Ethical Guidelines

Publication Ethics Statement

Ethical Guidelines

APSE is committed to upholding excellence in scholarly publishing and adheres to the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We follow COPE’s "Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing" and recommend that reviewers comply with COPE’s "Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers." Our editors follow COPE’s "Guidelines for Ethical Editing" and "Editing Peer Review." Additionally, we follow COPE guidance on "Editorial Board Participation" for advice and participation from our editorial advisory board members.

COPE Links:

We adhere to ethical standards for all parties involved in the publication process: authors, editors, peer reviewers, and publishers.

Misconduct

APSE enforces a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of misconduct in submissions and publications. Allegations should be sent to the journal's editorial office for investigation. All Biogreen Academic Press (BGA Press) journals Committee on Publishing Ethics  (COPE) guidelines, and misconduct will be assessed by an appointed investigation team. Based on the outcome, the journal may issue an erratum, retract the article, or contact the author(s)’ institutions and funding agencies, as appropriate.

Artificial Intelligence

Authors must declare the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the manuscript preparation process.  APSE does not accept the use of AI-assisted tools for scientific writing, including generating manuscript titles, text, figure captions, reference arrangement, or data analysis. Authors must ensure that no AI-assisted tools were used in any section of the manuscript during the submission process to APSE.

Publication Decisions

The editor of APSE is responsible for deciding which submitted articles will be published. The editor may seek guidance from the journal’s editorial board and consult legal requirements, including copyright and plagiarism policies, when making a final decision.

Fair Play

Manuscripts will be evaluated based on their intellectual content, without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor and editorial staff of APSE will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as needed.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors, reviewers, editors, editorial advisory board members, and publishers are required to disclose any conflicts of interest or competing interests. Complaints related to conflicts of interest are handled in accordance with COPE guidelines by the "Complaint Redressal & Appellate Committee." These complaints are addressed before, during, and after the publication of the article.

Data Sharing & Reproducibility

APSE encourages authors to share raw data, where possible, and to adhere to standard ethical practices in their disciplines. We support data sharing and reproducibility, encouraging authors to follow reporting guidelines and register clinical trials. COPE guidelines on data sharing and reproducibility are followed by the journal.

Ethical Oversight

APSE follows ethical standards for publications, including policies on consent to publication, research involving vulnerable populations, animal research ethics, human subject research, and handling confidential data. APSE follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which require and recommend the registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition for consideration for publication. The journal ensures that all research follows ethical practices and adheres to COPE and Declaration of Helsinki guidelines.

Intellectual Property

APSE has clear policies regarding intellectual property, including copyright and publication licenses. The journal accepts preprints for consideration after proper peer review. Plagiarized content is not allowed for publication. The journal permits a maximum similarity of 19% (excluding references). APSE follows COPE’s guidance on intellectual property.

Post-Production Discussion & Corrections

APSE is open to discussions and critiques of published articles. The journal accepts corrections, revisions, and retractions of articles after publication, if justified. We follow COPE guidelines for post-publication discussion.

Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and can help improve the quality of the manuscript.
  • Promptness: Reviewers who feel unqualified or unable to review promptly should notify the editor and excuse themselves from the process.
  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents and should not be shared or discussed without authorization.
  • Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively, and personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Clear and supported arguments should be provided.
  • Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant works not cited by the authors and inform the editor of any similarities between the manuscript and other works.
  • Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must keep privileged information confidential and should not review manuscripts if they have conflicts of interest.

Author’s Liabilities

  • Corresponding Author’s Responsibilities: The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and managing communication between co-authors. They ensure all co-authors are included, and their order is agreed upon. After acceptance, the corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of the manuscript content.
  • Confidential Process: APSE treats submitted manuscripts and all related communication as confidential. Authors must not share any confidential material from the journal without prior approval.
  • Reporting Standards: Authors should present accurate research results and include sufficient detail for replication. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical.
  • Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide raw data for editorial review and may need to provide public access to data, following ethical guidelines for data retention.
  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors should ensure their work is original and appropriately cite any sources they use. Plagiarism is unacceptable.
  • Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is unethical.
  • Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper credit should be given to all sources that influenced the work.
  • Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who made significant contributions. All co-authors should have seen and approved the final manuscript.
  • Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects: Authors must identify any unusual hazards in their research.
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial or substantive conflicts of interest.
  • Fundamental Errors in Published Works: Authors must notify the journal and cooperate to retract or correct the paper if they discover significant errors.

Referee Suggestions

Authors may suggest suitable independent referees for their manuscripts, but the editorial office has the final decision.

Complaints & Appeals

APSE has a defined process for handling complaints against the journal, staff, or editorial advisory board members. Complaints are reviewed by the "Complaint Redressal & Appellate Committee," which resolves issues within 4 weeks, in line with COPE guidelines.