Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Journal WISDOM and its Publisher, Khachatur Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University, are members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal follows the COPE politics; Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.

In addition, WISDOM follows Struggling Against Plagiarism and Open Access Policy.

The editorial board of the periodical is committed to upholding the standards of publication ethics follow the best-practice guidelines on ethical behaviour and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. It is expected of authors, reviewers and editors that they follow the best-practice guidelines on ethical behaviour.

Duties of Editors

• Editors assess submitted manuscripts solely on the basis of their academic merit and its relevance to the journal’s scope. Authors’ gender, ethnicity, race, citizenship, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, as well as political views and affiliations cannot influence on the decision of the editors.
• Editors and editorial staff respect the authors’ rights to privacy and will not disclose any information about any manuscript to anyone other than the author himself/herself, editorial advisers, reviewers, and the publisher.

Publication Decisions & Investigations

All submitted manuscripts considered for publication undergo peer-review evaluation by at least two reviewer-experts. The Editor-in-Chief decided which manuscripts are to be published by taking into consideration the validity and originality of the work, its importance to readers and researchers, and the peer-review reports. The Editor-in-Chief may consult other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Editors will take responsive measures regarding every reported act of unethical publishing behavior even if it is exposed after the publication date. WISDOM editors follow the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspected misconduct. If the ethical concern is justified, a correction, disclaimer, and/or expression of concern will be published in the journal.

Duties of Reviewers: Promptness, Confidentiality, Standards of Objectivity

 

Peer-review evaluation is conducted to assist editors in making editorial decisions and, providing authors with suggestions for improvement where necessary. WISDOM ensures a fair review process by cooperating with established and renowned professors, authors, academicians and reviewers.

Invited reviewers should use professional judgement to accept or decline the offer to review manuscripts in a timely manner so that alternative reviewers can be contacted and peer-review is conducted promptly. In case of any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive relationships or other connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately declare their conflicts of interest to the editors and decline the invitation to review.

All manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must not be exposed to or discussed with others except if authorize by the Editor-in-Chief. Unpublished manuscripts and their contents are not be used for research by reviewers or editors without a written consent provided by authors. This applies to all reviewers, including those who reject the review invitation.

Reviews are conducted objectively and observations are articulated clearly with accompanying arguments for authors to use them to improve the manuscript. Reviewers are to identify any similarity overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published or unpublished work.

Duties of Authors

Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication

Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.

The publication of some kinds of articles (such as clinical guidelines, and translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided that certain conditions are met. The authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

Authorship of the manuscript

Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content: (i) made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and (ii) drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication. All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author, but should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section after their written permission to be named as been obtained. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all coauthors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Authors should—at the earliest stage possible (generally by submitting a disclosure form at the time of submission and including a statement in the manuscript)—disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial ones such as honoraria, educational grants or other funding, participation in speakers’ bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements, as well as non-financial ones such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed (including the grant number or other reference number if any).

Fundamental errors in published works

When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editors or publisher and cooperate with them to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or to retract the paper. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper.