Publication Ethics

Publication ethics are formulated to further strengthen the standardization of academic and scientific research integrity in the processes of writing, reviewing, editing, proofreading and publishing of papers, to prevent academic misconduct, to foster a positive academic environment and to elevate the quality of publications.

I. Ethics for Authors

1. It should be ensured that each author makes a substantial academic contribution to the manuscript and agrees to the list and order of authors, with no disputes over authorship. All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

2. The manuscript should be presented in a scientific and accurate manner with no ghostwriting involved and the author assumes full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.

3. The manuscript shall not contain self-plagiarism, textual plagiarism, plagiarism of data, diagrams, formulas, or ideas; it shall not falsify data, information or results; it shall not tamper with key information such as scientific research records, pictures and data, and the content of the manuscript shall not be confidential.

4. When providing objective evaluations and appropriate citations for others’ academic research achievements, authors should correctly label and reference them in the manuscript.

5. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and it is unacceptable. It should be ensured that the manuscript is free from multiple submissions, duplicate publications and split publications.

6. When recommending peer reviewers, authors should refrain from selecting those from their own institutions, research groups, or those with whom they have collaborative projects outside their institutions. It is not allowed to provide false information about peer reviewers.

7. The funding projects involved in the manuscript should be truthfully annotated, and it is permissible to attach supporting documentation for such funding projects. False annotations of funding projects are not allowed.

8. Authors should ensure the citation quality of references, and strictly adhere to the “Information and documentation-Rules for bibliographic references and citations to information resources” (GB/T 7714—2015). In terms of content quotations, authors should ensure the authenticity and reliability of the contents of direct or indirect quotations. Regarding the role of citations, authors should attach great importance to the reasonableness and timeliness of the contents of citations.

9. To respect the independence of peer review, not to interfere with the normal peer review process of this journal and not to inquire about the information of manuscript reviewers through various channels.

10. To respect the evaluation opinions of peer reviewers and revise the manuscripts carefully. If there are any objections, feedback can be provided to the editorial office through internal email or telephone.

11. The contents of manuscripts should be in compliance with China’s relevant laws and regulations on the administration of publications.

II. Ethics for Editors

1. To strictly abide by the editing and publishing standards, and deal with the manuscripts in a fair, impartial and timely manner.

2. To adhere to the principle of confidentiality and maintain the confidentiality of authors’ research contents and the information of peer reviewers.

3. To conduct academic misconduct checks on the submitted manuscripts and make preliminary judgment on whether they meet the standards of academic paper writing and whether they are of value for publication.

4. To review manuscripts from various perspectives and select peer reviewers with a research background compatible with that of the author.  Any peer reviewer who engages in fraudulent activities or abuses his review authority in the review process will be subject to a one-vote veto.

5. When inviting peer reviewers to review manuscripts, editors should respect peer reviewers’ individual will and must not make forced review requests; for the reviewers who are unable to review manuscripts in the near future, actions should be taken to address this in a timely manner so as to enhance the processing efficiency of manuscripts.

6. Editors must not interfere with peer review driven by interests, not influence peer reviewers to make objective judgment and ensure that peer reviewers give independent evaluation opinions on their own in the peer review process.

7. To provide the authors timely and accurate feedback on the evaluation opinions of peer reviewers and to offer the authors comprehensive comments or reasons for withdrawing the manuscripts as far as possible.

8. To respect peer reviewers and authors. If authors have objections to review comments, they are allowed to file a complaint and it will be patiently addressed.

9. It is not allowed to subjectively alter the academic connotation of the graphic and the text, and damage the integrity of the manuscript.

III. Ethics for Peer Reviewers

1. Upon receiving the manuscript, it is essential to assess whether one’s professional research direction aligns with that of the manuscript to be reviewed and to inform us about it within the review system in time.

2. To eliminate biases, review manuscripts diligently, offer objective and fair suggestions for modification, write review reports meticulously, enhance the quality of peer review, and refrain from irresponsible reviewing behavior.

3. Abusing official authority or review power is strictly prohibited.

4. If the manuscript review cannot be completed within the stipulated time, it is imperative for the reviewer to promptly inform the editor for adjustments, and intentional delay in the review process is not allowed.

5. To adhere to the principles of confidentiality of peer review, respect the research findings of authors and refrain from forwarding manuscripts to others for review without authorization.

6. In the process of double-blind review, the peer reviewer shall not inquire about the author’s information in private or engage in discussions with the author.

7. If any academic misconduct or potential conflict of interest is identified during the review process, it should be promptly reported to the editorial office.

IV. Norms for Handling Academic Misconduct

For a manuscript with clear evidence of academic misconduct, its review process will be terminated and the manuscript will be withdrawn; if the manuscript has been accepted but not formally published by other journals, its proposed publication will be canceled and the author will be notified; if it has already been published, a notice of retraction will be published at a later date and the first or corresponding author’s institution will be notified of this incident. In the meanwhile, the retraction of the original manuscript will be notified to all the academic platforms and the original data of the manuscript will be deleted from all literature databases.

a. Publishers and editors would take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where academic misconduct has occurred.

b. We would not encourage such academic misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. 

c. We would follow the COPE’s guidelines (or equivalent) in dealing with allegations appropriately if there has any allegations of academic misconduct.

V. Appeal and Conflict of Interest Policy

(1) This journal accepts authors’ objection appeals: If authors have objections to the review comments, review results, etc., they can submit a written appeal to the editorial department and send it to our journal email (xuebaozr@xju.edu.cn). The author must provide detailed explanations and clarifications for each review comment. The editorial department will investigate and handle the appeal as soon as possible after receiving it, and provide feedback on the appeal results to the author.

(2) This journal welcomes authors and readers to discuss published articles. You can send comments to our journal email (xuebaozr@xju.edu.cn). The editorial department will handle it as soon as possible upon receipt and provide feedback as appropriate. This journal welcomes readers and authors to supervise each other, actively provide feedback on relevant information to this journal, and jointly create a good academic atmosphere.

(3)  All authors need to fill in and submit the journal’s “Thesis copyright license agreement”. This is to confirm that all authors have made substantial contributions to the article and there is no nominal author, and to disclose all potential conflicts of interest involved in the research. A conflict of interest may exist when an author (or the author’s institution or employer) has financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could influence (or bias) the author’s decisions, work, or manuscript. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

VI. Correction and Retraction Policy

Articles published online or in print are considered the final and complete version. In principle, no corrections or retractions will be made to the published articles, except under special circumstances. When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the editorial department and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Correction: If it appears that there are honest scientific errors in the article, which would not lead to significant impacts on the results and conclusions of the article, the editorial department will publish corrections in the journal as soon as possible, detailing the changes made to the original article and indicating the source of the article. The editorial department will release the corrected new version of the article, and specify the changes to the original article and the date of the update. In addition, the superseded version will also be archived. Readers can obtain it directly, but only the latest version of the article should be used for citation.

Retraction: In the following cases, the editorial department would retract published articles and issue retraction statements.

(1) If an article is found to have severe scientific errors, which makes the results and conclusions of the article unreliable;

(2) For article suspected of academic misconduct, such as plagiarism and data falsification, the editorial department will initiate an investigation and issue a statement to inform readers of the risks associated with the article. After completion of investigation, the results of the investigation will be made public. If it is confirmed that the article involves academic misconduct, the editorial department will retract the article and issue a retraction statement. Retracted manuscripts will be removed from the journal’s website and listed databases, and a notice of retraction will be posted on the website homepage (Download Center).

The Editorial Department of The Journal of Xinjiang University(Natural Science Edition in Chinese and English)

In February, 2025