Editors' responsibilities
Publication decisions
As custodian of the journal, the editor has the power to include or exclude certain manuscripts. Not only the significance, originality, legibility, and reliability of the study but also its pertinence to the journal range. There is no relation to the author’s race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy in making the decision. The last thing the editor should remember is that today there are laws on libel, copyright violation, and plagiarism.
Confidentiality
The editorial staff should only disclose information about submitted manuscripts to the corresponding author, reviewers, possible reviewers, other editorial consultants, and publishers.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
It is a standard practice in academic publishing that unpublished materials, which are part of a submitted paper, are protected from any unauthorized use by the editor or the members of the editorial board. This means that the editor and the members of the editorial board are not allowed to use any of the unpublished materials for their own research purposes unless the author has given explicit written consent.
Journal Editor
Suppose members publish their research within the journal. In that case, they do not participate in the peer review process apart from as an author. The authors declare no other conflict of interest, and no editorial board member will interfere in the evaluation process.
Reviewers' responsibilities
Contribution to editorial decisions
The peer-review process is a crucial step in academic publishing, as it enables the editor and the editorial board to assess the quality and credibility of a manuscript carefully. Additionally, it also serves as an opportunity for the author to receive feedback and suggestions for improving their work.
Promptness
It is important for referees to promptly notify the editor if they feel unqualified to review a manuscript or anticipate that they will be unable to complete the review process promptly. By doing so, the editor can quickly select a replacement referee better suited to evaluate the manuscript.
Confidentiality
When a manuscript is submitted for review, it is considered confidential and should be treated with the utmost discretion. Reviewers are obligated to keep the document private and not share it with anyone else unless the editor has specifically authorized them to do so. Breaching confidentiality can seriously damage trust between authors, reviewers, and editors. Therefore, reviewers must adhere to these principles to maintain the integrity of the review process.
Standards of objectivity
Objectivity is key when conducting reviews. Referees should provide clear, supported arguments without personal criticism of the author.
Acknowledgment of sources
Reviewers need to ensure that all relevant published works referred to in the paper have been cited in the reference section. They should also verify if the respective source accompanies any observations or arguments derived from other publications. If there is any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper that the reviewers know of, they should notify the editor.
Disclosure and conflict of interest
It is important to keep confidential any privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review. Reviewers should not use such information for personal advantage. Additionally, reviewers should not consider manuscripts if they have conflicts of interest due to any competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers.
Authors' duties
Reporting standards
Authors of original research reports need to provide a truthful and unbiased account of their work, along with a clear explanation of its significance. The data presented in the paper should be accurate and reliable, and the paper should include enough details and references to enable others to replicate the work. Dishonest or intentionally misleading statements are unethical and should not be included in a research report.
Data access and retention
It is recommended that authors submit the raw data of their research along with their paper for editorial review. If possible, the authors should make the data publicly available. If this is not feasible, the authors should ensure the data is accessible to other professionals for at least ten years after publication. The data should preferably be available through an institutional or subject-based data repository or any other data centre; however, the confidentiality of the participants must be protected, and legal rights concerning proprietary data should not prevent their release.
Originality, plagiarism, and acknowledgement of sources
Authors must submit original works that have not been plagiarized or copied from other sources. Any borrowed work or words must be accurately cited or quoted, and publications that have played a significant role in shaping the nature of the reported work must also be referenced. By properly acknowledging all sources, authors can ensure that their work is both credible and reliable.
Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publications
Submitting the same research paper to multiple journals is unethical; to do so is an act of unethical publishing practices. Thus, manuscripts that have already been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted; in addition, manuscripts under review by the journal are not submitted to copyright publications. However, the authors retain rights to the published material, and by submitting the manuscript, they allow their work to be used under the CC BY license, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the work; modify the work; and use it commercially.
Authorship of the paper
For authorship purposes, the contributions should be substantial, and they must include the design, conception, doing, and interpretation of results from all aspects of the study reporting. All those who made significant contributions should be listed among the co-authors. Each contributor is named by the corresponding author according to how much they contributed, and those with no contribution should be excluded. Accordingly, the corresponding author should submit the final revision after ensuring that all co-authors have approved the manuscript.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
All authors must provide a clear and comprehensive statement concerning any financial or other significant conflicts of interest that may impact the interpretation or results of their manuscript. Additionally, it is essential to disclose any sources of financial support utilized for the project.
Fundamental errors in published works
If an author finds a mistake or inaccuracy in their already published work, they must inform the journal editor or publisher immediately. The author should work closely with the editor to correct the paper and issue an erratum.
The Iraqi Journal of Physics is very sensitive to research misconduct and uses all means available to prevent publishing miscounted research. Though there is no standard definition of research misconduct, the Council of Editors broadly defines research misconduct in three categories: action and conduct. The Iraqi Journal of Physics uses this definition of misconduct in its dealings with the issue and follows strictly the COPE flowchart in dealing with research misconduct. In addition, for each component of the research misconduct, the Iraqi Journal of Physics has many assurance policies as follows:
- Mistreatment of research subjects
- Falsification and Fabrication of data
- Piracy and Plagiarism
Falsification and Fabrication of data
Fabrication is defined as making up data without actually collecting or synthesizing scientific data. Falsification is defined as the manipulation of research material in order to reach a favourable result. Fabrication and falsification could happen at any stage of research (in the field) up to the publication of a manuscript, where misuse of citation can happen (referencing a citation when the citation does not support the argument). The Iraqi Journal of Physics tries to identify any fabrication or falsification in all levels of manuscript processing, from initial screening to comprehensive evaluation of a revised manuscript and even after a manuscript has been published. Reporting any fabrication and falsification is an ethical duty of our authors, co-authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. In any event of falsification or fabrication, the Iraqi Journal of Physics keeps its right to retract or withdraw the fabricated or falsified article. The Iraqi Journal of Physics strictly follows the COPE chart in dealing with fabrication and falsification.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. Another category of plagiarism is self-plagiarism, which occurs when the author publishes his idea, data, and text in different journals, and no need for such duplication exists. The Iraqi Journal of Physics uses all means to detect plagiarism. The Iraqi Journal of Physics strictly follows the COPE chart in dealing with plagiarized articles.