Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The publication plays a vital role in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. To maintain the quality and progress of research, it is important to lay down standards of expected ethical behavior by all parties involved in act of publishing: the publisher, the author, and the preprint moderator. All must act honestly and impartially and the process of publication must be ethical.

Preprint Server Network supports the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We follow its best practice guidelines and abide by its Code of Conduct. We also follow the guidelines of Scopus, Elsevier, ICMJE, and WOS.

COPE Guidelines for Preprint Publication read click here

Duties of Authors

  •  Authorship of the Preprint

    • Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
    • Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
    • The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the preprint and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the preprint and have agreed to its submission for publication.
    • Authors are collectively taken responsibility for the work.
    • Authors must agree that the corresponding author may act on their behalf throughout the manuscript screening and preprint publication process.

  • Conflict of Interest

    • All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationship with people or organizations that could be viewed as an inappropriate influence (bias) on their work.
    • Authors should be disclosed conflict of interest disclosed at the earliest possible stage of publication about employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent application/ registration, and grants or other funding.

  • Reporting Standard

    • Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
    • Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript.
    • A manuscript should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the work.
    • Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
    • Screen manuscripts should be accurate, objective, and comprehensive, while moderator and editorial 'opinion' or perspective pieces should be clearly identified as such.

  • Originality and plagiarisms

    • Authors should submit only entirely original works and sources must be appropriately cited or quoted.
    • Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's articles as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's Authors should submit only entirely original works and sources must be appropriately cited or quoted.
    • Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others.
    • Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. (without authors credit), to claim results from research conducted by others.
    • Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

  • Acknowledgment of Sources

    • Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others, and should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
    • Information obtained privately (from a conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source.
    • Information obtained in the course of providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

  • Data Access and Retention

    • Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a manuscript for moderator screening, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

  • Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

    • An author can publish their Preprint in other preprints, journals, and monographs, other publication platforms under the Preprint Server Policies. VGV Preprint Serve allows the author to publish their preprint on different platforms.
    • Preprint Server recommends to the author used only one DOI of Preprint and avoid multiple DOI allocations of the same version of Preprint.

  • Hazards and Human/ Animal Subject

    • If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment that has any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
    • If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them.
    • Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants.
    • The privacy rights of human participants must always be observed.

  • Fundamental Error in Published work, Error-correcting in the new version of the Preprint

    • When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the preprint server or publisher and cooperate with the moderator and editor to update or correct the preprint in the new version.
    • If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the author’s obligation to promptly correct or retract the preprint or provide evidence to the preprint server administrator or editor of the correctness of the preprint in the new version.

Duties of Editor

  • Publication Decisions

    • The editor is solely responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the preprint server should be published.
    • The editor may be guided by the policies of the preprint server editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
    • The editor may confer with other editors for screening in making this decision.

  • Fair Play

    • An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

  • Confidentiality

    • The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding authors, moderators other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

    • Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

  • Manuscript Screening

    • The editor shall ensure that the screening process is fair, unbiased, and timely.

  • Promptness

    • Any selected editor who feels unqualified or unable to editorial responsibilities assigned by the preprint server administrator should notify the preprint server administrator.
    • Editors promptly follow the time deadline for the responsibility assigned to them.

Duties of Moderator

  • Contribution to Moderator and Editorial Decisions

    • The Manuscript screening assists the moderator in making editorial decisions, and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the preprint.

  • Promptness

    • Any selected moderator who feels unqualified to screen the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt screening will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the screening process.

  • Confidentiality

    • Any manuscripts received for screening must be treated as confidential documents.
    • The screening process is under the policy of the Preprint Server, and the moderator not contacting the author directly.
    • The moderator must not share the article and screening details with anyone except the Preprint Server.
    • Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in the moderator’s own research without the author's written permission.
    • The moderator does not discuss for screening the article with any other moderator without the editor's permission.

  • Standards of Objectivity

    • Screenings should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Moderators should express their views clearly with supporting arguments in the Preprint Server only.

  • Acknowledgment of Sources

    • Moderators should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation.
    • A moderator should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published preprints of which they have personal knowledge.

  • Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

    • Privileged information or ideas obtained through screenings must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
    • Moderators should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers or any relevant interest in an organization that might benefit or suffer from the publication of the work.

Duties of Publisher

  • Handling of Unethical Publishing Behavior

    • In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work.
    • The publisher, together with the moderators, and editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

  • Access to Preprint Content

    • The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining our own digital archive.