Publication Ethics

Fundamental Scientific Reports in Multidisciplinary Areas (FSRMA) is committed to maintaining high standards of integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, and ethical conduct throughout the scholarly publishing process.

The journal follows recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing and refers to relevant guidance issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when addressing publication-ethics concerns. Authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and the publisher are expected to uphold the ethical standards described in this policy.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to FSRMA represent honest, original, and ethically conducted scholarly work.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must submit original work and appropriately acknowledge all ideas, text, data, figures, tables, and other material derived from external sources.

Plagiarism, inappropriate text recycling, fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are not acceptable.

Manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism or similarity-detection tools. Similarity reports are assessed by editorial staff and are not used as the sole basis for an editorial decision.

Multiple, Duplicate, and Redundant Publication

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

Work that has already been published, or that substantially duplicates previously published material, should not be submitted unless the circumstances are clearly disclosed and the submission is ethically and legally permissible.

Authors must disclose closely related manuscripts, preprints, or publications where relevant.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work and who accept responsibility for the published article.

All listed authors must:

Approve the final version of the manuscript.
Agree to its submission and publication.
Accept accountability for their contributions.
Provide accurate authorship and affiliation information.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the journal's authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged.

Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.

Changes to authorship after submission must be explained and approved in accordance with the journal's editorial procedures.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, academic, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

Relevant conflicts should be declared at the time of submission.

Editors and reviewers must also disclose conflicts of interest and should not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Funding Disclosure

Authors should identify all relevant sources of financial or material support for the research.

Where applicable, the role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish should be disclosed.

If no external funding was received, authors may state this explicitly.

Research Misconduct

FSRMA takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Potential misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

Plagiarism.
Data fabrication.
Data falsification.
Image manipulation.
Duplicate or redundant publication.
Citation manipulation.
Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Inappropriate authorship.
Peer-review manipulation.
Misrepresentation of research methods or results.
Unethical research involving humans or animals.
Deliberate submission of false or misleading information.

When credible concerns are raised, the journal may conduct a preliminary assessment, request explanations or supporting documentation from the authors, consult relevant editors or reviewers, and follow appropriate COPE guidance.

Where necessary, the journal may contact the authors' institution, ethics committee, research-integrity office, funding body, or other appropriate authority.

Depending on the evidence and stage of publication, outcomes may include rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial action.

Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants, identifiable human data, animals, clinical interventions, or other ethically sensitive activities must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where relevant, authors must provide:

The name of the approving ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent body.
Approval or reference number, where available.
Confirmation that informed consent was obtained when required.
Appropriate consent for publication of identifiable information.
Confirmation of compliance with relevant standards for animal research.

If formal ethical approval was not required, authors should provide an appropriate explanation where requested by the journal.

Informed Consent and Privacy

Authors must protect the privacy, confidentiality, and dignity of research participants.

Identifying information should not be published unless it is essential to the scholarly work and valid consent for publication has been obtained.

The journal may request evidence of informed consent where appropriate.

Data Integrity, Availability, and Reproducibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the data reported in their manuscripts.

Data should not be fabricated, falsified, selectively manipulated, or presented in a misleading manner.

Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to make relevant research data, methods, protocols, software, or supplementary materials available to support verification and reproducibility.

Any restrictions on data sharing, such as confidentiality, privacy, legal, ethical, or commercial limitations, should be clearly explained.

Authors should retain relevant research records for an appropriate period and provide supporting information to the journal when reasonably required for an ethical or integrity investigation.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

Evaluate manuscripts objectively and professionally.
Maintain confidentiality.
Provide constructive and evidence-based feedback.
Declare relevant conflicts of interest.
Decline review assignments outside their expertise or where impartiality may be compromised.
Notify the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, research misconduct, or other serious ethical concerns.
Refrain from using unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.

Reviewers must not contact authors directly regarding manuscripts unless authorized by the journal.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity, independence, fairness, and confidentiality of the editorial process.

Editorial decisions should be based on:

Scholarly quality.
Originality.
Methodological soundness.
Relevance to the journal's aims and scope.
Ethical compliance.
Validity and integrity of the research.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by characteristics unrelated to scholarly merit, including nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, political beliefs, institutional affiliation, or personal relationships.

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where impartiality may reasonably be questioned.

An editor who is an author or has a close relationship with an author must not make the editorial decision on that manuscript. An independent editor should manage such submissions.

Editorial Independence

The Editor-in-Chief and authorized editors are responsible for editorial decisions.

The publisher, owner, sponsors, advertisers, commercial partners, or other external parties must not interfere with decisions to accept or reject individual manuscripts.

Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly and ethical considerations rather than financial or commercial interests.

Publisher Responsibilities

The publisher is responsible for supporting the journal's editorial independence and ethical operation.

The publisher should:

Support editors in maintaining responsible publication practices.
Ensure journal policies are transparent and publicly accessible.
Support investigations of credible ethical concerns.
Protect the integrity of the published scholarly record.
Avoid commercial or financial interference in editorial decisions.
Cooperate with corrections, retractions, and other post-publication actions when necessary.

Intellectual Property

Authors must respect copyright and other intellectual-property rights.

Material reproduced from third parties must be appropriately cited and, where required, used with permission.

The copyright terms applying to scholarly articles are distinct from any copyright associated with the journal website, branding, logo, or other publisher-owned material.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

FSRMA is committed to maintaining an accurate and trustworthy scholarly record.

When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue an appropriate:

Correction.
Erratum or corrigendum.
Expression of concern.
Retraction.

Retraction or correction decisions will be based on the nature and severity of the problem and relevant publication-ethics guidance.

Published notices should be clearly linked to the affected article and should explain the reason for the action where legally and ethically appropriate.

Minor errors that do not materially affect the conclusions of an article may be corrected without retracting the article.

Post-Publication Discussion

The journal welcomes responsible scholarly discussion concerning published research.

Readers, authors, or other interested parties may contact the editorial office to raise substantive concerns about a published article.

Such concerns will be assessed objectively and confidentially where appropriate. If a concern raises a credible question about research integrity or the reliability of the published record, the journal may initiate an investigation.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may submit complaints concerning editorial processes, publication ethics, or journal conduct.

Authors may also appeal editorial decisions when they believe that a significant factual misunderstanding, procedural error, or material oversight affected the decision.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted in writing with sufficient supporting information.

Where appropriate, the matter will be reviewed by an editor who was not directly involved in the original decision.

Further details may be provided in the journal's separate Complaints and Appeals Policy.

Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers, and journal staff must treat submitted manuscripts and related correspondence as confidential.

Information obtained during peer review must not be disclosed or used for personal benefit.

Confidential information may only be disclosed when necessary for legitimate ethical, legal, or research-integrity investigations.

Corrections by Authors

Authors who discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted or published work should promptly notify the journal and cooperate with the editorial office to correct the scholarly record.

Failure to cooperate with a legitimate integrity investigation may result in appropriate editorial action.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

FSRMA reserves the right to reject a manuscript, withdraw an acceptance decision, issue a correction, publish an expression of concern, or retract an article when credible evidence demonstrates serious ethical or research-integrity problems.

The journal seeks to address such cases fairly, transparently, and proportionately, with reference to relevant COPE guidance and applicable legal and institutional requirements.

Continuous Review of Ethical Policies

FSRMA periodically reviews its publication-ethics policies to maintain consistency with recognized international standards and developments in responsible scholarly publishing.