Reserach Ethics of Publication

Publication Ethics Policies for NATPRO Journal

Inclusive language policy

ASNP is committed to building an environment that encourages diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) in all its aspects. It is our pledge to ensure that every individual has an equal opportunity to be a part of the scientific community. To achieve this, our use of language must be culturally sensitive and inclusive of others - readers, authors, and staff alike.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and the staff have a shared responsibility to ensure that articles submitted and published use language that is appropriate for the respective field and is free from terminology that could be interpreted as hostile or offensive to people based on group differences such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, or health.

We expect all authors to demonstrate receptiveness to feedback on their choice of words or language from the editors and reviewers. We are committed to suggesting alternative language to ensure that all publications adhere to our inclusive language requirements.

Inclusive image policy

We ask all contributors to take an ethically informed and inclusive approach to image selection. This means ensuring content is contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive, and reflective of global diversity.

When choosing images, please consider:

• Cultural sensitivity: avoid stereotypes and ensure images respect cultural differences

• Social impact: be mindful of how images might influence perceptions of individuals or groups

• Representation and relevance: use images that reflect the subject matter accurately and inclusively, particularly by including underrepresented communities

Editors, authors, and reviewers share responsibility for upholding these principles. If concerns are raised, editors may request the authors seek alternative images to ensure ethical and inclusive representation.

Plagiarism, redundant publication and ethical text-reuse policies

Originality of content and duplicate submission

NATPRO Journal only publishes original content. Authors confirm that the content they're submitting is original upon submission. Manuscripts submitted to NATPRO Journal must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, either in whole or in part. If an article has been previously submitted for publication elsewhere, NATPRO Journal will only consider publication if the article has been definitively rejected by the other publisher(s) at the point of submission to NATPRO Journal.

Submitting to multiple journals is classified as duplicate submission and is considered publication misconduct.

Fabrication and falsification
NATPRO Journal opposes both the fabrication of data or images (that is, fake or made-up data) and falsification of data or images (that is, the intentional misrepresentation or deceptive manipulation of data).

Manuscripts prepared and written by commercial entities (fake-paper factories) on behalf of researchers listed as authors on the manuscript will not be considered for publication. We will take proactive action to reject suspicious manuscripts before peer review.

Redundant publication

Redundant publication occurs when the same research (same or similar idea, data, results, and or drawn conclusions) is published more than once by the same or overlapping author groups. This includes adding small amounts of new data to an existing published paper and submitting it for review or publishing the same paper in multiple journals (sometimes known as salami slicing). This type of publication is unethical, and manuscripts where redundant publication is shown to have occurred will not be considered for publication.

To ensure the manuscript complies with our policy, authors must disclose any related publications and cite all related material where appropriate.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when an author attempts to present previously published work as original content. Every manuscript submitted to NATPRO Journal is screened for textual overlap by plagiarism-checking software. Manuscripts found to contain textual overlap will not be considered for publication by NATPRO Journal.

Ethical text re-use and permitted publications

Theses and dissertations

NATPRO Journal allows the inclusion of content that first appeared in an author's thesis so long as this is the only form in which it has appeared, is in line with the author's university policy, and can be accessed online. If the thesis is not archived online, it is considered original, unpublished data and is subject to the unpublished data restrictions of some article types. Inclusion of material from theses or dissertations should be noted in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and cited accordingly in the reference list.

Conferences, proceedings, and abstracts

Manuscripts that first appeared as conference papers must be expanded upon if they are to be considered as original work. Authors are required to add a substantial amount of original content in the form of new raw material (experiments, data) or new treatment of old data sets, which lead to original discussion and/or conclusions, providing value that significantly exceeds the original conference version. As a rule of thumb, at least 30% of the content must be original. Authors submitting such work are required to:

• seek permission for reuse of the published conference paper if the author does not hold the copyright

• cite the conference in the acknowledgments section or the references section if applicable.

Blogs

Although permissible, extended manuscript content that previously appeared online in non-academic media, such as blogs, should be declared at the time of submission in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

Image manipulation

NATPRO Journal takes concerns regarding image manipulation seriously. We do not accept that individual features within an image are modified (including enhanced, obscured, moved, recycled, removed, or added). Image processing methods (such as changes to the brightness, contrast, or color balance) must be applied to every pixel in the image, and the changes should not alter the information illustrated in the figure. Cropped images should be avoided where possible for gels and blots. Where cropped images are shown in figures, a full scan of the entire original gel(s) must be submitted as part of the supplementary material. Where control images are re-used for illustrative purposes, this must be clearly declared in the figure legend. If any form of image processing is legitimately required for the interpretation of the data, the software and the enhancement technique must be declared in the methods section of the manuscript. Image grouping and splicing must be clearly stated in the manuscript and the figure text.

Peer review manipulation

Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to fulfill their responsibilities in the review process objectively, honestly, and in accordance with ethical standards. All parties must take action if they become aware of any attempt to manipulate the peer review process and alert the journal in such instances.

Any intentional deception, manipulation, or misrepresentation in the peer review process is a serious act of publishing misconduct. Activities that constitute peer review manipulation include any of the following;

• Falsifying reviewer and editor identities or credentials

• Colluding with other parties to manipulate review outcomes

• Fabricating or plagiarizing review reports

• Engaging in coercive or biased reviewing practices (including peer review rings)

• Recommending reviewers with conflicts of interest known to the author without disclosing these conflicts

• Obfuscation or non-disclosure of known COIs (conflicts of interest) of editors, reviewers or authors.

• Coercing reviewers to provide favorable or biased evaluations

• Any other actions that may reasonably compromise the objectivity and integrity of the peer review process.

Where an investigation yields evidence of peer review manipulation, NATPRO Journal will take necessary action, including retraction of the affected publication or revocation of acceptance if the manuscript is still under review.

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Third-party involvement disclosure: Employing third-party agents for manuscript writing, submission, or other publication processes is discouraged . Direct involvement by authors is essential to ensure transparency and compliance with ethical standards. If you have used a third-party agent, you must disclose in the acknowledgements and detail the extent of their involvement, and all authors must be included upon submission.

Adherence to our authorship policies: NATPRO Journal strictly prohibits authors from purchasing authorship on papers for which they have not contributed. All named authors must have made substantial contributions to the research and manuscript preparation.

Verification of co-author contributions: All authors are responsible for verifying the contributions of all co-authors listed on the manuscript before submission. In submitting to NATPRO Journal, you are confirming that you are satisfied that each co-author is aware of and has agreed to their listed contribution.

Use of institutional email addresses: The use of institutional email addresses is preferable, and where the authors decide to use personal email accounts for submission, we may be in touch to request an institutional email for verification purposes. We understand some authors may not be able to use an institutional email address and, in these cases, we may need to request additional verification. Where possible, we advise authors without institutional email addresses to link a verified ORCID profile.

We may not disclose the specific reasons or details that contributed to a rejection decision. This is essential to safeguard our detection efforts and prevent manipulation by fraudulent actors and entities and is an established line of defense within the publishing industry.

Post publication allegations and breaches

Where we find evidence of a breach of this policy in an article post-publication, the journal will follow standard investigation procedure and retraction protocols.