Publishing Ethics Statement
(First Edition, February 2020)
To strengthen and enhance the academic norms, research integrity, and academic ethics in the process of academic paper writing, reviewing, and editing, to establish a good academic atmosphere, to promote the spirit of science, to resolutely resist academic misconduct, and to establish and maintain a fair, just, and open academic exchange environment, the Library and Information Service magazine (including the editorial departments of both Library and Information Service and Knowledge Management Forum journals) has formulated this publishing ethics statement. We commit to strictly adhering to and implementing national policies and regulations related to academic ethics and editorial publishing, regulate the behavior of authors, peer reviewers, journal editors, etc., throughout the publishing process, and accept supervision from the academic community and society at large.
Author's Publishing Ethics
a. Academic papers are an essential part of scientific research. They should adhere to truth-seeking, honesty, and integrity, actively explore unknown scientific questions, question boldly, verify carefully, and seek scientific truth. The writing process should emphasize the importance of research significance, clarity of research objectives, frontier nature of research topics, rigor of research design, scientific nature of research methods, standardization of research processes, reliability of research data, correctness of research results, and innovation of research conclusions. Academic papers should be based on a solid foundation of scientific research, adhere to research integrity, uphold academic ethics, maintain responsible scientific conduct, and adhere to the academic mission and social responsibility of scientific research.
b. Academic misconduct is a "cancer" of academic papers. (Academic misconduct severely harms the integrity of academic papers) Authors must fully recognize the serious harm of academic misconduct, strengthen education in research integrity and academic ethics, and adhere to various relevant guidelines and opinions, maintaining self-discipline, enhancing a sense of main responsibility, upholding the bottom line of integrity, avoiding quick success and instant benefits, opposing falsification, and resolutely fighting against academic corruption and all forms of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, inappropriate authorship, dual submission, duplicate publication, ghostwriting, improper citations, disclosure of secrets, infringement, interference in review processes, etc. Authors must firmly adhere to the "five prohibitions" behavior guidelines set by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology and eradicate the "cancer" in academic papers.
c. Authors are the primary contributors to academic papers. Authors should make substantive contributions to the papers, be directly responsible for them, and own the copyright. The contributions include research conception, design, literature research, discussion and proposing significant viewpoints, technical support and assurance, data collection and (or) processing, data analysis and (or) interpretation, paper writing, review, revision, etc. Opposing false authorship. Authors must sign the "Author's Academic Integrity Declaration" when submitting and provide supporting materials related to academic papers if there is a conflict of interest. All authors must provide their unique identifier (ORCID).
d. Authorship reflects intellectual property rights and academic contributions. The authorship principles should follow the "Integrity Reminder on Common Issues or Mistakes in Academic Paper Authorship" by the Academic Ethics Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The person who made the most significant contribution to the academic paper should be listed as the first author, and other significant contributors can be listed as corresponding authors. The first author (or corresponding author) is responsible for the research quality, academic standard, and reliability of the paper, and for the authenticity of all co-authors. All authors who have made substantive contributions can be named and provide an author contribution statement, which is part of the paper and published openly. The order of authorship should be agreed upon by all authors based on their contributions to the paper. In principle, authorship should not be changed after submission. If authors need to be added or removed before publication for special reasons, the first author or corresponding author should submit a written application to the editorial department and obtain the consent of all authors, sign the "Authorship Change Consent Form," and change it only after the editorial department's approval. All named authors should read and agree to the final revised manuscript before publication. Those who participated in research assistance but are not suitable to be listed as authors can be acknowledged in the acknowledgments.
e. Academic papers should highly value intellectual property rights and information security. Submitted papers must be first published in this journal, avoiding any infringement issues related to intellectual property rights. Papers should not involve state secrets and institutional business secrets, and confidential papers must be declassified in advance. The author bears responsibility for issues related to intellectual property rights and information security. Before paper acceptance, the author must sign an agreement with the editorial department regarding intellectual property rights and information security. Authors can check the review process through the submission system and must not submit to other publications before receiving an acceptance or rejection notice from the editorial department, otherwise, they will be responsible for academic misconduct.
f. Proper citation of references is an important representation of academic norms. References indicate academic inheritance and the intrinsic connection between scientific research. All references to others' literature or inspirations or influences from others' ideas and viewpoints must be accurately and completely cited, otherwise, it will be considered plagiarism or piracy. Proper citation, reasonable citation, avoiding irrelevant citations, over-citation, under-citation, mis-citation, concealed citation, excessive citation, idolizing citation, excessive self-citation, etc., should be noted. All cited literature must clearly indicate the source of citation and provide the citation source in the national standard reference citation format (GB 7714-2015 "Information and Documentation Rules for Bibliographic References").
g. High importance should be attached to the standardization of research data and management. The provided data should ensure originality, authenticity, reliability, and completeness, and all data fabrication should be eliminated. If the paper involves key data and analysis, the author should provide the editorial department with the original dataset and the original analysis's web platform address or computer screenshot file for review experts and the editorial department to review and judge the paper's data. It is recommended that authors retain the original data for 3 years or more for verification. Compliance with the State Council General Office's "Scientific Data Management Measures", strengthens data management and open sharing.
h. Establish a mechanism for error correction and academic self-purification. The ability to correct errors is a purification mechanism for self-restraint and self-development of the scientific community and an important manifestation of the scientific spirit and sense of responsibility. After publication, it means the paper is accepting supervision from the academic community and the whole society. If the author or others find defects in the paper or behaviors contrary to research norms in the related research process, they should immediately inform the editorial department. After verification and confirmation by the editorial department, assist the author in retracting the paper or publishing a correction statement or errata. If found to be academic misconduct, it will be disciplined according to relevant procedures and regulations. The submitting author should be responsible for their paper for life.
Peer Review Expert's Publishing Ethics
i. Peer review is an important control mechanism for paper quality. Peer review is an academic process in which third-party experts scientifically and professionally evaluate a paper, and it is the most important review control mechanism for the research significance and academic and application value of a paper. Review experts are journal editorial board members and specially appointed qualified experts. Review experts should adhere to academic evaluation standards, encourage innovation (rather than stifle innovation), independently (rather than entrust to a third party) review the originality, innovation, scientific nature, authenticity, and practicality of the paper results, and make a fair, just, and objective evaluation and gatekeeping review. Focus on reviewing whether the research significance is important, the research objectives are clear, the research topic is frontier, the research design is scientific, the research methods are appropriate, the research process is standardized, the research data is reliable, the research results are correct, the research conclusions are innovative, and the academic and practical values are significant. Review whether there is academic misconduct, academic impropriety, academic malpractice, etc., to help the editorial department make choices and judgments on the paper and ensure the academic standard of accepted papers.
j. Review experts should comply with relevant requirements for paper review. Review experts should establish a high sense of responsibility and dedication, not for fame and fortune, regardless of gains and losses, willing to invest, and reflect the social responsibility and professional value of scholars. Review papers on time, provide detailed revision suggestions and advice for problems in the paper, and fill in detailed review opinions, and feedback to the editorial department within the specified time to help authors improve paper quality and perfect the paper writing. If they cannot complete it on time, they should explain the situation in time. The editorial department will establish a dynamic adjustment and optimization mechanism for review experts based on the quality of reviews and review situations.
k. Peer reviewers must strictly adhere to relevant ethical guidelines and codes of conduct. They should uphold academic ethical standards and judge papers solely on their academic merit, without making personal evaluations or attacks on authors. Reviewers should prevent academic bias or abuse of academic power, and resolutely oppose reviews that violate academic ethics, do not follow review procedures, breach conflict of interest and confidentiality regulations, or involve other forms of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, seeking undue benefits, etc. Reviewers must also maintain strict confidentiality of the papers they review, and not share, discuss, or use the data, ideas, or conclusions from the reviewed papers without the author's consent. Reviewers should not arbitrarily require authors to cite their own or related papers. All review comments and information must be kept confidential and not used for personal purposes. If reviewers receive a paper for review that has a conflict of interest due to competition or collaboration with the author, author's institution, or company, they should inform the editorial department promptly. After reviewing, reviewers should destroy the manuscript and any supporting materials.
Editors' Publishing Ethics
Editors should become guardians of the quality of academic papers. They must possess good political, ideological, scientific, and professional qualities, and trained editorial skills in the discipline. Editors should comply with the state’s policies and regulations on journal management and the journal’s institutional norms, adhere to the "three reviews and three checks" system, strictly follow review procedures, send all preliminarily approved papers for external (blind) review, and conduct similarity checks for all papers that pass the re-review. A responsibility editor system should be established for the current journal issue and each article. Editors should respect reviewers' opinions, make use of the editorial board, scientifically and objectively handle academic issues in papers, and make rational and fair decisions on papers for revision, acceptance, or rejection, providing reasons for rejections. The final gatekeeping of paper quality is paramount, with the quality of papers and journals held in the highest regard, valuing the journal's brand, academic value, and social responsibility.
Editors should play a monitoring role in academic ethics construction. They must abide by academic publishing ethics standards, uphold research integrity, academic ethics, academic norms, and publishing ethics, defend academic dignity, improve academic supervision, create a good academic environment, and maintain the health and sustainability of the academic ecosystem. Editors should oppose editorial opinions that violate academic and ethical standards, conflicts of interest, breaches of confidentiality, plagiarism, interference in reviews, and other related academic misconduct. Editors should not be influenced by interests in accepting or rejecting papers. They must maintain the authenticity of review records and have a duty to store and keep confidential all information related to reviews and revisions. Editors must ensure that the information provided by authors for submission is not used for their own research or provided to others for research purposes and that the identities of reviewers and other relevant personnel in the editorial department are protected during the blind review process.
Editors must be the last barrier against academic misconduct. They should follow the "Declaration on Promoting Academic Publishing Research Integrity and Ethical Standards" by the Chinese Society of Science and Technology Journals and the "Academic Publishing Standard: Definition of Academic Misconduct in Journals" by the National Committee for Standardization of Press and Publication. Editors should continuously enhance their ability to prevent and control academic misconduct, combining education, prevention, supervision, and punishment, and establish a linkage mechanism with reviewers, the editorial committee, and the academic committee. They should make full use of expert resources and technical capabilities, strengthen front-end, mid-end, and back-end control in the review process, minimize the negative impact of academic misconduct, encourage academic debate, advocate academic criticism, and establish an appeal mechanism. Academic misconduct does not include unintentional errors and differences of opinion.
Implement a "zero tolerance" policy towards academic misconduct. The basis for handling academic misconduct includes the "Several Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of Research Integrity" by the General Office of the State Council, "Rules for Investigating and Handling Cases of Research Integrity (Trial)" and other relevant regulations by national departments and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Once academic misconduct is discovered before or after publication, the author's responsibility will be strictly pursued, and decisive disciplinary measures will be taken according to the severity of the case, including reminders of integrity, reviews, rejections, retractions, notifications, blacklisting, notifying the author's institutions, with no tolerance, no leniency, and no indulgence. A three-dimensional system of research integrity encompassing "unwilling, unable, and afraid" to commit misconduct will be constructed.
Library and Information Service Magazine
February 15, 2020
