Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement
The International Journal of Speleology is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and the International Journal of Speleology does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to the International Journal of Speleology affirm that manuscript contents are original. Each manuscript newly submitted to the International Journal of Speleology will be checked regarding plagiarism using Turnitin. The decision on whether a manuscript should be rejected because of plagiarism rests with the handling editor. Furthermore, they warrant that their article has neither been published elsewhere in any language fully or partly, nor is it under review for publication anywhere.
The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. Editors, authors, and reviewers will also adhere to the International Journal of Speleology Policies.
DUTIES OF EDITOR
Publication Decisions: Based on the review report of the editorial board, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript.
Review of Manuscripts: The Editorial Staff (Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors) must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated for originality, making use of appropriate software to do so. At this stage, the journal editorial staff performs an initial quality screening of the manuscript and decides whether or not to send it for full peer review. Only after clearing the initial screening is the manuscript forwarded to three reviewers for single-blind peer review. Each reviewer will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the manuscript. The review period will be up to 39 days.
Fair Play: The editor must ensure that each manuscript received by the Journal is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
Confidentiality: The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editor of the journal will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his own research without written consent of the author.
DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Manuscripts will follow the submission guidelines of the journal. (See Policies.)
Originality: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Author should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. It is also expected that the author will not publish redundant manuscripts or manuscripts describing same research in more than one journal.
Publication guidelines: Authors must follow the submission guidelines of the journal. (See Submission Guidelines.)
Submitting your revised paper: The revised manuscript should be uploaded in the online system within 60 days. A revised manuscript received beyond the 60-day period will be considered as a new submission, will receive a new number, and will undergo a new review process.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in research work.
Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. Authors also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and their inclusion of names as co-authors.
Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data.
Disclosure of Financial Support: Sources of financial support, if any, must be clearly disclosed.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works: If at any point of time, author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscript then the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.
DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Confidentiality: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the manuscripts under consideration or with any other published paper of which reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the editor's notice.
Standards of Objectivity: Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Promptness: In the even that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete review of manuscript within stipulated time then this information must be communicated to the editor, so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer.
