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Publication Ethics

Computers, Materials & Continua

ISSN: 1546-2218 (Print)

ISSN: 1546-2226 (Online)


Publication Ethics and Professional Standards

Publication Ethics

Computers, Materials & Continua (CMC) is dedicated to ensuring the quality of each paper that it publishes. In the interest of maintaining the highest standards in academic publishing, we insist that all authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff abide by the Core Practices and guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Researchers may contact this journal at cmc@techscience.com regarding any ethical concerns. The potential conflicts of interest for all authors must be disclosed in their papers at the time of submission. It is required that authors are presenting their research findings accurately and discussing the significance of their work objectively.

The data and methods used in the research must be presented in sufficient details in the paper so that other researchers could be able to replicate the work. Authors should make the raw data available in a public repository prior to the submission of their manuscripts; at the very least, the data should be accessible to the journal’s referees and editors upon request. In addition, authors are expected to take appropriate measures so that their raw data are retained in full for a reasonable period of time after publication.

CMC does not consider for publication manuscripts that have been submitted to more than one journal at the same time or that do not present novel results. Thus, for example, an English translation of a paper that has already been published in another language would not be considered. Furthermore, manuscripts should not be published in CMC if major original information has already been published elsewhere. Accordingly, previously published figures or images may be included, even by the authors themselves, only after necessary permission has been obtained from the original copyright holders for publication under the CC-BY license. Additional information on this topic is available on the 15 Copyright and Licensing session. 

Should authors find errors or inaccuracies in the published versions of their papers, they must promptly make editors of the journal aware of the fact so that the appropriate action can be taken to rectify the situation.


Misconduct 

CMC expects all authors, editors and reviewers to be aware of the best practice in publication ethics. Any form of misconduct is strictly prohibited. Authors should avoid ghost, guest, gift and other authorship issues. Authors should retain their original data and source files after submitting their articles, as the editor might request this material in the publication evaluation process, which otherwise will be suspended until any issue is resolved.

Reviewers and editors are required to treat manuscripts fairly and in confidence, and to declare any competing interests. We will vigorously investigate allegations of research or publication misconduct.
Any suspicion that authors, reviewers or editors have engaged in misconduct will result in action either before or after publication. When ethical questions are raised regarding a paper that has already been published—even years after publication—a preliminary investigation will be carried out, following 
COPE guidelines, in the course of which the party or parties involved will be called upon to present their case. The editor reserves the right to question a manuscript’s originality and integrity and to raise these concerns with the authors’ sponsoring institutions and other relevant bodies.


Plagiarism, duplicate/redundant publication

Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source. Plagiarism is strictly not acceptable in any submissions to CMC. All sources must be cited at the point they are used, and reuse of wordings must be limited, be attributed to, or quoted, in the text. Manuscripts that are detected to have plagiarism will be rejected (if unpublished) or retracted (if published), as appropriate.
Duplicate submission/publication refer to the practice of submitting the same study to two journals or publishing more or less the same study in two journals. These submissions/publications can be nearly simultaneous or years later. Redundant publication (salami publishing) refers to the situation that one study is split into several parts and submitted to two or more journals.
CMC will follow the flowcharts recommended by COPE on handling the suspected cases:
Suspected redundant (duplicate) publication in a submitted manuscript
Suspected redundant (duplicate) publication in a published manuscript


Fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation

Data fabrication is the intentional misrepresentation of research data by making-up findings, recording, or reporting of results. Data falsification is the manipulation of research materials, equipment, or processes, including omitting and changing data, with the intention of giving a false impression. Changes to images can create misleading results when research data are collected as images. Inappropriate image manipulation is one form of fabrication or falsification that journals can identify. The authors of submitted manuscripts or published articles in which the results are found to have been fabricated, falsified, or subjected to image manipulation, will be sanctioned, and their published articles will be retracted immediately.
CMC will follow the flowcharts recommended by COPE on handling the suspected cases:
Suspected fabricated data in a submitted manuscript
Suspected fabricated data in a published manuscript
Suspected image manipulation in a published article


Citation manipulation and systematic manipulation

CMC defines citation manipulation as the act of excessive citation of articles, with the purpose of increasing citation rates and raising a journal's impact factor. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) released a discussion document, explains how coercive citation manipulation has been practiced by editors and reviewers, and distinguishes between legitimate and illegitimate reasons for self-citation.
Systematic manipulation refers to repeat use of dishonest or fraudulent practices by an individual or a group of individuals to prevent or influence the independent assessment of a piece of scholarly work by an independent peer; or inappropriately attribute authorship of a piece of scholarly work; or publish fabricated or plagiarized research.


Investigations and Sanctions

Suspected breaches of the publication ethics policies, either before and after publication, as well as concerns about unethical research behavior, should be reported to TSP’s ethics group and undergo a thorough investigation. During the investigation process, the authors may be requested to provide the underlying data and images, and answer all editors’ queries.

Depending on the situation, this may result in the Journal’s and/or Publisher’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

  • If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.

  • If the article has already been published online, an erratum/correction may be published and linked with the article, or in severe cases, a retraction of the article may occur.

  • If Tech Science Press becomes aware of breaches of the publication ethics policies, the following sanctions may be applied across the Tech Science Press journals:

  • Rejection of the manuscript and any other manuscripts submitted by the author(s).

  • Not allowing submission for 1–3 years.

  • Prohibition from acting as an editor or reviewer.

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