Publication Ethics

Authorship

Every person named as an author on a journal paper should have made a major contribution to the work that is being reported. This could apply to the idea or design of the study, the gathering of data, or the analysis and interpretation of the data. As the author or co-author of a piece, you are equally responsible for what is in it. Things to avert:

  1. Gift (guest) authorship is when a person who was not involved in the authoring of the work is added to the list of authors.
  2. Ghost authorship is when someone helps draft a paper, but their name is not on the list of writers.

Plagiarism

When someone presents the work of others (data, words, or theories) as his or her own without appropriate attribution.

Committee of Publications Ethics (COPE).

When you refer to someone else's (or your own) work that came before, please make sure you have:

Data Fabrication or Falsification

Manipulation of Information The reliability and validity of your data are crucial to the success of your study. The prevalence of data sharing is increasing the openness of primary data. The instructions for authors of the journal you are submitting should tell you if you need to send raw data as a supplementary file. It is important to be aware that some journals and platforms, such as F1000Research, advocate a more progressive open data policy, requiring the raw data behind a paper to be publicly available.

The journal's editor will assess allegations of data falsification. When necessary, we may ask authors to supply raw data in support of their claims. Members of the journal's editorial board may be contacted for additional review of the paper and claims. We will not accept the submission if the explanation is not adequate. Submittals in the future may be rejected at our discretion.

Competing Interests