Index Copernicus

Adhering to ethical standards ensures the quality of an article. At Index Copernicus, we strive to support publication integrity, and therefore we ask our authors, editors, reviewers, and scholars involved at various stages of publication to adhere to ethical guidelines to improve the value of academic publications.

Ethical Requirements for Authors

Index Copernicus expects authors to submit works that are not under consideration elsewhere and not under review; agree to article processing charges when informed. If inaccuracies or significant errors are found in the article, the author should cooperate to correct the work to increase its scientific value. We do not encourage scientific misconduct, unethical publication behaviour by submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal, lack of originality in the article, or presenting plagiarised data, authors not disclosing conflicts of interest, or duplicating texts or illustrations. Editors are responsible for making precise decisions regarding the publication of articles, maintaining confidentiality to protect original content, fair manuscript assessment, and cooperation in the case of ethical complaints about submitted manuscripts.

The author must guarantee the originality of the submitted work. The article should not have been previously published or considered for publication elsewhere. In the case of references, appropriate citations must be included to credit the original author.

The author must provide original work with accurate data and not mislead others. The author must include detailed information so that others can replicate or cite it. Authors are responsible for considering works of art or information in their research without copyright. They must obtain written permission from the original author to use their works and recognise their contribution to the research through citation.

Ethical Requirements for Reviewers

Participation in editorial decisions, timeliness of informing the editor if they feel unqualified to review or cannot provide a prompt review, treating manuscripts as confidential documents, and maintaining standards of objectivity when expressing opinions. Reviewers should not use original content for their research.

Reviewers should submit manuscripts within the specified time to avoid publication delays. Additionally, reviewers must carefully select manuscripts and avoid reviewing works they are not competent to review. The reviewer should openly express their comments and opinions to the author to improve the standard of their work. Reviewers should always refrain from discussing the article or disclosing the author's identity to anyone. The article is a highly confidential document and should be treated as such by reviewers.

If you notice similar content regarding the manuscript under review in a published article, immediately bring it to the attention of the appropriate editor to avoid plagiarism and protect the integrity of our publication.

Ethical Requirements for Editors

Editors have the autonomy to decide whether the submitted article is worth publishing. The editor must consult with other editorial team members and reviewers to make editorial decisions leading to the publication decision. Editors must be impartial in assessing manuscripts and not discriminate based on the author's race, ethnicity, skin colour, caste, religion, and sexual orientation.

The editor cannot disclose any information regarding the manuscript to anyone other than reviewers, editorial team members, and the author, if necessary. The editor must not reveal the author's name and identity to reviewers or anyone else under any circumstances.

The editor is obliged to make every effort to protect the integrity of the article during the evaluation, adhering to standard criteria regarding quality, presentation, and content, to minimise ethical damages in the manuscript.

Ethical Requirements for Publishers

The publisher provides practical support to the editorial team in adhering to the COPE Code of Conduct for journals.

The publisher ensures the independence of editorial decisions.

The publisher protects intellectual property and copyright.

The publisher ensures that good practices are maintained in accordance with the above standards.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest arise when matters unrelated to the research influence the neutrality of research content. Any reviewer or evaluator who has conflicts of interest resulting from collaboration, rivalry, financial commitments, ideological or philosophical differences, or any form of association with the author or their competitor must immediately notify the editor of their conflicts of interest and refuse to work on or engage with manuscripts.

Any material disclosed to the reviewer, even briefly, must be treated as confidential and should not be used as a reference in their future endeavours without the author's consent. Invited reviewers who refuse to work on a manuscript due to conflicts of interest cannot use it to their advantage without the author's consent.

Authors: All authors and co-authors must disclose potential conflicts of interest, such as employment, consulting fees, research agreements, stock ownership, licenses and patent permissions, advisory affiliations, etc., when submitting their manuscripts. This information must be included in the conclusion if the article is eventually accepted for publication.

Reviewers: To ensure no disputes during the review process: In the case of an author's conflict of interest, editors should select a guest editor. Editors must ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between reviewers and authors. Before evaluating the article, reviewers should contact the editorial office to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. However, these will be considered in evaluating reviewers' recommendations. Minor conflicts do not automatically disqualify a reviewer from providing opinions on the article.

Editors: If an editor has a conflict of interest (financial or otherwise) regarding the submitted manuscript, they should refrain from making editorial decisions or participating in the editorial process. In such cases, the editor may have a conflict of interest and should have defined protocols if the article is submitted by their academic department or institution. When editors submit their works to their journals, an editorial office staff member should be responsible for the article. The editor/author should refrain from discussing and deciding on the article.