Ethics

Ethics Policy

The editorial team at the Engineering and Technology Horizons journal is dedicated to maintaining the highest level of integrity and best practices in the content published within its pages. The team is committed to preventing malpractices, and in the event of plagiarism, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed to ensure the validity and integrity of the research published. If anyone suspects these guidelines have not been followed, they are encouraged to raise their concern with the editor or email kmitl.eng.jnl@gmail.com.

All parties involved in publishing, including editors, authors, and reviewers, must adhere to the ethical behaviors outlined below. The journal expects that editors, authors, and reviewers will maintain these ethical standards and avoid research misconduct, plagiarism, and conflicts of interest.

Ethics declarations for research studies involving humans and animals

In studies involving human and animal subjects, authors must follow ethical standards and obtain informed consent. In their manuscripts, authors must provide certain details in the "Materials and Methods" section:

  • The name of the ethical approval committee or institutional Review Board that provided approval, along with an approval number or ID.
  • If a waiver was obtained, it must be mentioned along with the reason for the waiver.
  • For studies involving human subjects, the authors must confirm that the study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 2013.
  • For studies involving animal subjects, the authors must confirm that the study was conducted in accordance with relevant national and international animal welfare guidelines, such as AAALAC or Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes, NRC of Thailand. If possible, the research studies should be approved by an ethics committee. The name of the ethics committee and the ethics committee approval number should be included, along with the national and international guidelines that were followed.
  • Written informed consent must be obtained from study participants and stated in the manuscript. Relevant documents must be provided upon request by the journal. If verbal informed consent was obtained, the reason for the absence of written consent must be provided.

In case the research studies involve human or animal subjects, the authors must declare that "This study was ethically approved by [name of the ethical approval committee/Institutional Review Board they have obtained consent from] together with approval number/ID (case/permission number). If a waiver was obtained, the authors should declare that "All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 2013 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards".

Roles of Editors

  1. Editors are responsible for evaluating submitted articles to ensure they align with the journal's objectives and scope, as stated on the website.
  2. Editors must use a non-disclosure process for unrelated persons during the article evaluation period.
  3. Editors play a crucial role in ensuring the quality of articles. They are responsible for making sound decisions in the selection process based on factors such as importance, novelty, clarity, and consistency with the publication's policies while avoiding any biases related to race, gender, religion, culture, politics, or author affiliation of the articles or authors.
  4. Editors must adhere to the journal's processes and procedures. Once the article evaluation process is complete, the author will be notified of the publication status.
  5. Editors must verify that articles were not previously published and check with other journals to confirm non-republishing.
  6. If there is a suspected article, editors must find evidence to support rejection.
  7. Editors must not have conflicts of interest between publishers, authors, and reviewers. Additionally, they should not utilize articles or journals for business purposes nor present them as their own academic work.
  8. Editors are not allowed to edit, modify, or hide any of the reviewer responses or comments exchanged between authors and reviewers.
  9. Upon discovering plagiarism, editors must immediately halt evaluation and contact the corresponding author for clarification before accepting or rejecting the article to maintain journal standards.

Roles of Authors

  1. The author's work must be original, never previously published, and not being considered for publication elsewhere.
  2. Authors reviewing research must be certified for ethics and factual reporting without misrepresentation.
  3. Authors must not plagiarize other people's works and must always cite their sources and include all citation details in the reference section to avoid plagiarism.
  4. Authors must follow the specified format in the "Author Guidelines" when writing a research article and citing references correctly.
  5. All authors and co-authors listed in the paper must have participated in the research.
  6. Authors are required to disclose any sponsors or funding sources that have provided support for this research.
  7. Authors must disclose any conflicts of interest or relationships with individuals associated with the journal or the article's reviewers.
  8. Authors' affiliations should accurately reflect the institution(s) where the research was conducted, supported, and/or approved. Providing false or fraudulent affiliation information is considered misconduct and may result in the retraction of the article. 
  9. The author who is responsible for corresponding with the editor needs to sign the copyright transfer agreement and submit it to the editor. It is important to note that changing the corresponding author after submission will be subject to scrutiny and will be treated as any change in authorship. This applies both before and after the publication of the article. 
  10. Authors are responsible for ensuring scientific accuracy and avoiding plagiarism in their published articles.
  11. Authors must provide complete and accurate information during the peer review process and respond to reviewers' comments with integrity.
  12. Authors must follow Engineering and Technology Horizons' editorial guidelines and edit their work accordingly. If any issues arise during editing, authors must inform the journal's editor immediately.
  13. Authors must make their data and methods available for transparency and reproducibility of their findings.

Roles of Article Reviewers

  1. Article reviewers should review articles that fall within their area of expertise. If they are not well-versed in the content of an article submitted by an editor, they should inform the editor and recommend a different reviewer. When assessing an article, reviewers should consider the significance of the content to the subject area. The quality of the analysis, the focus of the results, and the absence of personal opinions should be the basis for evaluating articles. Unsupported personal opinions should not be used to judge articles.
  2. During the evaluation period, article reviewers must keep all submitted information confidential and refrain from disclosing any part of it to unrelated parties.
  3. If article reviewers find themselves in a conflict of interest with the authors of the article they are reviewing, they should inform the journal editor and decline to review the article. This is because a conflict of interest may prevent the reviewers from providing unbiased opinions and suggestions. Examples of conflicts of interest include being a research project assistant or having a personal relationship with the author. Reviewers must maintain their independence and impartiality to ensure the integrity of the review process.
  4. When reviewing an article, if the main content is not properly cited, the reviewers should suggest adding citations by specifying the key research findings that pertain to the article being evaluated. If any part of the article is found to be similar or overlapping with other works, the reviewers should notify the editors.
  5. In the case of experiments involving humans or animals, the research methodology must comply with the research ethics applicable to humans and animals.
  6. Article reviewers are required to ensure that the evaluation process is completed within the designated time frame.

Publication Malpractice

Plagiarism

The journal places great importance on intellectual property and originality of content. To ensure this, any manuscript submitted to the journal will be screened using Turnitin software, which is supported by King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. If the software detects a similarity of over 30%, indicating plagiarism, the editors will immediately reject the manuscript. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the article will be retracted from the journal. The editors will then contact the authors' institutions to explain the retraction and the authors’ behaviors. The event of retraction will also be officially announced on the journal website as soon as possible.

Publication Malpractice Declaration

Our journal maintains the highest ethical standards and takes any misconduct allegations seriously. In order to ensure our publication operates within these ethical principles, we have established a malpractice declaration outlining key principles:

  • Plagiarism: Any instances of plagiarism will result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript, and the appropriate actions will be taken.
  • Fabrication and falsification: The fabrication or falsification of data or results is strictly prohibited. Authors must present accurate and reliable data, and any manipulation or misrepresentation of research findings will be considered a severe breach of ethical conduct.
  • Multiple submissions: Submitted manuscripts must not be under consideration by any other journal or conference proceedings. Simultaneous submission of the same work to multiple publications is unethical and will result in immediate decline.
  • Authorship disputes: Any disputes related to authorship or misrepresentation of authorship must be settled before submitting the manuscript.
  • Peer review integrity: Attempts to manipulate the review process, such as coercing reviewers or providing false recommendations, are strictly prohibited.
  • Retraction and corrections: If significant errors or misconduct are identified in a published article, the journal will take appropriate action by issuing a retraction or publishing corrections to rectify the situation. If corrections are necessary, the published article will be corrected promptly and transparently, according to established guidelines.
  • Reporting misconduct: We encourage authors, reviewers, and readers to report any suspected misconduct, ethical violations, or concerns regarding published articles. We will investigate such reports and take appropriate action based on the findings.

Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions

If misconduct is suspected, we will thoroughly investigate and take appropriate action, including retracting or correcting published articles.