Ethics for editors, authors and reviewers

Ethics for editors

• Editors adhere to the principles of independence and integrity and strictly abide by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)’s core practices in the decision-making process to strive for the publication and quality of manuscripts to meet ethical standards.
• All manuscripts submitted to the IJSPSY are subject to a rigorous peer review.

-Before peer review, manuscripts will be screened for readability, novelty, and relevance to the scope and aims of the IJSPSY.

-The editor shall maintain the fairness and impartiality of the review. At least two reviewers shall review each manuscript. Whether the journal accepts the manuscript will be decided by the Editor-in-Chief or the academic editor designated by the Editor-in-Chief in combination with the reviewer’s comments.

• Any manuscript submitted to IJSPSY is confidential. The manuscript will not be disclosed to anyone except the editorial staff, reviewers, editors, and other individuals who participate in the preliminary review, peer review, and handling and are responsible for the publication of the manuscript (if accepted).
• Editors shall not participate in all the processing of articles in which they have a conflict of interest.
• We ensure that the commercial behaviour of the journal will not affect the editorial decision and firmly adhere to the principles of independence and integrity.

Editors, employees, and members of the editorial board as authors

The GAERPSY Publishing does not allow editors, employees, and editorial board members to participate in processing their articles.

Editors, employees, and editorial board members must disclose all potential conflicts of interest related to their articles.

Editors, employees, and editorial board members should follow a strict review process to ensure the quality and reliability of articles.

For articles submitted by our editors, employees, and editorial board members, GAERPSY Publishing will assign the manuscript to an expert reviewer in the field who does not have a conflict of interest with the author and to other editors for evaluation and processing.

Ethics for authors

Clear authorship

At the time of submission, whether the list of authors includes all the eligible authors of the article (in the correct order) and reach a consensus with all co-authors on the journal and the time of submission (For Authorship, please see the detailed policy).

Avoid plagiarism (including self-plagiarism)

Check if the article correctly quotes yourself or someone else’s work. Not only that, but the authors also need permission from the copyright owner to publish any previously published content (including quotations, numbers, or forms).

Conflict of interest

Any facts considered a (potential) conflict of interest should be disclosed before the article’s references section. There are many types of financial and non-financial benefits involved in contributing to an article, some of which may include:

Financial interest:

The following could be considered as financial interest:

• Company Shares: The author owns shares in a company that is relevant to the topic covered in the article,
• Fund Sponsorship: Research is done through grant funding,
• Consultant/Consulting work: The author has worked as a consultant or advisor in any company or organisation relevant to the research in this paper,
• Patents held: The author holds patents related to this research,
• Political support: The author has donated to political parties or political candidates relevant to the study of this paper, government grants, foundation grants, etc.
• Honoraria received by the author: The manuscript or other fee that the author gets after publishing the article and,
• Other financial relationships: Disclosure is required if the author has other financial relationships with any company, organisation, or individual related to the study in this paper.

Non-financial interests:

Non-financial interests involve interpersonal relationships, political positions, religious beliefs, intellectual property rights, etc. Therefore, authors, editors, and reviewers should also make timely statements regarding the potential non-financial conflicts of interest, which include but are not limited to the following:

• Academic Competition Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer has an academic competition or conflict of interest with the author, editor, or other related person.
• Personal Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a conflict of interest, such as a friendly relationship, kinship, or other personal relationship.
• Conflict of Interest of Opinion Position: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a specific opinion or position.
• Intellectual Property Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a specific intellectual property or patent right.
• Conflict of Interest in Political, Religious, or Other Beliefs: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a political, religious, or other belief position.

Editors must always be honest and transparent to avoid conflicts of interest. If an editor has a personal or financial interest related to a submitted article, the editor must disclose this to the publisher. At the same time, this editor is no longer involved in the review process related to this article until the article is finalised for publication.

When assigning reviewers for an article, editors must check to the maximum extent possible whether there is a (potential) conflict of interest between the assigned reviewer and the author(s) involved in the article. Suppose a reviewer discovers a (potential) conflict of interest with the article at the review time. In that case, the reviewer should immediately notify the relevant editor and withdraw from the article review process.

Avoid writing more than one draft

The consubmission to multiple journals is not allowed. Original research work must be novel and has not been previously published. The above is not exhaustive, and authors should be aware of local regulations and accepted norms within academic publishing.

Allegations of misconduct

The editors of GAERPSY Publishing are responsible for ensuring the academic integrity of the articles published in the journal, and any misconduct takes all necessary actions according to the COPE guidelines. The misconduct list is not limited. These include plagiarism or using artificial intelligence, falsification of research or fabrication of data, misrepresentation of affiliation, submission of manuscripts to multiple journals simultaneously, breaches in copyright/use of third-party material without appropriate permissions, undisclosed competing interests, unethical research, etc.

Data sharing

The GAERPSY Publishing encourages authors to share data. Data sharing facilitates scientific research and knowledge discovery, increases the reproducibility and reliability of research, fosters collaboration and innovation, improves the efficiency of research, and increases the value and application of data. Sharing relevant data and materials when authors publish their articles can enhance the transparency and quality of scientific research. Authors can work with the editors of their journals to share raw data, codes, and other relevant materials used in their articles with other researchers for further scientific research.

The IJSPSY requests authors to provide raw data with their article submission and details of the article’s data sources and data processing methods. The authors should provide a suitable solution to ensure other researchers can access the data under reasonable conditions if there are restrictions on the data or limitations such as privacy protection.

Data shared by the journal include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Raw data concerns data collected or generated by the research, including experimental data, observations, questionnaire data, etc.
• The code and algorithms include the Software code and algorithms used to process, analyse and interpret the data.
• The literature and metadata involve the literature, metadata, and annotations related to the research process, such as study design, methods, hypotheses, results, and conclusions.
• The images and multimedia deal with multimedia materials such as audio, video, etc., used to support the presentation and interpretation of the research process and results.
• The models and simulations involve mathematical models, tools, etc., used for research predictions and simulations.
• The other related materials include questionnaires, sampling protocols, experimental protocols, and other materials related to the study.

Reproducibility of data

Other researchers can reproduce and validate the data and methods used in scientific research. Reproducibility of data contributes to improving the credibility and reliability of scientific research, accelerating scientific progress, promoting academic communication and collaboration, and increasing the efficiency of research resources. In short, the reproducibility of journal data is of great importance to the development and progress of scientific research and is the foundation and guarantee of scientific research.

We strongly recommend that authors adopt open science practices, such as sharing data on public databases and complying with applicable ethical and legal requirements. We believe these practices help foster collaboration and innovation in the scientific community and enhance the credibility and reproducibility of scientific research.

We will strictly enforce the above policy and require reviewers and editors to review the data and methods of articles critically. We may reject articles or ask authors to make corrections and additions if incomplete data, inadequate methods or analytical errors are found.

Ethical oversight

The GAERPSY Publishing is committed to promoting the quality and reliability of scientific research, valuing ethical guidelines, and following COPE’s ethical oversight policy. We require all authors to adhere to the following ethical guidelines and policies when submitting articles (including but not limited to):

*Policies on consent to publication

The GAERPSY Publishing requires all authors to ensure that all Co-authors have consented to publication when submitting an article. The data and information involved in the article have been appropriately licensed.

*Publication on vulnerable populations

The GAERPSY Publishing requires all authors to adhere to ethical guidelines and moral standards when conducting academic research involving vulnerable populations. In the case of research involving vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, people with disabilities, the sick, and the underprivileged, the author must have obtained the informed consent of the subjects or their guardians and safeguarded their rights, privacy, and confidentiality. The GAERPSY Publishing follows strict academic standards and is committed to promoting understanding and support for disadvantaged groups to promote societal equality and progress.

*Ethical conduct of research using animals

The GAERPSY publishing strongly urges researchers to conduct animal experiments only when necessary, comply with relevant ethical and moral standards when conducting animal research, and ensure that animal rights are protected. Authors should provide detailed plans and methods for animal experiments, appropriate ethical review, and authorisation materials. The GAERPSY publishing encourages authors to implement the principles of 3R (Reduce, Refine, Replace) to strictly control the number and use of laboratory animals to reduce harm to animals from animal experiments.

*Ethical conduct of research using human subjects

The GAERPSY publishing requires authors to adhere to relevant ethical and moral standards when conducting human subject experiments to ensure that the rights and safety of the subjects are safeguarded. Authors should provide detailed trial plans, methods, and the appropriate ethical review and authorisation materials. Informed consent should be signed before subjects participate in the study, and authors should ensure that the rights and privacy of trial participants are adequately protected.

*Handling confidential data and ethical business/marketing practices

The authors should clearly understand and comply with the policy on protecting confidential data when handling confidential data and ensure that data are kept confidential and secure to avoid misuse or disclosure of confidential data. The authors should adhere to honest, fair, and transparent business codes and compliance with corresponding laws and regulations. The authors should not use false statements or misleading language in their manuscripts.

Ethics for reviewers

The peer reviews are conducted as a double-blind process via our Open Journal System (OJS). These editors’ and reviewers’ comments are considered in the peer-review process. Thus, their comments will determine the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Reviewers are required to adhere to the following:

• Conflicts of interest should be declared accordingly,
• Published works relevant and valuable to the manuscript should be pointed out,
• Reviewed articles and their contents should be kept strictly confidential, and reviewers should not give, share, use, or in any other way distribute this manuscript to third parties before publication.
• Reviews should be objective and avoid personal criticism.
• Promptness in response: reviewers should notify GAERPSY Publishing if they cannot participate in the peer review of a specific manuscript.
• Possible areas of focus while conducting the review of manuscripts:

*Potential ethical concerns. These include research misconduct (e.g. Data fabrication/manipulation) and author misconduct (e.g. Plagiarism, redundant publication).

*Technical errors

*Logical errors concern fallacies, lapses in logic, etc.

*Language errors that mar the clarity of the text

*References involve the suitability of references used in the manuscripts and other relevant research that should be referenced in the articles.