1.1 Ethics Approval

All research involving human participants, human material, or human data must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and must be approved by the ethics committee. A detailed statement, including the name of the ethics committee and the appropriate reference number, must be included in all manuscripts reporting such research. If a study is granted an exemption from ethical approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption).If a study is not approved by the ethics committee prior to the commencement of the study, the decision whether the article can be peer-reviewed will be made by the editor and the editorial board team.

1.2 Informed Consent

For case reports that include case details, personal information, or images that may make it possible to identify specific individuals, these individuals (or parents, legal guardians, or next of kin) must consent to the publication of the material, and their consent should be declared in the manuscript. Authors should also disclose to participants in their studies any personally identifiable material may be made available on the Internet or in print following publication. Publication without such written consent may be considered if all identifying information has been removed. Considerations of public interest may outweigh the potential harm associated with the identification of individuals in situations in which it is impossible to obtain permission and a reasonable individual would be unlikely to object to publication. The final decision regarding publication remains the prerogative of the editor.

1.3 Research Involving Human, Animals, and Cell Lines

1.3.1 Humans

Tech Science Press (TSP) journals adhere to the standards established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the Code of Conduct and its Best Practice Guidelines of COPE. According to these standards, research performed on humans must follow international rules set out in the Declaration of Helsinki (wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/). Thus, manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, identifiable human data, human primary cells, or human tissue must include a statement of ethics approval and consent. In practice, approval from an ethics committee should be obtained before the research is undertaken. The statement should indicate the name of the ethics committee, the date on which it approved the study, and, where appropriate, the committee’s reference number. Any exemption from ethics approval should also be detailed in the manuscript (with, again, the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption). In the case of animal experiments as well, the authors must provide a statement of ethics approval and consent, as discussed further below.

When this research relies on human subjects or tissue, manuscripts must be accompanied by statements of written informed consent from all of the participants. It is also TSP’s policy that patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated irrespective of any informed consent statement; in any case, an editor may ask for written informed consent forms from participating patients who can be identified (including by the patients themselves). Further information and documentation that support this policy should be made available on request to the editors, who retain the discretion regarding whether to proceed to peer review in such cases.

1.3.2 Animals

All articles published by TSP that report experiments performed using animals must be conducted in accordance with rigorous ethical standards concerning animal welfare. Thus the Materials or Methods section must identify the institutional and/or licensing ethics committee that approved the experiments and also provides a full description of the procedures and efforts to minimize the harm to animal subjects. More specifically, experiments involving animals need to be consistent with the relevant international, national, and/or institutional guidelines (e.g., local and national regulations in accordance with the U.K. Animals Act and associated guidelines, Animals Act 1986, Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures; official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc8889/hc01/0107/0107.pdf). Animal studies may also be checked for compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines (www.nc3rs.org.uk/ARRIVE). 

As with manuscripts reporting studies involving humans, those reporting on animal research for which an exemption from ethics approval was granted should provide details in this regard (with, as usual, the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption and the reasons for it). The editors retain the right to reject manuscripts owing to concerns about the treatment of animal subjects. 

1.3.3 Cell Lines

All articles reporting on research involving cell lines that are published in TSP journals must state the origin of the lines in the Methods section. For established cell lines, the provenance should be stated and references provided either to a published paper or to a commercial source. If previously unpublished de novo cell lines were used, including any acquired from another laboratory, the authors of the article must supply details regarding the necessary approval from an institutional review board or ethics committee as well as confirmation of written informed consent in the case of human cell lines.

1.4 Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants (cultivated and wild), including the collection of plant materials, must be conducted in compliance with applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines. We therefore recommend that authors consult the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

For each submitted manuscript, supporting information on the genetics and origin of the plants involved must be provided. When the research involves rare and non-model plants (other than, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, or Oryza sativa), voucher specimens must be deposited in an accessible herbarium or museum. Future investigators may review these vouchers in order to verify the identity of the material used in a study (especially in cases in which subsequent taxonomic rearrangements occur). Submissions of specimens should provide details of the populations sampled at the site of collection (including GPS coordinates), the date of collection, and an indication of the parts of the plants used in the study where appropriate. The requirement for this documentation may be waived for work involving threatened or endangered species provided that the researchers submit a cover letter with their manuscript explaining the situation. The editors reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

The following are examples of ethical statements:

· "Torenia fournieri plants were used in this study. White-flowered crown white (CrW) and violet-flowered crown violet (CrV) cultivars selected from the ‘Crown Mix’ (XXX Company, City, Country) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (XXX Institute, City, Country)."

· "Arabidopis mutant lines (SALKxxxx, SAILxxxx, …) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX, institute, city, country."

1.5 Clinical Trials Registration

For manuscripts reporting research involving clinical trials, TSP journals require the registration of all clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment. The trial registration number and date of registration must be included as the method section. The ICMJE’s clinical trial registration policy is detailed on its website. Suitable databases include clinicaltrials.gov, and those listed by WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

1.6 Randomized Controlled Trials

Reports of completed randomized controlled trials should follow CONSORT reporting standards. More information can be found in the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org.

Reporting guidelines are tools for health researchers to use while writing manuscripts. They provide minimum lists of information needed to ensure a manuscript can be

· Understood by a reader,

· Replicated by a researcher,

· Used by a doctor to make a clinical decision, and

· Included in a systematic review.

Reporting guidelines are also helpful for reviewers. If the information required by a reporting guideline is not included in a manuscript, then you cannot properly judge the quality of that study.

2.1 Reporting Guidelines for Main Study Types

 2.2 Publication Ethics and Integrity

The journal is dedicated to ensuring the quality of each paper that it publishes. In the interest of maintaining the highest standards in academic publishing, we insist that all authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff abide by the Core Practices and Guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Many questions regarding the ethical dimensions of conduct relating to the publication of scientific research can be answered by consulting the COPE website (core-practices); researchers may also contact TSP Integrity Team regarding any ethical concerns. The potential conflicts of interest for all authors must be disclosed in their papers at the time of submission. It is required that authors are presenting their research findings accurately and discussing the significance of their work objectively.

The data and methods used in the research must be presented in sufficient details in the paper so that other researchers could be able to replicate the work. Authors should make the raw data available in a public repository prior to the submission of their manuscripts; at the very least, the data should be accessible to the journal’s referees and editors upon request. In addition, authors are expected to take appropriate measures so that their raw data are retained in full for a reasonable period of time after publication. 

The journal does not consider for publication manuscripts that have been submitted to more than one journal at the same time or that do not present novel results. Thus, for example, an English translation of a paper that has already been published in another language would not be considered. Furthermore, manuscripts should not be published in the journal if major original information has already been published elsewhere. Accordingly, previously published figures or images may be included, even by the authors themselves, only after necessary permission has been obtained from the original copyright holders for publication under the CC-BY license. Additional information on this topic is available on the Rights and Permissions page. 

Should authors find errors or inaccuracies in the published versions of their papers, they must promptly make editors of the journal aware of the fact so that the appropriate action can be taken to rectify the situation.

2.2.1 Misconduct 

The journal expects all authors, editors and reviewers to be aware of the best practice in publication ethics. Any form of misconduct is strictly prohibited. Authors should avoid ghost, guest, gift and other authorship issues. Authors should retain their original data and source files after submitting their articles, as the editor might request this material in the publication evaluation process, which otherwise will be suspended until any issue is resolved.
Reviewers and editors are required to treat manuscripts fairly and in confidence, and to declare any competing interests. We will vigorously investigate allegations of research or publication misconduct.

Any suspicion that authors, reviewers or editors have engaged in misconduct will result in action either before or after publication. When ethical questions are raised regarding a paper that has already been published—even years after publication—a preliminary investigation will be carried out, following COPE guidelines, in the course of which the party or parties involved will be called upon to present their case. The editor reserves the right to question a manuscript’s originality and integrity and to raise these concerns with the authors’ sponsoring institutions and other relevant bodies.

2.2.2 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is strictly not acceptable in any submissions to TSP journals. Authors must not directly use words, images, or ideas, of others or other sources, without attribution. All sources must be cited at the point they are used, and reuse of wordings must be limited, be attributed to, or quoted, in the text. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure the originality of their work. Upon submission, all manuscripts are meticulously evaluated for similarity against previously submitted and published articles. Figures and images are examined for the presence of duplicative or anomalous data. TSP journals use Crossref Similarity Check (iThenticate) to check for the originality of a submission. Manuscripts that are detected to have plagiarism will be rejected (if unpublished) or retracted (if published), as appropriate.

2.2.3 Submission of Duplicate and Redundant Manuscripts

The journal considers for publication only original manuscripts that have not been published elsewhere in any form or language. When a manuscript is submitted, it is assumed that no other manuscript substantially similar to it has been or will be submitted to any other journal before this journal has the opportunity to decide whether to publish it. In other words, it is considered unethical to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

If authors use their work, which was previously published or under review, in their new manuscripts, they should cite the work appropriately. The new manuscripts should indicate the differences from the previously published work.

Any forms of reuse of the authors’ own words in any parts of the submitted manuscript should be appropriately attributed. Reuse of the authors’ own figures, or substantial amounts of wording, may require copyright permission from the copyright holder, which the authors are responsible for obtaining.

Extension articles from published conference proceedings must be declared and have clear citation and discussion.

Publications that are duplicative or redundant (i.e., that present, in different wording, data that have already been published by the same authors) are not accepted. A single study should not be split up into several submissions with same/similar methods and questions, and submitted to various journals, or to one journal over time.

2.2.4 Fabrication and Falsification

The authors of submitted manuscripts or published articles in which the results are found to have been fabricated, falsified, or subjected to image manipulation, will be sanctioned, and their published articles will be retracted immediately.

2.2.5 Citation Policy

Referencing and citing relevant and appropriate literature is a fundamental aspect of scholarly publishing and involves a shared responsibility among authors, editors and peer reviewers. Authors should avoid excessive self-citation when preparing their work. Editors and peer reviewers should not request authors to include citations in their manuscripts without a strong scholarly rationale. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has issued a discussion document on citation manipulation along with recommendations for best practices.

Research articles and non-research articles (e.g., Opinion, Review, and Commentary articles) must reference appropriate and relevant literature to support their claims. Practices such as excessive self-citation, coordinated efforts among multiple authors to collectively self-cite, gratuitous and unnecessary citation of articles published within the same journal to which the paper has been submitted, and any other forms of citation manipulation are inappropriate.

Instances of citation manipulation will lead to the rejection of the manuscript and may be reported to authors’ institutions. Similarly, any attempts by peer reviewers or editors to encourage such practices should be reported by authors to the publisher.

Authors should consider the following guidelines when preparing their manuscript:

· Any statement in the manuscript that relies on external sources of information (i.e., not the authors’ own new ideas or findings or general knowledge) should use a citation.

· Authors should avoid citing derivations of original work. For example, they should cite the original work rather than a review article that cites an original work.

· Authors should ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e., they should ensure the citation supports the statement made in their manuscript and should not misrepresent another work by citing it if it does not support the point the authors wish to make).

· Authors should not cite sources that they have not read.

· Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.

· Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.   

2.2.6 Investigations and Sanctions

Suspected breaches of the publication ethics policies, either before and after publication, as well as concerns about unethical research behavior, should be reported to TSP Integrity Team and undergo a thorough investigation. During the investigation process, the authors may be requested to provide the underlying data and images, and answer all editors’ queries.

Depending on the situation, this may result in the journal’s and/or TSP’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

· If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.

· If the article has already been published online, an erratum/correction may be published and linked with the article, or in severe cases, a retraction of the article may occur.

· If TSP becomes aware of breaches of the publication ethics policies, the following sanctions may be applied across TSP journals:

    Rejection of the manuscript and any other manuscripts submitted by the author(s).

    Not allowing submission for 1–3 years.

    Prohibition from acting as an editor or reviewer.