Policies on Ethics

Alassema University Scientific Journal (AUSJ) values the integrity of the scientific record. The Editorial Board members strive to ensure that published articles adhere to the highest standards of research. AUSJ‎ adopts the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work prepared by the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The journal's policies on various ethical matters are outlined below.

Ethical Conduct in Research

For research involving human subjects, human tissues, or medical records, the editors request that authors follow the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (Declaration of Helsinki). Similarly, for research involving animals, authors should indicate whether they adhered to institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.

In all cases, authors are required to confirm that the relevant Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee at their institution or country approved their research (or stated that approval was not necessary). This should also be mentioned in the Materials & Methods section of their manuscripts.

Conflict of Interest (COI)

All corresponding authors must declare any conflicting interests related to the conduct of the submitted research. To ensure best practices in drafting such declarations, authors are required to complete the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form. This form generates a COI statement based on the answers provided by the author to a specific set of questions. This statement will be included in the final published version of the article.

Plagiarism

AUSJ‎ utilizes Plagiarism Checker X to verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. Extensive plagiarism may lead to the rejection of the manuscript during the initial screening (before peer review). The manuscript will be rechecked for plagiarism in cases where significant changes are made by the author during the peer review process.

Authorship

AUSJ‎ discourages submissions that involve what is known as guest or ghost authors. According to ICMJE guidelines, each author of a manuscript must meet all of the following four criteria:

1.     Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;

2.     Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

3.     Final approval of the version to be published;

4.     Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Only the corresponding author is responsible for submitting all relevant details and for tracking the manuscript through the review and production processes.

Cases of Misconduct

Although not currently a member, AUSJ‎ follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct. Accordingly, the relevant COPE Flowchart will be utilized to guide the Editorial Board in addressing cases of suspected misconduct. This includes any breaches of the aforementioned rules as well as other types of scientific misconduct (e.g., data fabrication, data manipulation, authorship disputes, etc.). If the article in question has already been published, retraction may be necessary.