Submissions

Copyright Notice

IMPLICATIONS OF MALPRACTICE

When distrust or assertions arise regarding any of misstatement or malpractice, the editors will ideally, address such issues after submission and prior to publication. Editors will investigate suspicions and any assertions made and reach a decision on the basis of those investigations.

When the editors suspect an ethics abuse may exist in relation to an article submitted or allegation concerning a submitted article, the editors will take the following steps:

1. Editors, as a matter of due process, will raise the issue with the corresponding author and in some cases with a precise co-author whose activities are criticized about— in some situations all co-authors of the article in enquiry may need to be communicated. Editors will seek a clarification and, where needed, the provision of evidence supportive that explanation.

2. Editors will also seek a clarification from, and the views of, any complainant together, where necessary, with evidence supporting that explanation.

3. Editors will try to find the complainant’s views on any clarification and evidence provided by the author. Likewise, editors will seek the views of the author on any explanation and evidence provided by the complainant.

At this point in the investigation, Editors may be satisfied that there has been no ethical violation. If not, however, editors will continue to investigate the matter.

4. If the authors are incapable to gratify editors on a balance of probabilities that there has been no violation, then the editors will carry out further investigation. The depth of the investigation will vary from case to case, but may include the following steps:

Further investigating any allegations made by third parties

Speaking to colleagues of any author

Speaking to officials at any institutions where the research in question was carried out

Speaking to officials at any professional body or institution of which any author is a member

Speaking to other leading experts in the field of research in question

Speaking to members of the editorial advisory board of the journal

Working with any professional body with an investigative mission such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Caution concerning defamation claims

In carrying out any investigation, editors will take great care to act fairly and objectively and not to defame any author (or complainant) in any way, which could give rise to legal liabilities, including damages. To avoid defamation claims by authors, editors will bear in mind the following guidelines in investigation:

Any inquiries of an author’s institution will be made in terms of an “alleged” or “apparent” violation. The inquiries should clearly state the facts and the allegation without premature judgment of the author’s culpability.

Care will be taken to gather information while imparting as little information as possible about the suspicion or accusation.

Practical consequences of findings

If editors decide that, apparently, there is no issue, publication may take place or continue (as the case may be) in the normal way.

If editors decide that there has been unethical practice, editors may reject the paper. If unethical practice is discovered after the article has been published, editors will consider whether retraction of the article or, in very exceptional cases, removal is appropriate.

Legal consequences of findings

In the case of plagiarism, there may be an infringement of copyright and, possibly, also moral rights. Moral rights include the right of an author of a work to be identified as such, as well as the right of an author to prevent changes to his or her work that are of a derogatory nature.

In the case of research results not being original to the purported author and allegations about authorship of contributions, there may be an infringement of the moral rights outlined above, but also infringement of a person’s moral right not to have a work attributed to him or her when not the author.

In all cases of ethical misconduct, there is likely to be a breach of contract by the author, who will have contravened the terms of his or her publishing agreement with the publisher or the relevant instructions to authors.

Other Journals/publications

Once a paper has been published in another journal or other publication and it look as if that this paper (1) copies a paper published in the JEMS, (2) contains research results that are not unique to its author but are unique to the author of a paper published in JEMS, or (3) has already been published in whole or in part in the JEMS, editors will observe the following procedure.

As a first step, editors will communicate with the editor of the publication in which the aberrant paper appears, looking for a full explanation. It is to be expected that the editor of that publication will take steps parallel to those recommended by these guidelines in relation to our publications.

If that editor fails to investigate the matter appropriately or is not able to gratify you on a balance of probabilities that there is no issue, then JEMS editors will follow the steps recommended when the suspected offending paper appears in the JEMS. That is, editors will investigate the suspicion or allegation by initially contacting the author(s) of the offending publication for a clarification, and continuing the investigation to its necessary conclusion