Publication Ethics Policy

Emergent Life Sciences Research (ELSR) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication.

The journal expects all participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, Editors, Editorial Board members, and Editorial Office staff, to act with honesty, fairness, confidentiality, and professional responsibility.

ELSR considers the integrity of the scientific record an essential part of scholarly publishing and takes reasonable steps to identify, examine, and address concerns relating to research or publication misconduct.

 

1. Principles of Publication Ethics

Scientific publishing is based on trust, transparency, and the responsible communication of research.

Manuscripts submitted to ELSR should present research accurately and honestly.

Authors, reviewers, and Editors are expected to:

• Act with honesty and professional integrity.
• Provide accurate and transparent scientific information.
• Respect the confidentiality of the editorial and peer-review process.
• Disclose relevant conflicts of interest.
• Avoid inappropriate influence on editorial or peer-review decisions.
• Report potential ethical or research integrity concerns when identified.
• Cooperate with reasonable editorial enquiries relating to published or submitted work.

ELSR may take editorial action when the integrity, reliability, or ethical conduct of a submitted or published work is reasonably questioned.

 

2. Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their manuscripts.

Authors should ensure that:

• The manuscript represents original work.
• The work has not been published previously, except where prior dissemination is permitted under the journal's policies.
• The manuscript is not under consideration by another journal.
• Research data are accurately and honestly reported.
• Fabricated, falsified, or inappropriately manipulated data are not presented.
• All authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript.
• Individuals listed as authors meet the journal's authorship requirements.
• Relevant funding sources are disclosed.
• Potential conflicts of interest are declared.
• Ethical approval and informed consent are reported where applicable.
• Appropriate permissions have been obtained for copyrighted or third-party material.
• The use of artificial intelligence tools is disclosed where required.
• Errors identified in submitted or published work are reported to the Editorial Office promptly.

Detailed authorship requirements are described in the ELSR Authorship Policy.

 

3. Originality and Responsible Submission

Manuscripts submitted to ELSR must represent original scholarly work.

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

Previously published work should not be presented as new or original research.

Where a manuscript contains material related to previous publications, preprints, datasets, conference outputs, or other publicly available work, authors should provide appropriate disclosure and citation.

Substantial overlap with previously published material may be examined by the Editorial Office.

The journal's requirements relating to text similarity and plagiarism are described in the ELSR Plagiarism Policy.

 

4. Data Integrity and Research Reporting

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research data are collected, analyzed, presented, and interpreted responsibly.

Fabrication, falsification, selective alteration, or inappropriate manipulation of research data is not acceptable.

Authors should not intentionally omit information when such omission could materially misrepresent the research findings.

Research methods and analytical procedures should be described with sufficient clarity to allow readers and reviewers to understand how the study was conducted.

Where necessary to examine a scientific or ethical concern, the Editorial Office may request:

• Original research data.
• Raw data files.
• Laboratory records.
• Statistical outputs.
• Original images.
• Ethical approval documentation.
• Other relevant supporting information.

Failure to provide reasonable supporting information may affect the editorial evaluation of a manuscript.

Research data sharing and availability are addressed in the ELSR Research Data Policy.

 

5. Image Integrity

Scientific images should accurately represent the original research observations.

Authors must not manipulate images in a manner that changes, hides, removes, adds, or misrepresents scientific information.

Limited adjustments to brightness, contrast, or colour balance may be acceptable when applied appropriately and when they do not alter the scientific meaning of the image.

Inappropriate practices may include:

• Adding or removing image features.
• Selectively enhancing or obscuring specific regions.
• Inappropriate duplication of images.
• Manipulation of gel bands.
• Misrepresentation of microscopy images.
• Combining images without clear explanation.
• Reusing images without appropriate disclosure or permission.

The Editorial Office may request original, unprocessed image files when image integrity concerns arise.

 

6. Ethical Approval and Responsible Research

Research involving humans, animals, or biological materials requiring ethical oversight should comply with applicable ethical and institutional requirements.

Where ethical approval is required, authors should provide relevant information in the manuscript, including the name of the approving committee and the approval or reference number where available.

Studies involving human participants should report informed consent where applicable.

Authors are responsible for determining and complying with the ethical requirements relevant to their research and jurisdiction.

The absence of a formal ethics committee does not remove the author's responsibility to conduct and report research according to appropriate ethical standards.

ELSR may request supporting documentation relating to ethical approval or research permissions when necessary.

 

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and Editors should disclose relationships or interests that could affect, or reasonably be perceived to affect, their objectivity.

Potential conflicts may be financial, professional, institutional, academic, or personal.

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication, peer review, or editorial participation.

The purpose of disclosure is to support transparency and allow appropriate management of the potential conflict.

Where a relevant editorial or reviewer conflict exists, the journal may reassign the manuscript or invite another reviewer.

 

8. Funding Transparency

Authors should disclose all financial support relevant to the research.

Funding information should identify the funding organization and grant number where applicable.

Authors should also disclose the role of the funder when the funder had a direct role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the work for publication.

Where no specific external funding was received, authors should provide the appropriate funding statement in accordance with the ELSR Guide for Authors.

 

9. Authorship and Contributor Integrity

Authorship should reflect genuine intellectual and scientific contributions to the work.

Individuals who meet the journal's authorship requirements should be appropriately identified as authors.

Individuals who do not meet the authorship requirements should not be added to the author list solely because of professional position, institutional authority, personal relationship, funding support, or other non-authorship considerations.

Contributors who provided technical, administrative, language, or other support may be acknowledged where appropriate.

Guest authorship, gift authorship, and the intentional exclusion of eligible contributors are inconsistent with responsible publication practice.

Detailed authorship criteria and procedures for authorship changes are provided in the ELSR Authorship Policy.

 

10. Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

ELSR does not tolerate plagiarism or the inappropriate presentation of previously published material as original work.

Potential publication concerns may include:

• Direct copying without appropriate citation.
• Inappropriate paraphrasing.
• Presenting another person's ideas or work as one's own.
• Substantial reuse of an author's previously published material without appropriate disclosure.
• Duplicate publication.
• Substantial publication overlap.
• Inappropriate reuse of figures, tables, or images.

Manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software during editorial assessment.

Detailed screening and editorial procedures are described in the ELSR Plagiarism Policy.

 

11. Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Artificial intelligence and generative AI tools must be used responsibly and transparently.

AI tools must not be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or accountability of scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to ELSR, including content developed or modified with the assistance of AI tools.

The use of AI-assisted tools should be disclosed where required by the journal.

Reviewers and Editors must also protect manuscript confidentiality when considering the use of external AI-assisted systems.

Detailed requirements are provided in the ELSR AI and Generative AI Policy.

 

12. Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers are expected to evaluate manuscripts objectively, confidentially, and professionally.

Reviewers should:

• Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts.
• Provide scientifically reasoned and constructive comments.
• Declare relevant conflicts of interest.
• Avoid personal, discriminatory, or inappropriate criticism.
• Inform the Editor when a potential ethical or research integrity concern is identified.
• Avoid using unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.

Reviewers should not directly contact authors regarding a manuscript under review.

Detailed reviewer requirements are described in the ELSR Peer Review Policy.

 

13. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for maintaining a fair, independent, and confidential editorial process.

Editors should:

• Evaluate manuscripts impartially.
• Protect confidential manuscript information.
• Select qualified and independent reviewers.
• Identify and manage relevant conflicts of interest.
• Consider ethical and research integrity concerns appropriately.
• Base editorial decisions on scientific and editorial considerations.
• Avoid using unpublished manuscript information for personal or professional advantage.

Editors should not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where a relevant conflict of interest may affect their impartiality.

Detailed editorial responsibilities are described in the ELSR Editorial Policy.

 

14. Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to ELSR are treated as confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, Editorial Board members, and Editorial Office staff should not disclose manuscript information to unauthorized individuals.

Unpublished data, ideas, methods, or other information obtained through the editorial or peer-review process must not be used for personal research, professional advantage, or other unauthorized purposes.

Confidentiality should be maintained throughout the editorial and peer-review process.

 

15. Citation and Reference Integrity

Authors are responsible for ensuring that references are accurate, relevant, and appropriately cited.

References should not be added solely to increase citation counts or to provide inappropriate citation advantage to an author, reviewer, Editor, journal, or organization.

Reviewers and Editors should not request unnecessary citations to their own work or to specific journals when such citations are not scientifically relevant to the manuscript.

Citation manipulation or coordinated attempts to influence citation metrics are inconsistent with the publication ethics standards of ELSR.

 

16. Suspected Research or Publication Misconduct

Research or publication misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

• Plagiarism.
• Data fabrication.
• Data falsification.
• Image manipulation.
• Duplicate publication.
• Citation manipulation.
• Inappropriate authorship practices.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Misrepresentation of ethical approval.
• Manipulation of the peer-review process.
• Deliberate misrepresentation of research findings.

When a potential concern is identified, ELSR may conduct a preliminary editorial assessment.

The journal may request explanations or supporting information from the authors or other relevant individuals.

The editorial process may be suspended while a concern is examined.

ELSR will seek to evaluate concerns fairly and on the basis of available information.

The journal does not normally make determinations regarding institutional or legal guilt. Where appropriate, serious concerns may be referred to the relevant institution, research organization, funding body, or other responsible authority for further examination.

 

17. Editorial Action in Cases of Ethical Concern

The action taken by ELSR will depend on the nature, seriousness, and stage of the concern.

Possible editorial actions may include:

• Requesting clarification or supporting documentation.
• Requesting correction of the manuscript.
• Suspending editorial evaluation.
• Rejecting the manuscript.
• Reassigning an Editor or reviewer.
• Publishing a correction.
• Publishing an Expression of Concern.
• Retracting a published article.
• Referring a serious concern to an appropriate institution or authority.
• Taking other editorial action necessary to protect the integrity of the scientific record.

Post-publication actions are handled according to the ELSR Corrections & Retractions Policy.

 

18. Reporting Ethical Concerns

Authors, reviewers, readers, Editors, and other individuals may report concerns relating to the integrity of submitted or published work.

Concerns should be communicated to the ELSR Editorial Office and should include sufficient information to allow the matter to be assessed.

Individuals raising concerns are encouraged to provide specific and verifiable information.

ELSR will seek to handle ethical concerns confidentially and fairly.

Anonymous concerns may be considered when sufficient evidence or verifiable information is provided.

The journal may be unable to investigate allegations that are unsupported, excessively vague, or outside the journal's editorial responsibility.

 

19. Cooperation with Editorial Enquiries

Authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable editorial enquiries concerning their submitted or published work.

This may include providing:

• Original data.
• Research records.
• Ethical approval documents.
• Author contribution information.
• Conflict of interest information.
• Image files.
• Statistical information.
• Other relevant supporting documentation.

A failure to respond or cooperate does not by itself establish misconduct.

However, the journal may make an editorial decision based on the information reasonably available when relevant information cannot be obtained.

 

20. Post-Publication Responsibilities

Publication does not end the responsibility of authors or the journal to protect the integrity of the scientific record.

Authors who identify a significant error or concern in their published article should contact the Editorial Office promptly.

Readers and other researchers may also report concerns regarding published content.

ELSR will assess post-publication concerns and determine whether clarification, correction, an Expression of Concern, retraction, or another editorial action is appropriate.

Detailed procedures are provided in the ELSR Corrections & Retractions Policy.

 

21. Publication Ethics Oversight

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Office are responsible for overseeing the implementation of this Publication Ethics Policy.

ELSR may seek appropriate specialist, editorial, or institutional information when evaluating complex ethical concerns.

The journal may review and update its publication ethics procedures to reflect developments in research integrity and responsible scholarly publishing.

All participants in the publication process are expected to support the accuracy, transparency, reliability, and integrity of the scientific record.

 

22. International Standards and Best Practice

ELSR periodically reviews and updates its editorial and publication policies in light of internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing, publication ethics, research integrity, and responsible editorial practice. Where appropriate, the journal may consider guidance published by recognized professional organizations, including:

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

ELSR applies its own editorial policies and procedures. References to these organizations do not imply membership, endorsement, accreditation, certification, or formal affiliation unless explicitly stated by the journal.