Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Publication Ethics

Ptolemy Scientific Research Press (PSR Press) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, editorial responsibility, and scholarly transparency. All journals published by PSR Press expect authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff to follow recognized best-practice standards in scholarly publishing.

PSR Press journals are guided by the ethical principles and best-practice recommendations contained in the following documents and organizations:

Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff involved with PSR Press journals are expected to act honestly, responsibly, and professionally at every stage of the publication process. The purpose of this policy is to protect the integrity of the scholarly record, promote fair peer review, prevent publication misconduct, and ensure that published research is reliable, original, and properly attributed.

Ethical Standards and General Principles

Publication ethics apply to all stages of manuscript handling, including submission, editorial screening, peer review, revision, acceptance, publication, correction, and post-publication discussion. All parties involved in the publication process must respect the principles of originality, accuracy, confidentiality, fairness, proper citation, responsible authorship, and transparency.

A manuscript submitted to a PSR Press journal must represent original work. It must not be plagiarized, fabricated, falsified, or submitted simultaneously to another journal. Authors must provide accurate information, editors must make decisions based on scholarly merit, and reviewers must provide objective and confidential evaluations.

The publication process depends on trust. Authors are trusted to submit honest and original work; reviewers are trusted to evaluate manuscripts fairly and confidentially; editors are trusted to manage the process impartially; and the publisher is responsible for supporting ethical editorial practice and protecting the scholarly record.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the integrity, originality, accuracy, and ethical quality of the manuscripts they submit. By submitting a manuscript to a PSR Press journal, authors confirm that the manuscript is their original work, that all sources have been properly cited, that all listed authors have approved the submission, and that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere.

Authors should ensure that:

the manuscript presents original research, analysis, interpretation, or scholarly discussion;
all data, results, proofs, figures, tables, and statements are accurate to the best of their knowledge;
the manuscript does not contain plagiarism, fabricated content, falsified data, or misleading claims;
all sources that influenced the work are properly cited;
all required permissions have been obtained for copyrighted third-party material;
all authors and co-authors have made appropriate contributions;
all conflicts of interest and funding sources are disclosed;
ethical approval and consent statements are included where required;
the manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal at the same time.

Fraudulent, knowingly inaccurate, misleading, or unethical statements are unacceptable. Authors must not submit a manuscript to PSR Press if it contains plagiarized, fabricated, falsified, or otherwise unethical material.

Authorship, Corresponding Author, and Co-authors

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the research study. All individuals who have made significant scholarly contributions should be offered the opportunity to be listed as authors.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section, with their permission. Such contributors may include individuals who provided technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, funding assistance, or general supervision, but they should not be listed as authors unless they made a substantial scholarly contribution.

When a manuscript has more than one author, one corresponding author must be nominated. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal from submission to publication, including revision, proof correction, and post-publication correspondence.

The corresponding author must ensure that:

all appropriate co-authors are included in the manuscript;
no inappropriate or honorary authors are included;
all co-authors have read and approved the final version;
all co-authors have agreed to the submission;
all authorship details are accurate;
all required declarations are submitted;
all revisions are communicated to co-authors where necessary;
final source files are provided in the journal template after acceptance.

All co-authors share responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the manuscript. Each author should be able to identify their contribution and should take responsibility for the parts of the work in which they were involved. All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflict of interest that could influence, or appear to influence, the results or interpretation of the manuscript.

Originality, Citations, and Multiple Publication

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to PSR Press journals are entirely original. If authors use the work, words, data, figures, tables, methods, ideas, or interpretations of others, these must be properly cited, quoted, or acknowledged.

Authors must cite publications that have influenced the nature, design, methods, analysis, interpretation, or conclusions of the reported work. Citations should be relevant, accurate, and necessary for scholarly context. Authors should not cite sources only to increase citation counts, create artificial citation patterns, or give unnecessary visibility to their own work or the work of associates.

Authors should avoid excessive or irrelevant self-citation. Self-citation is acceptable when the cited work is directly relevant to the manuscript, but it should not be used to manipulate citation performance.

Simultaneous submission of the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable. Authors must not submit a manuscript to a PSR Press journal while it is under consideration elsewhere. Authors must also not publish manuscripts containing essentially the same or very similar results in more than one journal.

Submission to a PSR Press journal implies that:

the manuscript has not been published elsewhere;
the manuscript is not under review elsewhere;
the manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration;
the manuscript will not be published elsewhere if accepted by the journal;
any related previous or concurrent work has been disclosed to the editor.

Redundant publication, duplicate publication, and salami publication are not acceptable. Authors should disclose any closely related manuscripts, preprints, conference versions, or previous publications so that the editor can assess whether the submission is sufficiently original.

Accuracy, Fundamental Errors, and Source Files

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript is accurate and complete. Data, calculations, mathematical proofs, experimental results, statistical analyses, clinical information, figures, tables, and references should be checked carefully before submission.

Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unethical and unacceptable. Authors must not submit manuscripts containing fabricated data, falsified results, manipulated images, misleading analysis, or unsupported conclusions.

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, the author has an obligation to notify the journal or publisher promptly. The author must cooperate with the editor and publisher to correct, clarify, retract, or otherwise amend the published article where necessary.

After acceptance, authors may be required to provide final source files in the journal template. These may include editable text files, TeX or LaTeX source files, figures, tables, bibliography files, and supplementary material. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the final files are accurate, complete, and consistent with the accepted version.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the academic quality, fairness, integrity, and editorial independence of journals published by PSR Press. Editors must evaluate manuscripts according to scholarly merit and must manage the peer-review process in a professional and ethical manner.

Editors should ensure that:

manuscripts are assessed according to the journal’s aims and scope;
editorial decisions are based on scientific content, originality, clarity, quality, and contribution;
manuscripts are assigned to reviewers with appropriate expertise;
conflicts of interest are avoided or properly managed;
reviewer identities are protected under the journal’s single-blind review policy;
confidential manuscript information is not disclosed inappropriately;
ethical concerns are investigated carefully;
corrections, errata, clarifications, or retractions are issued when necessary.

Editors should act in the interest of the journal, the scholarly community, and the integrity of the published record. They must not misuse their editorial position for personal, professional, financial, political, or citation advantage.

Editorial Fair Play and Confidentiality

Editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted to PSR Press journals must be made entirely on the basis of scientific and scholarly content. Editors should consider the manuscript’s importance, originality, clarity, language fluency, technical quality, methodological soundness, contribution to the field, and relevance to the journal’s audience as defined in the journal’s scope.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors’:

ethnic origin;
citizenship or nationality;
race;
gender;
sexual orientation;
religious belief;
political orientation;
institutional affiliation;
personal background;
seniority, academic rank, or reputation.

Editors and editorial staff must keep all information obtained from submitted manuscripts confidential. Submitted manuscripts must not be shared with anyone who is not directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in any form of an editor’s own research, teaching, publication, presentation, grant application, or professional activity without the written consent of the author or authors.

Editors must also protect the identities of reviewers. Since PSR Press journals follow a single-blind peer-review process, reviewers know the identity of the authors, but authors do not know the identity of reviewers. Reviewer names, contact details, review reports, and identifying information must be handled confidentially.

Peer Review, Citation Ethics, and Publication Decisions

Editors should carefully assign manuscripts to reviewers who have appropriate scientific, technical, mathematical, clinical, or scholarly expertise in the subject of the manuscript. Editors should verify the article type, assess correspondence with the journal’s aims and scope, and take reasonable steps to ensure that the manuscript is original and suitable for peer review.

The editor should ensure that the peer-review process is fair, timely, and independent. At least two review reports are normally required before a peer-review decision is made. Reviewers should be selected on the basis of expertise, independence, availability, and absence of conflicts of interest.

Editors must not suggest that authors include citations to the editor’s own work, or the work of associates, merely to increase citation counts or enhance visibility. Citation suggestions must be based on valid academic reasons. Editors should also monitor reviewer comments to ensure that reviewers do not request irrelevant citations for personal citation advantage.

The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts should be published. The decision should be based on the manuscript, reviewer reports, journal scope, editorial standards, ethical requirements, and the editor’s academic judgment. Reviewers advise the editor, but the final publication decision rests with the editor or authorized editorial authority of the journal.

Corrections, Errata, Retractions, and Editorial Accountability

The editorial office is expected to protect the accuracy and reliability of the published record. When errors, inaccuracies, or ethical concerns are identified, the journal should take appropriate action. This may include issuing an erratum, correction, clarification, apology statement, expression of concern, or retraction.

The editorial office should not refrain from retracting a publication when there is clear evidence of scientific misconduct, unethical research, plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, or other serious violations of ethical publishing.

Corrections and errata should be issued when an error affects the article but does not invalidate its main findings. Retractions should be issued when the findings are unreliable, when there has been serious misconduct, or when the article seriously violates ethical standards. Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record, not to punish authors.

Editors should handle post-publication concerns carefully, fairly, and transparently. Authors should normally be given an opportunity to respond to concerns, but the journal must prioritize the integrity of the published record.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers support the editor by providing an independent expert assessment of submitted manuscripts. Reviewers are expected to evaluate manuscripts honestly, objectively, confidentially, and constructively.

Reviewers should assess whether the manuscript:

fits the journal’s scope;
presents original and meaningful work;
has a clear objective or research question;
uses appropriate methods, theory, data, analysis, or proofs;
presents results and conclusions accurately;
cites relevant literature;
follows ethical standards;
is clearly organized and written.

Reviewers should provide comments for the authors, confidential comments for the editor where necessary, and a recommendation such as acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. Reviewers may also indicate whether they are willing to review a revised version of the manuscript.

Accepting or Declining Review and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should accept a review invitation only if they have enough expertise in the topic of the manuscript to carry out a proper assessment. A reviewer should not accept a review assignment merely because the manuscript is generally related to their field. They should be able to evaluate the specific content and contribution of the work.

Reviewers should decline the invitation if:

the manuscript is outside their expertise;
they cannot complete the review within the required time;
they have a conflict of interest;
they cannot provide an objective assessment;
they have a competitive, collaborative, financial, institutional, or personal relationship with the authors;
they have a connection with a corporation, institution, project, or organization related to the manuscript.

Conflicts of interest may arise from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with authors, companies, institutions, or organizations connected to the manuscript. If reviewers are unsure whether a conflict exists, they should inform the editor and allow the editor to decide whether they may proceed.

Reviewer Confidentiality, Objectivity, and Citation Responsibility

Reviewers must keep all information obtained from manuscripts confidential. Unpublished material disclosed in a manuscript must not be used in any form of the reviewer’s own research and must not be presented, shared, copied, distributed, or discussed with others without the written consent of the editor handling the manuscript.

Reviews must be constructive and objective. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate. Reviewers should clearly express their views with supporting arguments and should distinguish between major issues and minor suggestions.

Reviewers are expected to draw the handling editor’s attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published or submitted work of which they have personal knowledge. Reviewers should also identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.

However, reviewers must not suggest that authors include citations to the reviewer’s own work, or the work of associates, merely to increase citation counts or enhance visibility. Citation suggestions must be based on valid academic reasons and should be directly relevant to the manuscript.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Tools

Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must use artificial intelligence and digital tools responsibly. AI tools must not be used in any way that compromises confidentiality, authorship responsibility, originality, accuracy, peer-review integrity, or ethical standards.

Authors may use digital tools for language improvement, formatting, grammar checking, or technical assistance where appropriate, but they remain fully responsible for the content of the manuscript. AI tools must not be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work, approve the final manuscript, disclose conflicts of interest, or be accountable for errors.

Editors and reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, author responses, confidential editorial comments, unpublished data, figures, tables, equations, or supplementary files to public AI tools or unsecured third-party platforms. Submitted manuscripts are confidential documents, and their contents must not be disclosed to systems that may store, reuse, train on, or expose the material.

AI tools must not replace human editorial judgment, peer review, expert evaluation, or ethical decision-making. If AI use is suspected to have compromised originality, accuracy, data integrity, authorship, citation reliability, or confidentiality, the editor may request clarification and take appropriate editorial action.

Research Involving Humans, Animals, Plants, and Biological Materials

Authors submitting manuscripts to PSR Press journals must ensure that all research involving humans, animals, plants, biological materials, clinical records, environmental samples, genetic resources, or field investigations has been conducted in accordance with relevant ethical standards, institutional requirements, national laws, and international guidelines.

For research involving human participants, patient records, clinical samples, surveys, interviews, questionnaires, images, personal data, or identifiable information, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent authority where required. The manuscript should include the name of the approving committee, approval number where available, and a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from participants or their legal guardians where applicable. Authors must protect participant privacy and must not include identifying information unless explicit written consent has been obtained.

For clinical studies, case reports, clinical images, or studies using patient data, authors must ensure that confidentiality is maintained and that all personal information is handled responsibly. Patient names, initials, hospital numbers, photographs, or other identifying details should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and supported by written consent. Where required, clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate public registry before participant recruitment.

For research involving animals, authors must confirm that the study was approved by an institutional animal ethics committee or equivalent authority where required. Animal research should be conducted in accordance with accepted standards for animal welfare, humane treatment, appropriate housing, pain reduction, and responsible experimental design. Authors should clearly describe the species used, ethical approval details, care conditions, experimental procedures, and measures taken to minimize harm, distress, or unnecessary suffering.

For research involving plants, agricultural materials, biodiversity, ecological samples, or field-collected specimens, authors must ensure that collection, use, transport, and reporting comply with relevant institutional, national, and international regulations. Where required, authors should obtain permission for fieldwork, collection of plant material, use of protected species, access to conservation areas, or work involving endangered or regulated biological resources. The manuscript should include information about permits, collection locations where appropriate, voucher specimens, herbarium deposition, or other documentation necessary for scientific verification.

For studies involving microorganisms, cell lines, tissues, genetic material, pathogens, environmental samples, or other biological materials, authors must follow applicable biosafety, biosecurity, laboratory, and ethical requirements. The source of biological materials should be clearly stated, and permissions or approvals should be reported where required. Authors should confirm that materials were obtained lawfully and handled according to relevant safety and ethical standards.

If ethical approval was not required for a study, authors should state this clearly in the manuscript and provide the reason, such as exemption by an institutional committee or the use of publicly available, anonymized, or non-sensitive data. The editor may request supporting documentation when necessary.

Manuscripts that fail to provide required ethical approval, consent, permissions, or compliance statements may be returned to authors, rejected, or subjected to further editorial investigation. If ethical concerns are discovered after publication, PSR Press may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice.

Ethical Violations and Editorial Actions

Manuscripts may be immediately rejected if ethical violations are identified before publication. If ethical violations are discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, removal notice, or other appropriate editorial action.

Ethical violations include, but are not limited to:

plagiarism;
duplicate or multiple submissions;
citation manipulation;
data fabrication;
data falsification;
improper author contribution or attribution;
redundant publication;
undisclosed conflicts of interest;
peer-review manipulation;
misuse of copyrighted material;
unethical research involving humans or animals;
lack of required ethical approval or consent;
fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements.

The journal may request explanations, documentation, raw data, ethical approval letters, permission documents, authorship statements, or conflict-of-interest disclosures during an investigation. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to cooperate with ethical inquiries.

If misconduct is confirmed, the editorial response will depend on the seriousness of the violation and the stage of publication. Possible actions include rejection, correction, publication of an editorial notice, retraction, notification of institutions, or refusal to consider future submissions from the responsible parties for a defined period.

Post-Publication Corrections, Retractions, and Online Comments

PSR Press journals recognize that errors may sometimes be discovered after publication. The journal provides mechanisms for correcting the scholarly record through errata, author corrections, retractions, and online comments.

Errata provide a means of correcting errors that occurred during writing, typing, editing, typesetting, or publication. These may include misspellings, dropped words or lines, incorrect labels, formatting errors, or mislabeling in a figure or table. Errata should be submitted by email attachment to the managing editor of the respective journal.

Author corrections provide a means of correcting errors of omission, such as author names, citations, acknowledgments, or other information, as well as errors of a scientific nature that do not alter the overall results or conclusions of the published article. The addition of new results or new data is not permitted through an author correction.

Retractions are reserved for major errors or breaches of ethics that call into question the source of the data, the validity of the results, the reliability of the conclusions, or the ethical status of the article. Retraction may be applied when:

the paper involves ethical violations such as plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, simultaneous submission, or duplicate publication;
the paper contains serious errors that cannot be corrected through an erratum or correction notice;
the findings are unreliable;
the article violates ethical scientific publishing standards.

PSR Press journals may also allow post-publication comments or notes on published articles. If a reader finds an error in a published article or identifies a way in which a published article may be improved, the reader may send the information to the managing editor of the respective journal. The submitted information will be reviewed by members of the editorial team and, where necessary, by external referees.

If the submitted information is found to be valid, appropriate, and useful, it may be added to a webpage linked to the published article, with the date of posting. Such online comments are intended to improve scholarly discussion and transparency. No comments will be published in the printed version of the journal.