The integrity of our academic content and publishing process is paramount. This document outlines the best practice principles that we apply to our journal. We hope these guidelines will be useful to many different groups, including authors, peer reviewers, editors, societies, publishing partners and funders.
Research Integrity
We uphold the same high standards as other prominent journals, and expect research published by our journal to abide by the following principles:
1. Honesty in all aspects of research;
2. Scrupulous care, thoroughness and excellence in research practice;
3. Transparency and open communication;
4. Care and respect for all participants in and subjects of research.
Anyone who believes that research published by JUFGNSM has not been carried out in line with these Research Publishing Ethics Guidelines, or the above principles, should raise their concern with the relevant editor or email jufgnsm@ut.ac.ir.
Editorial Process
We are committed to editorial independence, and strive in all cases to prevent this principle from being compromised through conflicts of interest, fear, or any other influence. We do not discriminate against authors, editors or peer reviewers based on personal characteristics or identity. Editorial decisions on articles submitted to our journal are made by external academic editors and based on independent peer review reports. We do not tolerate abusive behavior or correspondence towards our staff and others involved in the publishing process on our behalf. If anyone involved in this process engages in such behavior we have the right to take action to protect others from this abuse. This may include, for example, withdrawal of a manuscript from consideration, or challenging clearly abusive peer review comments.
Peer Review
Peer review is critical to maintaining the standards of our publication:
1. We encourage our editors and peer reviewers to familiarize themselves with and act in accordance with relevant best practice guidelines on peer review: https://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_Guidelines_For_Peer_Reviewers_2.pdf.
2. We expect those who oversee the peer review process to be able to recognize warning signs of fraudulent or manipulated peer review (https://publicationethics.org/files/COPE%20PR_Manipulation_Process.pdf), and to raise any concerns by emailing jufgnsm@ut.ac.ir.
3. We support our editors and peer reviewers in investigating and acting on any suspected cases of manipulated or fraudulent peer review;
4. We protect the confidentiality of participants in the peer review process where anonymity forms part of that publication’s peer review process. We also expect our authors and peer reviewers to uphold any relevant confidentiality arrangements and to provide necessary information to support this.
5. We have commitment to protect all information of submitted articles from untrusted ones.
6. Each one of peer reviewers who feels unqualified to review a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process.
7. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
More information on the peer review process can be found at https://jufgnsm.ut.ac.ir/journal/process.
Authorship and Contributorship
we adhere to the following principles:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and/or
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Final approval of the version to be published; and
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
We consider the corresponding author to be the person who handles the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process. We ask that the corresponding author confirm that they have the authority to act on behalf of all co-authors in all matters pertaining to publication of the manuscript including supplementary material. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining such agreements and for informing the co-authors of the manuscript’s status throughout the submission, review, and publication process. In addition, the corresponding author also acts as the main point of contact for any enquiries (including those relating to the integrity of the work) after the paper is published.
We encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship in an Acknowledgments section in their publication, for example to recognize the contributions of anyone who provided research or writing assistance. We integrate with established and emerging industry standards to increase transparency in authorship.
The journal is open access without any publication/submission charges.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as ‘using someone else’s ideas, words, data, or other material produced by them without acknowledgement’. Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including:
1. Text, illustrations, musical quotations, extended mathematical derivations, computer code, etc.;
2. Material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media;
3. Published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations and grey literature.
We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of our papers, and we reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism checking tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered post-publication, the paper may be retracted. Publisher and editor of the journal take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others. In no case shall the journal or its editor encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. In the event that the journal’s publisher or editor is made aware of any allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in the journal –the publisher or editor shall follow COPE’s guidelines in dealing with allegations. We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting the relevant editor or by emailing jufgnsm@ut.ac.ir.
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Duplicate or redundant publication, or ‘self-plagiarism’, occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is published more than once by the author(s) of the work without appropriate cross-referencing or justification for the overlap. This can be in the same or a different language. We do not support substantial overlap between publications, unless:
1. It is felt that editorially this will strengthen the academic discourse; and
2. We have clear approval from the original publication; and
3. We include citation of the original source.
We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of duplicate or redundant publication, either by contacting the relevant editor or by emailing jufgnsm@ut.ac.ir. When authors submit manuscripts to our journal, these manuscripts should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, or similar entity. However, deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication.
Third-Party Copyrighted Materials
The third-party copyrighted material reproduced in a paper should as a general rule be cleared for use by the rights holders, with special attention being paid to creative works, including images. However, it is the custom and practice in academic publishing that the reproduction of short extracts of text (excluding poetry and song lyrics) and some other types of material on a very limited basis for the purposes of criticism or review may be possible where full acknowledgement is given.
Conflicts of Interest and Funding
We try to ensure that our publication is free from undue influence. Authors, employees, editors, and reviewers are required to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication. Conflicts of interest are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the presentation, review or publication of a piece of work. These may be financial, non-financial, professional, contractual or personal in nature. We also expect that anyone who suspects an undisclosed conflict of interest regarding a work published or under consideration should inform the relevant editor or email jufgnsm@ut.ac.ir.
Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern
Journal editors will consider retractions, corrections or expressions of concern in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines: https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines. If an author is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon.
Image Manipulation, Falsification and Fabrication
Where research data are collected or presented as images, modifying these images can sometimes misrepresent the results obtained or their significance. We recognize that there can be legitimate reasons for modifying images, but we expect authors to avoid modifying images where this leads to the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of their results.
Fraudulent Research and Research Misconduct
Where we are made aware of fraudulent research or research misconduct by an author, our first concern is the integrity of content we have published. We work with the relevant editor(s) to investigate. Any publication found to include fraudulent results will be retracted, or an appropriate correction or expression of concern will be issued.
Transparency
We strive to follow COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing:
Data and Supporting Evidence
We support transparency and openness around data, code, and other materials associated with research. We expect authors to maintain accurate records of supporting evidence necessary to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate new findings, and to supply or provide access to this supporting evidence, on reasonable request. Where appropriate and where allowed by employer, funding body or others who might have an interest, we encourage authors to:
1. Deposit data in a suitable repository or storage location, for sharing and further use by others; and
2. Describe where the data may be found in a Data Availability Statement which authors can include in their publication.
Integrity of Record
We maintain a record of the existence of everything we publish with information (metadata) describing each publication. Where we are obliged to alter the publication record in any way, such as in the case of research misconduct leading to retraction of a publication, we preserve the academic record as far possible.
Revenue Sources/Advertising/Marketing
We do not accept advertisements in any form.
Publication Schedule/Archiving
We publish two issues per year, with occasional special issues coming in addition. All the contents of the journal are available forever on the JUFGNSM's website.