Ethical Policy

Ethical Policy - The Explorers

Preamble: 

The Explorers is a multidisciplinary journal committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical conduct in all aspects of its publication process. This policy is based on the principles outlined by Scopus and other reputable organizations, ensuring the integrity and credibility of the research published within its pages.

1. Authorship and Contributorship:

• Originality: Authors must ensure that their submitted work is original and has not been previously published or is under consideration elsewhere, except as an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis.

• Authorship Criteria: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported work. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.

• Corresponding Author: The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

• Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

• Plagiarism: Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. This includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from other sources without proper attribution.

• Duplicate Publication: Authors should not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one journal or primary publication.

2. Peer Review Process:

• Confidentiality: The peer review process is confidential. Reviewers must not share or discuss the reviewed manuscript with anyone without specific permission from the editor.

• Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

• Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should disclose any potential conflicts of interest to the editor before agreeing to review a manuscript. If a conflict of interest is discovered during the review process, the reviewer should recuse themselves.

• Timeliness: Reviewers should strive to provide their reviews within the agreed-upon timeframe.

3. Publication Ethics:

• Data Fabrication and Falsification: Data fabrication and falsification are strictly prohibited.

• Image Manipulation: Inappropriate image manipulation is unethical. Images should not be manipulated in a way that misrepresents the data.

• Conflicts of Interest: Authors, reviewers, and editors should disclose any financial or personal relationships that could potentially bias their work.

• Funding Sources: Authors should clearly disclose all funding sources for their research.

• Errors in Published Works: When a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in a published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.8

• Retraction and Correction Policies: The journal will follow established retraction and correction policies in cases of proven misconduct, errors, or plagiarism.

• Animal and Human Subjects: Research involving animals or human subjects must comply with relevant ethical guidelines and regulations. Authors must provide evidence of ethical approval from the appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee.

• Diversity and Inclusion: The Explorers is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in its publication process, ensuring fair representation of researchers from all backgrounds.

4. Editorial Responsibilities:

• Fair Play: Editors should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.9

• Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.10

• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used11 in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.12

• Investigation of Allegations of Misconduct: The journal will investigate all allegations of research and publication misconduct. If misconduct is confirmed, the journal will take appropriate action, which may include retraction, correction, or notification of the authors' institutions.

5. Compliance:

• Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to adhere to this ethical policy. Failure to comply with this policy may result in rejection of the manuscript, retraction of the published article, or other appropriate actions.

This policy will be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect evolving best practices in publication ethics.