Publication Ethics

Frontiers in Applied Engineering and Technology (FAET)is the product of the joint efforts of the authors, journal editors and peer reviewers. Therefore, it is of great importance to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. The ethics standard used by GMJ Journals is based on the guidelines and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). 

Editorial Responsibilities

• Editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to AJSTEME will be published.
• Editor is guided by the policies of the Journal's Editorial Board, taking into account the quality of papers, their originality, relevance, and readability, and their accord with the aims and scopes of the journal.
• Editor is obliged to provide clear and transparent guidelines for Authors in preparing manuscripts for publishing. Instructions for Authors are available at the journal's website. Instructions for Authors are published in the first Issue of every Volume.
• Editor is obliged to provide clear and transparent guidelines for Peer Reviewers, to provide confidentiality of peer review and to protect Peer Reviewers' identity.
• Editor and Editorial Board take into account legal requirements in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and
• Editor is due to react if there is any justified suspicion about ethical misconduct in both published and unpublished papers.
• Editor must hold no conflict of interest with regard to the articles considered for publication. If Editor feels that there is likely to be a perception of a conflict of interest, the selection of reviewers and all decisions on the paper shall be made by the Editorial Board. Since the identity of the authors and reviewers is unknown to each other, the Editor is obliged to guarantee their anonymity.

Authors’ Responsibilities

• Author/s warrants that his/her/their manuscript is an original work that has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere either in printed or electronic form.
• Authors warrant that all who have contributed significantly to the manuscript are indicated as authors.
• Authors warrant that the rights of third parties will not be violated and that the publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.
• Authors are exclusively responsible for the contents of their submissions, the validity of the results and must make sure that they have permission from all involved parties to make the data public.
• Authors wishing to include figures, charts or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
• It is the responsibility of each author to ensure that papers submitted to JBEDPM are written with ethical standards in mind and that they do not contain plagiarism. Authors affirm that the article contains no unfounded or unlawful statements and does not violate the rights of others.
• When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her/their own 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.

Procedures for Dealing with Unethical Behaviour 

Anyone may inform the editors and/or Editorial Staff at any time of suspected unethical behavior or any type of misconduct by giving the necessary information/evidence to start an investigation.

Investigation

The Editor-in-Chief will consult with the Section Editors on decisions regarding the initiation of an investigation. During an investigation, any evidence should be treated as strictly confidential and only made available to those strictly involved in the investigation. The accused will always be given the chance to respond to any charges made against them. If it is judged at the end of the investigation that misconduct has occurred, then it will be classified as either minor or serious.

Minor misconduct

Minor misconduct will be dealt directly with those involved without involving any other parties, e.g.:

• Communicating with authors/reviewers whenever a minor issue involving misunderstanding or misapplication of academic standards has occurred.
• A warning letter to an author or reviewer regarding fairly minor misconduct.

Major misconduct

The Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the Section Editors, and, when appropriate, further consultation with a small group of experts should make any decision regarding the course of action to be taken using the evidence available. The possible outcomes are as follows (these can be used separately or jointly):

• Publication of a formal announcement or editorial describing the misconduct.
• Informing the author's (or reviewer's) head of department or employer of any misconduct by means of a formal letter.
• The formally announced retraction of publications from the journal in accordance with the Retraction Policy.
• A ban on submissions from an individual for a defined period.
• Referring a case to a professional organization or legal authority for further investigation and action.

When dealing with unethical behavior, the Editorial Staff will rely on the guidelines and recommendations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Disclaimer 

The views expressed in the published works do not express the views of the Editors and Editorial Staff. The authors take legal and moral responsibility for the ideas expressed in the articles. Publisher shall have no liability in the event of the issuance of any claims for damages. The Publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.