Publication Ethics
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statements
Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. RGN Publications adopted the guidlines of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and abides by its Code of Conduct and aims to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.
Plagiarism: All journals published by RGN Publications aim at publishing original research material which has neither been published anywhere so far nor has been submitted elsewhere for publication. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will incur plagiarism sanctions.
Duplicate / Multiple Submission(s): Manuscripts that are found to have been published elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission/publication sanctions. If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.
Citation Manipulation: Submitted manuscripts that are found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author’s work, or to articles published in a particular journal, will incur citation manipulation sanctions.
Data Fabrication and Falsification: Submitted manuscripts that are found to have either fabricated or falsified experimental results, including the manipulation of images, will incur data fabrication and falsification sanctions.
Improper Author Contribution or Attribution: All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.
Redundant Publications: Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles.
Sanctions: In the event that there are documented violations of any of the above mentioned policies in any journal, regardless of whether or not the violations occurred in a journal published by RGN Publications, the following sanctions will be applied:
- Immediate rejection of the infringing manuscript.
- Immediate rejection of every other manuscript submitted to any journal published by RGN Publications by any of the authors of the infringing manuscript.
- Prohibition against all of the authors for any new submissions to any journal published by RGN Publications, either individually or in combination with other authors of the infringing manuscript, as well as in combination with any other authors. This prohibition will be imposed for a minimum of 36 months.
- Prohibition against all of the authors from serving on the Editorial Board of any journal published by RGN Publications.
In cases where the violations of the above policies are found to be particularly egregious, the publisher reserves the right to impose additional sanctions beyond those described above.