Ethical and Malpractice Considerations
Ethical and Malpractice Considerations of
Journals of University of Babylon
Publication Ethics
Authors must give assurance that no part of manuscript reporting original work is being considered for publication in whole or in part elsewhere. The corresponding author must affirm that all of the other authors have read and approved of the manuscript.
The items in the list below are considered unethical and misconduct behavior. Authors are strongly suggested to be very well informed about them and avoid them under all circumstances.
- Plagiarism
- Duplication
- Fraud Authorship/Denied Authorship
- Research/Data Fabrication
- Salami Slicing/Salami Publication
- Breaching of Copyrights
- Prevailing Conflict of Interest
The above list is non-exhaustive. For more information you may consult resources like the one below:
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)
Graf, C., Wager, E., Bowman, A., Fiack, S., Scott‐Lichter, D., & Robinson, A. (2007). Best practice guidelines on publication ethics: a publisher's perspective. International journal of clinical practice, 61(s152), 1-26.
Luther, F. (2008). Publication ethics and scientific misconduct: the role of authors, Journal of Orthodontics, 35(1), 1-4.
WAME Publication Ethics Committee. (2017). Recommendations on publication ethics policies for medical journals. Available at: http://www. wame. org/about/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policie. Accessed on, 3.
Study design and data analysis
Research should be well planned in a good experimental design and directing the statistical analysis of an experiment. Study design should include a description of the type of design used, each factor (and each level) involved in the experiment, and the time at which each measurement was performed. The authors are responsible for the whole scientific content. Thus, Fabrication and Falsification of data constitute misconduct. Fabrication is making up data/results and recording/reporting them. Falsification is a manipulating research material, equipment, processes, or changing/omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
Authorship
Authorship gives scientists credit for their work, visibility, and recognition in their field and amongst their peers. The researchers should place their names on a publication. All Authors should have participated substantially in the work and that their work and findings are reported honestly. All authors must agree on this definition of an author and what ordering of authorship will be used for publication.
In addition, researchers have a responsibility to ensure that their publications are honest, clear, accurate, complete and balanced. All co-authors should review and discuss the data of their collaborative paper and reach an agreement on the conclusions. If the work is later found to be falsified, all co-authors will share the negative consequences.
Conflicts of interest
The Conflicts of interest is an associated with the objectivity of an Author/Editor. Conflicts can also exist as a result of personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. The most obvious conflicts of interest are financial relationships such as employment, stock ownership, grants, patents (direct or indirect) honoraria, consultancies to sponsoring organizations, and mutual fund ownership. Full disclosure about a relationship that could constitute a conflict – even if the person doesn't believe it affects their judgment – should be reported to the institution's ethics group or to the editor of the Journals of University of Babylon (JUB) in a cover letter or footnote in the manuscript.
Dual Publication, Redundant Publication, and Self-Plagiarism
The manuscript will be rejected when it or substantial sections from it is published more than once without adequate acknowledgment of the source, cross-referencing, and justification. Similarly, a paper that was previously published in another language will also be rejected.
Self-publication is the publication of sections of text used in more than one of the Author’s publications. All the manuscripts submitted to JUB are checked by iThenticate or Turnitin for possible plagiarism. Plagiarism can be defined as the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
Editors
Editors must make the decision to accept an article based on its quality and relevance for the journal – and not on the financial implications.
Peer Review
Peer review is the primary means by which the scientific community ensures that proposed research is of sufficient scientific merit to be funded and that the completed research results can be published in scientific journals.
The reviewer must treat the materials as confidential documents. This means the reviewer can not share them with anyone. Since peer review is confidential, the reviewer also must not share information about the review with anyone.
Peer reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest that could bias their review of the proposal. All comments, questions, and requests for additional information or clarifications must be submitted through the review process. Peer reviewers must not contact the author. Throughout the review process, peer reviewers must maintain their objectivity.
The journal’s peer review process ensures that the work being presented meets the standards of the scientific community.
After the manuscript is submitted to a journal, the journal sends the manuscript to experts in the field for review and commentary before the article is published. More about the ethical for peer reviewer, visit Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
Human and Animal Studies
All human or animal studies should be used after approval of the experimental protocol by a local ethics committee. The JUB adopted with Belmont Report and Declaration of Helsinki. For Iraqi researchers, the Iraqi biomedical ethical codes will be recommended. For Animal studies, our journal adopted with the Animal Welfare Act Exists that ensure the animals intended for use in research facilities or for exhibition purposes for use as pets are provided humane care and treatment and also to assure the humane treatment of animals during transportation in commerce. Click Here to see Iraqi University of Babylon Biomedical Ethical Codes in Arabic language.
Journal's Editors recommend authors to read the article: "Responsible research publication: international standards for authors."