For all parties involved in the act of publishing (the author, the journal editors, the peer reviewer and the publisher) it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. The following ethics statements for Journal of Tropical Geography are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
Editor Responsibilities
Accountability
The editor of a peer-reviewed journal is responsible for deciding which
articles submitted to Journal of Tropical Geography should be published, and,
moreover, is accountable for everything published in the Journal of Tropical
Geography. In making these decisions, the editor may be guided by the policies
of the editorial board of Journal of Tropical Geography as well as by
legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The
editor may confer with other editors or reviewers when making publication
decisions. The editor should maintain the integrity of the academic record,
preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards,
and always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and
apologies when needed.
Fairness
The editor should evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content without regard
to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin,
citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). The editor will not
disclose any information about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other
than the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers, and in some instances
the editorial board members, as appropriate.
Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a
submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers,
potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as
appropriate.
Disclosure,
conflicts of interest, and other issues
The editor of Journal of Tropical Geography will be guided by COPE’s
Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, issuing
expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles
that have been published in Journal of Tropical
Geography.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
The editor is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.
The editor should seek so ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process. Editors should recuse themselves (i.e. should ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board instead to review and consider) from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. Editors should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.
Involvement and
cooperation in investigations
Editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing
corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged
research and publication misconduct. Editors should pursue reviewer and
editorial misconduct. An editor should take reasonably responsive measures when
ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or
published paper.
Reviewer Responsibilities
Contribution to
editorial decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the
editorial communication with the author, may also assist the author in
improving the manuscript.
Promptness
Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a
manuscript or knows that its timely review will be impossible should
immediately notify the editor so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
They must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the
editor.
Standards of
objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is
inacceptable. Referees should express their views clearly with appropriate
supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement
of sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by
the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had
been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A
reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity
or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published
data of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and
conflict of interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept
confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider
evaluating manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from
competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of
the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission.
Author Responsibilities
Reporting
standards
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept
confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider
evaluating manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from
competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of
the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission.
Originality and
Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and
if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been
appropriately cited or quoted.
Multiple,
redundant or concurrent publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the
same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Parallel
submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes
unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Acknowledgement
of sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors
should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the
nature of the reported work.
Authorship of a
manuscript
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 named in an Acknowledgement
section. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors
(according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are
included in the author list of the manuscript, and that all co-authors have
seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its
submission for publication.
Disclosure and
conflicts of interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other
substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the
results or their interpretation in the manuscript. All sources of financial
support for the project 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’s
editor or publisher and cooperate with them to either retract the paper or to
publish an appropriate erratum.
Publisher’s Confirmation
In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, the complete retraction of the affected work.