Publish — Policies

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all work contained within manuscripts submitted to IntechOpen journals adheres to ethical standards required for that field.

Publication Ethics Statement

IntechOpen is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and fully adheres to their Core Practices.

Our journals carry out robust single-blind peer review and have strict editorial policies for editors and peer reviewers to ensure published work adds to the research landscape. Any cases of inappropriate conduct and/or authorship disagreements will be taken seriously and investigated fully by our Research Integrity team. This includes issues of:

• Plagiarism
• Data fabrication
• Image, data, or figure manipulation
• Undeclared conflicts of interest
• Copyright issues with submitted work
• Duplicate submission or publication

Authors or readers with concerns about publication ethics should contact the IntechOpen Research Integrity team at journals@intechopen.com to discuss corrections to their publications or other issues of concern, including all those listed above. The IntechOpen team will investigate each case independently and report back to the complainant with information and/or a resolution.

Editors and Peer Reviewers Code of Conduct

All editors and peer reviewers should treat submitted work as confidential until the point of publication and adhere to COPE guidelines during the peer review process. Each manuscript will be treated in confidence, unle ss previously agreed with the Editor in Chief, and we expect no peer reviewer or editor to have an advantage based on research they have accessed prior to publication.

Authors Code of Conduct

All authors should declare duplicate or concurrent submissions at the point of submission to IntechOpen journals and must include a copy of work submitted elsewhere, if relevant, with their submission. Please note that presentation at a conference, in a thesis, or as a preprint will not prevent manuscripts from being considered. The authors are requested to note the use of the thesis or conference material in the Acknowledgments section and cite it properly.

In addition, duplicate submissions are not permitted at IntechOpen journals. If an author has submitted the same paper to multiple journals at different publishers, submissions to the other publishers should be withdrawn. If an author has made duplicate submissions to IntechOpen journals, this will be identified at the point of submission and authors contacted to ensure only the correct submission is assessed. Authors who continue to submit manuscripts to multiple journals may receive sanctions on future submissions.

Allegations of misconduct

Authors, editors, and reviewers should strive to uphold the highest standards of research and publication ethics. When faced with potential misconduct, IntechOpen accepts its responsibility to maintain the integrity of the academic record by following the guidelines set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) . Unethical research, citation manipulation, image or data manipulation/fabrication, behavioural misconduct, unethical authorship, (self)plagiarism, undisclosed competing interests, copyright infringement, duplicate submission, or peer review manipulation is what constitutes, but is not limited to, misconduct. Such cases, whether spotted by the author, Editor, reviewer, or a whistleblower, should be reported to IntechOpen Research Integrity team at researchintegrity@intechopen.com.

A follow-up investigation will take place for every reported case, in line with the COPE guidelines. IntechOpen might ask for the assistance of formal industry bodies or seek advice from an appropriate team of advisors.

IntechOpen's advisors are professionals and scholars with broad knowledge and understanding of different aspects of the scientific publishing process: editorial, authorship, and reviewing roles; publication ethics, copyright, and general legal issues; as well as bibliographic and technical standards.

In order to provide us with unbiased insights, without compromising the privacy of third parties, IntechOpen presents problematic cases to its advisors in an anonymized format.

The formal investigation might end up in correcting the scholarly record in the form of a correction, retraction, or expression of concern.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an act of taking someone’s ideas, images, words, data, or text and presenting it as your own without a full and proper acknowledgment. This includes instances of slightly rephrasing ideas from another work without attribution or extensive self-citations. Each manuscript submitted to IntechOpen journal is subjected to plagiarism check. When dealing with potential plagiarism, IntechOpen journals follow COPE guidelines and flowcharts wherever possible. We might seek advice from an independent expert for the most complicated cases. If plagiarism is suspected in submitted manuscript that has already entered the peer review process, the course of actions will depend on the severity of the plagiarised content. The authors might be asked to properly attribute the works in question if the similarity is mild. Otherwise, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is found out in the published article, we follow our Retraction and Correction Policy .

Corrections, expression of concern, and retractions

In order to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record, post-publication discussion can sometimes result in publishing a Correction Notice, Expression of Concern, Retraction Notice, or rarely Removal Notice. These notices are published after a careful consideration and investigation led by principles of COPE guidelines . A full description of procedures and what constitutes basis for each notice can be found on the Retraction and Correction Policy page.

Systematic Manipulation of the Publication Process

If faced with attempts of systematic manipulation of the publishing process (also known as “paper mills”), IntechOpen will act according to the guidelines set by the COPE.

COPE defines manipulation of the publishing process as fraudulent or dishonest practices aimed at achieving financial gain or influencing the publication record.

Such practices are performed by individual or a group of individuals and focused towards:

• manipulating otherwise independent peer review by preventing or influencing the assessment of the research,
• selling or falsely attributing authorship on a scholarly work,
• publishing fabricated or plagiarized research.

If a suspicion of manipulation of the publishing process is raised in an unpublished manuscript, the publishing process will be suspended until the conclusion of the investigation. Should the investigation confirm the manipulation, the manuscript will be rejected.

Any manipulation of the publishing process confirmed in a published manuscript will result in a retraction. Inconclusive evidence, as suggested by the COPE, can result in publishing an Expression of Concern.

IntechOpen may inform the author's or other relevant institutions when concerns over systematic manipulation are raised.

Policy last updated: 9 May 2023