Publishing and Ethics Policies

Publication Ethics and Editorial Responsibility

International Journal of Applied Resilience and Sustainability (IJARS) published by Deep Science Publisher is dedicated to maintaining the integrity of material published. The worth of academic publishing hinges upon all parties engaging in ethical behaviour. The following is a very general list and not complete. Our authors and editors are also encouraged to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for guidance. Deep Science Publisher strongly stands for accuracy of the academic record and agrees with COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

Deep Science Publisher is Dedicated to:

• helping journal editors conduct their journals with ethical and transparent practices
• keeping a clear and accurate record of reporting academic activity, and issuing corrections and retractions when appropriate
• preserving the editorial autonomy of journal editors

Editorial Responsibilities and Ethics

Editors must work with authors, reviewers, and Editorial Board members, as appropriate, to determine the journal’s policy with respect to handling papers submitted by individuals with a potential conflict of interest or other reasons for bias. Editors may, if necessary, liaise with the authors’ research funders, institution(s), or employer(s) in order to investigate reported concerns.

Editors should maintain the highest standards of personal integrity in their role as editor of the journal and be aware of circumstances that could lead to a competing interest or the appearance of one.

Editors must keep the review process confidential.

Editors should enforce the policy, when appropriate, in a fair and consistent manner, not just during deletion debates.

Editors should uphold and promote consistent ethical policies for their journals.

Peer Review Guidelines and Reviewer Responsibilities

Confidentiality

Any document submitted to reviewers for review must be treated as a confidential document. Therefore, the reviewer should not share the review or any information about the publication with anyone else, or directly inform the author, except with permission from the editor. Reviewers are also expected to protect the confidentiality of the peer review process by following Deep Science Publisher guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools. While some editors may permit limited collaboration such as discussing code-related tasks or review exercises with colleagues, reviewers must first seek the editor’s approval. This ensures confidentiality is preserved and that any contributors are properly acknowledged. Furthermore, any unpublished information included in a submitted manuscript must not be used in the reviewer’s own research unless the author has granted explicit permission. Additionally, privileged information and ideas acquired through the peer review process should be kept confidential and not pursued for personal gain.

Citations

Reviewers should avoid making suggestions for citations to their own work unless these citations are for legitimate scientific reasons and not merely to increase the citation count of reviewer or improve the use of their work. The editor can remove inappropriate references from reviewer comments.

Objectivity and Conflict of Interest

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Reviewers should not consider their reviews as personal criticisms of the authors. Well-supported views should be expressed, and reviewers should make their comments as clear as possible. Reviewers should declare to the editor any conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript. Reviewers must also seek the editor’s permission if they believe they need to step down because of a potential conflict of interest.

Potential sources of conflict of interest for this role include, but are not limited to:

• The author(s) and reviewer have a close personal connection or relationship, or the reviewer has a direct or established strong mentoring relationship with the author.
• The author(s) and reviewer are colleagues in the same institute
• The author(s) and reviewer have collaborated within the past five years

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review is essential for editors to make sound judgments, and it compels authors to refine and strengthen their work through critical feedback. Peer review is a cornerstone of formal scholarly communication, and as such, it is hard not to consider the extensive history of peer review during the development, over many centuries, of the scientific method.

Aside from a scientific assessment of the manuscript, reviewers should also be vigilant for ethical issues and may suggest to the editor any major overlap or congruence among the paper being reviewed and any published article known to the reviewer. Reported observations, derivations, and arguments should be cited whenever they are mentioned.

When preparing reviewer reports, reviewers are encouraged to extend the same respect and fairness to authors and their work that they would expect for their own, while also adhering to principles of professional reviewing etiquette. If a reviewer is selected who believes that he or she is not qualified for reviewing the finding shown in a manuscript, that its timely evaluation will be impossible, or knows that its timely review, for any other reason, will not be possible, he or she should inform the editor and excuse him/herself from the process of reviewing.

Author Guidelines and Ethical Responsibilities

Prior Publication

An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one primary publication. It is unethical to republish the same manuscript in another journal. Normally, the author will not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper, either in whole or in part, except when this has occurred with the prior approval of an editorial committee. Occasionally, a type of article (Ex. translations, clinical guidelines) may be published in more than one journal if certain conditions are met. The author and journal must consent to the republication, which should reiterate the data and interpretation described in the original report. The secondary publication must credit the primary reference.

International Journal of Applied Resilience and Sustainability (IJARS) published by Deep Science Publisher refers to the COPE Guidelines for Redundant Publication. To avoid potential errors after publication, please inform the editor at the time of submission if you have published or distributed your manuscript in another medium. You should make sure that the manuscript, with appropriate attribution to your prior publication of this material, and any citations, are clearly denoted as such so that readers of your article can refer back to the original. Make sure to review the journal’s Author Guidelines before submitting your manuscript. With submission to the journal, the authors must provide a description of any prior distribution of any portion of your manuscript, both when you submit it to the journal and in the paper itself.

Authorship of the Article

Authorship should be reserved for individuals who have made substantial contributions to the study, including its formulation, design, implementation, or analysis. Everybody who has substantially contributed should be credited as co-authors. Those who have contributed beyond language editing must also be mentioned in the acknowledgements. The corresponding author is responsible for all aspects of the process and should not be listed as an author unless he/she fulfills that role. All details necessary to ensure that all authors or contributors can take public responsibility for the paper are provided by at least two authors upon submission, in particular: that the data presented have been collected from all contributing authors, that they have approved the final draft, and that this version has not been published elsewhere beforehand. Authors should critically consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide a definitive list at the time of the original submission. The Editor will consider additions, deletions, or changes to authorship only in the case of major contribution, and this must be justified by a statement from all contributors. If there are any previous versions of the manuscript that have been published elsewhere, then this must also be stated at the time of submission. Any modification to the list of authors, whether by addition, removal, or change in order, must have the approval of all contributors. The responsibility for the work rests collectively with all authors. Each author has reviewed the manuscript and given consent to the final published version.

Institutional Affiliations

Authors must write their institution’s name in full or the standard abbreviation, and you can check it by following the link if they are not only real but also have a research building that matches those listed therein.

Originality and Acknowledgement of Sources

The authors need to take all precautions to present the work and/or words of others literally, as well as to have obtained permission for what is quoted or cited. Due credit must be provided to the work of others. The author should refer to the work that has shaped his research and place it in the proper context within the global scholarly debate. The press shall not use, for its own purposes, private conversations that have come to their knowledge, nor correspondence or information heard by a third party, and/or private discussions of persons included in such conversation, correspondence, or discussion, without the formal written permission of the source. Plagiarism can take many different forms. It may involve presenting someone else’s work as one’s own, reproducing or closely rephrasing significant portions of another person’s writing without proper acknowledgment, or even taking credit for research outcomes produced by others. Regardless of how it occurs, plagiarism is unethical and cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

The International Journal of Applied Resilience and Sustainability (IJARS) and Deep Science Publisher regard copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other violations of best practice in publication very seriously. We do not want to lose the rights of our authors, and so we investigate any claims of plagiarism or misuse of previously published articles. We also aim to protect the reputation of the journal from misconduct. Manuscripts may be screened with plagiarism-detection tools to ensure originality. If it is discovered that a submission has copied content from other sources, contains copyrighted material without appropriate authorization or credit, or if disputes arise concerning authorship, the editorial team reserves the right to take corrective measures. These measures may include issuing a formal correction or notice, retracting the publication, notifying the author’s department head or institution, informing relevant professional organizations, and, if necessary, prohibiting future submissions from the individuals involved.

Generative AI for Writing and Figures Preparation

Authors are encouraged to review our policies on generative AI to understand the appropriate use of AI tools in the preparation of manuscripts.

Image Integrity

The use of an external aid or expert will not be allowed to alter, hide, relocate, delete, or add any specific feature in the image. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are allowed, provided they do not obscure or eliminate information present in the original. That is not to say image manipulation for improved clarity is non-existent, but that which does exist is considered scientific ethical misbehaviour and will be handled appropriately. Authors should follow any policy for graphical images stipulated by the relevant journal (e.g., submitting original images as a supplement to the article, or depositing such images in an appropriate repository).

Reporting Standards

Researchers submitting original papers are expected to provide a truthful and precise description of the work they have carried out, along with an impartial discussion of its importance. The presentation of data should be detailed enough to reflect the actual findings. A manuscript must contain sufficient information and appropriate references so that others can replicate the study. Any form of dishonesty such as fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting results is considered unethical and unacceptable. Likewise, review articles and professional publications should present information accurately and fairly, while editorials or opinion pieces must be explicitly recognized.

Data Availability and Retention

In some cases, editors may ask authors to provide the relevant data that supports their manuscript, either for review purposes or to adhere to the journal’s open data policy. Authors are expected to share such data publicly whenever feasible and to keep it preserved for a specified period of time after the article has been published.

Citations

Citing of relevant, recent and authentic literature is necessary to substantiate the claims which are raised in their article by the author. All citations will be reviewed to ensure they are ethical and appropriate, and to prevent any form of citation misconduct.

Authors should:

• Not overload their article with an excessive number of citations to substantiate a single point.
• Don’t include excessive or irrelevant references to the article, and avoid manipulating citations or pressuring colleagues to cite unnecessarily.
• Not over-cite their own work.
• Make sure the citations in their article are clearly set out, and that all of them can be followed through a permanent Digital Object Identifier or another permanent identifier.
• Double-check that their citations from external sources match the sentences and content of their article.

During peer review, editors and reviewers may recommend that authors add further references, but such suggestions must always be grounded in legitimate scientific justification. These requests should be made solely to strengthen the research and not to inflate the citation counts of the editor, reviewer, or their colleagues, nor to promote their own work. If an author believes that citations have been recommended against house style policy, they may bring this to the attention of the editor (if suggested by a reviewer) or contact Deep Science Support with details of the citation, as we expect it is important to ensure that references are properly precedent for the reasons outlined above.

Confidentiality

Information obtained while performing confidential tasks such as reviewing a manuscript or evaluating a grant proposal must not be used for any purpose unless the original author has granted explicit written consent.

Clinical Trial Transparency

Deep Science Publisher committed to supporting clinical trial transparency. Authors are required to adhere to the industrial best standards of care regarding clinical trial reporting and registration.

Animal or Human and Hazards Subjects

If the work is based on hazardous materials, procedures, or equipment, the author should indicate this in the manuscripts. If the paper has been submitted with a study on patients or laboratory animals, then all work must have been conducted in an ethical way, and it should be stated within the text that such guidelines were followed and what institutional committee approved them. The manuscript should explicitly mention that informed consent was obtained from all individuals who participated in the research involving human subjects. Additionally, safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of participants must be recognized as an essential consideration in the study.

Authors must obtain written informed consent, along with explicit permission and release, before including case information, personal details, or other persons in a manuscript. The author must keep written consents if consent is given in any form and provide copies to Deep Science Publisher upon request.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

Authors are required to declare any personal or financial connections with individuals or organizations that might unduly affect or bias their research. All sources of financial or material support for the work should be acknowledged at the end of the manuscript. In addition, their involvement, if any, in shaping the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, preparation of the manuscript, and the decision to submit for publication must be clearly specified. If this work was not part of the work supported by the funding source(s), then it should be declared.

Conflicts of interest that need to be declared may include situations such as holding a job with a related organization, providing consultancy services, owning company shares, receiving honoraria, offering paid expert opinions, or being involved in patent filings, registrations, or other forms of financial support. Conflict of interest aspects should be declared as early as possible.

Notification of Fundamental Errors

If the author becomes aware of significant errors or inaccuracies in the submitted manuscript, then the author has an obligation to inform the editor promptly and cooperate with the editor to withdraw or modify the manuscript. If a third party identifies a substantial mistake or inaccuracy in a published work, the author is expected to collaborate with the editor to issue a correction or, if necessary, withdraw the article.