Academy Publication is committed to maintaining the highest publication ethics and aims to follow best practices in all respects.

Duties of the Publisher

The publisher should:
Maintain the principles of transparency;
Promote research integrity;
Define the relationship between publisher, editor and other parties;
Respect privacy (for example, for research participants, for authors, for peer reviewers);
Protect intellectual property and copyright;
Foster editorial independence.

Duties of the Editors

Editors should strive to ensure that peer review at the journal is fair, unbiased and timely. And at the same time, ensure that material submitted to the journal remains confidential while under review.
They should:
strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;
strive to constantly improve the journal;
have processes in place to assure the quality of the material published;
champion freedom of expression;
maintain the integrity of the academic record;
preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;
always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
Editors are also expected to:
actively seek the views of authors, readers, reviewers and editorial board members about ways of improving the journal's processes;
encourage and be aware of research into peer review, and publish and reassess the journal’s processes in the light of new findings;
work to persuade the publisher to provide appropriate resources, guidance from experts (e.g. designers, lawyers);
support initiatives designed to reduce research and publication misconduct;
support initiatives to educate researchers about publication ethics;
assess the effects of the journal policies on author and reviewer behaviour and revise policies, as required, to encourage responsible behaviour and discourage misconduct;
ensure that any press releases issued by the journal reflect the message of the reported article and put it into context.


Duties of the Reviewers

Peer review plays an important role in ensuring the quality of the journal.
Peer reviewers should:
only agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess in a timely manner;
respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process, beyond those that are released by the journal;
not use information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage, or to disadvantage or discredit others;
declare all potential conflicting interests, seeking advice from the journal if they are unsure whether something constitutes a relevant interest;
not allow their reviews to be influenced by the origins of a manuscript, by the nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, or by commercial considerations;
be objective and constructive in their reviews, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory and from making libellous or derogatory personal comments;
acknowledge that peer review is largely a reciprocal endeavour and undertake to carry out their fair share of reviewing and in a timely manner;
provide journals with personal and professional information that is accurate and a true representation of their expertise;
recognize that impersonation of another individual during the review process is considered serious misconduct.

Duties of the Authors

Authors should:
conduct the research in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation;
present the results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation;
strive to describe the methods clearly and unambiguously so that the findings can be confirmed by others;
adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere;
take collective responsibility for submitted and published work;
ensure that the authorship accurately reflects individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting;
should disclose the funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest.


Publication Misconduct
　

All submissions to us are checked by CrossCheck to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism.
We closely follow the guidelines of COPE flowcharts (http://publicationethics.org/flowcharts) in cases of suspected misconduct (fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, plagiarism, etc.) or disputed authorship.


References
The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers. Available at: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20publishers%20FINAL_1_0.pdf

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011). Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Available at: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors.pdf

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2013). COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Available at: http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf

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. Chapter 50 in: Mayer T & Steneck N (eds) Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment. Imperial College Press / World Scientific Publishing, Singapore (pp 309-16). (ISBN 978-981-4340-97-7)