Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. The Journal of Pomology research considers the following ethical principles to be mandatory for authors, editorial board members and reviewers:
It is important the authors to avoid:
Data fabrication and falsification:
Data fabrication means the researcher did not actually do the study, but faked the data. Data falsification means the researcher did the experiment, but then changed some of the data.
Plagiarism:
Taking the ideas and work of other scientists without giving them credit is unfair and dishonest. Copying even one sentence from someone else’s manuscript, or even one of your own that has previously been published, without proper citation is considered plagiarism—use your own words instead.
Multiple submissions:
It is unethical to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Doing this wastes the time of editors and peer reviewers, and can damage the reputation of the authors and the journals if published in more than one journal as the later publication will have to be retracted.
Redundant publications (or ‘salami’ publications):
This means publishing many very similar manuscripts based on the same experiment. Combining your results into one very robust paper is more likely to be of interest to a selective journal. Editors are likely to reject a weak paper that they suspect is a result of salami slicing.
Improper author contribution or attribution:
All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. Don’t forget to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians. Do not “gift” authorship to those who did not contribute to the paper. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has detailed guidelines on authorship that are useful for scientists in all fields: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Many journals have tools and processes in place to identify researchers that engage in unethical behavior. If you are caught your manuscript may be rejected without review and your institution informed.
The members of the editorial board have the same attitude in evaluating the articles and consider only to the scientific quality of the article.
Articles will be verified and evaluated as soon as possible and assigned.
In the final acceptance, the members of the editorial board should consider the conformity of the submitted papers with the objectives of the journal and, by observing ethical principles and trusteeship, prevent the information contained in the article from being published before publication.
The reviewers will send their final opinion to the editor of the journal as soon as possible by keeping the information of the article confidential and via a accurate and impartial evaluation.
Ethical principles of authors: Authors should only submit their research achievements for publication in the Journal of Pomology Research, observing the originality and accuracy of the contents of the paper, and avoid from submitting the paper to two or more journals at the same time. The submission of the manuscripts must be approved by all authors.