Ethics and policy

These guidelines are based on the existing Committee on Publication Ethics-COPE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethics and duties of the editor

The editor of Maritime Technology and Research (MTR) adheres himself to the highest standards of publication ethics.

Accountability

The editor is responsible for the overall publication process (from submission to publication) and has transparent procedures and clear policy to guarantee the quality of the publications.

Fair play and editorial independence

The editor always ensures that submitted manuscripts will be evaluated on their academic merit and its relevance to the journal’s scope regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. Faculty of International Maritime Studies, Kasetsart University does not have any role in decisions on content for any other reasons. The editor's decision is independent.

Editorial confidentiality

The editor always protects the confidentiality of authors’ material and remind reviewers to do so as well. As the double-blind peer reviewed system is implemented at MTR, both authors and reviewers’ identities are always protected.

Editorial process

One of the most important responsibilities of editor is to exercise peer review fairly and wisely. Everyone involved in the process should be informed about their roles and expectations. MTR describes the detailed process from the initial submission to publication. It can be viewed under the "peer review process" sub-section.

Misconduct and malpractice

The editor has a responsibility to take responsive measures when any misconduct or  malpractice, including result falsification, data fabrication, hallucinative references, or other ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or a published paper. If any serious concern is raised by reviewers or others regarding the misconduct or invalidity of academic work, the corresponding author will be contacted in order to allow him/her to respond to the concerns. If that response is questionable, the submissions under review will be rejected at the review stage.

For the already published article, the editor will contact the corresponding author to allow him/her to clarify any misconduct, malpractice, or other ethical concerns raised. At least 5 editorial board members who are not from the same countries as the authors will be consulted, and requested to provide an unbiased judgment The clarification from the corresponding author will be sent to the selected editorial board members. The published article will be retracted under these circumstances,

              - If the corresponding author does not reply within 2 weeks of the contact, or

              - If the majority of the 5 selected editorial board members recommend a retraction

Publication decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to MTR can be published. 

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Ethics and duties of reviewers 

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer reviewing assists the editor in making editorial decisions. It helps the editor to communicate with the authors.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscript received for review must be treated as a confidential document. It must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. The reviewer must not upload the manucript into any AI tool for any reason.

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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethics and duties of authors

Reporting standards

Authors 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 details 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 may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access, 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. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, it should be appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

An author must not in 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.

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. 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.

During the revision stage, if the editor considers that the reviewers' comments are minor, no addition or removal of co-authors is allowed, unless a significant contribution is involved, and every co-author must approve such addition/removal.

Human or animal research ethics

Human/animal research ethical statements are not compulsory when publishing with MTR. The authors can choose to include or exclude the human/animal research ethical statements. The authors must be aware that excluding the human/animal research ethical statements may make their publications invalid under certain circumstances.

 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 authors discover any significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published works, it is the authors' obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

AI-generated contents

Artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies may be employed to improve the language. AI may also be applied to help authors conceptualize ideas or create figures or illustrations. In every step of research and manuscript writing, there must be human accountability. The authors must check every AI-assisted work for completion and correctness. The authors cannot deny responsibility for any section of their works. If any misconduct or malpractice, including result falsification, data fabrication, hallucinative references, or other ethical concerns, are raised by readers or reviewers, the corresponding author will be contacted. Please refer to the Misconduct and malpractice subsection, under the Ethics and duties of the editor section.

For manuscripts submitted after 1 April 2026, the authors must clearly state in their manuscript about the application of AI or AI-assisted technologies during the writing process. Such statements will appear in the published work. 

For the AI Statement, the authors can write how they applied AI. However, the last sentence of an AI statement must be “With or without AI applications, the authors are fully accountable for every process of the work and manuscript writing. All final edits, interpretations, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors academically and ethically confirmed that the stated AI statements are true, and the authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the published work, including the correctness of the references in the reference list”.

An example of an AI Statement: 
The authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Grammarly for assistance in conceptualization and grammar refinement of the manuscript. Additionally, Canva was used in the development of Figures 3 and 4. With or without AI applications, the authors are fully accountable for every process of the work and manuscript writing. All final edits, interpretations, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors academically and ethically confirmed that the stated AI statements are true, and the authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the published work, including the correctness of the references in the reference list.

References

The authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of all references in the reference list. The journal does not hold any responsibility for incorrect information in the cited publications, including authors’ names, article’s title, journal’s name, volume and issue number, page range, article ID, or the DOI.

Hullicinative references are considered an ethical issue.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repository policy

Authors can freely deposite every version of their articles (submitted version, accepted version, and published version) in an institutional or other repository of the author’s choice without embargo.