Publication Ethics

The worth of academic publishing depends upon the standards of expected ethical behavior from all parties involved in the act of publishing: the Authors, the Editorial Board and the Peer Reviewers. Vimarshodgam Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies commits to strictly adhere to such norms and also binds the connected parties to the following ethical code:

Editorial Board Ethics

1. The Editorial Board of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The Board may be guided by the editorial policy and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Board may also confer with the Advisory Board/Consultant Editors or Reviewers in making this decision.
2. The Editorial Board shall evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the Author.
3. The Editorial Board shall not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the Corresponding Author, Reviewers and Advisory Board/Consultant Editors as appropriate.
4. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used by the members of the Editorial Board in their own research without the express written consent of the Author.

Reviewer Ethics

1. Reviews shall be conducted objectively. Reviewers shall express their assessment of the quality of the manuscript clearly with supporting arguments.
2. Information obtained through peer review will be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
3. Reviewers shall not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Author Ethics

1. An Author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication.
2. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently also constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
3. The work of others should always be acknowledged. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
4. Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, it should be appropriately cited or quoted.
5. Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed by them as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or deliberate use of inaccurate statements constitutes unethical behavior.
6. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution of the reported study, interpretation of data or drafting or review of the article. All such contributions should be listed as Co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
7. The Corresponding Author should ensure that all appropriate Co-authors and no inappropriate Co-authors are included in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
8. Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review and should retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
9. When Authors discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify and cooperate with the Editorial Board in retracting or correcting the paper.