Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
An author is expected to present the account of work in a genuine manner along with the significance. The authors are expected to present original works, and an appropriate citation should be made on citing the works of others.
An author should not include the same research in more than one manuscript for a primary publication or journal. The reported scope of work should be based on proper citation from the other publications influencing.
Any financial or personal interest that governs the findings or research in the manuscript, along with the details of financial support and its sources, should be revealed.
Reviewers Responsibilities
Reviewer is responsible to both the author and the editor in regard to the manuscript. Peer review is the principal mechanism by which the quality of research is judged. Most funding decisions in science and the academic advancement of scientists are based on peer-reviewed publications.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
Responsibilities of the Editor and Editorial Board
Publication decisions: The decision to publish an article submitted to the Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology is taken by the editorial board. The editor must stick to the contemporary regulations pertaining to libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism that are effective. He is entitled to carry out decision-making in consultation with reviewers or members of the editorial board.
Fair play: an editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
Confidentiality: the editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Guidelines for retracting articles
Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology takes its responsibility to maintain the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record of our content for all end users very seriously. Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology places great importance on the authority of articles after they have been published and our policy is based on best practice in the academic publishing community.
It is a general principle of scholarly communication that the editor of a learned journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal shall be published. In making this decision, the editor is guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. An outcome of this principle is the importance of the scholarly archive as a permanent, historic record of the transactions of scholarship. Articles that have been published shall remain extant, exact and unaltered as far as is possible. However, very occasionally circumstances may arise where an article is published that must later be retracted or even removed. Such actions must not be undertaken lightly and can only occur under exceptional circumstances, such as:
Article Withdrawal: Only used for Articles in Press which represent early versions of articles and sometimes contain errors, or may have been accidentally submitted twice. Occasionally, but less frequently, the articles may represent infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like.
Article Retraction: Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like. Occasionally a retraction will be used to correct errors in submission or publication.
Article Removal: Legal limitations upon the publisher, copyright holder or author(s).
Article Replacement: Identification of false or inaccurate data that, if acted upon, would pose a serious health risk..
Maintain the integrity of the academic record
Encouraging academic integrity
Request evidence of ethical research approval for all relevant submissions and be prepared to question authors about aspects such as how patient consent was obtained or what methods were employed to minimize animal suffering.
Ensure that reports of clinical trials cite compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki6, Good Clinical Practice and other relevant guidelines to safeguard participant.
Ensure that reports of experiments on, or studies of, animals cite compliance with the US Department of Health and Human Services Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or other relevant guidelines.
Consider appointing a journal ethics panel to advise on specific cases and review journal policies periodically.
Ensuring the integrity of the academic record
Take steps to reduce covert redundant publication, e.g. by requiring all clinical trials to be registered.
Ensure that published material is securely archived (e.g. Via online permanent repositories, such as PubMed Central).
Have systems in place to give authors the opportunity to make original research articles freely available.
Preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards.
Errors, inaccurate or misleading statements must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. Editors should follow the COPE guidelines on retractions16.