Publication ethics
The journal supports the code of conduct (click here to download in pdf) set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics at 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore (COPE, 2010). Psychology and its Contexts is an open access journal and all content is freely available to users and institutions. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or refer to full texts in the journal without prior permission from the publisher or the author. This approach is in line with the BOAI definition of open access.
PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
All parties involved in the act of publishing (i.e. the author(s), the journal editor(s), the reviewer(s), and the publisher) must agree to standards of expected ethical behaviour. Our publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
EDITOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Decision-making and accountability
The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The editor may follow the rules of the journal’s editorial board and the restrictions and requirements imposed by law, concerning libel, copyright infringement, or plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors and reviewers when making decisions.
Fairness
The editor evaluates manuscripts solely for their intellectual content and with no regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political affiliation of the author(s).
Confidentiality
Neither the editor nor any member of the editorial board may disclose any information about a submitted manuscript (accepted for review) to anyone other than the corresponding author(s), reviewers and prospective reviewers, other editorial advisers and the publisher, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials and information contained in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without written consent of the author(s).
REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES
Contribution to editorial decisions
Reviewers assist the editor in making editorial decisions and help authors improve their manuscripts through editorial communication.
Promptness
Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in the manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editor and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the editor.
Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.
Acknowledgment of sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation or argument has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. Any invited reviewer who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the editors to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.
AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Reporting standards
Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Data access and retention
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. The authors should retain this data for a reasonably long time after the publication of the paper.
Originality and plagiarism
Authors should ensure that they have written and submit only entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited.
Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication
Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.
Acknowledgment of sources
Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others, and should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
Authorship of the manuscript
Only persons who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or analysis/interpretation of the study should be listed as authors in the manuscript. All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript should be listed as co-authors. Other persons who have made contributions to the manuscript in the form of, for example, technical help, writing and editing assistance, or general support, should be acknowledged in the text. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest, financial or other, that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed.
Fundamental errors in published works
When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editor or publisher and cooperate with them to either correct or retract the paper.