General Principles
Science Insights is committed to responsible scholarly publishing and to maintaining the integrity of the academic record. Editorial decisions should be based on the scholarly merit, relevance and quality of submitted work without inappropriate influence from commercial, personal or other external interests.
All participants in the publication process, including authors, editors and reviewers, are expected to act honestly, transparently and responsibly.
Responsibilities of Editors
Editors are responsible for evaluating manuscripts fairly and objectively and for protecting the integrity of the editorial process. Editorial decisions should be based on academic merit, relevance to the journal and compliance with applicable editorial and ethical standards.
Editors should preserve the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and should not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional advantage.
Editors should identify and appropriately manage conflicts of interest and should recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive and professional assessments of manuscripts. Reviews should focus on the scholarly content of the work and should not contain inappropriate personal criticism.
Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential. Reviewers should not disclose, distribute or make inappropriate use of unpublished information contained in a manuscript.
Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest that could affect their ability to provide an impartial assessment and should decline the review where appropriate.
Further information about the review process is provided in the Peer Review Policy .
Originality and Plagiarism
Submitted work must be original and must appropriately acknowledge ideas, words, data, figures and other material originating from other sources. Material taken from previously published work must be properly quoted, cited or otherwise attributed as appropriate.
Plagiarism, inappropriate text reuse, fabrication of sources or deliberate misrepresentation of the origin of material is inconsistent with the publication standards of Science Insights.
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Authors should not submit substantially the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal. Authors must also disclose closely related, overlapping or previously published material where it is relevant to the editorial assessment of a submission.
Legitimate secondary publication or reuse may be considered where it is transparent, appropriately referenced and consistent with applicable copyright, licensing and editorial requirements.
Data Integrity
Research data should be reported accurately and should not be fabricated, falsified or inappropriately manipulated. Images, figures, tables and other research outputs should accurately represent the underlying work.
Authors may be asked to provide supporting information or data where this is necessary to evaluate the integrity or reliability of submitted or published work.
Additional expectations concerning research data are described in the Data Sharing Policy .
Ethical Oversight
Research involving humans, animals or other activities requiring formal ethical oversight must comply with applicable ethical, institutional and legal requirements.
Where appropriate, authors should provide details of ethical approval, informed consent or other relevant permissions. Editors may request supporting documentation when clarification or verification is required.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors, reviewers and editors should disclose financial, professional, personal or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence their work or participation in the editorial process.
Detailed disclosure requirements are provided in the Conflicts of Interest Policy .
Research Misconduct
Science Insights takes concerns relating to fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate authorship, manipulation of the publication process and other forms of research or publication misconduct seriously.
Where a credible concern is raised, the matter may be investigated and appropriate information or documentation may be requested from the relevant parties. Where necessary, institutions or other appropriate bodies may be contacted.
Detailed procedures are described in the Research Integrity and Misconduct Policy .
Integrity of the Scholarly Record
Science Insights is committed to preserving the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record. Concerns identified after publication will be assessed and, where appropriate, may result in a correction, retraction or other editorial notice.
Further information is provided in the Corrections and Retractions Policy .
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions should remain independent of inappropriate commercial, financial or other external influence. Decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts should be based on scholarly considerations and the editorial standards of the relevant journal.
Payment of an article processing charge or any other publishing fee must not determine whether a manuscript is accepted for publication.