Publication Ethics

We encourage our authors, reviewers, and editors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website. Smart City Insights adheres COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing.

Smart City Insights commitments:

  1. Keeping Editorial independence
  2. Assisting journal editors in maintaining ethical and transparent practices
  3. maintaining accurate and transparent academic records

 Author(s) commitments:

  1. ensuring that the work is original and written by them.
  2. It should not have been previously published anywhere else or submitted to any other journal.
  3. If materials have been used from other sources, including their own published work, it is crucial to clearly cite the source and obtain permission where necessary to avoid infringing on any rights of others, including privacy and intellectual property rights.
  4. Ensuring that the data is accurate and not manipulated and that any data reproduced in the paper is either their own or that they have permission to use it.
  5. Stating any conflicting or competing interest, including funding assistance.
  6. Adhering to all research ethics guidelines of the discipline, especially where human or animal subjects are involved.
  7. Representing the paper authorship accurately and crediting all the authors who participated in the study.
  8. Obtaining permission to publish from other authors participating in the study.
  9. Stating any potential overlap in the paper clearly, if the editor decides the manuscript is appropriate to publish.

 Reviewers commitments:

  1. maintaining the confidentiality of the review process
  2. Refraining from contacting the authors directly without the journal's permission
  3. alerting the journal editor of any competing interest that could affect the impartiality of their reviewing
  4. Conducting fairly and impartially

 Editors commitments:

  1. Promoting consistent ethical policies and acting to enforce them in a fair and consistent manner
  2. Ensuring the confidentiality of the review process
  3. Exercising the highest standards of personal integrity
  4. Recognizing conflicting or competing interests
  5. Ensuring that authors, reviewers, and Editorial Board members are sufficiently advised regarding the journal's ethics and publishing policies
  6. Ensuring that the journal's stewardship on ethical matters is fair, unbiased, and timely

 Editorial Boards commitments:

  1. Promoting fairness and equality and opposing discrimination
  2. Promoting the transparency of and respect for the academic record
  3. Respecting the confidentiality of others
  4. Being transparent about competing interests

Additional Resources

  1. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) -- http://publicationethics.org/    
  2. American Educational Research Association (AERA): http://www.aera.net/Portals/38/docs/About_AERA/CodeOfEthics(1).pdf
  3. American Political Science Association (APSA) -- http://www.apsanet.org/RESOURCES/For-Faculty/Ethics
  4. American Psychological Association (APA) -- http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
  5. British Educational Research Association (BERA) -- https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers
  6. Council of Science Editors (CSE) -- http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3331
  7. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) --  http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html
  8. National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- http://ethics.od.nih.gov/procedures.htm#protocol
  9. World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) -- http://www.wame.org/policies-and-resources
  10. World Medical Association (WMA): http://www.wma.net/en/20activities/10ethics/index.htm

 Plagiarism

Smart City Insights takes copyright infringement, plagiarism, and other publication ethics violations very seriously. Our top priority is to protect the rights of our authors, which is why we thoroughly investigate any claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Additionally, we strive to safeguard the reputation of our journal against any malpractice. To ensure the authenticity of submitted papers, we may use duplication-checking software. If an article is found to have plagiarized another work, we reserve the right to take action if third-party copyright material is used without permission or insufficient acknowledgment or if the article's authorship is disputed. This could include publishing an erratum or corrigendum, retracting the paper, etc., or taking appropriate legal action.

Prior publication

Generally, Smart City Insights does not accept previously published material. However, there are certain circumstances under which it may be considered. For more information, you can contact the Editor at the address provided below.

Contributor's publishing agreement

The standard license for Smart City Insights is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. This license permits the copying, adaptation, display, distribution, republishing, and reusing of content for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as the content is appropriately attributed.