Allegations Of Misconduct

Scientific misconduct encompasses fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, or plagiarism in the conduct, performance, or review of research, as well as in the writing of articles and the reporting of research findings by authors. When such misconduct occurs, editors are accountable for preserving the integrity and authenticity of the scientific record.

For any suspected misconduct, Editors and Editorial Board will use the best practices of COPE in helping to resolve the complaint and fairly address the misconduct. The Editors will investigate the allegations in the event of, if a submitted manuscript is discovered to involve such misconduct, it will be directly rejected while for published papers found to contain such misconduct, a retraction will be issued and linked to the original article.

The preliminary phase involves evaluating the credibility of the allegation and determining its consistency with the established definition of research misconduct. This stage also includes assessing whether the individuals reporting the misconduct have any relevant conflicts of interest.

When scientific misconduct or significant research irregularities are suspected, the allegations are communicated to the corresponding author, who is asked to respond comprehensively on behalf of all co-authors. Following the receipt and assessment of this response, further review and the involvement of experts, such as statistical reviewers, may be necessary. In instances where misconduct is deemed unlikely, clarifications or additional analyses, often published as letters to the editor along with a correction notice and an amendment to the original article, are usually sufficient.

Institutions are required to undertake a comprehensive and rigorous investigation into allegations of scientific misconduct. Ensuring the accuracy of the scientific record is a crucial responsibility shared by authors, journals, and institutions. By addressing concerns related to scientific misconduct appropriately and implementing necessary measures such as issuing corrections, retractions with replacement, or outright retractions to ensure the validity and integrity of the scientific record can be maintained for this journal.