Editorial Policies

Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. BluePen Journals is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and abides by its Code of Conduct and aims to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.

Plagiarisms

All journals published by BluePen Journals are committed to publishing only original material, i.e., material that has neither been published elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere. BluePen Journals as a participant of CrossCheck uses the iThenticate software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will incur plagiarism sanctions.

Duplicate Submission

Manuscripts that are found to have been published elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission/publication sanctions. If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.

Citation Manipulation

Submitted manuscripts that are found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author’s work, or to articles published in a particular journal, will incur citation manipulation sanctions.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Submitted manuscripts that are found to have either fabricated or falsified experimental results, including the manipulation of images, will incur data fabrication and falsification sanctions.

Improper Author Contribution or Attribution

All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.

Redundant Publications

Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles.

Sanctions

In the event that there are documented violations of any of the above mentioned policies in any journal, regardless of whether or not the violations occurred in a journal published by BluePen Journals, the following sanctions will be applied:

Immediate rejection of the infringing manuscript.

Immediate rejection of every other manuscript submitted to any journal published by BluePen Journals by any of the authors of the infringing manuscript.

Prohibition against all of the authors for any new submissions to any journal published by BluePen Journals, either individually or in combination with other authors of the infringing manuscript, as well as in combination with any other authors. This prohibition will be imposed for a minimum of 36 months.

Prohibition against all of the authors from serving on the Editorial Board of any journal published by BluePen Journals.

In cases where the violations of the above policies are found to be particularly egregious, the BluePen Journals reserves the right to impose additional sanctions beyond those described above.

BluePen Journals also adopts and strive to adhere to the following standards and requirements:
ICMJE - International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
STM - International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers
WAME � World Association of Medical Editors

Ethics committee

The BluePen Journals ethics committee is an independent committee that is responsible for supporting the various editors in resolving issues that infringes on this editorial policy.

The ethics committee shall be made up of five editors selected from different journals published by BluePen Journals.

The ethics committee shall review cases of misconduct and make recommendations including appropriate sanctions. The committee shall be guided by COPE, ICMJE, STM, and WAME requirements as guidelines in making decisions and recommendations.

Authorship

An author is an individual who has significantly contributed to the development of a manuscript. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria:

a. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and

b. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and

c. Final approval of the version to be published; and

d. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Acknowledgement

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. Organizations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged.

Changes in authorship

Whenever there is a need to make changes in the authorship of a manuscript or a published article, the changes will be implemented according to COPE specification.
Only corresponding authors can make request for a change in authorship. Request should be made to the editor using the Changes in Authorship Form or via e-mail from the corresponding authors email address.

Submission of Manuscript

Authors should read the �Instruction for Authors� on the journal�s page before making a submission. Manuscript should be prepared according to the style and specifications of the journal�s policy.

Authors listed on the manuscript should have met the requirements for Authorship specified above. Where possible, specify the contribution of each of the authors.

All authors should approve the final version of the manuscript prior to submission. Once a manuscript is submitted, it is therefore assumed that all authors have read and given their approval for the submission of the manuscript.

Contact information of all authors should be stated on the manuscript. Surname/Other names, affiliation, emails, and phone/fax numbers.
Declaration of Conflicts of Interest should be stated in the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

�Conflict of interest (COI) exists when there is a divergence between an individual�s private interests (competing interests) and his or her responsibilities to scientific and publishing activities such that a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual�s behavior or judgment was motivated by considerations of his or her competing interests� WAME4.

Authors should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the development of the manuscript.

Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a conflict of interest. Editors should also decline from considering any manuscript that may have conflict of interest. Such manuscripts will be re-assigned to other editors.

Confidentiality

A submitted manuscript is a confidential material. BluePen Journals will not disclose submitted manuscript to anyone except individuals who partake in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted). These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors. However, in suspected cases of misconduct, a manuscript may be revealed to members of BluePen Journals� ethics committee and institutions/organizations that may require it for the resolution of the misconduct.

BluePen Journals shall follow the appropriate COPE flowcharts wherever necessary.

Peer review

The review process is an important aspect of the publication process of an article. It helps an editor in making decision on an article and also enables the author to improve the manuscript.

BluePen journal operates a blind peer review system.

Author(s) identity is removed from the manuscript and shielded from the reviewers during the review process. The reviewer is left with only manuscript without any information that might enable him/her uncovers the identity of the author(s). Information removed includes the author(s) name, address/affiliation, country, phone/fax and email. Any information in the Acknowledgement and Declaration of Conflict of Interest that may lead to the uncovering of the identity of the author is also removed from the manuscript prior to sending it to reviewers.

Manuscripts are assigned to members of the editorial board of the journal or other qualified reviewers. The Manuscript Review Form is used to report the reviewers� evaluation of the manuscript.

A Review Certificate is issued to reviewers after the review of the manuscript (Optional).

Editors and Editorial Boards

Editors are responsible for making final decisions on a manuscript. BluePen Journals require all editors and editorial board members to adhere to COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Editorial Freedom

Interference with the editorial freedom of editors construes misconduct. BluePen Journals strictly forbids the interference with the editorial freedom of any of its editors. Suspect cases of interference will be reported to the ethics committee.

Joining Editorial Boards

To join an editorial board of a journal published by BluePen Journals, a prospective board member should have completed a doctorial programme. The area of expertise of the prospective board member should fit with the aims and scope of the journal. The applicant should also have research experience and publications in his/her area of expertise.

Editorial board member should be prepared to create adequate time to evaluate assigned manuscript in a timely manner.

Applicants for editorial board should complete the editorial board membership form and submit current resume. The application will be evaluated by an editor or an existing editorial board member.

Editorial board is reviewed periodically. Members may be asked to submit updated version of their profile/resume. Inactive members may be removed from the board.

Misconduct

Misconduct constitutes violation of this editorial policy, journal policies, publication ethics, or any applicable guidelines/policies specified by COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and STM. Any other activities that threaten/compromise the integrity of the research/publication process are potential misconducts. Suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated according to COPE guidelines

Correction and Retraction of Articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the editor of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected version will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published.

When necessary, retraction of articles will be done according to COPE retraction guidelines

BluePen Journals will review and update this editorial policy periodically.

Contact Information

BluePen Journals Publishing House,
No. 2 Leicester Street,
Southport Merseyside.
Postcode: Southport PR9 0EZ, UK.
Email: service@bluepenjournals.org
URL: www.bluepenjournals.org

BluePen Journals Publishing since 2013