exactly or by changing the expressions but preserving the style of writing of the original writer, or by changing the style), or the ideas of others in his own article without citing the original source. In plagiarism, there is no difference if an author re-publishes material from his own previously published work without citation to that first work or from the published or unpublished works of others. In any case, using material from the works of others without citation and presenting it as one’s own work is considered plagiarism.

***The Journal of Philosophical-Theological Research strives to prevent all kinds of plagiarism in the articles it publishes. Therefore, before articles are checked for plagiarism by the editor-in-chief before review and again before publishing through the Noor software (for articles in Persian) and iThenticate (for articles in English). If it is determined that an article has been plagiarized from another source it will be rejected no matter the stage of consideration it may be at. If it is determined that an author has plagiarized someone else’s work after it has been published the article will be removed from the Journal site and the editorial board will be informed. If it is found that he/she deliberately did so, the responsible heads of the University will be informed and legal action will be taken against him/her and if it is found that the plagiarism was involuntary, apart from the fact that the author does not have the right to use the article for his/her yearly promotion or advancement, the Journal will not accept articles from him/her anymore.

 

Copyright Statement

Rights granted to Publisher

For open access articles, published in proprietary titles, Publisher is granted the following rights:

  • The exclusive right to publish and distribute an article, and to grant rights to others, including for commercial purposes.
  • The right to provide the article in all forms and media so the article can be used on the latest technology even after publication.
  • The authority to enforce the rights in the article, on behalf of an author, against third parties, for example in the case of plagiarism or copyright infringement. 

 

Retraction Regulations

Definition

The retraction is a public statement made about an earlier statement that is going to be removed from the journal. The retraction may be initiated by the editors of the journal, or by the author(s) of the paper. However, since the editors are responsible for the journal’s content, they always make the final decision to retract the material. The journal editors may retract publications even if all or some of the authors refuse to retract the publication.

 

When should a publication be retracted?

Only published items can be retracted. Publications should be retracted as soon as possible when the journal editors are convinced that the publication is seriously flawed and misleading (or is redundant or plagiarized).

 

What Are the Compelling Reasons?

  • Plagiarism
  • Bogus claims of authorship
  • Multiple submission
  • Fraudulent use of data
  • Infringements of professional ethical codes
  • Redundant publication
  • Failure to disclose a major competing interest

 

Should retraction be applied in cases of disputed authorship?

Authors sometimes request that articles are retracted when authorship is disputed after publication. If there is no reason to doubt the validity of the findings or the reliability of the data it is not appropriate to retract a publication solely for an authorship dispute. In such cases, the journal editor should inform those who are involved in the dispute that s/he cannot adjudicate in such cases, but they may be willing to publish a correction to the author/contributor list if the authors/contributors (or their institutions) provide appropriate proof that such a change is justified.

 

Article Retraction Process

  • A retraction note entitled “Retraction: [article title]” signed by the authors and/or the editor is published in the paginated part of a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the contents list.
  • In the electronic version, a link is made to the original article.
  • The original article is retained unchanged saving for a watermark on the .pdf file version on the each page to indicate that it is “retracted.”
  • The HTML version of the document is removed.

 

References

Wager E, Barbour V, Yentis S, Kleinert S. Retraction Guidelines. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Sep 2009. Available from:http://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf

 

http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct

http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts

http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines