handshake Our Ethics Commitment
Researchium coordinates six academic journals under the highest benchmarks of accountability. We aim to ensure scientific development by building transparent pipelines from initial review to citation registration.
Integrity
Upholding strict honesty across datasets, formulations, and bibliographic records.
Transparency
Fully declaring review metrics, processing costs, and funding channels.
Accountability
Adhering to international archiving ethics and COPE corrective actions.
Fairness
Evaluating all manuscripts on intellectual merit without background biases.
Scientific Rigor
Ensuring peer evaluations are conducted by matching subject-experts.
Ethical Responsibility
Enforcing strict consent and ethical committee approval criteria.
rate_review Responsibilities of Reviewers
Peer reviewers play a critical role in preserving publication standards. Reviewers are expected to adhere to the following principles:
Confidentiality
Treating all manuscripts as protected, confidential material.
Objectivity
Assessing papers on scientific merit alone.
Feedback
Supplying supportive, clear explanations.
Timeliness
Completing reviews within the requested 21 days.
Disclosure
Declaring conflict of interest immediately.
gavel Responsibilities of Editors
Editors supervise the scientific direction of Researchium journals and hold responsibility for maintaining ethical rigor throughout the peer review pipeline.
Fair Evaluation & Non-Bias
Evaluate submissions based solely on academic and scientific merit, without regard to author gender, race, nationality, or institutional affiliation.
Editorial Independence
Maintain complete autonomy over decisions. Commercial concerns, publisher pressures, or external bodies do not influence manuscript acceptance.
Confidential Handling
Protect author privacy. Do not disclose manuscript metadata, files, or reviewer identities to anyone outside the active review pipeline.
Ethical Oversight
Actively investigate potential misconduct, plagiarism flags, or conflict queries under COPE guidance rules.
Publication Decisions
Reconcile expert recommendations to make final decisions on manuscript publication, corrections, or retractions.
plagiarism Plagiarism Policy
Researchium maintains a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism across all disciplines. All manuscripts undergo screening via similarity detection engines.
report Prohibited Plagiarism Actions
• Direct Plagiarism: Copying text block-by-block from another work without citations or quotation marks.
• Self-Plagiarism (Text Recycling): Re-using large segments of your own previously published findings without attribution or context.
• Mosaic Plagiarism (Paraphrasing): Copying sentences from multiple sources and replacing a few words without proper citations.
• Improper Attribution: Failing to cite source ideas, data tables, or diagrams utilized in the study.
Potential Corrective Actions:
warning Data Fabrication & Falsification
Data integrity is the bedrock of scientific literature. Researchium classifies data manipulation as a major breach of publication ethics.
error Misconduct Definitions
• Data Fabrication: Making up or inventively generating datasets, graphs, values, or experimental outcomes that never took place.
• Data Falsification: Altering, manipulating, or omitting actual data values, parameters, or figure components to present a biased outcome.
• --- Outcomes ---
Confirmed instances of fabrication will result in immediate rejection, institutional investigation requests, and retraction notices if already published.
policy Conflict of Interest
All relationships that could bias the evaluation of a manuscript must be declared. Declare the following concerns where applicable:
Financial Interests
Employment, stock holdings, patents, honoraria, or consultancies.
Institutional
Affiliations or funding links with organizations involved in research topics.
Personal Links
Family relationships or academic competitor links between author and reviewer.
Funding Influence
Direct funding or research grants supporting the study.
diversity_3 Human & Animal Research
Research involving living subjects must declare and prove adherence to international ethical guidelines:
Human Subject Protections
Confirm that studies align with the Declaration of Helsinki. Supply IRB approval documentation and verify informed consent was obtained in writing from all participants.
Animal Welfare compliance
Verify that animal research complies with local, national, and international guidelines (e.g. ARRIVE guidelines). Institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) authorization must be declared.
smart_toy AI & Generative AI Policy
Researchium supports the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence tools under clear guidelines:
info AI Support Limitations
• Allowed Assistance: Grammar check tools, translation tools, and spell checkers are permitted to improve clarity.
• Authorship Prohibited: AI tools cannot be listed as authors. They cannot review peer comments or take responsibility for findings.
• Accountability: The human authors are fully responsible for checking AI references, mathematical data, and literature evaluations.
forum Complaints & Appeals
Authors who disagree with editorial decisions or suspect misconduct can log formal appeals under this timeline:
rule_folder Corrections & Retractions
To preserve the reliability of scholarly citations, Researchium issues corrections or retractions under COPE protocols:
Correction Notice
Issued for minor, honest scientific errors that do not affect the conclusions of the paper.
Expression of Concern
Published when investigations into potential scientific misconduct are ongoing.
Formal Retraction
Published if significant scientific error, plagiarism, or fabricated data invalidate findings.
Article Removal
Rarely executed. Used only for legal injunctions or severe privacy violations.
query_builder Ethics Investigation Process
When a potential ethical breach or misconduct report is received, the editorial board triggers this structured investigation process:
help_center Frequently Asked Questions
Review common queries regarding academic publishing ethics, authorship disputes, retractions, and complaint processes.
What happens if plagiarism is detected?
If plagiarism is flagged during screening, the paper is immediately rejected. If it is detected post-publication, a formal investigation under COPE guidelines is initiated which can lead to a formal Retraction Notice.
Can an article be retracted?
Yes. If investigations identify data fabrication, falsified calculations, ethical violations, or duplicate publishing, the paper will be retracted. A Retraction Notice is published and permanently linked to the article DOI.
How are complaints and appeals handled?
Appeals are routed through a structured process. An editorial committee evaluates the case, reviews reviewer comments, invites the author to submit explanations, and issues a final, non-negotiable ruling.
Can AI tools be listed as co-authors?
No. Generative AI tools cannot be listed as co-authors under any circumstances because they cannot accept legal responsibility or sign authorship agreements. AI tool usage in writing must be declared in the Acknowledgements.
Can I submit a paper that has been submitted elsewhere?
No. Duplicate submission is a major ethical breach. Manuscripts must not be under review at another journal while being evaluated by Researchium.
What should I do if I suspect an authorship dispute?
Authorship disputes must be settled by the researchers and their institutional boards. The editorial office will pause the evaluation of the manuscript until a signed agreement is submitted by all involved authors.
Do you accept anonymous complaints?
We accept anonymous alerts of misconduct if they supply clear, verifiable evidence or statistical flags (e.g. image manipulation proofs, duplicate text references). Vague allegations without proof will not trigger investigations.
What is the role of institutional review boards (IRB)?
For studies involving human or animal subjects, IRB approval guarantees the study met institutional safety and ethical parameters. Re-use of human samples requires formal participant consent.
What are the consequences of scientific misconduct?
Misconduct leads to immediate rejection, retraction of published papers, institutional alerts, and potential bans on submitting future manuscripts to all Researchium journals.
Are reviewers anonymous?
Yes. Researchium uses a double-blind peer-review system. Reviewer identities are kept confidential to ensure unbiased evaluations.
How do you check for image manipulation?
Editors screen uploaded micrographs, blots, and graphs using specialized checking tools to flag splicing, duplication, or contrast alterations.
Who handles conflict of interest disputes?
Editorial boards evaluate conflict declarations. Reviewers with conflicts are replaced, and editors with conflicts recuse themselves from decisions.
What is self-plagiarism?
Self-plagiarism is the re-use of text or findings from your own previously published papers without citation. It violates original content standards.
Is data sharing mandatory?
Researchium strongly encourages authors to deposit datasets in open public repositories (e.g. Figshare, Zenodo) to facilitate transparency and scientific verification.
How do I submit an ethics appeal?
Ethics appeals must be sent in writing to the editorial office, detailing scientific rebuttals and any supporting evidence.
Committed to Ethical Research Publishing
Researchium promotes transparency, integrity and responsible scholarly communication across all disciplines.