Publication Ethics and Malpractice Standards

By submitting an article to this journal you agree to comply with the following Publication Ethics and Malpractice Standards. These standards follow the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors published by The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in the United States. See Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_1.pdf (oup.com).

You should also read the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. You can download the document, including the Authorship Guide from this link: https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-code-responsible-conduct-research-2018

Duties / Responsibilities of Authors

  1. Originality and Plagiarism - All manuscripts must be the original work of authors, not evidence plagiarism, and agree that the manuscript is not currently under review at another journal, and that it will not be submitted to another journal until the completion of the editorial decision process
  2. Copyright - Authors must own the copyright to the work being submitted or be authorised by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article.
  3. Authorship of the Manuscript - Authorship of a manuscript should be limited to authors who have met the following authorship criteria. 1) made significant contribution as per the Australian Code for Responsible Conduct of Research; 2) drafted or revised the manuscript; 3) viewed and approved the final version of the paper for publication.
  4. Ethics – All authors agree that their manuscript complies with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct
  5. Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication - Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.
  6. Acknowledgement of sources - Authors must properly and accurately acknowledge the work of others. Information obtained from conversations or correspondence with a third party must not be reported without written permission.
  7. Disclosure and Conflicts of interest and financial support - authors should disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript and acknowledge individuals or organisations that have provided financial support for research.
  8. Data access and retention - Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with manuscripts for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data if possible.
  9. Reporting standards - Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
  10. Fundamental errors in published works - Authors must notify Editors of any significant errors or inaccuracies in his/her own published work to enable retraction or correction of the paper.

Duties / Responsibilities of Editors

  1. Accountability - Editors will strive to constantly improve the journal, meet the needs of readers and authors and maintain the integrity of the academic record.
  2. Publication Decisions - Editors are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be reviewed and published.
  3. Fair play - Editors ensure the integrity of the publication review process. As such, editors will not reveal either the identity of manuscript authors to reviewers, or reviewers to authors.
  4. Editorial independence - Editors will evaluate manuscripts based entirely on the importance, relevance, originality, validity and clarity of the manuscript.
  5. Confidentiality - Editors will treat received manuscripts for review as confidential documents and will not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.
  6. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest - Editors and any editorial staff will not use materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript (published or unpublished) for their own research without the author’s written authorization.
  7. Investigations – Editors shall conduct proper and fair investigation into ethical complaints.
  8. Quality Assurance - Editors will implement processes to assure the quality of published material.

Duties / Responsibilities of Reviewers

  1. Confidentiality - Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
  2. Standards of Objectivity - Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
  3. Contribution to Editorial Decision - Reviewers assist in the editorial decision process and as such should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
  4. Promptness - Reviewers should complete their reviews within a specified timeframe.
  5. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest - Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
  6. Acknowledgement of Sources - Reviewers should identify published work in manuscripts that has not been cited by the author. Reviewers should also notify the Editors of significant similarity or overlap between the manuscript and any other published or unpublished material.