Ethics in Publishing :
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Professional and Ethical Standards for Publishing in the Journals of “Applied
Science Innovations”.
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1. Ethics : As implicit conditions for publishing in “Carbon – Science and
Technology” Journal of Applied Science Innovations Pvt. Ltd., India, authors and
Researchers are expected to adhere to basic standards of professional ethics and
conduct that are common across all areas of scholarly publishing. In the publication
agreement authors warrant that their work is original and has not been published
elsewhere, nor under consideration for publication. All parties are also expected
to conform to common standards of professional respect and civility.
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Fortunately, in Scientific Community these standards are upheld in the overwhelming
majority of instances. However, misunderstandings and lapses in professional conduct
do occur, including instances (or accusations) of plagiarism, inadequate attribution,
conflicts of interest, or personally abusive behavior toward referees, authors,
editors, or journal staff members. This document summarizes the expected standards
of professional and ethical conduct, with specific application to publication in
the journals published by “Applied Science Innovations”.
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2. Research Results : Authors must not fabricate, falsify or misrepresent
data or results. They should strive to be objective, unbiased and truthful in all
aspects of their work. Authors must be honest in making claims for the results and
conclusions of their research. Making inflated claims for a project interferes with
the objective evaluation of its results and applications, and can lead to an unfair
and wasteful distribution of resources.
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Authors should strive to avoid mistakes in research and exercise due diligence in
presenting high quality work for publication. They should critically assess the
likelihood of experimental, methodological and human errors and avoid self-deception
and bias. Where possible, they should conduct an internal review to assess the validity
of their work before publication.
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It is recognized that errors may occur from time to time. When an error
is discovered in published or submitted work, the mistake should be admitted and
a correction, erratum or retraction should be published. Corrections should be approved
by all authors of the original article unless there is a particular reason for not
doing this. In these cases the dissent among the authors should be noted in the
published correction.
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Source material of experiments and research results should be recorded (and retained)
in an auditable manner that allows for scrutiny and verification by other scientists.
Exceptions may be appropriate to preserve privacy or patent protection.
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All investigations involving humans must be conducted in accordance with the principles
embodied in accordance with local statutory requirements. Articles relying on clinical
trials should quote the trial registration number at the end of the abstract / article.
We also encourage the registration of such studies in a public trials registry prior
to publication of the results in the journal. All investigations involving animal
experimentation must be conducted in accordance with the Guiding Principles for Research
Involving Animals and Human Beings as adopted by The American Physiological Society
, and with local statutory requirements.
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3. Authorship : When determining the credit for a piece of work, authors
should ensure that all those who have made a significant contribution are given
the opportunity to be cited as authors. Other individuals who have contributed to
the study should also be acknowledged, but not cited as authors. Corresponding author
is supposed to have this responsibility. Some co-authors may be accountable for
the entire article, for example those who provide critical data, write the manuscript,
present the findings at conferences or provide leadership for junior colleagues.
Other co-authors may be responsible for specific contributions to a paper. Authors
may wish to include a statement in the acknowledgments to describe the actual contribution
of each co-author.
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In General, It will be assumed that the First author is the person who has done
the majority of the experiment / work and the corresponding author is the leader
of that work. All co-authors should be given in decreasing order of their contribution
in the work (i.e. Last co-author will mean that that individual has the least contribution
in that work).
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All authors should receive the final version of the submitted manuscript, agree
to its submission and take appropriate responsibility for it. Any individual unwilling
or unable to accept appropriate responsibility for a manuscript should not be a
co-author.
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All authors should be consulted about changes to authorship (e.g. the list of authors)
during the publication process, and it should be clear to the journal that they
have given their consent.
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It is unethical to publish articles describing essentially the same studies or results
in more than one primary research journal. Submitting the same article to more than
one journal concurrently is unethical and unacceptable. Exceptions to this rule
may be made for review articles or conference papers, in which case authors should
consult with journal Editor before submission.
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4. Plagiarism and Republication : “Plagiarism” is the act of reproducing
text or other materials from other papers / published sources without properly crediting
the source. Such material is regarded as being plagiarized regardless of whether
it is cited literally or has been modified or paraphrased. Plagiarism represents
a serious ethical breach, and may constitute legal breach of copyright if the reproduced
material has been previously published. Plagiarism constitutes unethical scientific
behavior and is never acceptable. Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of
others’ ideas to submission of a complete paper under ‘new’ authorship. ‘Self-plagiarism’
is the production of many papers with almost the same content by the same authors.
Therefore all sources for the work should be disclosed and permission sought for
using large amounts of other people’s material.
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Authors who wish to quote directly from other published work must fully cite the
original reference, and include any cited text in quotation marks. They should also
take the necessary permission. Authors are discouraged from including such direct
quotations in papers, apart from rare instances. Figures and Tables may only be
reproduced with permission and must be fully cited in the figure caption. Necessary
permission for reproduction should be taken by authors from respective authorities
/ copyright owners. This will be normally apply to Review articles and Book Chapters.
However, we do not expect authors to reproduce / re-use Figures and Tables previously
published by other authors / researchers in “Research Articles” and for “Letters”.
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5. Attribution and Citation Practice : Papers published in “Carbon – Science
and Technology” Journal should include citations to previously published papers
which are directly relevant to the results being presented. This requirement is
especially important when new ideas or results are being presented. Deliberate refusal
to credit or cite prior or corroborating results, while not regarded technically
as constituting plagiarism, represents a comparable breach of professional ethics,
and can result in summary rejection of a manuscript. However, an unintentional failure
to cite a relevant paper, while regrettable, does not necessarily imply misconduct.
The rapid growth in the literature in the area of “Advanced Materials and their applications”
in recent years makes it difficult for an author to be aware of every relevant paper,
and the inclusion of exhaustive compendia of references is not possible. However,
authors are expected to devote the same care to the correctness and appropriateness
of literature citations as to the other components of the manuscript, and to heed
the recommendations of referees and editors to correct and augment the citations
when appropriate. Responsibility for updating references after acceptance (but before
publication) of a paper rests fully with the authors, but the same principles should
apply. Strictly speaking, authors are not formally required / advised to cite unpublished
or unrefereed materials, especially in cases where the veracity of the unpublished
work may be in question. However, when principles of common professional courtesy
dictate that such attribution is appropriate, authors are expected to honor these
conventions.
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6. Conflicts of Interest : The “Carbon – Science and Technology” Journals
peer review systems are based on a single reviewer model, in which a single referee
assumes the responsibility for evaluating the scientific veracity, clarity, significance,
novelty and importance of the results presented. For such a system to function effectively
it is essential that the referee be free of any conflicts of interest that might
influence the content or the promptness of the review. When a paper is submitted,
authors may identify individuals who they believe are conflicted and should not
serve as referees. Likewise, individuals who are asked to review a paper should
identify any potential conflicts of interest, so the editor can determine whether
these are substantive enough to disqualify that reviewer. In most instances an individual
working at the same institution as one of the co-authors and the individuals who
are former collaborators of the authors are ineligible to referee the paper. Editors
must also guard against conflicts of interest, and by journal policy they are required
to disqualify themselves whenever a real or perceived conflict is present.
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7. Confidentiality Guidelines : Except in cases where referees waive their
anonymity with the concurrence of the editor, all “Carbon – Science and Technology”
Journal’s peer reviews are conducted under conditions of strict confidentiality.
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Unless and until needed by the law, the journal and its Editors / International Editorial Advisory Board Members will
not reveal the identity of referees or the contents of peer review correspondence
to individuals outside of the respective peer review process. Referees are also bound by strict confidentiality; neither the manuscripts
nor the contents of referee correspondence may be shared with other parties without
written permission from the editor. Strictly speaking, authors are not bound by
similar confidentiality requirements (for example they may choose to consult with
co-authors and colleagues when revising a paper in response to a referee report),
but public dissemination of the contents of referee reports and Editorial correspondence
is inappropriate. Any author who does so forfeits their rights to confidentiality
protection by the journals.
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8. Professional Conduct and Civility : All participants in the publication
process, including Editors, Authors, Referees, and Journal staff members, are expected
to conform to basic standards of professional courtesy, and respect the basic rules
and guidelines that govern the peer review and publication process. Criticism and
debate, even energetic debate, are normal parts of the intellectual process, but
only when conducted with civility and professional respect for all parties. Personal
attacks or verbal abuse, whether oral or written, are unacceptable under any circumstances,
and the journal reserve the right to refuse submissions from individuals who repeatedly
violate these guidelines or refuse to cooperate with Editors and Referees in the
normal peer review and publication processes.
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9. Investigation of Misconduct Allegations : The integrity of our journals
rests on the professionalism of its authors, referees, and editors.
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We are not able to actively police the policies and conditions of publication, and
believe that all the stake holders have the prime responsibility for ensuring their researchers’
conduct and for ethical training and leadership.
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However, if a possible breach of policy or misconduct is brought to our attention
we will ask the authors to respond. Whilst journals do not have the resources or
legal legitimacy fully to investigate scientific misconduct, we will seek advice
from an article’s referees or the journal’s Editorial Board. If there is then evidence
that trust has been significantly compromised by an author’s or referee’s actions,
we will attempt to redress the matter by :
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1. Appropriate corrections in the printed and online journal;
2. Refusing to consider an author’s future work, for a given period;
3. Retracting the authors work as a punishment;
4. Communications to employers or funding agencies or Government Authorities (Rarely);
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In all cases we will also contact affected authors and editors of other journals.
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