Publication Ethics
Tulipa Opera Scholarum (TOS) is dedicated to the publication of peer-reviewed papers, emphasizing the paramount importance of establishing agreed-upon ethical standards for all entities engaged in the publication process—authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, and publishers alike. Each participant bears a crucial role, carrying the responsibility of upholding these ethical standards consistently throughout the entire journal publication journey. Committed to maintaining exemplary ethical conduct, TOS staunchly advocates for and adheres to the rigorous standards and best practices outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices)
COPE offers a valuable resource in the form of detailed flowcharts designed to assist editors and reviewers when confronting potential breaches of publishing ethics. These aids encompass various scenarios such as suspected duplicate or redundant submissions, plagiarism, fabrication of data, alterations in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest detected by reviewers or readers, ethical concerns within a manuscript, and instances where editors suspect reviewers have appropriated an author's ideas or data. For a comprehensive list, TOS encourages visiting the COPE website. These guidelines, drawn from Elsevier recommendations and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, succinctly summarize the ethical expectations set for authors, editors, and peer reviewers.
TOS strongly advocates the COPE’s Code of Conduct in addition to our internal procedural documents as below.
Acknowledgments of Sources
Authors must consistently attribute and acknowledge the sources that have significantly influenced their work. This includes proper citation of publications that have contributed to shaping the reported research. Private information obtained from conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties should not be used or disclosed without explicit written permission from the source. Information obtained during confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be utilized without explicit written permission from the involved author.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those individuals who have substantially contributed to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All significant contributors should be listed as co-authors. Those involved in specific substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript before submission for publication.
Data Access and Retention
Authors may be requested to provide raw data for editorial review and should be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable period after publication.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Authors are required to disclose any financial or substantive conflicts of interest that might influence the interpretation or results of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. Potential conflicts, such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, and grants, should be disclosed at the earliest stage possible.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
Authors are obligated to promptly inform the journal editor or publisher upon discovering significant errors in their published work and collaborate to retract or correct the paper. If a significant error is reported by a third party, the author must promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence of its accuracy.
Hazards and Subjects
Authors must identify any unusual hazards inherent in chemicals, procedures, or equipment used in their work. When involving animal or human subjects, the manuscript should state compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines. Informed consent for experimentation with human subjects must be explicitly stated, respecting the privacy rights of individuals.
Originality and Plagiarism
Only original, unpublished work is acceptable for publication. Proper citation is necessary when using another author's work or words. Reprinted visual documentation must cite the source and present written consent from the rights owner. Any form of plagiarism is considered unethical and unacceptable.
Reporting Standards
Authors must present an accurate account of their original research and provide an objective discussion of its significance. Data should be accurately represented, and the paper should offer sufficient detail and references for replication. Deliberately inaccurate statements are unethical and unacceptable.
Multiple or Redundant Publication
Authors should not publish essentially the same research in multiple journals or submit concurrently to more than one journal. Republishing a previously published paper in another journal is generally not acceptable.
Editors play a central role in the publication process, facilitating the dissemination of scholarly research within the research community. We urge all editorial team members to familiarize themselves with our Publishing Ethics upon their appointment. This serves as guidance to fulfil their duties while maintaining a clear understanding of our policies and practices.
Confidentiality
The editor and editorial staff must uphold strict confidentiality concerning submitted manuscripts, sharing information only with the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher as necessary.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript should not be utilized for the editor's own research without explicit written consent from the author. Any privileged information obtained during peer review must remain confidential and not be exploited for personal gain. Editors should abstain from handling manuscripts in cases where conflicts of interest arise due to competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors, associated companies, or institutions. Full disclosure of relevant competing interests by contributors is required, and post-publication corrections should be published if competing interests are revealed later. Sponsored supplements should undergo the same rigorous peer review process based on academic merit, free from commercial influences. Non-peer-reviewed sections should be delineated.
Fair Evaluation
Editors must evaluate manuscripts based solely on their intellectual content, devoid of any bias related to authors' race, gender, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political affiliations.
Involvement and Cooperation in Investigations
Editors should promptly address ethical complaints concerning submitted or published papers in collaboration with the publisher. This includes investigating complaints, contacting the involved parties, considering claims made, and taking appropriate actions such as corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other relevant measures. All reported instances of unethical behavior, even those discovered after publication, must be thoroughly investigated.
Publication Decisions
Editors of peer-reviewed journals are responsible for determining which submitted articles should be published, considering the validation and significance of the work for researchers and readers. This decision-making process is guided by journal policies and may involve consultation with other editors, reviewers, or society officers while complying with legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
TOS recognizes the crucial role reviewers play in scholarly research publication and dissemination. Hence, we kindly request reviewers to familiarize themselves with our Publishing Ethics before conducting reviews for our journals. This aids them in executing their responsibilities while being fully aware of our policies and practices. Reviewers are responsible for promptly responding to editors' requests for paper reviews and conducting these assessments with care, diligence, and utmost objectivity while maintaining strict confidentiality throughout the process. Authors greatly appreciate detailed explanations and substantiated judgments from reviewers to ensure comprehensive feedback. Reviewers are advised not to retain copies of reviewed articles. Reviewers unable to conduct a timely and informed review should promptly inform the editor and excuse themselves from the review process. Reviews should maintain objectivity, avoiding personal criticism of the author. Referees should express their viewpoints clearly, supported by sound arguments.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should highlight pertinent published works that authors have not cited. Any reference to prior reporting should be accompanied by relevant citations. Reviewers are also encouraged to alert editors to significant similarities between the manuscript under review and other papers they are personally familiar with.
Confidentiality
All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential and should not be shared or discussed without explicit authorization from the editor.
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review aids editors in making editorial decisions and, through communication with authors, supports paper improvement. It stands as a fundamental aspect of scholarly communication and the scientific method. TOS agrees that scholars who contribute to publications have a responsibility to engage in fair reviewing.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Reviewers must not use unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts for their own research without written consent from the author. Any privileged information acquired during peer review should remain confidential and not be exploited for personal gain. Reviewers should recuse themselves from evaluating manuscripts in cases of conflicts of interest arising from relationships with authors, associated companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
In instances where documented violations of the aforementioned policies occur within any journal—irrespective of whether it is published by TOS—the following sanctions will be enforced:
1. Immediate rejection/retraction of the infringing manuscript.
2. Immediate rejection/retraction of any other manuscript submitted to any TOS journal by any author involved in the infringing manuscript.
3. Prohibition of all authors from making new submissions to any TOS journal, whether individually or collaboratively, with a minimum sanction period of 36 months.
4. Reporting proven cases of plagiarism or self-plagiarism to the relevant supporting organization.
5. Prohibition of all authors involved from serving on the Editorial Board of any TOS journal.
In cases where violations are exceptionally severe, the publisher reserves the right to impose supplementary sanctions beyond those delineated above.
1. Conflict of Interest
The Journal of Decision Making and Healthcare (JDMH) is committed to maintaining transparency, integrity, and objectivity throughout the publication process. All authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, or other relationships that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the research, its interpretation, or the publication of the manuscript.
Authors must include a statement declaring any potential conflicts of interest or explicitly state that they have no conflicts of interest to declare. Funding sources and the roles of sponsors or funding agencies in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decisions must also be disclosed, where applicable.
Editors and reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest that could affect their impartiality and must withdraw from handling or reviewing a manuscript when such conflicts exist. The Editorial Office will take appropriate measures to ensure fair, independent, and unbiased editorial decisions.
2. Research Involving Human Participants
Research involving human participants, human data, or human biological materials, including organs and tissues, must comply with applicable national and international laws, regulations, institutional requirements, and recognized ethical standards.
Authors must ensure that the study has received approval from the appropriate institutional ethics committee or research ethics board before the research is conducted, where required. The manuscript must include an ethics statement specifying the name of the approving committee, the approval reference or identification number, and the date of approval, where applicable.
Research involving human participants should be conducted in accordance with the principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, together with any other relevant ethical guidelines applicable to the discipline and type of research.
If a study has been formally exempted from ethics review, or ethics approval was not required under applicable institutional or national regulations, the authors must provide a clear statement explaining the exemption or the reason for the exemption. The Editorial Office reserves the right to request supporting documentation when necessary.
Authors must take appropriate measures to protect participants’ privacy, confidentiality, dignity, and rights. Personally identifiable information must not be disclosed without appropriate authorization and consent.
3. Research Involving Animals
Research involving live animals must comply with applicable national and international laws, regulations, institutional requirements, and recognized standards for animal welfare. Authors must ensure that animals are treated humanely and that appropriate measures are taken to minimize pain, suffering, distress, and harm.
Where applicable, animal research should follow the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines or an equivalent internationally recognized reporting standard, together with relevant animal welfare legislation and institutional guidelines. These may include the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, European Union Directive 2010/63/EU, or the National Research Council’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, as applicable to the location and nature of the research.
Manuscripts reporting animal experiments must include a statement identifying the relevant guidelines followed and the name of the approving animal ethics committee, together with the approval number and date, where applicable. If ethics approval was formally waived or was not required under applicable regulations, the authors must clearly explain the basis for this determination.
Authors must report the sex of the animals used and, where relevant, describe whether and how sex may have influenced or been associated with the study results.
For studies involving client-owned animals, authors should obtain informed consent from the owner or authorized representative, where applicable, and ensure that appropriate veterinary care and animal welfare standards are maintained. Research involving threatened or endangered species must comply with applicable conservation laws and permits, as well as recognized international conservation guidelines, including relevant International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recommendations.
4. Informed Consent
Informed consent must be obtained from all human participants involved in research, including research involving their personal data or biological materials, where applicable. Consent must be voluntary, informed, and obtained without coercion. Participants must receive appropriate information about the purpose of the research, the procedures involved, potential risks and benefits, confidentiality protections, and their right to withdraw, in accordance with applicable legal and ethical requirements.
Authors must include a statement in the manuscript confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants or, where applicable, from their parent, guardian, or legally authorized representative. Consent for publication must also be obtained whenever required, particularly when the manuscript contains identifiable personal information, case details, photographs, videos, recordings, or other material that could reveal an individual's identity.
Written or electronic consent should be obtained and documented in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and institutional requirements. Where only verbal consent has been obtained, authors must explain why written consent was not obtained, identify the approving ethics committee, where applicable, and describe how the verbal consent was documented. Verbal consent is acceptable only where permitted by the relevant ethical and legal requirements.
Authors are responsible for retaining appropriate consent forms, permissions, and supporting documentation. Such documentation must be made available to the Editorial Office upon reasonable request, subject to applicable privacy and confidentiality requirements.
For studies involving deceased individuals, identifiable records, or previously collected human data and biological materials, authors must comply with the applicable ethical review, consent, privacy, and legal requirements.
5. Editorial Compliance
The Journal of Decision Making and Healthcare (JDMH) reserves the right to request additional information, ethics approval documents, consent documentation, or other evidence of compliance with these policies. Manuscripts that do not adequately demonstrate compliance with applicable ethical standards may be returned for clarification, rejected, or subject to further action in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics procedures.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all ethical declarations included in their manuscripts are accurate, complete, and consistent with the actual conduct of their research.
Should you possess any recommendations or suggestions aimed at enhancing the substance of this document, we cordially invite you to forward them to contact@tulipa-os.com. Please ensure to include 'Publishing Ethics Guide' in the subject line for efficient identification and processing of your input. Your valuable insights and contributions are greatly appreciated in our ongoing efforts to fortify the ethical fabric of our publication standards.