| PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT EDITORS RESPONSIBILITIES Publication decisions The editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. Papers may be rejected without review if the Editor considers the article obviously not suitable for publication. The editor will evaluate manuscripts without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. The decision will be based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, and validity of study and its relevance to the journal’s scope. Current legal requirements regarding copyright infringement, and plagiarism should also be considered. Confidentiality The editor and any editorial staff are not supposed to disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author. Disclosure and conflicts of interest Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author’s unambiguous written consent. REVIEWERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES Contribution to editorial decisions The double-blind peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and may also serve the author in improving the paper quality. All submitted manuscripts will be subject to strict peer-review process. High quality manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by minimum three reviewers of the same field. Promptness Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process. Confidentiality Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others without permission of editorial office. Standards of objectivity Reviews should be conducted objectively. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Acknowledgement of sources Reviewers should recognize cases in which applicable published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should point out whether explanation or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the proper source/ references. Disclosure and conflict of interest Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers. AUTHORS’ DUTIES Reporting standards Authors of original research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Data access and retention Authors could be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the paper for editorial review and should be ready to make the data in public accessible if possible. In any event, authors should ensure ease of access of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication. Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources Authors should submit only entirely original works, and should appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited. Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication Papers describing fundamentally the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be resubmitted to copyrighted publications. However, by submitting a manuscript, the author(s) retain the rights to the published material. Authorship of the paper Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Submission of a paper to this journal indicates that the author(s) have agreed the content of the paper. One author should be indicated as corresponding author for all publication related communications. All correspondence and proofs would be sent to the corresponding author, who will be treated as final representative voice for all authors regarding any decision related to manuscript, unless otherwise requested during submission. International Journal of Global Foundation For Research Activities and Innovation (IJGFRAI) would not be responsible for any dispute related to authorship of a submitted paper. Any change in the authorship (such as addition or deletion of author(s) or change in the sequence of author list) should be intimated to the editorial office through a letter signed by all authors before publication of the paper. In absence of any signed letter, approval of ‘Galley proof’ by corresponding author will work as ‘certificate of final agreement of authorship’. Disclosure and conflicts of interest Authors should disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript and acknowledge individuals or organizations that have provided financial support for research. Fundamental errors in published works When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. |