Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication in Kamaraj Journal of Academic Research (www.kcjournal.ac.in) is committed to ensure ethics in publication of quality articles and it follows the Code of Conduct defined by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).
It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.
Our Ethic Statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
DUTIES OF EDITOR
Publication Decisions:
Based on the review report, the editor has complete responsibility and authority to accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript.
Review of Manuscripts:
Editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the reviewer for originality, making use of appropriate software to do so.
Fair Review:
The editor must ensure that each manuscript submitted to the Kamaraj Journal of Academic Research (KJAR) is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
Confidentiality:
The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest:
The editor of this Journal shall not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his / her own research without written consent of the author.
Errata Information:
The editor must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
Ethical Guidelines:
The editor shall ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines available at http://publicationethics.org
Proof of Misconduct:
The editor should not reject papers based on suspicions; they should have proof of misconduct.
DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to Editorial Decisions:
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
Promptness:
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
Confidentiality:
Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except by the authorized editor.
Standards of Objectivity:
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest:
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Reporting standards:
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
Data Access and Retention:
Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
Originality and Plagiarism:
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication:
An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Acknowledgement of Sources:
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
Authorship of the Paper:
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects:
If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest:
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works:
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his / her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.