The Research Committee and the editor have the following responsibilities and code of ethics to be followed:
- Research Committee and the editor are accountable for everything published in the journal. The editor and research committee may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and subjected to such legal requirements regarding defaming, copyright infringement and plagiarism. However the editor cannot influence the research committee reviewers who are conducting the review of the articles.
- The Research Committee is unbiased for submission and reviewing the manuscripts, regardless of source and content, including negative or indecisive results. The received manuscripts shall be assessed on the basis of their intellectual merit without regard to authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy.
- The confidentiality of the manuscript is to be maintained by the research committee and should not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers and the publisher.
- There shall be no personal criticism of the authors; the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
- Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interests resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscripts.
- The research committee strictly avoids plagiarism through online plagiarism software, duplication and any other unethical practices.
- It has established clear policies and guidelines governing the conduct of publishers including, but not limited to, requiring full disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
The Research Committee has also established ‘Code of ethics’ for the authors for writing articles/papers/chapters etc. They are as follows:
- The author should submit his/her original research work. Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and is not published earlier in any form. If the author has used the work/words of others – this must be appropriately cited or quoted in the manuscript.
- Should give a declaration stating that the research work belongs to them and is not taken from someone else work, and it is not published earlier.
- Should not misrepresent the research findings and facts – by using selective or fraudulent data to support his/her study. A manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
- Authors should not copy or use any research work prepared by others without proper acknowledgement or citation. Should not fabricate or falsify the manuscript including images
- Authors should be prepared to provide public access to the raw data in connection with a manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
- The received research work before accepting is checked on the plagiarism software. The acceptable limit for Plagiarism is not more than 10%. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, shall be given time to correct it.
- 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.
Guidelines for Faculty members
The Research Committee makes sure that the internal faculty members who work on research have to submit an undertaking for his/her research work to the director. Following points are to be mentioned by the faculty member:
1. The work presented in the research purely belongs to him/her and is not copied from somewhere else.
2. Plagiarized material does not exceed 10%
3. It has not been published earlier.
4. If some facts are referred, it has been cited in the manuscript.
5. The Journal details for which the research work is to be sent:
- The impact factor of the Journal (National or International)
- ISSBN/ISSN number of the publication
6. In case the research is proposed to be published in a UGC notified journal, then approval and checks must be ratified by the Research Committee before it is sent for publication.