Ethics Policy
Ethics Policy
Only original work not published elsewhere, in whole or in part, is published. Authors are required to give a certificate to this effect at the time of submission for publication. The contributions are screened carefully to detect regional, political, religious, social or gender bias. The conclusions drawn are expected to be based only on processed data. The Journal is particularly opposed to any plagiarism/plagiarized material.
In this context, the editor, the reviewer, the author, and the publisher have essential duties and responsibilities. Prominent among these are detailed below:
- Role and responsibilities of the Editor: The editor has the sole and independent duty to decide about the suitability of the articles submitted to the Journal in terms of their quality and originality, in conformity with the aims and objectives of the Journal, relevance to society, and importance to the academic world. The information about a submitted manuscript is not disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, the reviewer, and other editorial board members. The editor shall ensure the prompt handling of the review process, along with evaluation of the manuscript only on the basis of its intellectual content. It is confirmed that the reviewer has suitable expertise in the relevant field, and makes appropriate use of the publisher’s systems for any aberration, such as plagiarism and communicate confidentially to the editor. The Editor shall edit the reviewer comments before sending them to authors to neutralise and balance unconstructive or emotive comments.
- Role and responsibilities of the Reviewers: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions, and the author improves the paper. As an essential component of formal scholarly communication, it stays at the heart of the scientific method and is expected to maintain confidentiality, ethics, and standards of objectivity. The reviewer points out relevant publications not cited in the manuscript and any similarities/overlap with previously published works. A reviewer is not to undertake the assignment with potential conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors or institutions connected to the paper. Authors should expect to receive reviewer reports promptly, generally within three months.
- Publication and Submission fee
Author/authors are not required to pay any fees or charges for manuscript processing/submission. However, we encourage scholars/researchers to become a life/annual member of the Association of Population Geographers of India, publishing the Journal and promoting the cause of population/demographic studies in India and abroad.
- Role and responsibilities of the authors: Authors of the original research should present an accurate account of the work accomplished. An objective discussion on the data used will be represented accurately in the paper. The data analysis should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent/knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical behaviour and are unacceptable. Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If they use the work/statements of others, these must be appropriately cited or quoted with permission obtained, wherever needed. The authors are not expected to submit for consideration the publication of the same research work, which has been either submitted to other journals or has been published previously, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint. Information obtained in the course of confidential services must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved.
Authorship should be limited to those making a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those making substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors. Any others should be mentioned in the acknowledgements section. The corresponding author must ensure that no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that every five authors has seen and approved the article’s final version for its submission for publication. All the authors, individually and collectively, should ensure that questions relating to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved; and should also comply with the policies of the Journal.
Suppose an author discovers a significant error in the published work. In that case, it is obligatory on his/her part to inform the editor to either correct or retract the paper. All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research and or preparation of the article should be acknowledged.
Role and responsibilities of the Publisher: In cases of proven scientific misconduct, plagiarism, or fraudulent publication, the publisher, on the advice of the editorial board, shall take the appropriate action to clarify the situation, publish an erratum, or retract the work in question. As per the current practice, the editor is also the publisher of the Journal. She/he performs this duty on behalf of the Association of Population Geographers of India (APGI).