When first starting writing academic papers, there are many hidden aspects
of best practice that take years to discover.
The Royal Society guide has a guide to publishing ethics for its journals
that is helpful, see below and
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml
The Royal Society on 'paying for publication' (see EXis Open Choice) sets
some interesting ground rules
Best wishes,
Terry
___________________
Dr. Terence Love, FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM, MISI
Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845
Mob: 0434 975 848, Fax +61(0)8 9305 7629, [log in to unmask]
Member of International Scientific Council UNIDCOM/ IADE, Lisbon, Portugal
Honorary Fellow, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development
Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
____________________
Royal Society Publishing ethics
This page describes the Royal Society's position on the major ethical
principles of academic publishing and other publishing policy. We are
committed to promoting the highest ethical publication practices across all
its journals.
1. 1. Openess
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question1>
2. 2 Misconduct
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question2>
3. 3 Editorial standards and processes
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question3>
4. 4 Research ethics and animal treatment
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question4>
5. 5. Intellectual Property
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question5>
6. 6. Data and material sharing
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question6>
7. 7. Content availability and Open Access (EXiS Open Choice)
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question7>
8. 8. Media embargo
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question8>
9. 9. Copyright
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#question9>
1. Openess
1.1 Source of funding
The source of funding for a research project or the publication of an
article should always be clear.
* The source of the research funds should be listed on all research
papers. Authors should acknowledge all significant funders of the research
pertaining to their article and list all relevant conflicts of interest.
* Funding for any type of publication, from whatever source, private,
government or commercial, should be stated within the publication. This
applies to all types of papers (including, for example, research papers,
review papers, letters, editorials, commentaries).
* Other sources of support for publications should be clearly
identified in the manuscript, usually in an acknowledgement. For example,
these might include funding the article processing charge for an EXiS Open
Choice publication
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/EXiS.xhtml> , or funding for
writing, language editing or editorial assistance.
1.2 Authorship
The list of Authors should accurately reflect who carried out the research
and who wrote the article.
* The list of Authors should correspond to the following criteria; 1)
substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data,
or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising
it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of
the version to be published. Authors should meet all three of these
conditions.
* All Authors must meet these criteria for authorship and conversely,
no-one should be omitted from the list if he/she meets these criteria.
* We will attempt to resolve any disputes of authorship arising after
publication if asked to do so. We may consider publishing a correction
should this be deemed appropriate.
1.3 Dual Publication
It is important to ensure that research work is only published once. If it
is published more than once, the scientific literature can be unjustifiably
weighted by the appearance that one study has been replicated. It might also
mean that the study is inadvertently entered twice into a meta-analysis, for
example, or cause problems in systems which use the number of publications
to assess an individual's or an institute's research output.
There may be situations (e.g. review articles) where previously published
work can be included in summary form, but it must be made clear to the
Editor on submission that this is the case. Publication of an abstract at a
meeting does not preclude later submission of the full article to a Royal
Society journal.
* The submitted work and its essential substance may not previously
have been published and may not be under consideration for publication
elsewhere. At the journal's discretion, articles based on material presented
at Royal Society Discussion meetings may be an exception to this. In such
circumstances, the authors must inform The Royal Society that this is the
case.
* If a primary research report is published and later found to be a
duplicate (i.e. has been published before), we will contact the Authors and
consider publishing a notice of redundant publication.
1.4 Conflicts of interest
All Authors and Referees must declare any conflicts of interest relating to
a given article.
* Authors must list all relevant conflicts of interest in the paper.
* Referees are asked to declare their conflicts of interest when
returning their report on a paper.
* If a member of the editorial team feels a conflict of interest in
making a decision on a paper, he/she should return the paper to the office
and request that it is transferred to an alternative Editor.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
2 Misconduct
Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in
proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research
results.
a) Fabrication is making up data or results and recording or reporting them
b) Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or
processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is
not accurately represented in the research record
c) Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes,
results, or words without giving appropriate credit
d) Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of
opinion
The Royal Society is a member of CrossCheck
<http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html> , a multi-publisher initiative to
screen published and submitted content for originality.
If misconduct is suspected journal Editors will act in accordance with the
relevant COPE guidelines:
http://publicationethics.org/guidelines
<http://publicationethics.org/flowcharts>
In cases of suspected misconduct, we will proceed as follows:
* Referees will be asked to comment on any evidence of scientific
misconduct in papers they review.
* If we encounter an accusation of plagiarism or dual publication, a
full investigation will be undertaken.
* Should a full investigation verify misconduct a response will be
sought from the Authors. If this is satisfactory and a mistake or
misunderstanding has taken place, the matter can be resolved. If not, the
following steps will be taken;
i) The Editors of all the journals concerned will act together and impose a
ban on that individual's publication in their journals for a period, say
three years.
ii) The Editors will also contact the Author's head of department/employer
and can choose to contact the Author's funding body and inform them of the
misconduct revealed.
iii) In cases of published plagiarism or dual publication, an announcement
will be made in both journals explaining the situation, including
'retractions' if work is proven to be fraudulent.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
3 Editorial standards and processes
3.1 Peer-review systems
We do all we can to ensure the peer-review process is fair and we aim to
minimize bias.
* All papers submitted to Royal Society research journals are
peer-reviewed in a single-blind fashion (Author names are not concealed, but
Referee names are).
* For submissions to the Philosophical Transactions journals, the
guest Editor of the issue manages the review process and is encouraged to
seek at least two Referees for each paper. Guest Editors produce a report on
the review process that each paper has undergone.
* If discussions between an Author, Editor, and Referee have taken
place in confidence they will remain in confidence unless explicit consent
has been given by all parties or there are exceptional circumstances.
* Editors or board members are never involved in editorial decisions
about their own work and in these cases papers may be referred to other
Editors or the Editor-in-chief.
3.2 Appeals
Authors have a right to appeal editorial decisions.
* The author should submit the grounds for their appeal to the
Editorial Office, addressed to the Editor. Authors are discouraged from
directly contacting Editorial Board Members and Editors with appeals.
* Following an appeal, all editorial decisions are final.
* Editors will mediate all exchanges between Authors and Referees
during the peer-review process (i.e. prior to publication). If agreement
cannot be reached, Editors may consider inviting comments from additional
Referee(s) if appropriate.
3.3 Editorial independence
Editorial independence is respected. The content of Royal Society journals
is entirely independent to the Society's views on any scientific or policy
issues. The Editor's decision is final and will not be influenced or
compromised in any way by the Society.
3.4 Standards of Accuracy
We have a duty to publish corrections when errors could affect the
interpretation of data or information. Likewise, journals will publish
'retractions' (notification of invalid results) if work is proven to be
fraudulent, 'notices of redundant publication' and addenda.
Corrections to Publish Ahead of Print articles
If a correction is needed to an article that is already published on
FirstCite (Publish ahead of Print), a new version of the article is
uploaded:
* The previous versions are available to view alongside the current
version.
* The original published online date is displayed.
* The latest version is then published in the issue.
Corrections to articles published in issues
For an article that has already been published in an issue, a correction
should be published.
A correction is created including its own unique DOI detailing:
* the original article's full citation details (i.e. authors, title,
journal, volume, issue, page numbers and DOI)
* the date of the issue that the article was published in
* the correction details (including any necessary figures and tables)
To remain consistent with the print version, the original article is not
changed, but the correction is appended at the end of the article. The
correction can be published on FirstCite immediately (without any pagination
details), and the online date displayed.
The correction is then put into the latest issue and is paginated to appear
at the end of the issue and it must appear on the TOC. The correction and
original article will form reciprocal links on the web.
Retractions
Retractions will be published online as a 'notice of retraction' and will
reference the now retracted article. In addition, the retraction will be
published in the next available print issue.
Furthermore:
* The retraction will appear on a numbered page in a prominent section
of the journal.
* The retraction will be listed in the contents page, and include in
its heading the title of the article.
* The retraction must be signed by one of the following: the author,
the author's legal counsel, the author's sponsoring institution, or the
editor of the journal.
* The text of the retraction will explain why the article is being
retracted.
Notices of redundant publication
Notices of redundant publication will be published online and reference the
duplicate article. In addition, the notice will be published at the end of
the printed volume.
* They will enable the reader to identify and understand the
correction in context with the errors made, or should explain why the
article is being retracted, or should explain the Editor's concerns about
the contents of the article.
* They will be linked electronically with the original electronic
publication, wherever possible.
* They will be in a form that enables indexing and abstracting
services to identify and link corrections and retractions.
Addenda
These are published works that provide additional information or
clarification to another work. These should be peer reviewed.
3.5 Open criticism and debate
We encourage academic debate and constructive criticism of the research
published in our journals.
* We invite Authors to respond to any editorial correspondence before
publication. However, Authors do not have a right to veto unfavorable
comments about their work and they may choose not to respond to criticisms.
Any appeals must be dealt with according to 3.2 above.
* No referee comment or published correspondence may contain a
personal attack on any of the Authors. Criticism of the work (not the
researcher) is encouraged and Editors should edit (or reject) personal or
offensive statements.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
4 Research ethics and animal treatment
Articles will be accepted only if they are considered ethically sound in the
judgement of the Editor.
* For experiments involving human subjects, the committee approving
the experiments should be identified and the research conducted according to
the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki
(http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). The Authors should confirm that
informed consent was obtained from all subjects.
* All Authors should include details of animal welfare (such as
species, number, gender, age, weight, housing conditions, welfare, training
and the fate of the animals at the end of the experiment) and steps taken to
ameliorate suffering in all published papers that involve non-human primate
research. These details should be included in the Methods section of the
article.
* Articles describing work with animals will be accepted only if the
procedures used are clearly described and conform to the legal requirements
of the country in which the work was carried out and to all institutional
guidelines. A brief statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing
committee approving the experiments must be included at the end of the
article.
* Research relating to animal behaviour must follow the Association
for the Study of Animal Behaviour / Animal Behavior Society Guidelines for
the Use of Animals in Research (published on the Animal Behaviour website
<http://www.elsevier.com/framework_products/promis_misc/622782guide.pdf> ),
the legal requirements of the country in which the work was carried out, and
all institutional guidelines.
* In addition, Referees are invited to express any ethical concerns
regarding animal experimentation, human studies, conservation issues or
potential risk of misuse or maltreatment of animals.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
5. Intellectual Property
5.1 Plagiarism, copyright and intellectual property
A definition of plagiarism from the Office of Research Integrity:
Plagiarism includes both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual
property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work.
It does not include authorship or credit disputes.
The theft or misappropriation of intellectual property includes the
unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by a privileged
communication, such as a grant or manuscript review.
All Authors are required to grant us an exclusive publishing license before
their work can be published. This license is available here
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/licence.xhtml> and also
contains the warranty that the work is the author's original work.
5.2 Referee conduct and intellectual property
Authors are entitled to expect that Referees or other individuals privy to
the work an Author submits to a journal will not steal their research ideas
or plagiarize their work.
* We require all Referees to treat submitted material in confidence
until it has been published.
* Any allegations of theft or plagiarism must be substantiated and
will be treated seriously.
* We strive to protect Referees from Authors and, even if Referee
identities are revealed, will discourage Authors from contacting Referees
directly, especially if misconduct is suspected.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
6. Data and material sharing
To allow others to verify and build on work published in Royal Society
journals; authors must make all reasonable efforts to make materials, data,
statistical tools and associated protocols available to readers. Authors
must disclose upon submission of the manuscript any restrictions on the
availability of materials or information. We recognize that
discipline-specific conventions or special circumstances may occasionally
apply, and we will consider these in negotiating compliance with requests.
Details of how to obtain materials and information, including any
restrictions that may apply, should be included in the methods section of
the article. Any restrictions to data sharing should be brought to the
attention of the editorial office at the time of submission.
Unreasonable restrictions on data sharing may result in rejection of the
article.
A preferred form of disclosure is a link from the methods section to a copy
of the relevant Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) form, which is hosted as
electronic supplementary material (ESM) on the journal's web site.
After publication, all reasonable requests for data and/or materials must be
fulfilled. Authors may charge reasonable costs for time and materials
involved in any such transfer.
Database deposit
Before publication, authors must deposit large data sets (including
microarray data, protein or nucleic acid sequences, and atomic coordinates
for macromolecular structures) in an approved database and provide an
accession number for inclusion in methods section of the paper. When no
public repository exists, authors must state in the methods section of the
paper where the data can be accessed and provide access promptly on request.
Supplementary data up to 10Mb can be placed on the Society's website free of
charge where it will be publicly accessible.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
7. Content availability and Open Access (EXiS Open Choice)
Articles are free to access one year after publication (from 2001) for the
biological journals and Interface and after two years for the physical
science journals. For the biological journals and Interface we deposit
articles on PubMedCentral with a one year embargo. For all our journals we
also deposit NIH-funded articles in PubMedCentral on behalf of our authors
(we are compliant with the NIH Public Access policy).
In addition, editorials, introductory articles and many review articles are
also free, as are all tables of contents and abstracts.
We also provide EXiS (Excellence in Science) Open Choice
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/EXiS.xhtml> , which is an
'author-pays' open access model that operates alongside an established
subscription model. Submission of an article remains free, but if accepted
for publication, the author is given the choice to pay a fee to have their
article made freely available to all on publication.
Authors not taking up the EXiS Open Choice option will still be able to
publish for free (subject to meeting article length and the other normal
requirements such as colour charges), but their article will only be
available to subscribers or by single article purchase.
For more information visit our FAQs
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/EXiSFAQs.xhtml>
This EXiS Open Choice option makes us compliant with the mandates of funders
such as Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
Free access in the developing world
We are partners in a number of international schemes operated by the UN and
WHO to make scientific journal articles available immediately and free of
charge to the world's poorest nations. We currently belong to the following
schemes; PERii/INASP, HINARI, AGORA and OARE.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
8. Media embargo
The main findings of articles should not have been reported in the mass
media. Like many journals, we employ a strict embargo policy where the
reporting of a scientific article by the media is embargoed until a specific
time. The Editor has final authority in all matters relating to publication.
Top <http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml#faq>
9. Copyright
Royal Society Publishing allow authors to retain copyright. Instead, authors
need to provide us with a licence to publish
<http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/licence.xhtml> .
Where there is no recognised public domain database please contact the
Society's publishing team for guidance.
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