Publication Ethics
The Spectrum International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (Spectrum Multidisciplinary) is an open access peer-reviewed online international journal. The Journal is dedicated to maintaining a high standard regarding ethical values, and quality research. Spectrum Multidisciplinary Journal refers to the COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines and accordingly revises its guidelines for the authors, reviewers, and other stakeholders from time to time as needed.
Duties of Authors
When submitting original research, authors are expected to provide an honest and precise report of their work and findings. Additionally, they should offer an unbiased analysis of the significance of their research. The manuscript should include adequate information, such as properly cited images, tables, and references to acknowledge previous work in the field. Any intentional falsification or misrepresentation of information is considered unethical and will not be accepted by the journal.
During the editorial review process, authors may be requested to submit the original data from their study along with the manuscript. If feasible, the authors should be willing to make this data publicly available. The data must remain accessible to other qualified professionals for a minimum of ten years following publication, preferably through an institutional or subject-based data repository or another recognized data center. This release of data is subject to legal restrictions regarding proprietary information and must safeguard the confidentiality of participants.
Authors have a responsibility to ensure that the works they write and submit are entirely original. If they use the work or words of others, they must appropriately cite and acknowledge those sources. Publications that have played a role in shaping the nature of the work presented in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism comes in various forms, from submitting someone else’s paper as one’s own to copying or rewording significant portions of someone else’s work without attribution or claiming credit for research conducted by others. All types of plagiarism are unethical publishing practices and are not acceptable.
It is considered unethical and inappropriate to publish papers that describe the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Therefore, authors should not submit a manuscript for consideration that has already been published in another journal. Concurrent submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals is also considered unethical publishing behaviour and is not acceptable. However, there are certain types of manuscripts, such as clinical guidelines or translations, that may be justifiably published in more than one journal, provided specific conditions are met. For instance, a manuscript that targets a different group of readers or a translation may fall under this category.
In order to take public responsibility for the content of a manuscript, only individuals who meet certain authorship criteria should be listed as authors. These criteria include making significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study, drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content, and approving the final version of the manuscript for submission and publication.
Individuals who have provided substantial contributions to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria (such as providing technical help, writing and editing assistance, or general support) should not be listed as authors but should be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgments” section, with their written permission to be named obtained beforehand.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the appropriate coauthors (according to the above criteria) are included in the author list and that no inappropriate coauthors are listed. Additionally, the corresponding author should verify that all coauthors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.
Authors are expected to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript as early as possible, typically by submitting a disclosure form and including a statement in the manuscript at the time of submission. Examples of conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial conflicts such as receiving honoraria, educational grants or other funding, participating in speakers’ bureaus, holding membership, employment, or consultancy positions, owning stock or other equity interests, and receiving payment for expert testimony or patent-licensing agreements. Non-financial conflicts of interest such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge, or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript should also be disclosed.
Authors should disclose all sources of financial support for their work, including the grant number or reference number if applicable.
Authors have a responsibility to appropriately acknowledge the work of others and cite publications that have influenced their reported work. Private information obtained through conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties must not be used or reported without explicit written permission from the source. Additionally, authors should not use information obtained through the course of providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, unless they have obtained explicit written permission from the author(s) of the work involved in these services.
If authors identify significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they are obligated to inform the editors or publisher of the journal promptly and work with them to either correct the manuscript by issuing an erratum or retract the manuscript altogether. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, the authors are responsible for either promptly correcting or retracting the manuscript, or providing evidence to the journal editors to demonstrate the accuracy of the manuscript.
Duties of Editors
The evaluation of submitted manuscripts by editors is based solely on their academic merit, taking into account factors such as their importance, originality, validity, and clarity, as well as their relevance to the journal’s scope. No consideration is given to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy, or institutional affiliation. The editorial decisions about whether to edit and publish manuscripts are not influenced by any policies of governments or other external agencies. The Editor-in-Chief has complete authority over the editorial content of the journal, including when it is published.
Editors and the editorial staff are committed to keeping all information about submitted manuscripts confidential. They will not share any such information with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher as necessary.
Editors and members of the editorial board are expected to maintain the confidentiality of all unpublished information contained in submitted manuscripts. They may not use any such information for their own research purposes without obtaining the explicit written consent of the authors. Any privileged information or ideas gained through handling the manuscript must be kept confidential and not exploited for personal gain. If editors have conflicts of interest arising from relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with a manuscript, they must recuse themselves from the review process and ask another member of the editorial board to manage the manuscript. The editors are responsible for ensuring that all manuscripts submitted for publication undergo a rigorous peer-review process, conducted by at least two expert reviewers in the relevant field. The final decision on whether to publish a submitted manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief, who evaluates the manuscript’s significance to the research community and its adherence to legal requirements such as copyright law and guidelines on plagiarism and libel. In making this decision, the Editor-in-Chief may consult with other editors or reviewers.
In cases where ethical issues are raised regarding a submitted or published manuscript, the editors (in consultation with the publisher and/or society) will take appropriate action. Every report of unethical behaviour related to publishing will be thoroughly investigated, even if it comes to light years after publication. The Spectrum Multidisciplinary editors adhere to the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with suspected cases of misconduct. If, after investigation, the ethical concern is found to be valid, the journal will publish a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or any other relevant notice.
Duties of Publisher
If there are accusations or evidence of scientific misconduct, plagiarism, or fraudulent publication, the publisher and editors will work together to investigate and address the situation. This may involve publishing a correction, clarification, or even retracting the affected work if necessary. The publisher and editors have a responsibility to take appropriate actions to prevent the publication of papers involving research misconduct and must not condone or facilitate such behaviour.
By working with organizations and maintaining digital archives, publishers ensure accessibility and are committed to the long-term availability and preservation of scholarly research.
Publishers and editors must take reasonable steps to find and stop publishing publications with evidence of scientific misconduct.
Harassment of any kind against authors, editors, reviewers, employees or suppliers will not be tolerated by publishers or editors.
Publishers and editors must not encourage or knowingly condone such misconduct.
If the editor or editors of a journal become aware of allegations of scientific misconduct, they must respond appropriately to the allegations.
Where appropriate, journals should develop policies for retracting or amending articles.
Editors and publishers should always be prepared to retract, explain, or apologize if necessary.
Whether a manuscript has been published or not, if it is discovered to have been copied from another author’s work, it may be rejected and the writers may face sanctions. Any articles that have been published may be revised or retracted.
Sanctions may be imposed on authors whose submitted manuscripts contain citations whose main goal is to raise the number of citations to a certain author’s work or papers published in a specific journal. In order to enhance the number of citations to their own journal work, the journal work of contributors, the journal, or another journal with which they are linked, publishers and editors may not request that writers add credit.
Malpractice Statement
Preventing publication malpractice is a crucial responsibility of journal editorial boards. Publication malpractice can take various forms, such as research fraud, inappropriate authorship, duplicate or multiple submissions, overlapping publication, and salami publication.Research fraud includes falsification and fabrication of data or conclusions, which involves manipulating data or measurements to suit one’s research needs. Inappropriate authorship involves omitting or including authors who have not contributed significantly to the research in an “honorary” capacity. Duplicate or multiple submissions involve submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals for review simultaneously. Overlapping publication involves publishing the same research without referencing the previous publication, and salami publication involves publishing two or more articles derived from a single study.
All forms of unethical behaviour in publication are unacceptable. Additionally, the Spectrum Multidisciplinary Editorial Board strictly prohibits plagiarism in any form, which means that any author who replicates a significant part of another’s work without acknowledgement or passes off another’s work as their own will not be tolerated. If any of the aforementioned misconducts or malpractices are discovered following or during publication of the submitted manuscript, the published manuscript will immediately be suspended from the journal database, and the relevant author(s), as well as the institution/company of the author(s), will be reported for the same. Anybody may at any time report any suspected misconduct, including unethical activity, to the editors and/or editorial staff by providing the data/evidence required to begin an inquiry.
Copyright
Copyright and full publishing rights to articles or any other work published in this journal are retained by the authors only. Author(s) may republish these articles as part of a book or other materials. However, for author(s) to retain the copyright ownership of a published article, the following condition should be met. Cite the original source of the publication when reusing the article Accept that the article remains published by this journal website (except for retraction of the article) The article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The article is published open access. Submission of the manuscript represent that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not considered for publication elsewhere. Authors would be required to sign a consent form once the manuscript is accepted which would be sent to the corresponding author’s email address. The corresponding author on behalf of all other authors has to fill and sign the form duly and send a scanned copy to chiefeditor@spectrumjournals.com. Do not forget to mention “Paper ID” assigned to your manuscript by this journal in the subject field of the mail.
Licencing
Along with copyright terms, it is also important for author(s) to understand the licensing of publication under which article is to be published. All articles published in this journal are under CC-BY 4.0 license, which allows the public to copy, redistribute, remix, adapt, transmit and share an author’s work, as long as the original work and source are properly cited (commercial purposes allowed)