Misconduct and malpractice

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 may 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