PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

AIQUA - Italian Association for Quaternary Research - is an independent, apolitical, un-confessional and non-profit association with the mission of promoting national and international studies on the Quaternary and enhancing the awareness of their cultural, environmental and social relevance.

AMQ - Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary, formerly Il Quaternario - Italian Journal of Quaternary Sciences, is the official journal of AIQUA.

The primary aim of AMQ is to ensure to Quaternary devotees a fast and scientifically effective means of communication. Therefore, since 2010 the journal follows an open-access policy for a worldwide diffusion of scientific knowledge and a free access to research results, and it can be freely downloaded at www.aiqua.it web-site.

AMQ publishes original scientific articles relating to the Quaternary in its different aspects, presented by Italian and foreign scholars. The journal publishes peer-reviewed, original research and review papers offering high scientific and editorial standards and comprehensive treatment of the discussed topics. It also publishes comments on published papers and replies from the authors, opinions and debates, as well as a newsletter.

AMQ accepts submissions from scientists worldwide, without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, institutional affiliation, religion or political ideas.

1. PUBLICATION AND AUTHORSHIP

Originality and Authenticity

• It is forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal.

• Authors must not submit a manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

• The Authors should state that they have written an entirely original work.

• The Authors should state that data in the manuscript are real and authentic.

Authorship

• Those Authors who have significantly contributed to the research must be recognized as co-Authors. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. 

Financial Support

• Any sources of financial support must be mentioned or acknowledged in the paper.

Plagiarism and Fraudulent Data

• It must be stated that there is not any plagiarism and fraudulent data in the work. If the Authors have used the work and/or words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Third party information and results cannot be used without explicit and authorized mention of the source.

List of References

• In the paper, Authors should cite or quote previous publications, dealing with the same subject or related to the results presented. The list of references must contain all cited publications.

2. AUTHOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES

Co-authors and Peer Review Process

• The Corresponding Author must state on their own responsibility that all co-Authors are informed of the paper submission and revisions.

• All co-Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process. Copyright • The Authors cannot submit figures or other artwork published elsewhere and covered by copyright. Authorization to reproduce figures must be provided by the copyright owner. Data Access

• If required, Authors must facilitate access to data sets described in the article.

Significant Errors in Published Works

• It is an Author’s duty to promptly notify the Editor of any significant error or inaccuracy in their published work. Furthermore it is an Author’s duty to cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct any significant error or inaccuracy or to provide evidence to the Editor of the correctness of the original paper.

3. REVIEWER’S RESPONSIBILITY

Conflict of interest

• Reviewers have a duty to refuse the revision of a paper when their opinions could be influenced by any conflict of interest with respect to the research, the Authors or the research funders.

• The Reviewer must notify the Editor of any conflict of interest.

Judgment Objectivity

• The Reviewer’s judgments should be objective without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, institutional affiliation, religion, political ideas or competitive relationships with the Authors.

Personal Advantage

• The Reviewer can not take advantages of any original information and ideas contained in the unpublished paper.

Confidentiality

• The Reviewers must treat any manuscript as confidential. The manuscript cannot be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the Editor.

Peer Review Process

• The Reviewers should assist the Editor in verifying originality and scientific interest of the paper, validity and clarity of topics and relevance of results.

• The Reviewers should point out relevant previous publications that have not been cited in the paper and assess that arguments already discussed in other works are accompanied by proper citation.

• The Reviewers should support the Author in improving the paper, properly arguing all identified critical issues. They should provide a constructive peer review report.

• The Reviewers should carry out the revision in due time informing the Editor if this is not possible.

AIQUA strongly recommend that Reviewers also adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.

4. EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Publication Authority

• Editors have complete authority and responsibility to reject or accept an article.

• The significance and importance of the submitted paper must always drive Editors’ decisions.

• The Editor may confer with other Editors or Reviewers in making this decision.

• The Editor should take into account the policies of the journal's editorial board.

Conflicts of Interest

• Editors should have no conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept. They should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest and ask a co-Editor, associate Editor or other member of the editorial board to consider the manuscript.

• Editors should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction.

• Editors must avoid that the peer review process could be influenced by any conflict of interests.

Judgement Objectivity

• Editor’s judgments should be objective without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, institutional affiliation, religion, political ideas or competitive relationship with the authors.

Personal Advantage

• Editors can not take advantage of any original information and ideas contained in the unpublished paper.

Confidentiality

• Editors must treat any manuscript as confidential document. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except for reviewers and other Editors.

Anonymity of Reviewers

• The Editor must ensure that peer Reviewers’ identities are protected.

Peer Review Process

• The Editor's first duty is to timely assign the review to authoritative scientists expert in the specific disciplines addressed in the paper. They should make all reasonable effort to process submitted manuscripts in an efficient and timely manner.

• The Editor must ensure that the observations and criticisms of the work highlighted by the Reviewers are duly taken into account and that sound arguments are provided for those not accepted by the Author.

• The Editor should only accept a paper when reasonably certain.

Significant Errors in Published Works

• The Editor promotes publication of correction or retraction when significant errors are found in published work.

AIQUA refers editors to the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal editors.

5. PUBLISHING ETHICS ISSUES

• As a publisher of a scientific journal AIQUA devotes attention to maintain the integrity of the academic record.

• AIQUA prevents business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards.

• AIQUA guarantees to monitor and to safeguard publishing ethics by editorial board.

• AIQUA is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

• AIQUA avoids plagiarism and fraudulent data publication.

• AIQUA refers to the COPE guidelines for retracting articles: https://publicationethics.org/node/19896

Attachments:

AMQ-EthicsMalpract.pdf

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