Publication ethics and malpractice policy

Publication ethics and malpractice policy

ADNO’s publication ethics and malpractice policy builds on COPE’s international standards for authors (Wager & Kleinert, 2011) and for editors (Kleinert & Wager, 2011). Authors who want to publish in the journal must adhere to COPE’s standards for authors. In summary, these say that:

• The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.
• Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
• Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
• Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere.
• Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.
• The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.
• Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed.

Authors have a responsibility to ensure that their publications are honest, clear, accurate, complete and balanced, but journal editors also have responsibilities for ensuring the integrity of the research literature and they are accountable for what they publish. ADNO editors work within COPE’s international standards for editors (Kleinert & Wager, 2011). In summary, this means that editors make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration, they ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process, and action is taken as soon as any suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct comes to their knowledge. Any deviation from COPE’s international standards for authors that comes to the editors’ knowledge will be dealt with accordingly, guided by COPE’s flowcharts (which can be found here).

References
Wager, E. & Kleinert, S. (2011). Responsible research publication: international standards for authors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22–24, 2010. In T. Mayer & N. Steneck (Eds.), Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment (pp. 317–328). Imperial College Press – World Scientific Publishing.

Kleinert, S. & Wager, E. (2011). Responsible research publication: international standards for editors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22–24, 2010. In T. Mayer & N. Steneck (Eds.), Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment (pp. 317–328). Imperial College Press – World Scientific Publishing.