Ethics, Terms & Policies

Over the years, several participants in the community (e.g. indexing services, funders etc) have requested several different things to be explicitely stated (sometimes in separated dedicated pages for each term) within the sites of academic journals and/or of their publisher. 

To help all interested parties, please note that: 
- The general terms available in PUBETA's website apply to this journal.
- Journal Publication History, Organization Association and other relative information can be found here.
- The journal's Privacy Statement can be found here.
- Archiving statement can be found here.
- Publication fee information can be found here.
- This journal's copyright notice can be found here.
- Upon Submission all authors are requested to confirm and accept our Submission Preparation Checklist as found here.
- Authors are generally expected to also have read our template and follow all our rules as described in our template found here and in our Guide for Authors section here.
- Indexing information and links can be found here.
- Publication fee information can be found here and payment instructions can be found here.
- Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) can be found here.

 

In addition to the above, the following policies apply:

Open Access Policy

ETASR provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

ETASR is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher, providing that they acknowledge its initial publication in this journal.

See our Copyright Notice here

Peer Review Process

All submitted articles will be pre-screened by the Editor to determine suitability for further review (e.g. correct format,  area of interest). Articles deemed suitable will be peer-reviewed by at least two independent reviewers (single blind review). Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book.

Review Duration

A first decision about each submitted article will be reached within 4 weeks from submission. An added time of 2-4 weeks should be considered for each additional review round. Accepted articles will be published as soon as possible (possibly in the following issue). Visit our Data & Statistics page for additional information and mean times so far (per year and overall).

Plagiarism

If similarities with already published material are detected, then depending on the extent of the similarities, the editor may reject the article or contact the author and ask for an explanation/revision (e.g. in the case of suspected self-plagiarism).

We are aware that using plagiarism detection softwares may result to unjust accusations and therefore our team (editor and editorial board members) will consider all data in order to determine if the article under examination bears new scientific data that deserve to be published.

On the other hand, if it is decided that the author deliberate plagiarized an article this may even cause the banning of all co-authors from our journal for a certain period or even permanently. In such a case, the authors will be contacted and an explanation will be asked.

In case of a published article that is judged to be the result of plagiarism, the article will be retracted and this will be clearly stated in the article's title, in the abstract page and in the pdf and an explanation/cause of retraction will also be provided.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

This journal is committed to the permanent and free availability of the published work by maintaining its own digital archive but also by partnering with other organizations (libraries, repositories, indexing services etc). Details and links to such services are provided in separate sections of the journal’s site. You can check our Archiving and our Indexing & Links pages for more information.

The Editor-in-Chief, section editors, guest editors and editorial board members (generally referred to as “Editors” from now on) evaluate submitted manuscripts solely on the basis of their content and its relevance to the journal’s scope. The authors’ gender, ethnicity, affiliation and any other characteristics are not considered in any stage. Third party policies (e.g. of governments or any other agencies) are also not considered in any stage. The entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content is in the full authority of the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on their content, considering the reviewers’ comments as well as possible legal issues (libel, copyright infringement, plagiarism etc). The Editor-in-Chief may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

This journal will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to any other than the persons related to the review/publication process (authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, copyeditors, publisher etc) and only to the extent that is required for each review/publication process step. Any manuscripts received for review (along with relevant data/info) are confidential and must not be shown to or discussed with others except under exceptional and specific circumstances and always with the authorization of the Editor-in-Chief. This applies also to reviewers who decline review invitations. The Editors will not use unpublished information, found in submitted manuscripts, for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Editors will not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest and they will ask to be substituted in the handling of such manuscripts.

Editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts considered for publication are peer-reviewed by at least two experts in the field. Each review should be the result/opinion of the assigned reviewer. Any reviewers who feel unqualified or unable to undertake and complete the review in time should notify the Editors and decline the invitation. Reviews should be objective and all observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments. Personal criticism in any stage (and from any party) of the review process is inappropriate. Any invited referee who has any conflict of interest should immediately notify the Editors and decline the review invitation. Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation. Any statement that is an observation, derivation or argument that has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation in the manuscript considered for publication. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors and report any possibility of plagiarism (even in the case of similarities with unpublished material that they have personal knowledge of).

Authors of original research should provide an accurate account of the work/results, followed by an objective discussion of its significance. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Review articles should be objective, comprehensive and accurate whereas Perspective articles (or articles of any other type, e.g. correspondence etc) should be clearly identified as such. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if this can be achieved without breaching the confidentiality of the participants and/or any legal rights. Authors should ensure that they submit original work and that they have properly cited any work and/or words of others. Authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Authors must be able to take public responsibility for the content. Thus, persons stated as authors must have made significant contribution to the work and the writing of the manuscript and also must have seen and approved the final version and agreed to its submission for publication. All persons who made some contribution to the work (e.g. technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support) but do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as authors, but should however be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section. Authors should disclose any conflict of interest that they may have at the earliest stage possible and also state all sources of financial support (e.g. grant numbers etc). Information obtained privately (from conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Authors should not use information obtained in the course of providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the authors/copyright holders. The authors must clearly identify any chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards in the manuscript. If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and with all respect to privacy rights. Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to all Editors’ requests (e.g. provide raw data, clarifications, copyright permissions etc). If revisions are required, authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments point by point, revising and re-submitting their manuscript by the deadline given. When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the Editors or publisher and cooperate with them to either correct the article in the form of an erratum or to retract the article. If such errors are discovered (or are thought to be discovered) by the Editors, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the article or provide evidence of the correctness of the article.

Editors (in conjunction with the publisher) will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published article, regardless the time of publication. If the ethical concern is found to be well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern or other note as may be relevant, will be published in the journal. The publisher and the Editors shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of articles where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. In case of alleged or proven scientific misconduct they will take all appropriate measures to clarify and to amend the situation (publish an erratum, a clarification or proceed with the retraction).  

Aggressive, insulting, erratic or abusive behavior is not allowed  and users that fail to behave will have their accounts deactivated.    

Authorship and Changes to authorship

Authors should appoint a corresponding author to communicate with the journal during the editorial process. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Changes to authorship will generally NOT be considered once a manuscript has been submitted. It is important that authors carefully consider the authorship list and order of authors and provide a definitive author list upon submission.  All authors must be listed in the manuscript and their details have to be entered into our system upon submission. Changes can only be made prior to acceptance, and only if approved by the journal editor. This includes additions, deletion, or rearrangement of author names. The corresponding author must provide a detailed justification for the request and also include an explanation/description regarding the changes in the revised version of the article for the reviewers if another review round is due.  The review process may be paused while a change in authorship request is being considered. Any unauthorized authorship changes may result in the rejection of the manuscript or retraction if the article has already been published.

Declaration of competing interests & Funding sources

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Authors must also disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. 

Using and Citing Datasets and Data Availability statement

Authors must describe in detail all used datasets along with all related details so that their source and content are perfectly clear to the reader. In case of third-party datasets, authors are expected to fully respect the respective copyright notice/license. If authors have access to a private dataset (e.g. directly from the owner), then they must discuss it in the manuscript. If authors use their own dataset, then it is preferable that the dataset is uploaded to a public repository and then cited in the manuscript. If this is not possible (e.g. the dataset may be confidential), this has to be stated and discussed in the manuscript. 

AI Use and declaration of generative AI use

Authors can use AI Tools to support them in their work but not as a substitute for human critical thinking and not without human oversight and control. Authors must declare the use (or non-use) of generative AI in their article in the appropriate section(s) as instructed in the template. 

If AI tools have been  used in the research process, this should be described in detail as part of the article's methodology section in a manner that would allow reproducing the results in full. Authors have to ensure that the use of any AI tools is made clear and transparent to the reader. 

Authors are expected to ensure that their use of AI does not create copyright or ethical issues. The privacy and confidentiality of data and inputs, including their unpublished manuscripts, is to be maintained. Images that duplicate or refer to existing copyrighted images, real people, or others’ identifiable products or brands must not be generated. Authors must ensure that the AI Tool they use does not impose constraints on the use of its outputs and that they do not grant to the AI Tool any other rights to the materials that they input into it.

AI can not be used to alter images. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable (but have to be declared in the figure's captions) if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original images. 

Especially regarding references, authors are expected to check and verify all citations so that they are fitting, justified and having full and correct bibliographical data (according to our journal's style and rules as described in our template).

Authors should always check for factual errors and for any potential bias.

In any case, authors are considered fully responsible and accountable for the contents of their work. This includes accountability for the whole content of the article including text, tables, figures and citations.

The use of AI Tools must be declared by a statement which is to be included in the published article, before references. The declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools, such as tools used to check grammar, spelling and references. If you have nothing to disclose, you do not need to add a statement.

Authors may not list or cite AI Tools as an author or co-author on the manuscript since authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to, and performed by, humans. 

This journal does not allow the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies such as ChatGPT or similar services by reviewers or editors in the peer review and manuscript evaluation process.