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MALPRACTICE AND ETHICS STATEMENT
— Forensic Science Review —
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The Forensic Science Review is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards for all parties involved in the
act of publishing a peer-reviewed journal: the author, the editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher, and the reader. |
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Forensic Science Review’s publishing ethics are based on, and adapted from, the guidelines of the Committee on
Publication Ethics (COPE); specifically their Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Conduct for Journal
Publishers. |
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EDITOR RESPONSIBILITIES
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Accountability: The editor of a peer-reviewed journal is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal
should be published, and, moreover, is accountable for everything published in the journal. In making these decisions,
the editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board as well as by legal requirements regarding libel,
copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers when making publication
decisions. |
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Fairness: The editor should evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation,
religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). The editor will not disclose any information
about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other than the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers, and in some
instances the editorial board members, as appropriate. Additionally, the editor will make every effort to ensure the integrity
of the blind review process by not revealing the identity of the author(s) of a manuscript to the reviewers of that manuscript,
and vice versa. |
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Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to
anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as
appropriate. |
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Disclosure, conflicts of interest, and other issues: The editor will be guided by CORE’s Guidelines for Retracting
Articles when considering retracting, issuing expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles
that have been published in Forensic Science Review. |
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Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the
express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential
and not used for personal advantage. |
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The editor is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on
editorial decisions. |
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The editor should seek so ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process. Editors should recuse themselves (i.e. should
ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board instead to review and consider) from considering
manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or
connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. Editors should require
all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after
publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of
concern. |
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Involvement and cooperation in investigations: Editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing
corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct. Editors
should pursue reviewer and editorial misconduct. An editor should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical
complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper. |
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REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES |
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Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. |
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Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualifi ed to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its
prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process. |
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Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confi dential documents. They must not be shown to, or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. |
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Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. |
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Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge. |
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Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers. |
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AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES |
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Reporting standards: Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or
inappropriate data manipulation. Authors should describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings
can be confirmed by others. |
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Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources: Authors should adhere to publication requirements that
submitted work is original, is not plagiarized, and has not been published elsewhere - fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate
statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. If an author has used the work and/or words of others, that
this original is been appropriately cited or quoted and accurately reflects individuals’ contributions to the work and its
reporting. |
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Data Access and Retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review,
and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
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Ethics: Authors should only submit papers only on work that has been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and
that complies with all relevant legislation. |
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Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive
conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of
financial support for the project should be disclosed. |
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Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception,
design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed
as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they
should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors
and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. |
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Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication: An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing
essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than
one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. |
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Fundamental errors in published works: 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 journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor
to retract or correct the paper. |
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