Ethics

Research and Publication Ethics

The Ax Publications (AxP) is dedicated to publishing and disseminating high-quality content widely. It is essential for the editorial operations of AxP to adhere to rigorous ethical standards that are transparent and fair. The scholarly publishing ecosystem, encompassing editors, authors, reviewers, and publishers, is complex. We expect all participants to understand and accept AxP's policies on publication ethics and malpractice, closely aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s Core Practices document, accessible at COPE Core Practices.

Research Ethics

When reporting research involving human subjects, materials, tissues, or data, authors must secure approval from the appropriate local institutional review board or ethics committee. This confirms the study complies with national and international guidelines. A minimum requirement is an 'Institutional Review Board Statement' in the article, including the project identification code, approval date, and ethics committee name.

For non-interventional studies, such as surveys or social media research, full participant information is necessary, ensuring informed consent with guaranteed anonymity, clear purpose communication, data usage, and risk disclosure.

The editorial offices of AxP journals will scrutinize submitted manuscripts for adherence to these standards. Upon request, authors must provide documentary evidence (e.g., blank consent forms, ethics board discussions).

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

AxP editors enforce a rigorous peer-review process along with strict ethical policies to enhance scholarly publication quality. Regrettably, instances of plagiarism, data falsification, inappropriate authorship credit, etc., occur. AxP editors, with a zero-tolerance policy, address publishing ethics issues seriously and are trained to manage such cases.

International Standards for Editors

The editor-in-chief of our journals are responsible for manuscript publication decisions, basing them solely on merit, without discrimination based on race, gender, religious or political beliefs, ethnicity, or citizenship.

Confidentiality

AxP maintains confidentiality on submitted manuscript details, limited to the corresponding author, editorial board members, or publishers as necessary.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

AxP editors will not use unpublished information in a manuscript for their research without the authors' written consent. Editors will step down from reviewing manuscripts where conflicts of interest from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any authors, companies, or institutions involved arise.

The Editorial Board must keep all information pertaining to submitted manuscripts confidential.
The Editorial Board is responsible for making publication decisions on submitted manuscripts.
The Editorial Board must strive to meet the needs of both readers and authors.
The Editorial Board must evaluate manuscripts solely based on their intellectual content.
The Editorial Board must constantly strive to improve the quality of journals.
The Editorial Board must maintain the integrity of the academic record.
The Editorial Board must disclose any conflicts of interest and ensure that business needs do not compromise intellectual and ethical standards.
The Editorial Board must always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.

International Standards for Authors

• Researchers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest in their manuscript before submission.
• Authors should present their research findings accurately and include an objective discussion of their significance.
• The results of the research should be stated clearly, with the significance of the findings discussed objectively.
• To facilitate replication of the study, the methodology must be described in detail.
• Raw data used in statistical analyses should be made available to reviewers and editors upon request.
• Submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is prohibited.
• Authors are obligated to promptly inform the journal editor or publisher of any significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work and cooperate in retracting or correcting the paper.
• Conflicts of interest must be disclosed to AxP journals.
• Manuscripts should not contain previously published information. If including previously published figures or images, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder for publication under the CC-BY license.
• Plagiarism, data fabrication, and image manipulation are strictly prohibited.
  • Plagiarism involves copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, including the author's own publications, without proper attribution.
  • Text copied from another source must be quoted, and the source cited. If the design, structure, or language of a manuscript is inspired by previous works, these must be explicitly cited.
• Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism during the peer review process will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the paper will be retracted.
• Manuscripts with irregular image manipulation identified during peer review will be rejected. If such manipulation is confirmed after publication, the paper will be retracted.
  • Irregular manipulation includes introducing, enhancing, moving, or removing features from the original image; grouping images that should be presented separately; or altering contrast, brightness, or color balance to misrepresent information.
• Allegations of publication misconduct are investigated by our in-house editors, who may contact the authors’ institutions or funders if necessary. Evidence of misconduct will result in corrective actions or retraction. Authors are expected to adhere to the highest ethical publication practices when publishing with AxP.
• Submissions are checked for plagiarism using anti-plagiarism software. Plagiarism is defined as reproducing another work with at least 10% similarity and without citation, excluding references and quotes.
• Authors found to have committed plagiarism will be given an opportunity to respond. Unsatisfactory rebuttals will lead to manuscript retraction and a publishing ban for a period determined by the responsible editors.

Citation Policy

Authors must accurately cite the sources of information used in their research, including their previously published works. The source of any material that requires special permission for use should be clearly acknowledged.

• Excessive self-citation is discouraged.
• Researchers should only cite a study after thoroughly reading and assessing its relevance and value to their work.
• Citations of publications by colleagues or affiliated organizations should be made judiciously and not for promotional purposes.
• References to advertisements or advertorial materials are not appropriate for scholarly work.

Author(s) Rights

It is crucial for authors to familiarize themselves with the journal's policies to understand their rights fully. AxP grants authors the following rights for re-using their published content:

• Authors retain copyright without any restrictions.
• Authors are granted publishing rights freely, without limitations.
• Authors have the freedom to use the manuscript version submitted to the journal in any manner they choose.
• Upon acceptance for publication, authors can share the accepted manuscript version on personal, departmental, or institutional websites without restrictions.
• The published article may be used for personal teaching purposes.
• Authors are permitted to include the article in a book they author or edit, at any point following publication in the journal.
• When sharing or re-using the article, authors should link to the published version's DOI on AxP journals.
• Articles can be shared on personal and institutional websites, provided they include a DOI link to AxP journals' websites.
• Articles can be presented at conferences and reproduced for distribution to attendees.

Copyright without Restrictions

• AxPallows authors to maintain copyright and publishing rights without limitations.
• Submitted manuscripts are presumed to contain no proprietary material that is not protected by patent or patent application. The responsibility for the technical content and protection of proprietary material lies solely with the authors and their organizations, not with AxP journals or their Editorial Staff. The primary author is responsible for ensuring the manuscript is approved by all co-authors and for obtaining any necessary copyright release permissions for the use of copyrighted materials within the manuscript before submission.

International Standards for Reviewers

• Reviewers for AxP must keep all information related to the articles confidential.
• AxP reviewers are required to provide clear explanations for the rejection of manuscripts.
• Reviewers should assess articles solely based on their intellectual merit.
• The evaluation of articles by AxP reviewers must focus on their contribution to the academic community.
• Reviewers are obligated to disclose any conflicts of interest to AxP.
• AxP reviewers must not use any data or information from the manuscripts they review for their personal research.

Disclaimer

AxP endeavors to ensure the accuracy of all information ("Content") in our publications. However, AxP does not guarantee the Content's accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any particular purpose. The opinions and views expressed in our publications belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent AxP views. Users should not solely rely on the Content's accuracy and are advised to verify information with primary sources. AxP will not be liable for any losses, claims, costs, damages, or other liabilities arising from the use or reliance on the Content, whether directly or indirectly.