The Journal of Scientific Reports-A adheres to internationally accepted standards of publication ethics and conducts its activities in accordance with guidelines provided by organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The following policy outlines the journal’s approach to ensuring ethical conduct in publishing.

1. Specific Policies Regarding Conflicts of Interest (for Authors)
Authors are required to disclose any financial, professional, or personal relationships that could be perceived as conflicts of interest regarding their submitted manuscripts. Conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

Financial relationships with organizations that could influence the manuscript.

Professional relationships such as employment or academic ties.

Personal relationships or relationships with institutions that may influence the interpretation of the research.

All authors must submit a statement of conflict of interest at the time of submission. This statement will be included in the published article, ensuring transparency in the research process.

2. Publishing Malpractices
The Journal of Scientific Reports-A adheres to strict policies to prevent publishing malpractices, including but not limited to:

Plagiarism: Manuscripts must be entirely original works, and any use of others' ideas or words must be properly cited. The journal utilizes plagiarism detection tools (e.g., iThenticate) to ensure the originality of submissions. Any manuscript found to have a similarity rate exceeding 20% is subject to rejection.

Multiple or Redundant Publication: Authors should not submit manuscripts that are essentially the same to more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and will result in the rejection of the manuscript.

Citation Manipulation: Authors must not engage in manipulative citation practices to inflate the citation count or the perceived importance of a paper.

Any detected malpractices will result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript, and may lead to a ban from future submissions to the journal.

3. Research Ethics Policies for Studies Involving Human Participants
All studies involving human participants must adhere to ethical standards related to informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality. The following guidelines apply:

Informed Consent: Authors must obtain and report informed consent from all human participants before data collection begins. This includes obtaining explicit consent for the use of any data or images that are identifiable.

Ethical Approval: Authors must provide a statement indicating that ethical approval has been obtained from the relevant ethics committee for studies involving human participants. The name of the ethics committee, the approval number, and the date of approval must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Anonymity and Confidentiality: The confidentiality of participants must be maintained at all stages of research and publication. All data should be anonymized to ensure that participants cannot be identified directly or indirectly.

Furthermore, research that involves vulnerable populations, such as children or individuals with cognitive impairments, must follow additional ethical guidelines to ensure their protection and well-being.

4. Additional Ethical Considerations
Editors’ Responsibilities
Publication Decisions: The editor is responsible for determining which manuscripts are accepted for publication based on their significance, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope. The decision will be made independently and without bias, considering legal issues such as libel, copyright, and plagiarism.

Confidentiality: The editor and editorial team must keep all manuscript details confidential. Manuscript information should not be disclosed to any external parties except for the corresponding author, reviewers, and the publisher.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editor must not use unpublished material disclosed in a manuscript for personal research purposes without the author’s consent.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities
Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review is essential for editorial decision-making and can also assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Reviewers are expected to provide constructive feedback.

Confidentiality: Manuscripts must be treated as confidential. Reviewers should not discuss or share the content with anyone outside of the editorial process.

Standards of Objectivity: Reviews must be objective and free of personal criticism. Reviewers should clearly justify their opinions with evidence.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant work that has not been cited and point out any overlap with previously published papers.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must recuse themselves if they have any conflicts of interest with the authors or research. Privileged information from the review process must remain confidential.

Authors’ Responsibilities
Reporting Standards: Authors must present accurate data and objective discussions in their manuscripts. All findings must be clearly and precisely reported.

Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide access to raw data upon request for editorial review. Data should be made publicly available, whenever possible, ensuring that confidentiality agreements are respected.

Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must submit only original works, and any borrowed material must be properly cited. Manuscripts with a similarity rate exceeding 20% will be rejected.

Multiple Publications: Authors should not submit manuscripts describing the same research to multiple journals. The journal reserves the right to reject such manuscripts, as it constitutes unethical publishing behavior.

Authorship: Authorship is attributed to those who have made substantial contributions to the research. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest. Any source of financial support for the research should be acknowledged in the manuscript.

Fundamental Errors in Published Work
If an author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in a published article, they are obligated to notify the journal immediately. The author must work with the editorial team to correct the error or, if necessary, retract the paper in the form of an erratum.

For detailed guidance, the journal refers to the COPE Core Practices and the ALLEA European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.