Ethics and Malpractice

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Don Bosco Institute of Technology Delhi Journal of Research (DBITDJR) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and research integrity. The journal follows internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing and aligns its editorial and publication practices with the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA and WAME.

The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity and professional conduct throughout the publication process.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts represent original and ethically conducted research.

Authors must:

• Submit only original work that has not been published previously, except where appropriately declared and permitted.

• Not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

• Ensure that all authors who have made substantial contributions to the work are appropriately listed as authors.

• Ensure that all listed authors have approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission and publication.

• Provide accurate and complete information about the research, methodology, results and sources.

• Not fabricate, falsify, manipulate or selectively report data, images, results or research findings.

• Properly acknowledge the work and ideas of others and provide appropriate citations.

• Obtain permission for copyrighted material where required.

• Disclose relevant financial, personal, institutional or other conflicts of interest.

• Declare all relevant sources of research funding.

• Obtain appropriate ethical approval for research involving human participants, animals or other subjects where applicable.

• Follow applicable institutional, national and international research-ethics requirements.

• Cooperate with the editorial office if questions arise regarding the integrity of the submitted or published work.

Authors must not engage in plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, fabricated authorship, fraudulent peer review or any other form of publication misconduct.

2. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be based on substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis or interpretation of the research, together with meaningful participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approval of the final version.

Individuals who have not made a substantial contribution should not be listed as authors.

The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with the journal and confirming that all authors have approved the submission.

Any request to add, remove or change the order of authors after submission must be justified and approved by all affected authors. The journal may request written confirmation from the authors and may suspend the editorial process until the matter is resolved.

3. Plagiarism and Similarity

All submitted manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism, inappropriate text reuse and other forms of similarity.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• Copying another person's work without appropriate attribution.

• Presenting another person's ideas, words, data or findings as one's own.

• Reusing substantial portions of previously published material without appropriate disclosure or citation.

• Unacceptable self-plagiarism or redundant publication.

Where plagiarism or substantial inappropriate text reuse is identified, the journal may reject the manuscript or take appropriate post-publication action in accordance with the seriousness of the case.

Similarity-detection software is used as a screening aid. A similarity percentage alone does not automatically establish plagiarism; the editorial team will assess the nature, source and context of the matched material.

4. Duplicate, Redundant and Simultaneous Publication

Manuscripts submitted to DBITDJR must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time.

Authors must disclose any closely related manuscripts, previous publications, conference papers, preprints or other materials that may substantially overlap with the submitted work.

If duplicate or redundant publication is discovered after publication, the journal may publish a correction, editorial notice or retraction, depending on the circumstances and following applicable COPE guidance.

5. Fabrication, Falsification and Research Misconduct

The journal considers the following serious forms of misconduct:

• Fabrication of data or research results.

• Falsification or manipulation of data, images, methods or results.

• Manipulation of research records.

• Unethical research practices.

• Misrepresentation of research findings.

• Plagiarism or serious inappropriate text reuse.

• Undisclosed duplicate publication.

• Manipulation of authorship.

• Citation manipulation.

• Peer-review manipulation.

• Any other conduct that seriously compromises the integrity of the scholarly record.

Allegations of misconduct will be taken seriously both before and after publication. The journal may request explanations, supporting documentation or clarification from authors, reviewers or editors and may contact the relevant institution or research organization when appropriate.

6. Citation Manipulation

Authors, reviewers and editors must not manipulate citations for the purpose of artificially increasing citation counts, journal metrics or the visibility of particular authors, journals or institutions.

Requests for citations must be based on genuine scholarly relevance.

Coercive citation practices, excessive irrelevant self-citation, coordinated citation manipulation and inappropriate citation recommendations may be treated as publication misconduct.

7. Data Integrity and Reproducibility

Authors are expected to maintain accurate research records and retain supporting data and documentation for an appropriate period.

Where applicable, authors should provide sufficient methodological information to allow their work to be understood and, where reasonably possible, reproduced.

The journal may request supporting data, documentation, ethical approval information or other evidence when concerns regarding the integrity of published research arise.

8. Ethical Approval and Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects

Research involving human participants, personal data, animals or other ethically sensitive subjects must comply with applicable ethical and regulatory requirements.

Where applicable, authors must provide information regarding approval by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and obtain informed consent where required.

The editor may request evidence of ethical approval or consent when necessary.

9. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional or other relationships that could reasonably influence the research, review or editorial decision.

Editors and reviewers must not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication or participation in peer review; however, it must be appropriately disclosed and managed.

10. Peer Review Ethics

DBITDJR uses a double-blind peer-review process. The journal's peer-review process is intended to provide an objective and independent assessment of submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers must:

• Treat all manuscripts as confidential documents.

• Not disclose manuscript contents or review discussions to unauthorized persons.

• Provide objective, constructive and scientifically justified comments.

• Avoid personal criticism of authors.

• Identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited where necessary.

• Declare any actual or potential conflict of interest.

• Decline the review if they cannot provide an impartial assessment.

• Not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal, professional or financial advantage.

• Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or inform the editor if additional time is required.

These responsibilities are consistent with COPE's ethical guidance for peer reviewers, including confidentiality, objectivity, conflict-of-interest disclosure and responsible use of unpublished information.

11. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity, fairness and transparency of the editorial process.

Editors must:

• Evaluate manuscripts on the basis of academic quality, originality, relevance and scientific merit.

• Avoid discrimination based on authors' personal, institutional, geographical or other characteristics unrelated to the quality of the manuscript.

• Maintain confidentiality during the editorial and peer-review process.

• Select appropriate and independent reviewers.

• Manage conflicts of interest appropriately.

• Ensure that editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial, personal or institutional interests.

• Investigate credible allegations of publication or research misconduct.

• Correct the scholarly record when errors or misconduct are identified.

• Ensure that manuscripts are not accepted solely because of the identity, status or affiliation of their authors.

Editors should recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

12. Peer-Review Manipulation

The journal does not tolerate manipulation of the peer-review process.

Potential misconduct may include:

• Fabricated reviewer identities.

• False reviewer email addresses.

• Authors impersonating reviewers.

• Undisclosed relationships between authors and reviewers.

• Attempts to influence reviewers improperly.

• Reviewer recommendation schemes intended to compromise independent evaluation.

If peer-review manipulation is suspected, the journal may suspend the manuscript, replace reviewers, investigate the matter and reject the manuscript or take post-publication action where necessary.

13. Complaints and Appeals

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that a significant factual error, misunderstanding or procedural problem has affected the decision.

Appeals must provide clear and substantive reasons and should address the editorial or reviewer comments specifically.

The editor will consider legitimate appeals fairly and may seek advice from another editor or independent reviewer where appropriate.

Complaints concerning editorial conduct, peer-review problems or publication ethics should be submitted to the journal/publisher through the official contact details provided on the journal website.

The journal will handle complaints as confidentially as reasonably possible and will investigate credible concerns objectively.

14. Allegations of Misconduct

The journal will consider allegations of misconduct made against authors, reviewers or editors, whether received before or after publication.

Allegations may concern plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, unethical research, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation or other breaches of publication ethics.

The journal will assess the available evidence and may request information from the individuals concerned or their affiliated institutions.

Where appropriate, the journal may follow relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts when determining the appropriate course of action. COPE's publication-ethics principles require journals to have documented procedures for allegations of misconduct and to address concerns both before and after publication.

15. Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawal

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record.

When an error or ethical problem is identified, the journal may publish:

• A correction or erratum for a minor but important error.

• A clarification or editorial notice where additional explanation is required.

• An expression of concern where significant concerns exist but an investigation is incomplete.

• A retraction where the findings or publication process are seriously compromised.

• A withdrawal notice where appropriate before or after publication.

Retractions will not normally be used simply to correct minor errors. Where possible, the original publication record will remain identifiable, with the appropriate correction or retraction information clearly linked to it.

The journal will follow recognized publication-ethics practices when correcting or retracting published material.

16. Post-Publication Concerns

DBITDJR accepts legitimate concerns regarding published articles.

Concerns may relate to:

• Errors in published research.

• Plagiarism.

• Fabrication or falsification.

• Duplicate publication.

• Ethical approval or consent.

• Authorship.

• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.

• Peer-review or publication-process irregularities.

The journal may investigate post-publication concerns and, where necessary, publish a correction, expression of concern or retraction.

COPE's publication-ethics principles specifically recommend mechanisms for post-publication discussion and for correcting, revising or retracting articles when necessary.

17. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions should be based on scholarly and ethical considerations rather than commercial interests.

Neither authors nor third parties may purchase, guarantee or otherwise improperly influence acceptance or publication decisions.

Payment of any legitimate publication-related fee, where applicable, does not guarantee acceptance and does not influence the peer-review or editorial decision.

18. Confidentiality and Protection of Personal Information

Information obtained during manuscript submission, peer review and editorial assessment must be treated confidentially.

Editors, reviewers and journal staff must not disclose unpublished manuscript information to unauthorized persons or use unpublished information for personal benefit.

19. Publisher's Responsibilities

The publisher, ACS Publisher, supports the journal's editors in maintaining publication integrity and transparent editorial practices.

The publisher will provide reasonable support for the investigation of suspected misconduct and for the correction or retraction of published articles when justified.

The publisher will not knowingly permit commercial interests or other inappropriate considerations to compromise editorial independence.

20. Ethical Conduct and Good-Faith Investigations

All allegations and investigations will be handled in good faith.

The journal will avoid making public accusations before sufficient evidence is available. At the same time, credible concerns will not be ignored merely because an article has already been published.

Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests for clarification and supporting information.

21. Commitment to Research Integrity

DBITDJR is committed to protecting the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal expects every participant in the publication process to act honestly, transparently, independently and responsibly.

Where an ethical issue is identified, the journal will take proportionate action based on the available evidence and the seriousness of the matter, with reference to applicable COPE guidance and recognized standards of scholarly publishing.

Reference: The journal follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA and WAME.