The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct in research and publication. The following ethical guidelines govern the submission, review, and publication processes of this journal. They are established to ensure the integrity, transparency, and accountability of all parties involved in the scholarly publication process—authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher.
Responsibilities of Authors
Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must submit only original work that has not been previously published or is not under consideration elsewhere. Proper citation of others’ work is mandatory. Plagiarism in any form is unethical and unacceptable.
Authorship: Only individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study should be listed as authors. All co-authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias their work.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of sources, funding, and contributions from individuals or organisations is required.
Data Access and Reproducibility: Authors should provide access to raw data upon reasonable request and must ensure that data is accurately presented and reproducible.
Ethical Approval for Research Involving Humans or Animals: Studies involving human participants or animals must have been approved by the relevant institutional ethics committees and must comply with applicable national and international laws and guidelines.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor.
Objectivity: Reviewers must conduct their evaluations objectively, avoiding personal criticism of the author(s) and providing constructive feedback.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors and notify the editors of any substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and any other published work.
Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.
Responsibilities of Editors
Publication Decisions: Editors are responsible for deciding which articles are to be published, guided by the journal’s editorial policies and legal requirements concerning libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
Fair Review: Editors shall ensure that each manuscript is evaluated for its intellectual content without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
Confidentiality: Editors must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisers.
Conflict of Interest: Editors should not handle manuscripts for which they have a conflict of interest. A different editor or guest editor should be assigned in such cases.
Correction and Retraction Policy: Editors are responsible for issuing corrections, clarifications, or retractions when needed, in accordance with COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines.
Misconduct and Complaints
The journal adheres to COPE guidelines for dealing with allegations of misconduct. This includes plagiarism, data fabrication, and image manipulation. All allegations will be investigated, and appropriate action will be taken. This may include rejection of the manuscript or retraction of a published article. Authors, reviewers, or readers may lodge complaints regarding ethical concerns via the journal's editorial office.
Post-publication Ethical Issues
The journal recognises that ethical issues may arise post-publication. Authors are required to inform the journal of any discovered errors or ethical breaches. Where necessary, the journal will publish corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern, as appropriate.
Contact
Harvard Publications works closely with authors and editors to promote adherence to core principles of publication ethics, as expressed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We encourage the use of COPE resources, available on their website. All manuscripts should confirm to standards of ethical behaviour. Where we become aware of ethical issues, we are committed to investigating and taking necessary action to maintain the integrity of the literature.
Should you have any concerns about a published manuscript, we encourage you to contact the Research Integrity and Publication Ethics team via email at ethics@harvardpublications.com and Editorial team at editorial@harvardpublications.com