Publication Ethics

This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. African Journal of Science and Engineering is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable. Authors submitting articles to this Journal affirm that manuscript contents are original.

African Journal of Science and Engineering closely follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Publishers, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), that set standards and provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements.

African Journal of Science and Engineering follows the COPE general guidelines as well.

Principles of Transparency

Editorial office contact information

Full names and affiliations of the editors are written in the journal’s Editorial Board Page as well as contact information for the editorial office is written in the Contact Us page.

Governing Body

This Journal has editorial board whose members are recognized experts in the subject areas included within the journal’s scope. The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors is clearly shown in the Editorial Board page

Peer review process

Peer review is defined as obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers’ expert in the field who are not part of the journal’s editorial staff. The peer review process, as well as other policies related to this journal is clearly described in the journal’s Web site. For Details Click here.

Redundant or duplicate publication
Duplicate or redundant submission is the same manuscript (or the same data) that is submitted to different journals at the same time. International copyright laws, ethical conduct, and cost effective use of resources require that readers can be assured that what they are reading is original. (International Council of Medical Editors).
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published or same is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Duplicate publication is a violation of the APA code of ethics (APA Publication Manual, 2010) and will be grounds for prompt rejection of the submitted manuscript. If the editor was not aware of the violation and the article has been published, a notice of duplicate submission and the ethical violation will be published.

Retraction policy
All SvedbergOpen journals are abide by COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Author fees

Publication fee required for manuscript processing and it is clearly stated in the website Article Processing Charges for our potential authors to find prior to submitting their manuscripts.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their scientific merit (novelty, technical merits, quality of the data, conclusions based on data, importance for the scientific community, presentation) regardless of the authors’ citizenship, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, religious belief, political philosophy or gender, sexual orientation. Decisions of publication are not determined by the policies of governments or any other agencies outside of the journal itself. The Editor-in-Chiefs have full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.

Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the authors (all authors need to be informed), reviewers, potential reviewers, members of Editorial Board, as appropriate.

Editors will not use unpublished information for their own purposes. This information will be kept confidential. Editors will evaluate manuscripts in which they have NO substantial conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the papers.

The editors ensure that accepted manuscripts have undergone peer-review by at least two reviewers, who are expert in the field. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for decisions based on the reviewers’ and Editors comments, and will not accept papers, which reveal defamation, copyright infringement, falsification, fabrication and plagiarism.

Every unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it is discovered years after publication and Editors/Publishers will follow the COPE recommendations. If simple error or misconduct are confirmed, a correction, retraction, or other note will be published in the journal.

Responsibilities of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. The manuscript has not been published previously. A single study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given. All allegations of plagiarism are investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication

Copyright and access

The author(s) of a manuscript agree that, if the manuscript is accepted for publication in the African Journal of Science and Engineering, the published article will be copyrighted using a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). This license allows the author(s) to retain the copyright, and also allows others to freely copy, distribute, and display the copyrighted work, and derivative works based upon it, as long as the original authors are properly cited.

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to include any images or artwork for which they do not hold copyright in their articles, or to adapt any such images or artwork for inclusion in their articles. The copyright holder must be made explicitly aware that the image(s) or artwork will be made freely available online as part of the article under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). The copyright terms is also indicated on all published articles, both Web URL and PDFs.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

African Journal of Science and Engineering follows the National Research Council guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. If the research involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly mentioned these in the manuscript. If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Each research study involving human subjects must conform to the ethical norms and standards in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with them to either retract the paper or to publish an appropriate correction statement or erratum.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers perform work for the African Journal of Science and Engineering on a volunteer basis. Given that most of these individuals are in full-time employment, their reviewing activities for this journal is must, by necessity, not be their top priority. Reviewers are free to decline invitations to review particular manuscripts at their discretion, for example, if their current employment workload and/or other commitments make it prohibitive for them to complete a review in a timely fashion and to do justice to the task in the available time frame. They should also not accept manuscript review assignments for which they feel unqualified.

Reviewers who have accepted manuscript assignments are normally expected to submit their reviews within three to four weeks. They should recuse themselves from the assignment if it becomes apparent to them at any stage that they do not possess the required expertise to perform the review, or that they may have a potential conflict of interest in performing the review (e.g., one resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, institutions, or companies associated with the manuscript).

Privileged information or ideas obtained by reviewers through the peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents, and must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the African Journal of Science and Engineering Editor.

When conducting their reviews, reviewers are asked to do so as objectively as possible, refraining from engaging in personal criticism of the author(s). They are encouraged to express their views clearly, explaining and justifying all recommendations made. They should always attempt to provide detailed and constructive feedback to assist the author(s) in improving their work, even if the manuscript is, in their opinion, not publishable.

Reviewers should identify in their reviews relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s), together with any instances in which proper attribution of sources has not been provided. They should call to the responsible editor’s attention any major resemblances between a manuscript under consideration and other published articles or papers of which they are aware, as well as any concerns they might have in relation to the ethical acceptability of the research reported in the manuscript.

Responsibilities of Publisher

The publisher is involved in handling of unethical publishing behavior. In cases of scientific misconduct, plagiarism, or fraudulent publication, the publisher (with the editors), will clarify the situation and take actions including publication of an erratum, correction or even the retraction. The publisher with the editors, will prevent the publication of fraudulent papers and will not allow misconduct to take place.

Archiving

This journal utilizes the Internet Archive repository system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

In addition the publisher of the journal is committed to the availability of publications and ensures the content preservation/accessibility by maintains the journal’s own digital archive.

A journal’s plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content in the event a journal is no longer published shall be clearly indicated.