Publication Ethics

Sociability is a peer-reviewed journal. The statement below clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in our journal, including the authors, the editors, the peer-reviewer­­­­­s, and the publisher. The statement is based on COPE's Core Practices

Duties of Authors:

Authorship of the manuscript

• The authors should adhere to publication requirements and author guidelines.
• All authors must fill the email address when a paper is submitted, not just the corresponding author.
• Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism

• Authors must ensure that the manuscript is original, free of plagiarism.
• 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.
• The manuscript has not been published elsewhere and does not submit to other journals during the review process
• The authorship of the manuscript should accurately reflect individual contributions to the work and its reporting.

Data Access and Retention

• Authors should present their manuscript clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
• Authors should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
• 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. This statement is consistent with the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP).
• Data Accessibility should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

• Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed
• The research work in order to write the manuscript should have conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. 
• The authors should take responsibility for submitted and published work.

 

Duties of Editors:

Confidentiality

• The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors kept confidential.

Fair Play

• Each editor must ensure that each manuscript initially evaluated by the editor for originality, making use of appropriate software to do so.
• The editor must ensure that each manuscript reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors
• Editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct.
• Editors should adopt editorial policies that encourage maximum transparency and complete, honest reporting

Publication decisions

• Editors can accept, decline/reject, resubmit for review, or request for revision of the manuscript based on requirement before it hands over to peer reviewers.
• The editor forwards the manuscript to blind peer reviewers who will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the document.
• Peer reviewers and authors should be told what is expected of them
• Editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

• An editor will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his/her research without the written consent of the author.

 

Duties of Reviewers: 

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

• Reviewers only agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess on time
• 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.

Standards of Objectivity

• Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Confidentiality

• Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Acknowledgment of Sources

• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. The proper citation should accompany any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported. 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.