1. Scope and principles

This policy covers:

• Research and publication ethics (authorship, plagiarism, data integrity).
• Ethical review for human and animal research.
• Conflicts of interest and financial disclosures.
• Misconduct investigations, corrections, expressions of concern and retractions.
• Complaints, appeals and whistleblowing.

Core principles: honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality and proportionality in investigations and remedies.

2. Responsibilities

2.1 Authors

Authors must:

• Ensure the work is original, accurately reported, and not under consideration elsewhere.
• Disclose all funding sources, institutional affiliations, and any competing interests.
• Provide accurate author lists and an Author Contributions statement. All listed authors must meet authorship criteria (substantial contributions; drafting or critical revision; final approval; accountability).
• Ensure that informed consent and ethics approvals are obtained for human/clinical studies and that animal research complies with relevant guidelines. Include ethics committee name and approval numbers in the manuscript.
• Supply data, code or materials when requested by editors or reviewers, or provide a Data Availability Statement explaining access limitations.
• Declare prior publication (including preprints) and properly cite related work.

2.2 Editors & Editorial Office

Editors must:

• Apply policies consistently and fairly, without undue influence from publishers, funders or advertisers.
• Manage conflicts of interest by recusal and appointing alternative editors or reviewers where necessary.
• Keep manuscripts and reviewer reports confidential.
• Respect authors’ rights while ensuring the integrity of the public record (issuing corrections/retractions when required).
• Use similarity-detection tools and review flagged concerns promptly.

2.3 Reviewers

Reviewers must:

• Provide objective, confidential, and timely reviews.
• Declare conflicts of interest and recuse themselves where appropriate.
• Not misuse confidential information or unpublished data.
• Notify editors if they suspect plagiarism, fabricated data, ethical breaches or other concerns.

2.4 Publisher (Neewaj)

The publisher will:

• Maintain and publish clear ethics policies and ensure editorial independence.
• Support investigations into alleged misconduct, maintain records, and take corrective action when needed.
• Ensure long-term preservation of records (archiving with Internet Archive and SSRN; DOIs via Zenodo).
• Apply APCs (USD 200) transparently and ensure waiver processes do not influence editorial decisions.

3. Authorship, contributorship & disputed authorship

• Neewaj endorses widely used authorship criteria: contribution to conception/design, data acquisition/analysis, drafting/revising, and final approval.
• Authors must provide a short Author Contributions statement at submission.
• For disputes over authorship, the editorial office will mediate and may contact institutions; if unresolved, a correction or editorial note may be published describing the outcome.

4. Conflicts of interest (COI)

• All parties must disclose financial, institutional or personal relationships that could bias work.
• Authors must include a Competing Interests statement; reviewers and editors must declare COIs and recuse themselves if necessary.
• Declared conflicts are published with the article where relevant.

5. Research on humans, animals and vulnerable populations

• Human research must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and local regulations, and include the ethics committee name and approval number. Clinical trials must be registered in a recognized public registry (provide registry name and number).
• Animal studies must describe compliance with relevant institutional and national guidelines and include approval details.
• For case reports, authors must obtain and retain written informed consent for publication of identifiable information and indicate this in the manuscript.

6. Data integrity, availability & reproducibility

• Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement describing where data, code and materials are deposited (DOI or repository link) or explain restrictions. Depositing data in public repositories is strongly encouraged.
• Editors and reviewers may request access to underlying data or code to verify results. Failure to provide data without good reason may delay or prevent publication.
• Suspected data fabrication, falsification or image manipulation will be investigated and may lead to correction or retraction.

7. Plagiarism, duplicate publication & inappropriate reuse

• Submissions are screened for similarity (e.g., iThenticate or similar). Minor overlap with proper citation is acceptable; undeclared duplicate publication or substantial unattributed copying is misconduct.
• Authors must cite and clearly explain any overlapping or prior material (including preprints). Duplicate publication without disclosure is prohibited and may result in rejection, correction or retraction.

8. Image manipulation and figure integrity

• Images must accurately represent the original data. Authors must not falsify, selectively alter or inappropriately enhance images.
• Acceptable adjustments (e.g., brightness/contrast) must be applied consistently and disclosed if they affect interpretation. Manipulated or fabricated images will trigger investigation, and may lead to rejection or retraction.

9. Corrections, expressions of concern & retractions

Neewaj follows COPE guidance for post-publication issues:

• Correction (Erratum/Corrigendum): For honest errors that do not invalidate the findings.
• Expression of Concern: Issued while an investigation is in progress when concerns are serious and unresolved.
• Retraction: For unreliable findings (fabrication, falsification), plagiarism, unethical research, or other serious breaches. Retraction notices explain the reasons and are linked to the original article.
• Retracted articles remain part of the record and are clearly labelled.

10. Investigations procedure

• Allegations (from readers, reviewers, editors or institutions) are acknowledged and handled confidentially.
• The editorial office collects relevant materials and contacts the authors for explanation. If necessary, authors’ institutions and funders are notified and asked to investigate.
• Investigations aim to be timely, unbiased and proportionate. Outcomes (no action, correction, retraction, or sanctions) are recorded and may be published. Records of investigations are retained by the publisher.

11. Sanctions & remedies

Possible actions following confirmed misconduct include:

• Requesting corrections or retractions.
• Banning authors from submitting for a defined period in severe cases.
• Notifying authors’ institutions, funders or professional bodies.
• Publishing notices to inform readers of concerns or findings.

12. Whistleblowing & reporting misconduct

• Concerns should be sent to editorial@neewaj.com with “Ethics concern” in the subject line. Provide as much detail and supporting evidence as possible.
• Complainants may remain anonymous, but providing contact details facilitates investigation. Neewaj will not subject whistleblowers to retaliation and will treat reports confidentially.

13. Privacy and confidentiality during investigations

• Investigations are confidential to protect complainants, respondents and third parties. Information is disclosed only to those who need it for the investigation. Final outcomes affecting the public record are published transparently.

14. Appeals and dispute resolution

• Authors may appeal editorial decisions or outcomes of misconduct investigations by submitting a written appeal to editorial@neewaj.com explaining grounds and new evidence. Appeals are reviewed by senior editors or an independent panel not involved in the initial decision.

15. Training, guidance & policy review

• Neewaj provides guidance to editorial board members, editors and reviewers on ethical standards. We review ethics policies regularly and update them to reflect best practice and indexing requirements. Policies are publicly available on the Editorial Policies hub.

16. Record-keeping & transparency

• Neewaj retains submission files, peer review records and investigation documents for a minimum period consistent with best practice and indexing requirements to support audits, appeals and indexing applications.
• Editorial board membership, peer review model, COI statements and APC information are made publicly available to support transparency.

17. Alignment with COPE and indexing expectations

• This policy follows COPE guidance and supports the transparent editorial practices expected by major indexers (DOAJ, Web of Science, Scopus). Where appropriate, COPE flowcharts and recommended actions are followed during investigations.

18. Contact & reporting

• Report ethics concerns: editorial@neewaj.com (Subject line: “Ethics concern”)
• General enquiries: contact@neewaj.com
• Phone: +91 97076 71638
• Postal address: Pub Jaruni, Hojai, Assam – 782440, India