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| Copyright information |
- Ownership of copyright in the Work remains with the authors.
- The authors retain the non-exclusive right to do anything they wish with the Work, provided attribution is given to the place and detail of original publication, as set our in the official citation of the Work published in the journal. The retained right specifically includes the right to post the Work on the authors’ or their institutions’ websites or institutional repository.
| Commitment to accuracy and preservation |
AOSIS OpenJournals is committed to preserving the historical accuracy of its publications. In principle, it is our policy that no journal content should be altered or removed from the print or electronic OJP platforms after it has been published. Any time the scientific record is changed, this change must be reflected in the same way both in the online and the print versions of the affected article. AOSIS OpenJournals embraces its responsibility as a publisher to preserve access to scientific articles, which comprise ‘the minutes of science.’
However, in the event of evidence or suspicion of any content which deems to be illegal, this includes, but is not restricted to, libellous, defamatory or plagiarised content, or content that is deemed to infringe the intellectual or moral property rights of a third party – AOSIS OpenJournals will work with the editorial board towards rectifying or retracting such an article, depending on the severity of the errors or evidence against the author(s) research.
| Ethics and value statement |
All collaborators share some degree of responsibility for any paper they co-author. Some co-authors have responsibility for the entire paper as an accurate, verifiable, report of the research. These include, for example, co-authors who are accountable for the integrity of the critical data reported in the paper, who carry out the analysis, write the manuscript, present major findings at conferences, or provide scientific leadership/supervision for junior colleagues or students. Co-authors who make specific, limited contributions to a paper are responsible for these contributions only, but may also have limited responsibility for other results, depending on the nature of the research. All co-authors should be aware of this process. Every co-author should have the opportunity to review the manuscript before its submission. All co-authors have an obligation to provide prompt reactions or correction of errors in published works. Any individual unwilling to accept appropriate responsibility for a paper should not be a co-author.
Each group of authors needs to decide who is to be the person acting as the corresponding author during submission and review. All journals strongly encourage that authors include a statement to specify the actual contribution of each co-author. Include a paragraph briefly summarising the nature of the contribution made by each of the authors listed, along the lines of the following – Author contributions were as follows: J.K. was the project leader, L.M.N. and A.B. were responsible for experimental and project design. L.M.N. performed most of the experiments. P.R. made conceptual contributions, while S.T., U.V. and C.D. also performed some of the experiments. S.M. and V.C. prepared the samples and calculations were performed by C.S. Finally, J.K. and U.V. co-wrote the manuscript.
| Authorship credit and changes |
‘Co-authors’ are defined as any person who has made a significant scientific contribution to the work reported and who shares responsibility and accountability for the results. We advise that authorship credit should follow and be based on, (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and (3) final approval of the version to be published.
Please note: AOSIS OpenJournals will seek reasons for any requests for changes in authorship, so please ensure changes are legitimate and justified and authorised by the corresponding author.
Obligations and responsibilities
We ask our authors to maintain the highest ethical standards:
- Submit original work that has been honestly carried out according to rigorous scientific standards, that has not been obtained fraudulently or dishonestly, or fabricated or falsified.
- Present an accurate account of the research performed and the results obtained and offer an objective discussion of the significance thereof.
- Present sufficient detail and reference to public sources of information, in order to permit your peers to repeat the work if needed. Data should always be reported accurately and never ‘fudged’, with any problematic data also treated accordingly.
- Cite all relevant references; it’s the duty of the author to check the references that are cited very carefully to ensure that the details are accurate and in the correct format.
- Declare any (potential) conflicts of interest. Originality should not be claimed if others have already reported similar work in part or as a whole and credit should always be given to the work and findings of others that have led to your findings or influenced them in some way.
- Identify any hazards inherent in conducting the research.
- Ensure that manuscripts do not contain plagiarised material or anything that is libellous, defamatory, indecent, obscene or otherwise unlawful and that your work does not infringe on the rights of others.
- If investigations have involved animals or human subjects, authors should provide all the statements required by the journal in order to prove that the experimental protocols were approved appropriately and that they meet all the guidelines of the agency involved, including obtaining informed consent where required.
- Information obtained privately should not be used without the explicit permission of the individuals from whom it was obtained and appropriate letters confirming permission to include this information must be acquired for journals that require this.
- Avoid fragmenting research to maximise the number of articles submitted, also known as ‘salami publishing’. Similarly, parallel publishing, which is the submission of the same research to multiple journals or other publication media, should also be stringently avoided, as both this and ‘salami publishing’ detract from the innovative nature of research findings.
- Whilst an experimental or theoretical study may sometimes justify criticism of the work of another scientist, in no circumstances is personal criticism appropriate. Do not present work, or use language, in a way that detracts from the work or ideas of others.
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