Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

This statement outlines the ethical standards and malpractice policies of Academos journal. All stakeholders—authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher—are expected to adhere to internationally recognized best practices to ensure academic integrity and a trustworthy scholarly record.

1. Authorship Criteria and Responsibilities

  • Authorship is limited to those who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study.
  • All authors must approve the final version and agree to submission. Guest, honorary, or ghost authorship is not permitted.
  • The corresponding author ensures accurate attribution, author order, and disclosure of contributions, funding, and conflicts of interest.

2. Originality, Data Integrity, and Research Transparency

  • Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification are prohibited.
  • Manuscripts are screened with plagiarism-detection tools prior to peer review.
  • Data should be accurate, retained for a reasonable period, and made available upon request where ethically and legally permissible to support reproducibility.

3. Human/Animal Ethics Approvals

  • Research involving humans requires approval from a recognized ethics committee and informed consent, with appropriate protection of privacy and confidentiality.
  • Animal studies must follow internationally accepted welfare standards and institutional approvals.

4. Conflicts of Interest

  • Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial interests that could be perceived to influence the work (funding, consultancies, affiliations).
  • Editors and reviewers must declare any conflicts and recuse themselves when appropriate.

5. Peer Review and Editorial Independence

  • Double-blind peer review is used; at least two independent experts evaluate each manuscript for originality, rigor, clarity, and relevance.
  • Editorial decisions are based solely on academic merit and fit to scope; demographic or institutional factors do not influence outcomes.

6. Use of AI-Assisted Tools

  • Any use of AI tools (e.g., editing, translation, code or image generation) must be transparently declared, specifying the tool, purpose, and extent. AI systems cannot be listed as authors; authors retain full responsibility for the content.

7. Misconduct, Investigations, and Sanctions

  • Allegations of plagiarism, duplicate submission, unethical research, authorship disputes, or data manipulation are investigated promptly in line with recognized guidelines (e.g., COPE principles).
  • Possible sanctions include rejection, retraction, correction or expression of concern, notification to institutions/funders, and temporary or permanent submission bans.

8. Complaints and Appeals

  • Authors may appeal editorial decisions by providing a reasoned response addressing reviewers’ and editors’ comments; appeals are reviewed by an independent editor or an additional reviewer when necessary.
  • Complaints (e.g., procedural issues, timelines, conduct) should be sent to the editorial office; substantiated complaints are investigated impartially and confidentially.

9. Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Updates

  • Errors that affect the scholarly record are corrected via errata or corrigenda; serious issues may lead to retraction or an expression of concern with clear explanatory notes.

10. Data Sharing and Access

  • Where possible, authors are encouraged to share datasets, code, and materials in trusted repositories, with proper citations and access statements consistent with ethical and legal constraints.

11. Licensing and Open Access

  • Articles are published under a Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY 4.0). Users may read, download, copy, distribute, and link to the full texts with proper attribution.

12. Confidentiality and Editorial Records

  • Submissions under review are confidential; reviewers must not share or use unpublished materials for personal advantage. Editorial records are handled in accordance with privacy and data-protection policies.