Publication Ethics and Best Practices For Authors

The authors should review the Author Guidelines and adhere to publication ethics and best practices. Authors need to register with the journal before submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process. The format of a sample paper can be downloaded from this link: Sample Paper

The Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences (JANS) publishes high-quality, innovative, original and significant works. The journal tries its best to reinforce transparency, and confidentiality and help scientists to fulfil their responsibilities as authors and reviewers.

Note: The ethics statement of the Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Authorship:

The authorship credit should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, and design, or acquisition, execution, and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for the important intellectual content of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions like above should be recognized as co-authors. AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a paper. Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Corresponding author- The “corresponding author” means the person who handles correspondence regarding a paper. The corresponding/submitting author is solely responsible for maintaining proper communication with the journal and between co-authors, before and after publication.

Before submission, it is the liability of the corresponding author that he/she should ensure that all authors are included in the author list and that all authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and all are aware of the submission of the paper.

The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of content given to the journal, in particular, the names of coauthors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are up to date. This author is answerable to all the inquiries and also to ensure that those are answered promptly on behalf of all the co-authors. The name and e-mail address of this author (corresponding authors may be more than one considering the case of large collaborations) is published in the paper.

Submission to the JANS is taken by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed on all of the contents. Corresponding authors are expected to have notified all authors when the manuscript is accepted. They are the point of contact with the editor and they must communicate any matters that arise after publication to their coauthors and to ensure such matters are dealt with promptly keeping consent from all the coauthors.

Duplicate publications:

Redundant publication is defined as when two or more papers, without full cross reference, share the same hypothesis, data, discussion points or conclusions. The defining characteristic of a duplicate publication is that, in addition to the above, it shares at least some of the authors. Thus, duplicate publications have one or more authors in common and a substantial amount of duplicated text also.

Any manuscript submitted to the Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences must be original. The manuscript, or substantial parts of it, must not be under consideration by any other journal. Submission of an article to the journal itself implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.

Authors who submit a manuscript for publication containing data, reviews, conclusions, etc., that have already been disseminated in some significant manner (e.g., published as an article in another journal, presented at a conference, posted on the internet) must clearly inform to the editors and readers the nature of the previous dissemination.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is when a submitted manuscript/material in part or whole is not entirely one’s own work but the words and ideas have been cut-and-pasted without acknowledging the correct source. The act of substantially using another’s idea and written materials without due credit is unethical. Duplicate publication is also, sometimes called self-plagiarism.

Following acts are considered as Plagiarism:

• Turning in someone else’s work as your own.

• Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.

• Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.

• Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation.

• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit.

• Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of work, whether you give credit or not.

It is the responsibility of the author that likewise published data, unpublished data must be properly credited and the appropriate permission has been sought. In the case of license data, authors must submit a written assurance that they have signed the data-licensing agreement with its owner.

Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences would not consider the manuscripts for publication which comes under the plagiarism. If a case of plagiarism comes to knowledge after a paper is published in the journal, the journal will conduct a proper investigation.

Plagiarism can also occur accidentally when an author does not intend to plagiarize but fails to cite his or her sources correctly and completely. Being careful and having a clear understanding of ethical writing can help to prevent this.

Copyright Infringement and Fair Use:

According to the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code), copyright is a form of protection given to the authors of “original works of authorship”, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. This law gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to publish, reproduce, sell, distribute or modify their work.

Copyright Infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner. An exception to copyright infringement falls under the doctrine of “Fair Use” of copyright law and generally represents instances in which the activity is largely for nonprofit educational, scholarship, or research purposes.

The safest way is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. When it seems to be impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of “Fair Use” would clearly apply to the situation.

Confidentiality:

Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences respects the confidentiality of the research. JANS editors and editorial staff do not disclose any information about the submitted manuscripts and the communication with reviewers and authors. Editors of JANS do not comment about the manuscript under consideration by the journal or even if it is rejected.

Authors must also treat the communication as confidential. Any information regarding the manuscript submission, reviewer’s reports, and its publication should not be disclosed to any website or otherwise publicized without prior permission from the editors.

It is the duty of the reviewer to treat any manuscripts received for review as confidential documents and they should not reveal any information about the correspondence and interactions with editors. They should not be shown or discussed or commented with third parties except the editor.

Standards of objectivity and Fair play:

Journal of Applied and Natural Sciences follow the standards of objectivity and fair play. Journal’s editor will evaluate the manuscripts for their intellectual content regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors.

Personal criticism of the author is taken as inappropriate from the reviewer. Journal emphasizes the importance of objectivity and so reviews should be conducted objectively without any prejudices and presumptions. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Conflict of Interest and Funding Acknowledgement:

The author(s) should certify that all authors of Manuscript have no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests, patent licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted Manuscript, except as disclosed on a separate attachment. All funding sources supporting the work and all institutional or corporate affiliations should be acknowledged in a footnote.

Animal Ethics and Informed Consent for Human Participants:

The author should ensure that appropriate permission are taken from the concerned Animal Ethics Committee for the conduct of the research using animals. The research involving human participants proper guidelines should be followed to protect their privacy and written consent should be taken informing the participants about the data to be used in the research.

Supplementary Information:

We encourage the inclusion of supplementary information as it enables the research to be transparent, reproducible, and accessible to a wide audience.
The author should follow these guidelines for including supplementary information in a manuscript.