Ethics in publishing

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is essential in the development of knowledge. It is reflecting the quality of the work of the author and represent the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior.

Ethics topics to consider when publishing:

• Authorship of the paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have directly engaged to the project proposal, design, implementation, or interpretation of the reported data.
• Originality and plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
• Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to afford the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such information.
• Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same output in more than one journal or primary publication.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors are requested to discover any potential conflict of interest including any personal or other relationships with other people that could improperly influence, or be perceived to influence, their manuscript.  
• Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her 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.
• Reporting standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
• Submission declaration and verification: Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint) and also, it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
• To verify originality, the abstract of the article may be crosschecked by the originality detection service. Also, the recived mauscripted is fully cheched with the local paper database like Magiran (see www.magiran.com) and Scientific Information  Database (SID) (see www.sid.ir).

Respecting the rules of ethics in publications, this journal is subject to the rules of the Ethics Committee for Publication (COPE) and follows the executive regulations of the Law on Prevention and Combating Fraud in Scientific Works.

Research ethics charter of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology