Responsibilities of Authors
Accuracy and Integrity of Research
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their submitted work. Research must be reported honestly, completely, and without fabrication, falsification, or selective omission of data. Methods must be described in sufficient detail to allow independent replication. Authors must not misrepresent the significance, novelty, or implications of their findings.
Originality and Prior Publication
Submitted manuscripts must be original works that have not been published elsewhere, in whole or in substantial part, in any language. Manuscripts must not be under simultaneous consideration by another journal. Posting a preprint to a recognised preprint server prior to submission is permitted and does not constitute prior publication; authors should disclose this in their cover letter.
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Submitting the same data or findings to more than one journal simultaneously, or publishing substantially overlapping work without appropriate disclosure and cross-referencing, constitutes duplicate or redundant publication. This is not acceptable. Where a manuscript builds on previously published work by the same authors, the prior publication must be cited and the distinction clearly explained.
Authorship
All listed authors must have made a genuine and substantive intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported work. Individuals who contributed technically or administratively but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission. Ghost authorship and gift authorship are not acceptable.
Disclosure of Funding and Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research, including grant numbers and funding bodies. Any financial or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation must be declared. This includes employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, and travel grants. Absence of conflicts of interest should also be stated explicitly.
Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
Research involving human participants must have been conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and must have received approval from an appropriate institutional ethics committee or review board. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants, or provide a clear explanation of why consent was not required. Research involving animals must comply with applicable national and institutional regulations and must have received appropriate ethical approval.
Data Availability and Transparency
Authors are encouraged to make the data underlying their findings available in a publicly accessible repository where this is legally and ethically permissible. Where data cannot be shared, authors should state this clearly and explain the reasons. Data must not be withheld from editors or reviewers during the review process.
Errors in Published Work
If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to notify the journal editor promptly and to cooperate in issuing a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice. Authors must not attempt to conceal errors in published research.
Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists editors in making fair, informed, and consistent editorial decisions. Reviewers are expected to provide honest, constructive, and evidence-based assessments of the scientific quality, originality, and significance of submitted manuscripts.
Confidentiality
Manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, discuss, or disclose the contents of a manuscript — including its existence — to any third party without the explicit permission of the editor. This obligation continues after the review process is complete.
Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest — including close professional collaboration, personal relationships, direct competition, or financial interest in the outcome. If a conflict of interest becomes apparent after a review has commenced, the reviewer must notify the editor immediately.
Timeliness
Reviewers should only accept review invitations if they are able to complete the review within the requested timeframe. If a reviewer is unable to complete a review on time, they should notify the editor as early as possible so that alternative arrangements can be made.
Identification of Ethical Concerns
Reviewers who identify potential ethical concerns — including suspected plagiarism, data fabrication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or unacknowledged prior publication — should bring these to the attention of the editor. Reviewers should not attempt to investigate such concerns independently.
Responsibilities of Editors
Fair and Independent Decision-Making
Editors are responsible for making fair, impartial, and timely decisions on all submitted manuscripts. Decisions must be based solely on the scientific merit, originality, and relevance of the work to the journal's scope. Editors must not allow commercial considerations, personal relationships, or institutional affiliations to influence editorial decisions.
Confidentiality
Editors must treat submitted manuscripts as confidential documents. Information about a submission must not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and editorial staff directly involved in the review process.
Conflicts of Interest
Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. This includes manuscripts submitted by close colleagues, collaborators, or individuals with whom the editor has a personal or financial relationship. In such cases, the manuscript should be assigned to another editor.
Responding to Ethical Concerns
When editors receive credible evidence of ethical concerns — whether raised by reviewers, readers, institutions, or identified independently — they are responsible for investigating the matter in accordance with NovaVel's Research Misconduct policy. Editors should not dismiss concerns without appropriate consideration.
Responsibilities of the Publisher
Editorial Independence
NovaVel is committed to the principle of editorial independence. The publisher does not interfere in editorial decisions. Decisions to accept, reject, or request revision of manuscripts are made by editors on the basis of scientific merit alone.
Maintaining the Scholarly Record
NovaVel is committed to the permanent availability and integrity of the published scholarly record. Published articles will not be removed from the record except in cases of legal obligation, serious ethical violation, or where the data are so unreliable that retaining the article would mislead readers. Where articles are corrected or retracted, this will be clearly indicated in the published record.
Responding to Misconduct
NovaVel will investigate credible allegations of research or publication misconduct in a fair, timely, and proportionate manner. Where misconduct is confirmed, appropriate action will be taken, which may include issuing a correction, expression of concern, or retraction. NovaVel will cooperate with institutions, funding bodies, and other publishers in the investigation of misconduct where appropriate.
Post-Publication Concerns
Raising Concerns
Readers, reviewers, authors, and institutions who have concerns about the integrity of published research are encouraged to contact the relevant journal editor. Concerns should be submitted in writing and should include sufficient detail to allow the matter to be assessed. Anonymous concerns will be considered where the nature of the concern warrants it.
Corrections
A correction will be issued when a published article contains a significant error that does not affect the overall conclusions of the work. Corrections are published as a separate notice linked to the original article and are clearly identified in the published record.
Expressions of Concern
An expression of concern may be issued when an investigation into a published article is ongoing and there is sufficient reason to alert readers to potential concerns about the reliability of the work. An expression of concern does not constitute a finding of misconduct.
Retractions
A retraction will be issued when a published article is found to contain errors so significant that the conclusions cannot be relied upon, or when there is clear evidence of research misconduct. Retracted articles remain in the published record and are clearly marked as retracted. The reasons for retraction are stated in the retraction notice.