Publication Ethics

The Nurture (ISSN:1994-1633) requires all submitted articles to comply with the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics, 2018).

Overview of Responsibilities

  • Publisher Obligations

Editorial Ethicality
The Nurture guarantees that any potential revenue that may be gained from article processing charges has no influence on editorial decisions.

Best Practice and Ethical Publishing
We offer education and advice regarding ethical publishing standards, especially for novice researchers, including information on best practices as set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Procedural & Legal Support
We support communication between Nurture editors  where this may provide a valuable contribution to the publication process. We also provide legal advice if required.

  • Editor Obligations

Impartiality and Fairness
The Editor is obliged to evaluate articles solely on their intellectual content. The gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, race, political ideologies, etc., of authors will not factor into any publication decisions.
The Journal’s editorial policies specify the requirement for reviewers’ reports to be transparent, honest and thorough. The Editor must ensure that all peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected. The Editor will use the Journal’s submission system to communicate with authors, reviewers and any relevant third parties.
Appeals against editorial decisions will be dealt with in a sincere and honest manner by both the Editor and the Publisher.

Confidentiality
The Editor must ensure the confidentiality of all submissions and communications unless otherwise agreed with the relevant parties. Should a situation arise in which suspected misconduct requires investigation, the Editor may share a limited amount of information with other editors if deemed necessary. In extreme cases, the Editor may also consult with the Publisher.
The Editor must not disclose reviewers’ identities unless the Journal operates an open peer review system or the reviewers have agreed to the disclosure of their identities.
The Editor must not use any unpublished material for their own research without obtaining the author’s written consent.

Peer Review
The peer review process is the responsibility of the Editor, who must ensure that reviews are carried out fairly and without bias by at least two independent, external reviewers, who are required to complete their reviews within the allocated timeframe. The Editor must ensure that all reviewers are qualified in the relevant field of research and review any potential conflicts of interest and self-citation requests made by reviewers to eliminate potential bias. Further research reviews may be requested by the Editor if necessary.

Conflicts of Interest
The Publisher should be made aware in writing of any editorial conflicts of interest; these may be included in the publication of the final research paper.
Any research carried out by the Editor themselves will be treated in the same manner as any other submission and will be subject to the Journal’s usual processes and procedures.

Publication Decisions
Decisions regarding the publication of articles are the responsibility of the Journal’s Editor. These decisions are overseen by the Editorial Board and must also take into account incidents of plagiarism or copyright violations.

Safeguarding
The Editor and the Publisher are responsible for protecting the integrity of the published records. The Editor is also responsible for addressing any concerns regarding misconduct in the research, review, editorial or publication processes.
The Editor may be required to communicate with the relevant institutions or research bodies to complete a thorough investigation of reported or suspected misconduct.
Should indisputable evidence of misconduct be found, the Editor will liaise with the Publisher and any other relevant bodies to promptly rectify the situation, which may include the correction of content or the retraction of some or all of an article.

  • Reviewer Obligations

Contribute to the Publication Process
The peer review process is an important part of the overall publication process as it is designed to assess the originality, validity and quality of articles before publication. Any reviewer who feels unqualified to carry out a full review, or cannot complete a review within the required timescale, should decline the invitation to participate in the review process.

Confidentiality
Reviewers must treat articles with complete confidentiality. Reviewers must not share their reports or any content from the articles or contact the author/s without the Editor’s permission.
Reviewers are permitted to have discussions with colleagues, but they must first inform the Editor of their intentions and their reasons for conducting these discussions.
Reviewers are not permitted to use any unpublished material or information or ideas contained in an article for personal use without first obtaining written consent from the original author.

Identification of Ethical Issues
Reviewers must be vigilant regarding potential ethical issues and must inform the Editor if any such issues are identified. Ethical issues include the replication or similarity of information contained in other published works of which the reviewer is aware and have been included by the author without citation.

Objectivity & Competing Interests
Reviewers should be objective and unbiased during the review process. In the same way the Editor is required to evaluate articles based solely on intellectual content, reviewers are also expected to conduct their reviews in an ethical and unbiased manner.
If a reviewer believes that there may be a potential conflict of interest involving any of the parties involved in the creation of, or contribution to, the research, they should inform the Editor before agreeing to review the research paper.
If a reviewer suggests that an author should include a citation/s to the reviewer’s own work, this must be based on a valid and honest belief that the additional citation will add value to the article and is not for personal gain.

  • Author Obligations

Article Submission
Articles should only be submitted by one of the authors listed in the original article. Articles submitted by anyone other than a listed author will not be considered for review. Articles, or any translations of such, must not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. If an author is found to be in violation of these rules, their submission will be rejected without review.
Upon receipt of a new submission, the Publisher will conduct the following checks:

  • Document format
  • Presence of all required information
  • The article’s publication status
  • The background of the author/s
  • Plagiarism

Reporting Standards
Authors are expected to provide an accurate account of their work. The author/s must objectively discuss the importance and contribution of their work to the relevant existing literature. All data sources must be included, and all referenced works must be cited. The use of false or inaccurate information is not acceptable under any circumstances, and submissions found to contain such information will not be considered for publication.

Data Sources and Originality
All work conducted and submitted to the Journal for publication should be original. If the author/s have used the work of other researchers, this should be cited or quoted accordingly and permission obtained if necessary. Information obtained via in-person conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties, must not be used or disclosed without obtaining written permission from the relevant party.

Data Access and Retention
The Editor may ask the author/s to provide additional data that supports their research to ensure that the reviewers can carry out a comprehensive review and/or to comply with the Journal’s open data requirements if applicable. Authors should be able to provide a copy of the data used in their research, which should be retained for a reasonable number of years after the publication of their work.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another’s work or ideas as one’s own. This practice is unethical and is not acceptable under any circumstances.
All papers submitted to the Nurture must contain original material. The Nurture is a member of CrossCheck, and all submissions are checked using plagiarism detection software.
For more information about CrossCheck/iThenticate, please visit: http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html.

Simultaneous Submissions
The practice of submitting an article to multiple publications/journals at the same time is considered unethical and will not be tolerated. Research that has already been published in another journal will not be accepted by the Nurture.
Under certain circumstances, the publication of specific information, or translations thereof, in more than one journal may be acceptable. If a secondary publication has been agreed among the author/s and the editors of the journals concerned, the secondary publication must include a citation to the original article.

Confidentiality
Additional or sensitive information obtained by the author at any stage during the document creation or publication processes (e.g., during the funding application or review process) must not be utilized without obtaining written permission from the relevant author of the work in question.

Authorship
Only those who have significantly contributed to the study should be listed as authors or co-authors.
Authors are required to list all co-authors correctly and in an order that has been agreed by all persons listed. This list must be included in the original submission. Requests for additions, deletions or changes to the list of authors after submission must be agreed by all persons listed and will be made at the Editor’s discretion.
All authors involved in the research are equally responsible for the content of the paper. Should queries arise regarding the accuracy or integrity of the information contained in the paper, each person listed will be responsible for ensuring that these queries are reviewed and resolved satisfactorily.
Additional parties who have contributed to other aspects of the research, such as providing specific guidance, knowledge or funding, should be included in the Acknowledgements section of the article.

Use of Hazardous Materials/Procedures
The author is responsible for ensuring that any hazardous materials, equipment or procedures used during the study are detailed in the paper.

Human or Animal Subjects
All procedures involving human or animal subjects must be compliant with the applicable laws and guidelines. The author must obtain written approval from the relevant committees or authorities before involving human or animal subjects in their research. This approval should be included upon submission of the paper.

The guidelines listed below are publicly available and should be consulted when carrying out research that involves the use of human or animal subjects.

Human subjects:

  • The National Research Act 1974
  • The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki

References

Assembly, W. G., & Edinburgh, S. (2008). October 2000; 53rd WMA General Assembly, Washington, DC, USA, October 2002 (Note of Clarification on paragraph 29 added); 55th WMA General Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 2004 (Note of Clarification on Paragraph 30 added); 59th WMA General Assembly, Seoul. Korea, October. (Download)

General Assembly of the World Medical Association. (2014). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. The Journal of the American College of Dentists, 81(3), 14-18.

Animal subjects:

  • The Animal Welfare Act, 2006 (UK).
  • ARRIVE Guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments)
  • Directive 2010/63/EU (European Union legislation on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes). (Download)
  • The Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (United States)

Where applicable, the authors must obtain written permission from the subjects, and any other relevant authorization, which should be provided to the Nurture on request.

References

National Institutes of Health. "PHS policy on humane care and use of laboratory animals." (2002).
URL: https://olaw.nih.gov/policies-laws/phs-policy.htm

Olsson, I. A. S., Silva, S. P. D., Townend, D., & Sandøe, P. (2017). Protecting animals and enabling research in the European Union: An overview of development and implementation of directive 2010/63/EU. ILAR journal, 57(3), 347-357.

Percie du Sert, N., Hurst, V., Ahluwalia, A., Alam, S., Avey, M. T., Baker, M., ... & Würbel, H. (2020). The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 40(9), 1769-1777.

Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants and plant material, either cultivated or wild, must comply with institutional, national, and international guidelines. It is strictly recommend that authors for all papers comply with the CBD and the CITES ((https://www.cbd.int/convention, https://cites.org/eng).

Genetic information and the origin thereof must be provided with each manuscript. For research manuscripts involving rare and non-model plants (other than, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Oriza sativa, or many other typical model plants), specimens used for research must be deposited in an accessible herbarium or museum. Vouchers may be requested for review by future investigators to verify the identity of the study material, particularly if taxonomic rearrangements are to occur. Such further studies should include details of the populations sampled on the collection site (GPS coordinates), the date thereof, and documentation of the part(s) used in the study where appropriate. This can be waived in the instance of rare and endangered species, but it is necessary for the author to assert such information in the cover letter.

Example of an ethical statement: "Torenia fournieri plants were used in this study. White-flowered Crown White (CrW) and violet-flowered Crown Violet (CrV) cultivars selected from ‘Crown Mix’ (XXX Company, City, Country) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (XXX Institute, City, Country)."

 Research Involving Cell Lines

Method sections reporting on research with cell lines should state the origin of any such cell lines, the provenance of which should also be stated. References must also be given to either a published paper or the relevant commercial source. In the instance in which cell lines previously unpublished were used, details of institutional review board or ethics committee approval must be given, and confirmation of written informed consent must be provided if the line is of human origin.

Example of an ethical statement: "The HCT116 cell line was obtained from XXX. The MLH1+ cell line was provided by XXX, Ltd. The DLD-1 cell line was obtained from Dr. XXX. The DR-GFP and SA-GFP reporter plasmids were obtained from Dr. XXX and the Rad51K133A expression vector was obtained from Dr. XXX."

Clinical Trials Registration (with a particular emphasis on submissions to the Medical Technologies scope)

Registration: Nurture (ISSN:1994-1633) follows the guidelines provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which requires and recommends the registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication.

Studied that are purely observational do not require such registration. Clinical trials not only refer to studies that occur in a hospital or make use pharmaceutical environments, but also refer to studies which involve the randomization of participants and group classification in the context of the intervention under assessment.

All authors must pre-register clinical trials with international clinical trial registers and references to the registration in both the abstract and methods sections. For such publications, suitable databases include clinicaltrials.gov, the EU Clinical Trials Register as well as those listed by the World Health Organisation’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

Clinical trial registration should not be considered equivalent to approval to such study from the relevant regulatory bodies, and as such, where appropriate, Nurture (ISSN:1994-1633) reserves the right to decline any paper without trial registration for further peer-review. However, should the study protocol be published before enrolment, the registration can be waived with the correct citation of the published protocol.

CONSORT Statement: Nurture (ISSN:1994-1633) requires a completed CONSORT 2010 checklist and flow diagram with the author’s submission when reporting the results of a randomized trial. Templates for these can be found here or on the CONSORT website (http://www.consort-statement.org) which also provides several CONSORT checklist extensions for different designs and types of data beyond two group parallel trials. Your article should report the content addressed by each item of the checklist at minimum.

Images
Any image submitted as part of a research paper must not have been modified in such a way that obscures or deletes any features contained in the original. This practice is considered unethical and is not permitted by the Journal. However, modifications or adjustments that are necessary to improve the clarity, brightness, contrast or color are permitted.

Declarations
Authors are required to disclose all sponsors and/or sources of funding received for their research. Any relationships between the author/s and organizations or other third parties that may have caused bias or had an influence on the research should also be disclosed along with any identified conflicts of interest.

Fundamental Errors
It is the responsibility of the author to notify the Editor if significant errors or inaccuracies are identified in their research after publication. The author must work with the Editor to ensure that all necessary corrections are made. If the Editor or the Publisher is made aware of an error or inaccuracy by a third party, the author is obliged to cooperate with the Editor to investigate any claims made and provide supporting evidence if requested.

  • Copyright, Sharing, Withdrawing/Retracting, Removing or Replacing Articles

Copyright and Licensing
Copyrights for articles are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. Authors have rights to reuse, republish, archive, and distribute their own articles after publication. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Sharing Articles
Sharing published articles can help authors to progress in their professional careers. It will help the authors to reach a wider audience, increase the visibility of their work, increase their citations, and build a reputation. The below suggestions can be used to promote publications:

  • Share your research article on your personal website or blog.
  • Share your research article in the press and on social media sites (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook).
  • Upload your research article to an indexing database or an institutional or subject repository.
  • Use key words to help readers discover your article via search engines.

The Nurture operates an open access policy regarding its publications, and all articles are issued with a CC BY license.

Maintaining trust in its archives is a priority for the Nurture. Ensuring the integrity and completeness of all records is essential. However, in rare cases, it may be necessary to withdraw/retract, remove or replace a published article. These cases are not taken lightly, and the Nurture has the following procedures in place:

Withdrawing/Retracting Articles
If an author requests withdrawal or retraction of their article, the Editor will investigate the reason for the request. If the Editor deems the request to be in the best interest of the Journal and the author/s concerned, the request will be granted. Authors can request to withdraw their original article within ONE week of submission, either before or after payment. However, if a withdrawal is requested after payment, the article will be withdrawn but the publication fee will not be refunded.
If a violation of professional ethical practices is identified, such as submissions to multiple journals, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, or fraudulent use of data, a retraction will be used to correct the errors.

Removing Articles
In extremely rare cases, it may be necessary to remove an article from the Journal’s online database. This will only occur if an article is found to contain potentially dangerous information that may cause harm if acted upon, contains libel, violates the legal rights of others, or is subject to use in legal proceedings.

Replacing Articles
If an article, or content thereof, could pose a serious health risk, the author may replace the article with an amended version. In this case, the Journal will post a notice and a link to the corrected article after publication.

Sources