Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure reliable & high-quality scientific research publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that researchers receive credit for their work & ideas. AAJ follows strict Code of Conduct and aims to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.
Plagiarism:
All articles published by AAJ are committed to publishing only original material, i.e., material that has neither been published elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will incur plagiarism penalty.
Duplicate Submission:
Manuscripts that are found to have been published elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission sanctions. If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.
Improper Author Contribution or Attribution:
All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.
Redundant Publications:
Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles.
Citation Manipulation:
Submitted manuscripts that are found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author’s work, or to articles published in a particular journal, will incur citation manipulation penalty.
Data Fabrication & Falsification:
Submitted manuscripts that are found to have either fabricated or falsified experimental results, including the manipulation of images, will incur data fabrication and falsification penalty.
Penalty:
In the event that there are documented violations of any of the above mentioned policies of AAJ, the following rules will be applied:
•Immediate rejection of the infringing manuscript.
• Immediate rejection of every other manuscript submitted to any journal published byAAJ by any of the authors of the infringing manuscript.
• Prohibition against all of the authors for any new submissions to AAJ, either individually or in combination with other authors of the infringing manuscript, as well as in combination with any other authors. This prohibition will be imposed for a minimum of 2 years.
• Prohibition against all of the authors from serving on the Editorial Board of AAJ.
In cases where the violations of the above policies are found to be particularly offensive/flagrant, the publisher reserves the right to impose additional restrictions beyond those described above.