RESEARCH MISCONDUCT POLICY

• Maintains a zero-tolerance stance against actions compromising academic integrity, including data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and citation manipulation.

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

• Screening & Verification: All submitted manuscripts are screened using industry-standard similarity check software prior to peer review.
• Acceptable Thresholds: Strict similarity boundaries are enforced. Text recycling or excessive overlap leads to immediate rejection.
• Post-Publication Action: Proven plagiarism post-publication results in formal retraction and potential institutional notification.

Data Fabrication & Falsification Policy

• Data Integrity: Strict prohibition against inventing data (fabrication) or manipulating research images/processes (falsification).
• Raw Data Requests: The journal reserves the right to request raw data files, original images, or analytical logs for validation.

Citation Manipulation Policy

• Unjustified Citations: Prohibits excessive self-citation, coercive citations, or reference padding designed to inflate metric scores.
• Relevance: Every citation must be directly relevant and verified during review.

Allegation Investigation Process (COPE Guidelines)

• Formal Procedure: Follows standard Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts to investigate all ethical concerns.
• Confidentiality & Rights: Ensures unbiased, confidential inquiries while providing accused parties a right to respond with evidence.

Retraction, Correction, and Expression of Concern Policy

• Erratum / Corrigendum: Published for minor technical or typographical errors that do not alter the main scientific conclusions.
• Expression of Concern: Issued if an inquiry into potential misconduct is ongoing or inconclusive.
• Article Retraction: Applied in cases of unrecoverable errors, severe ethical breaches, or data manipulation in line with COPE Retraction Guidelines.