Plants Science Archives (ISSN 2518-6965) Journal’s Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is based, in large part, on the guidelines and standards developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The relevant duties and expectations of authors, reviewers, and editors of the journal are set out below.
It includes:
1- Allegations of misconduct
Journals should have a clearly described process for handling allegations, however they are brought to the journal’s or publisher’s attention. Journals must take seriously allegations of misconduct pre-publication and post-publication. Policies should include how to handle allegations from whistleblowers. Read more…….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
2- Authorship and contributorship
Clear policies (that allow for transparency around who contributed to the work and in what capacity) should be in place for requirements for authorship and contributorship as well as processes for managing potential disputes Read more…..
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
3- Complaints and appeals
Journals should have a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher Read more…..
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
4- Conflicts of interest / Competing interests
There must be clear definitions of conflicts of interest and processes for handling conflicts of interest of authors, reviewers, editors, journals and publishers, whether identified before or after publication Read more….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
5-Data and reproducibility
Journals should include policies on data availability and encourage the use of reporting guidelines and registration of clinical trials and other study designs according to standard practice in their discipline Read more….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
6- Ethical oversight
Ethical oversight should include, but is not limited to, policies on consent to publication, publication on vulnerable populations, ethical conduct of research using animals, ethical conduct of research using human subjects, handling confidential data and of business/marketing practices Read more….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
7- Intellectual property
All policies on intellectual property, including copyright and publishing licenses, should be clearly described. In addition, any costs associated with publishing should be obvious to authors and readers. Read more….
8- Journal management
A well-described and implemented infrastructure is essential, including the business model, policies, processes and software for efficient running of an editorially independent journal, as well as the efficient management and training of editorial boards and editorial and publishing staff Read more…..
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
9- Peer review processes
All peer review processes must be transparently described and well managed. Journals should provide training for editors and reviewers and have policies on diverse aspects of peer review Read more….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
10- Post-publication discussions and corrections
Journals must allow debate post publication either on their site, through letters to the editor, or on an external moderated site, such as PubPeer. Read more….
Source: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
Research Ethics
Human Subject Research
★ Ethical Approval
For any study involving human subjects or samples, authors should provide an Ethical Approval statement in the Declarations part of their manuscripts to state that the study is approved by an institutional ethics committee and complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. The researchers must have conducted the study according to the approved protocol and acceptable research standards.
★ Consent to Participate
For any study involving human subjects, written informed consent to participate should be obtained from the participants. Authors should provide a statement to attest that they have received and archived the written consent, and such consent can be available if requested.
★ Consent to Publication
For manuscripts involving privacy issues, e.g., showing the individual details in images or videos, authors must obtain the consent to publication from the participants. Authors should provide a statement to attest that they have received and archived the written consent, and such consent can be available if requested.
Animal Research
Any research involving animals should be approved by an animal care and use committee and conducted according to the approved protocol and acceptable research standards for animal experimentation. Authors should provide an ethical statement at the end of their manuscripts to state that the study was approved by certain animal care and use committee.
Registration of Clinical Trials
Definition of Clinical Trials
The journal endorses the clinical trial defined by ICMJE. A clinical trial is any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measure obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.
Requirements of Clinical Trials
★The journal requires registration of all clinical trials;
★The journal requires the registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment;
★The journal accepts publicly accessible registration in any registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov;
★ The trial registration number should be listed at the end of the Abstract;
★ Secondary data analyses of primary (parent) clinical trials should not be registered as separate clinical trials, but instead should reference the trial registration number of the primary trial.
Authors who are not sure whether they need trial registration may refer to ICMJE FAQs for further information.