Asian Research Association
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Editorial and Ethics Policies

For quality standards, Asian Research Association (ARA) follows the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). ARA also follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

COPE / DOAJ / OASPA / WAME Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing:
https://publicationethics.org/guidance/guideline/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing

ICMJE Recommendations:
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

Authorship and Contributorship

ARA follows the authorship criteria recommended by ICMJE. An author should meet all of the following four criteria:

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
  2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the version to be published.
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

ICMJE authorship guidance: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors. Such contributors may be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section, provided that their permission has been obtained where appropriate.

The journal expects all listed authors to have made genuine and substantial contributions to the work, including, where relevant, conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, interpretation, writing, review, and editing. All authors share responsibility for the originality, integrity, and accuracy of the manuscript.

For collaborative work involving multiple institutions, organizations, or countries, the collaboration should be academically justified and transparent. The inclusion of honorary, guest, or gift authorship is not acceptable.

Where research involves human participants, human data, human tissue, animals, or other ethically sensitive materials, authors must provide appropriate statements on ethics approval, informed consent, and compliance with applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines, where relevant.

COPE authorship resources: https://publicationethics.org/authorship

Contributor roles taxonomy background article:  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/leap.1210


Peer Review

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial screening by the editorial team to assess their suitability for the journal’s scope, quality standards, originality, and compliance with journal policies. Manuscripts that are clearly unsuitable may be rejected at this stage without external review.

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening are normally sent for double-anonymized peer review to at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise. In some cases, additional reviewers may be invited if specialized advice is required. The final editorial decision is made by the editor or editorial team after considering the reviewers’ reports and the overall merit of the manuscript.

Reviewers are expected to maintain confidentiality, declare any conflicts of interest, provide objective and constructive feedback, and evaluate the scientific quality, originality, relevance, and clarity of the manuscript.

ARA follows COPE guidance for editors and peer reviewers.

COPE ethical guidelines for peer reviewers: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers

COPE peer review guidance: https://publicationethics.org/peerreview

If a submission is authored by the Editor-in-Chief, an editor, or an editorial board member, the manuscript will be handled independently to avoid conflicts of interest. In such cases, the publisher will appoint an independent handling process, and the involved editor or board member will have no role in the editorial decision on that manuscript.


Confidentiality

ARA maintains the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial communications, and all related records throughout the editorial and peer review process.

Because the journal follows a double-anonymized peer review process, reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors, and author-identifying information is removed from manuscripts before they are sent for review, wherever applicable.

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must not disclose, discuss, copy, or use unpublished manuscript content for personal or professional advantage.

If a manuscript is rejected, editorial records may be retained for administrative and integrity purposes for a limited period in accordance with journal and publisher practices. ARA reserves the right to contact authors’ institutions, funders, regulators, or other relevant bodies in cases of suspected research or publication misconduct.


Ethics and Malpractices Policies

ARA is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all reasonable steps to prevent publication malpractice. Editors, authors, reviewers, and publisher staff are expected to act in accordance with accepted ethical standards and the guidance of COPE and ICMJE.

Unethical practices include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, duplicate submission, duplicate publication, fabricated or falsified data, manipulated images, undisclosed conflicts of interest, inappropriate authorship, unethical research practices, citation manipulation, and peer review manipulation.

COPE home page: https://publicationethics.org/

ICMJE recommendations: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/


Data Sharing Policy

ARA encourages authors to share research data, code, protocols, software, and other materials supporting the results of the manuscript wherever ethically, legally, and practically possible.

Authors should disclose the availability of supporting data in the manuscript. Where relevant, authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement explaining where the data can be accessed, under what conditions, and any restrictions that apply.

If data, materials, or code cannot be shared because of privacy, confidentiality, legal, ethical, intellectual property, or security reasons, the authors should clearly state those restrictions in the manuscript.

If readers are unable to access materials described as available, they may contact the editorial office. Where a serious discrepancy is confirmed after publication, the journal may issue a correction or other appropriate notice.


Plagiarism and Manipulation of Data

Plagiarism in any form is not acceptable. All submissions may be screened using plagiarism-detection software, including iThenticate, in addition to editorial and peer reviewer assessment.

Authors must ensure that their work is original, properly cited, and not under consideration elsewhere. Duplicate submission, duplicate publication, text recycling without appropriate disclosure, fabricated data, falsified data, and inappropriate image manipulation are unacceptable.

Where concerns are identified before or after publication, the journal will investigate them in accordance with COPE guidance and may take appropriate editorial action, including rejection, correction, retraction, or notification to institutions or funders if necessary.

COPE flowchart for plagiarism in a submitted manuscript: https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/plagiarism-submitted-manuscript

COPE guidance on data and image manipulation: https://publicationethics.org/data


Corrections, Retractions and Research Misconduct

ARA is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. Where necessary, the journal may publish corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other post-publication notices.

An Author Correction may be issued when a significant error introduced by the author or authors affects the accuracy, reliability, or clarity of the published article.

A Publisher Correction may be issued when a significant error introduced during the publication process affects the published record.

A retraction may be issued when a published article is found to contain serious errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, manipulated data or images, or other forms of serious misconduct.

Where appropriate, the original article may remain online with clear retraction labeling and linked notices so that the scholarly record remains transparent.

ARA follows COPE guidance on retractions and research misconduct, as well as ICMJE guidance on corrections and version control.

COPE retraction guidelines: https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines

COPE misconduct guidance: https://publicationethics.org/misconduct

ICMJE corrections and version control: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html


Conflict of interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other relationships and activities that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their judgment or the interpretation of the work.

Authors should disclose all relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding in the manuscript. Reviewers and editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a competing interest may affect impartiality.

ICMJE conflict of interest guidance: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html

ICMJE disclosure form information: https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/

COPE competing interests guidance: https://publicationethics.org/competinginterests


Acknowledgements

The Acknowledgements section may be used to recognize individuals, institutions, technical staff, funding agencies, or other contributors who supported the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship. 

Authors should ensure that any individuals named in the Acknowledgements have agreed to be acknowledged where appropriate.


Fees

All accepted papers are published free of charge. Authors are not required to pay any submission fee, processing fee, publication fee, or article processing charge.


AI Policies

NanoNEXT has a separate AI and Generative AI Use Policy governing the use of AI by authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff. The policy covers permitted and prohibited uses, disclosure requirements, confidentiality, editorial screening, and actions for non-compliance. Authors and reviewers are required to read and follow the full policy before submission or review. Please click this (link) for more information


Copyright and Open Access Policy

Authors retain copyright in their work.

All content published by ARA is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits anyone to read, download, copy, distribute, print, share, adapt, and reuse the material for lawful purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author or authors and source.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Digital Archiving / Sharing Policy

ARA supports long-term digital preservation and responsible sharing of published content.

The publisher’s journal content is preserved through Portico: https://www.portico.org/publishers/ara/

The journal is also listed in the Keepers Registry: https://keepers.issn.org/

Publisher partner information is available through J-Gate: https://jgateplus.com/admin/footer-html/PublisherPartners.jsp

ARA supports green self-archiving in line with its open access policy and CC BY 4.0 licensing. Authors may deposit the submitted version, accepted manuscript, and published version in personal websites, institutional repositories, subject repositories, and other lawful repositories, provided that the original source is properly cited and the version status is made clear.


Advertising & Marketing Policy

ARA does not publish commercial or non-commercial advertisements on its journal websites.

Journal announcements, issue alerts, and indexing updates are communicated only to users who have agreed to receive such communications. Journal promotion may also be carried out through academic and professional communication channels, including social media, in a manner consistent with the journal’s scholarly mission.


Complaints Policy

Authors, reviewers, and readers may submit complaints, concerns, or appeals regarding editorial decisions, publication ethics, peer review, website content, or journal procedures by contacting the editorial office.

Email: support@asianresassoc.org

ARA aims to acknowledge and review complaints promptly and, wherever possible, to resolve them within three weeks. If a complaint cannot be resolved at the initial stage, it may be escalated to the Editor-in-Chief and, where necessary, to the publisher for further review. Complaints are handled in accordance with COPE guidance and journal policy.

COPE guidance: https://publicationethics.org/


Journal Management and Revenue Sources

Publisher

Asian Research Association
(A Non-Profit Educational Trust),
5/342, Angalamman Street, Naickenpalayam, Coimbatore-641020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone: +91 422 299 5626
Email: contact@asianresassoc.org
Website: https://asianresassoc.org/
Registration No: R/PN/BK-4/71/2021
PAN: AAITA6320M
The journal is owned and managed by Asian Research Association. Revenue is currently generated through membership and hard-copy subscriptions from individuals and institutional libraries. The journal does not charge authors any submission or publication fees.

Asian Research Association is a Member of the following Organizations

ALPSP Crossref Portico