Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

1. Introduction

Science for Humanity Press (SHP) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity across all journals and scholarly publications it publishes. SHP expects authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process to act with honesty, transparency, fairness, respect, and professional integrity.

SHP recognizes that ethical publishing is a shared responsibility. All manuscripts submitted to SHP journals are expected to comply with applicable standards of research integrity, responsible authorship, transparent reporting, appropriate citation practices, and ethical peer review.

SHP’s publication ethics principles are informed by internationally recognized standards and best practices, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, applicable research-ethics principles, and established standards of scholarly publishing.

These principles apply across SHP’s scholarly publications, including Information Systems Practice (INSyP), Resilient Connectivity (ReCon), Science Confluence (SciCon), and Community Praxis (ComPax).

2. Responsibilities of the Publisher

Science for Humanity Press is responsible for providing an ethical, transparent, and professionally managed publication environment.

SHP is committed to:

Maintaining the integrity and independence of the editorial process.
Supporting editors in applying consistent and fair editorial policies.
Providing mechanisms for handling complaints, appeals, corrections, and retractions.
Protecting the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and personal information.
Taking appropriate action when ethical concerns or allegations of misconduct arise.
Ensuring that publication fees do not influence editorial decisions.
Maintaining transparency regarding publication policies, fees, peer review, and editorial responsibilities.
Cooperating with authors, editors, reviewers, institutions, and other publishers when necessary to resolve ethical concerns.

SHP does not guarantee publication based on payment of any publication or processing fee. Editorial decisions are made independently of an author’s ability or willingness to pay publication charges.

3. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently by the journal’s editors based on the scholarly quality, relevance, originality, methodological rigor, and potential contribution of the submitted work.

Editors must not allow commercial interests, publication fees, institutional relationships, personal relationships, or other external pressures to influence editorial decisions.

SHP and its editorial teams are committed to protecting editorial independence and ensuring that manuscripts are assessed fairly and consistently.

4. Responsibilities of Editors

Publication Decisions

Editors are responsible for evaluating manuscripts and determining whether they should proceed through peer review and, ultimately, whether they should be accepted for publication.

Editorial decisions should be based on:

relevance to the journal’s scope;
originality and contribution;
methodological quality;
validity and clarity of the research;
ethical compliance; and
overall scholarly quality.

Editors must not discriminate against authors based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political views, disability, or other personal characteristics unrelated to the scholarly quality of the manuscript.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not disclose manuscript information to individuals who are not involved in the editorial process.

Manuscript information may only be shared with reviewers, editorial advisers, or other authorized individuals when necessary for the evaluation and publication process.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.

An editor should not handle a manuscript where there is a personal, professional, financial, collaborative, or institutional relationship that could reasonably affect the impartiality of the editorial process.

Where necessary, another qualified editor should be assigned to handle the manuscript.

Fair and Respectful Treatment

SHP expects all editorial interactions to be professional, respectful, and free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, bullying, or retaliation.

5. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers play an important role in maintaining the quality and integrity of scholarly publications.

Reviewers are expected to:

evaluate manuscripts objectively and constructively;
provide clear and evidence-based comments;
identify significant methodological or ethical concerns;
identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited;
maintain confidentiality;
avoid using unpublished information for personal or professional advantage;
disclose potential conflicts of interest; and
complete reviews within the agreed timeframe whenever possible.

Reviewer Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.

Reviewers must not share, reproduce, distribute, or discuss manuscripts with unauthorized individuals.

Reviewer Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should decline an assignment when they have a conflict of interest that could compromise the objectivity of their assessment.

Examples include close personal relationships, significant professional collaboration, direct competition, institutional conflicts, or financial interests involving the authors or their institutions.

6. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are accurate, original, ethically conducted, and appropriately reported.

Authors must:

provide an accurate account of their research;
ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient methodological information;
properly acknowledge and cite sources;
ensure that all listed authors have made significant contributions;
obtain appropriate approvals for research involving human participants or animals;
disclose relevant conflicts of interest;
disclose sources of financial or other support;
avoid plagiarism and duplicate publication; and
promptly notify the journal of significant errors discovered after publication.

7. Authorship and Contributions

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research.

All listed authors should:

have made a meaningful contribution to the work;
participate in the preparation or critical revision of the manuscript;
approve the final version; and
agree to be accountable for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.

SHP does not permit honorary, guest, or ghost authorship.

Changes to authorship after submission should be properly justified and agreed upon by all affected authors.

8. Plagiarism and Originality

SHP considers plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct to be serious violations of publication ethics.

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original and that ideas, data, text, figures, or other materials originating from other sources are appropriately acknowledged.

Plagiarism may include, but is not limited to:

direct copying without appropriate attribution;
substantial unattributed paraphrasing;
reuse of another author’s ideas without acknowledgment;
inappropriate reuse of previously published material; and
presenting another person’s work as one’s own.

Manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism or substantial textual similarity as part of the editorial process.

When substantial plagiarism or other forms of misconduct are identified, SHP may reject the manuscript or take appropriate post-publication action.

9. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals.

Manuscripts should not contain substantial portions of previously published work unless the reuse is properly disclosed, justified, and appropriately cited.

Authors must disclose relevant previous publications, conference papers, preprints, or related manuscripts where necessary to allow editors to assess potential overlap.

10. Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, personal data, animals, or other ethically sensitive subjects must comply with applicable ethical standards and institutional or regulatory requirements.

Where applicable, authors should provide information regarding:

ethical approval;
institutional review or ethics committee approval;
informed consent;
participant confidentiality;
data protection; and
relevant regulatory requirements.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research has been conducted ethically before submission.

11. Data Availability and Research Transparency

SHP encourages authors to promote transparency and reproducibility by providing sufficient methodological information and, where appropriate, making research data, materials, code, or other supporting resources available.

Where data cannot be publicly shared because of privacy, confidentiality, legal, contractual, or ethical restrictions, authors should clearly explain the applicable restrictions and provide an appropriate data availability statement.

Authors may be requested to provide supporting information to editors during the editorial process when necessary to verify the integrity of the research.

12. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose relationships or circumstances that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their judgment.

Potential conflicts may include:

financial interests;
employment relationships;
research funding;
consulting arrangements;
personal relationships;
professional collaborations;
institutional relationships; or
other competing interests.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication. However, relevant conflicts must be transparently disclosed and appropriately managed.

13. Funding Disclosure

Authors should disclose all sources of financial support for the research and publication.

Where applicable, funding information should include:

the name of the funding organization;
grant or project identification;
the role of the funder in the research; and
whether the funder had any influence on the research design, analysis, interpretation, or publication decision.

14. Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

SHP recognizes that generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may be used as tools in research and manuscript preparation.

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies for purposes such as language improvement, grammar correction, translation, formatting assistance, or other appropriate forms of editorial support.

However, authors remain fully responsible for:

the accuracy and integrity of the manuscript;
the originality of the work;
the validity of references and citations;
the appropriate interpretation of research findings; and
compliance with ethical and publication standards.

AI systems must not be listed as authors or co-authors, as authorship requires human accountability and responsibility.

Where the use of generative AI materially contributes to the preparation of a manuscript, authors should disclose such use in accordance with the journal’s applicable author guidelines.

AI and Peer Review

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts under review.

Reviewers should not upload manuscripts, unpublished data, confidential reviewer reports, or other protected manuscript materials into publicly accessible generative AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, or data protection.

Reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy, fairness, and integrity of their evaluations.

15. Publication Misconduct

SHP may investigate suspected cases of publication misconduct, including:

plagiarism;
fabrication or falsification of data;
manipulation of images or research results;
duplicate or redundant publication;
inappropriate authorship;
citation manipulation;
peer-review manipulation;
undisclosed conflicts of interest;
unethical research practices; and
other violations of research or publication integrity.

Where appropriate, SHP may request clarification or evidence from authors, reviewers, editors, or relevant institutions.

Investigations and subsequent actions will be conducted fairly and proportionately, taking into consideration the nature and seriousness of the concern.

16. Complaints and Appeals

SHP provides mechanisms for authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders to raise concerns regarding editorial or publication processes.

Complaints may relate to:

editorial decisions;
peer review;
conflicts of interest;
publication ethics;
authorship;
plagiarism;
citation practices;
editorial conduct;
publication fees; or
other aspects of the publication process.

Complaints should be submitted through the appropriate SHP contact channel and should contain sufficient information to allow the matter to be investigated.

Appeals against editorial decisions must provide a clear and substantive basis for reconsideration. An appeal does not guarantee reversal of the original decision.

SHP will handle complaints and appeals confidentially and in accordance with applicable publication ethics principles.

17. Corrections and Retractions

SHP is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record.

When significant errors are identified after publication, SHP may publish an appropriate correction, clarification, expression of concern, or retraction depending on the circumstances.

Authors are encouraged to promptly notify the journal when they discover significant errors in their published work.

Retractions may be considered in cases involving substantial errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, unethical research, or other serious breaches of publication ethics.

Post-publication actions will be documented transparently and linked to the affected publication whenever possible.

18. Editorial and Publication Charges

Any applicable submission, processing, publication, or other fees are disclosed transparently by the relevant SHP journal.

Payment of a publication fee does not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Editorial decisions are made independently of an author’s financial circumstances or payment status, except where applicable administrative requirements must be completed after an editorial acceptance decision.

19. Ethical Conduct and Respectful Communication

SHP expects all participants in the publication process to communicate professionally and respectfully.

Discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, threats, retaliation, or abusive conduct toward authors, reviewers, editors, staff, or other participants is not tolerated.

SHP reserves the right to take appropriate action when such conduct occurs in connection with its publication activities.

20. Applicable Standards

Science for Humanity Press develops and maintains its publication ethics policies with reference to internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing and research integrity, including:

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
applicable research ethics and integrity standards
relevant standards and regulations concerning research, privacy, and intellectual property

SHP may update this policy when recognized standards, publishing practices, or applicable regulations evolve.

Related Standards and Guidelines

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
COPE Core Practices

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
COPE/DOAJ/OASPA/WAME Principles