Publication Ethics

IJSMIEN is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Author Responsibilities

• Submit only original work not previously published or under review elsewhere
• Properly cite all sources and obtain permission for copyrighted material
• Disclose all conflicts of interest (financial, personal, professional)
• Ensure all listed authors have contributed meaningfully (no guest/ghost authorship)
• Report errors and cooperate with corrections/retractions when discovered post-publication
• Comply with research ethics requirements (IRB, animal welfare, data protection)

Editor Responsibilities

• Make fair, unbiased decisions based solely on scientific merit
• Maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts
• Declare and avoid conflicts of interest in editorial decisions
• Take appropriate action against misconduct (retraction, correction, expression of concern)

Reviewer Responsibilities

• Provide honest, constructive, objective reviews
• Maintain confidentiality of manuscripts under review
• Declare conflicts of interest and recuse when needed
• Not use unpublished information for personal advantage

Authorship Policy

Authorship should be based on the ICMJE criteria — all authors must have:

• Made substantial contributions to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation
• Drafted or critically revised the work
• Approved the final version for publication
• Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work

Data Policy

Authors are encouraged to share underlying research data to support reproducibility. IJSMIEN supports the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Data sharing statements are encouraged in all manuscripts.