Allegation of Research Misconduct

Al GIZZAI: Public Health Nutrition Journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and accountability. The journal follows the ethical principles and guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards, including the Declaration of Helsinki, while animal research must follow relevant institutional and international ethical guidelines.

The journal establishes the following ethical responsibilities for editors, reviewers, authors, and publishers.

1. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

  1. Editorial Independence: Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and ethical standards of all published articles. Editorial decisions must remain independent of commercial, institutional, or personal interests.

  2. Fair Evaluation: Manuscripts must be evaluated objectively based on scientific merit, originality, relevance, and methodological quality, without discrimination based on authors' backgrounds or affiliations.

  3. Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer identities, and editorial communications.

  4. Peer Review Integrity: Editors must ensure a double-anonymous peer review process involving at least two independent reviewers for manuscripts proceeding to external review.

  5. Conflicts of Interest: Editors must disclose potential conflicts of interest and withdraw from handling manuscripts where impartiality may be compromised.

  6. Editorial Decisions: Decisions must be based on scientific evaluation and reviewers' recommendations, with appropriate feedback provided to authors.

  7. Ethical Oversight: Editors must investigate suspected publication misconduct in accordance with COPE guidelines and take appropriate editorial action.

2. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

  1. Objectivity: Reviewers must provide fair, constructive, evidence-based, and unbiased evaluations of manuscripts.

  2. Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents and must not disclose or use unpublished information for personal advantage.

  3. Timeliness: Reviewers should complete their assessments within the agreed timeframe or promptly inform the editor if unable to do so.

  4. Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and decline assignments that could compromise their objectivity.

  5. Research Integrity: Reviewers should identify and report suspected plagiarism, data manipulation, ethical violations, or substantial similarities with previously published work.

  6. Responsible Use of AI: Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts to AI systems without authorization and appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

3. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

  1. Originality: Authors must submit original manuscripts that have not been published as journal articles or simultaneously submitted to other journals.

  2. Plagiarism Prevention: Authors must properly acknowledge and cite all sources. Manuscripts must comply with the journal's maximum similarity index of 15%, verified using Turnitin. Similarity findings are also subject to editorial assessment.

  3. Research Integrity: Authors must report research methods, data, results, and conclusions accurately without fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or misleading interpretation.

  4. Authorship: All listed authors must meet recognized authorship criteria, contribute substantially to the research, and approve the final manuscript.

  5. Research Ethics: Studies involving human participants must obtain ethical approval or a documented exemption where applicable, ensure informed consent when required, and protect participants' privacy and confidentiality. Animal studies must comply with relevant ethical requirements.

  6. Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose relevant financial or non-financial conflicts of interest and research funding sources.

  7. Data Transparency: Authors must provide reasonable clarification, supporting information, or research data when requested during legitimate editorial or research integrity investigations, subject to ethical and confidentiality restrictions.

  8. Corrections: Authors must promptly notify the editorial office if significant errors or inaccuracies are identified in their published work.

  9. Artificial Intelligence: Authors must disclose substantive use of AI-assisted tools and remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their manuscripts. AI tools cannot be recognized as authors.

4. Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher supports editorial independence, ethical publishing practices, and the timely dissemination of scientific research. The publisher must not interfere with editorial decisions based on scientific merit and must cooperate with the editorial team in addressing publication ethics concerns.

5. Allegations of Research Misconduct

Al GIZZAI: Public Health Nutrition Journal takes all allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously, whether identified before or after publication. Such allegations will be handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with COPE guidelines.

5.1 Types of Misconduct

Research and publication misconduct may include:

  1. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and duplicate publication.

  2. Data fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation.

  3. Manipulation of images, citations, or the peer review process.

  4. Gift, ghost, honorary, or coercive authorship.

  5. Undisclosed conflicts of interest.

  6. Violations of research ethics, including failure to obtain required ethical approval or informed consent.

5.2 Reporting and Investigation

Suspected misconduct may be reported to the editorial office by authors, reviewers, readers, or other concerned parties, including anonymous complainants, preferably with supporting evidence.

The Editor-in-Chief will conduct an initial assessment of each credible allegation and provide the concerned authors with an opportunity to respond. Where necessary, the journal may consult independent experts or refer the matter to the relevant institution or research integrity authority for investigation.

All parties will be treated fairly, and allegations will not be considered proven without appropriate assessment.

5.3 Editorial Actions

Depending on the nature and severity of the findings, the journal may:

  1. Request explanations, clarifications, or manuscript revisions.

  2. Suspend manuscript evaluation or reject the submission.

  3. Publish a formal correction or Expression of Concern.

  4. Retract a published article when its findings are unreliable or serious ethical violations are confirmed.

  5. Notify relevant institutions or research authorities when appropriate.

5.4 Confidentiality and Accountability

All allegations will be handled impartially, with confidentiality maintained to the extent reasonably possible. The journal will protect the integrity of the scholarly record while ensuring fair treatment of authors, reviewers, editors, and complainants.

Al GIZZAI: Public Health Nutrition Journal is dedicated to promoting responsible research, ethical authorship, transparent editorial practices, and public trust in scientific publishing.