Publication Ethics

Authorship

All authors must have agreed to the submission and to the order of their names on the title page. They must also have agreed that the corresponding author may act on their behalf throughout the editorial review and publication process.

Originality and plagiarism

Research articles submitted to the UPJST must not have been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Authors must avoid plagiarism in text, figures and tables. Plagiarism is the use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work. Authors also must not reuse their previously published works without specific address (self-plagiarism). Fabrication, manipulation, and falsification of data also must be prohibited and sanctioned in the UPJST. Authors must respond to requests from the Editors of UPJST when original data and research notes need to be verified.

Permissions

If a figure or table has been published elsewhere before, the authors must obtain written permission to reproduce the material from the copyright owner. The original source must be cited in the figure caption and table footnote.

Human or animal subjects

Statements of compliance are required if the work involved the use of human or animal subjects. Studies on human and animals require the approval from the ethic committee. Authors must state the approval code in the manuscript.

Editorial ethics

The UPJST promotes the COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics) international standards for responsible research publications. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in publication: editors, authors, and reviewers.

Duties of Authors

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Authors should acknowledge ideas and previously published results by citing these works in the paper and listing them in the references. The Journal reserves the right to use plagiarism detecting software to screen submitted papers at all times.

Authors of papers that report on original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. Conclusions should be based on the evidence presented in the paper and not on personal opinions.

All funding sources must be disclosed in the acknowledgments and any conflicts of interest should be stated. All submissions must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed a potential conflict of interest. The corresponding author must confirm that the corresponding author had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication and had full access to all the data in the study.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of the review process. They should not discuss aspects of the work under review with other researchers until such time as the article is published. Unpublished materials disclosed in a manuscript under review must not be quoted or referenced by a reviewer without the express written consent of the author, requested through the editor. Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

If the reviewer realizes, after receiving a manuscript for review, that he or she has been involved in the research described, knows the researchers involved in the research, or for any reason cannot give an objective review of the manuscript, the reviewer should inform the editors and decline the review. Conflicts of interest can include competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the paper under review.

Manuscripts should be reviewed objectively in the context of the reviewer's expertise in the field. Personal opinions without backing evidence should not be used as criteria for review decisions.

Duties of Editors

The editors of the UPJST use a "double-blinded" peer review process where neither the authors nor the reviewers know each other's identity. The editors make all best efforts to protect the identity of author(s) and reviewers throughout the review process. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be quoted or referenced by an editor without the express written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Editors recuse themselves from the review process when they have a conflict of interest or personal stake in the publication of a research work.

Publication Decisions

The UPJST will not accept articles which have been published (except in the form of an abstract) or are being considered for publication by another journal. Papers being considered here should not be submitted to other journals.

The editor of the UPJST is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.