Journal of Indian Society of Analytical Scientists (J.ISAS): Policy

Aim

The Journal of the Indian Society of Analytical Scientists (J. ISAS, ISSN No. 2583-5459) published by Indian Association of Analytical Scientists is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics. Authors are encouraged to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. The Journal invites research papers related to analytical science and related fields such as chemistry, physics, life sciences, environmental sciences, forensic sciences etc. It accepts original research articles of 8-10 pages (up to 4000 words), short communications (up to 2000 words), review articles (up to 6000 words) and book reviews (up to 800 words)

Open access policy:

J.ISAS is an open-access peer reviewed quarterly e- journal, with ISSN and Doi numbers, ensuring that all content is freely accessible without any cost to, users or their institutions. There is no any processing fee or charges to the authors of this journal. Readers can seamlessly read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of articles without seeking prior permission from the publisher or authors.

All articles published in J.ISAS are permanently and freely available online, with immediate publication upon readiness. Each published article is assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI), ensuring instant discoverability and citation without delay.

Advantages of Open Access

  • Greater Visibility & Impact: Open-access articles reach a broader audience, with studies indicating that they receive twice as many citations on an average compared to subscription-based publications.
  • Advancing Scientific Knowledge : By removing access barriers, open-access publishing accelerates the dissemination of research findings, benefiting the global scientific community and fostering innovation.

Authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to adhere to the following guidelines to ensure the integrity and quality of the journal

Authorship and Contributions

  • Criteria for Authorship: All listed authors should have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis or interpretation of the studies reported. Individuals who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged appropriately but not listed as authors.
  • Corresponding Author: One author should be designated as the corresponding author, responsible for communicating with the journal and managing responses to inquiries before and after publication
  • Changes to authorship: The editors of this journal generally do not accept changes to authorship after a manuscript has been submitted. Therefore, authors should carefully determine the authorship list and the order of authors before submission, ensuring that the provided list is final.

Journal Policy on Authorship Changes:

  • The manuscript must include all authors, and their details should be entered into the submission system.
  • Any modifications to the authorship list—including additions, removals, or reordering of names—should occur only before acceptance and will require approval from the journal editor.
  • The corresponding author must submit authorship change requests, providing a valid reason along with written confirmation from all affected authors, affirming their agreement with the proposed modification.
  • All requests for authorship changes must be submitted using the designated form. Requests that do not adhere to the instructions in the form will not be considered.
  • The journal editor will only approve post-acceptance authorship changes in exceptional circumstances.
  • Manuscript publication may be temporarily halted while an authorship change request is under review.
  • If an authorship change is approved after publication, a corrigendum will be issued.
  • Unauthorized changes to authorship may lead to manuscript rejection or, if already published, retraction of the article.

2. Originality and Plagiarism

  • Original Work: Manuscripts submitted to J.ISAS must be original works that have not been published previously or are under consideration elsewhere except in the form of a preprint, an abstract, a published lecture, academic thesis
  • Plagiarism: The journal employs plagiarism detection tools to screen submissions. Manuscripts exhibiting significant similarity with other works will be rejected. Authors are advised to appropriately cite all sources and obtain necessary permissions for reproduced content.

3. Data Integrity and Fabrication

  • Data Accuracy: Authors must present accurate data and results. Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of data constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
  • Data Sharing: J. ISAS encourages authors to share their data and research materials to facilitate reproducibility and verification.
  • Data Availability Statement: Authors must include a data availability statement in their manuscript, indicating where the data can be accessed.

4. Ethical Approval and oversight

  • Research Ethics: J. ISAS requires authors to comply with all relevant ethical standards, including those related to human subjects, animal research, and environmental impact.
  • Institutional Review Board (IRB): Authors must obtain approval from their IRB or equivalent ethics committee before conducting research involving human subjects.
  • Ethics Statement: Authors must include an ethics statement in their manuscript, describing their compliance with relevant ethical standards

5.Intellectual Property

  • Copyright: J. ISAS requires authors to transfer copyright to the journal upon acceptance of their manuscript.
  • Open-Access Options: Authors may choose to publish their article under a Creative Commons license, allowing for more flexible reuse and sharing.
  • Permissions: Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions for any copyrighted materials used in their manuscript.

6.Post-Publication Discussions

  • Comments: J. ISAS allows readers to comment on published articles, providing a forum for discussion and debate.
  • Letters to the Editor: Authors may submit letters to the editor, responding to published articles or raising new issues related to the field.
  • Author Responses: Authors may respond to comments and letters, providing additional context or clarification.

7. Corrections and Retractions

  • Corrections: J. ISAS will publish corrections to errors that do not affect the conclusions of the article.
  • Retractions: In cases of serious error, falsification, or plagiarism, J. ISAS may retract the article, following guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
  • Expressions of Concern: In cases where an investigation is ongoing, J. ISAS may publish an expression of concern, alerting readers to potential issues with the article.

8.Ensuring Integrity of the Scholarly Literature

  • Plagiarism Detection: J.ISAS uses plagiarism detection software to screen manuscripts for unauthorized reuse of content.
  • Citation Manipulation: Authors are prohibited from manipulating citations to inflate their article's impact factor or citation count.
  • Data Falsification/Fabrication: Authors are prohibited from falsifying or fabricating data, including images, figures, and tables.
  • Investigations: J. ISAS will investigate allegations of misconduct, following guidelines established by COPE.
  • Sanctions: Authors found guilty of misconduct may face sanctions, including retraction of their article, temporary or permanent ban from publishing in J. ISAS and notification of their institution or funding agency.

9. Conflict of Interest

  • Disclosure: Authors must disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest that could influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. Such disclosures should be included in the manuscript.

10. Acknowledgment of Sources

  • Proper Citation: Authors should ensure that all sources are appropriately cited, acknowledging the work of others that has influenced their research. Information obtained through private communications should not be used without explicit permission from the source.

11. Peer Review Process

  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts submitted to J.ISAS undergo a double-blind peer review process to ensure impartiality. Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents and refrain from sharing or discussing them with unauthorized individuals.
  • Reviewer Conduct: Reviewers should provide objective and constructive feedback, avoiding personal criticism of authors. They should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors and report any substantial similarity to other published papers.

12. Handling of Ethical Misconduct

  • Investigations: Allegations of ethical misconduct will be investigated thoroughly. If misconduct is confirmed, appropriate actions will be taken, which may include retraction of the published work or notification to relevant authorities.

13. Copyright and Permissions

  • Copyright Transfer: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be required to transfer copyright to J.ISAS. A signed copyright form must be submitted before publication.
  • Permissions: Authors must obtain necessary permissions for any third-party material included in their manuscripts and provide appropriate acknowledgments
.

14. Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy

Digital preservation aims to ensure continuous access to digital information through archiving electronic content, abstracting/indexing services, and author self-archiving. We do our best to provide high-quality metadata for digital archiving purposes. They are also available in the form of PDFs and readers can easily download and read the content of papers from our website.

15. Repository Policy

J.ISAS provides open access to publications. Authors must follow the "Repository Policy" when distributing their work online. Only final versions of articles after peer review are appropriate for use.

16. Special issues and article collections

The peer review process for special issues and article collections follows the same process as outlined above for regular submissions, except, a guest editor may send the submissions out to the reviewers and may recommend a decision to the journal editor. The journal editor oversees the peer review process of all special issues and article collections to ensure the high standards of publishing ethics and responsiveness are respected and is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.

By adhering to these guidelines, J.ISAS aims to uphold the integrity and quality of the scientific record, fostering trust among authors, editors, reviewers, and readers