Publishing Ethics

• Statement on Publishing Ethnics in the Journal of Tea Science

  
  

  Journal of Tea Science is an academic journal in the field of tea studies. The aim of the journal is to report the latest scientific achievements in tea science, foster academic debate, promote scholarly exchange, enhance the academic level of tea science, advance the development of tea science as a discipline, support the growth of the tea industry, and effectively serve the construction of the national economy.

  Journal of Tea Science adheres to accepted publishing ethics and is committed to promoting the dissemination and exchange of academic achievements in the field of tea science. It places strong emphasis on academic integrity and the encouragement of innovative thinking. The journal upholds academic standards, opposes academic misconduct, and actively strengthens the training for editors and reviewers. To clarify the ethical responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers, and in line with the commitment to maintaining high standards of publishing ethics, this Statement has been formulated based on the actual practices of the Journal and its editorial office.

  
  

  1 Publishing ethics for authors

  Authors shall abide by academic ethics. After submission of a paper, it automatically means that all authors of the paper are well aware of and agree to the following requirements, including but not limited to:

         (1)  The paper shall be an original research work (or a review), and the test materials, data, photographs, images, etc. shall be authentic and reliable. No data or facts shall be forged or tampered with.

         (2)  The paper shall not involve state secrets, and shall not have any intellectual property dispute or infringement. All authors shall participate in the work of the paper, be aware of the content and the submission of the paper, and have no objection to the authorship and its order. Improper authorship shall be avoided. The names and sources of funds, projects, tasks and other information shall be accurately stated, and the funds, projects, tasks and other information unrelated to the paper shall not be mentioned.

        (3)  The test materials and samples involved in the paper shall be obtained through legal and compliant channels, and the involved experimental animals shall comply with the ethical regulations on experimental animals.

        (4)  The paper shall not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration and shall not have been published in any other language in any other publication or media in whole or in part. Duplicate publication of data should be strictly avoided. During the editorial review process in accordance with relevant regulations, and before receiving an official decision from the editorial office, the manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere.

       (5)  The achievements of previous authors shall be respected. When documents and data are quoted, the sources of the citation shall be clearly indicated and listed as references. When quoting others’ writings, authors shall not distort the original point of view. The source of the cited figures and tables shall be indicated and the consent of the original copyright owner shall be obtained. Plagiarism is forbidden.

       (6)  Once a paper is submitted, all authors shall agree to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreementwith the Editorial Office, Journal of Tea Science. The formal agreement will be signed after the paper is officially accepted.

  For the published papers that violate publishing ethics, the editorial office will retract the paper and issue a retraction notice. At the same time, the author’s affiliated institute will be notified.
  

  
  

  2 Publishing ethnics for peer review experts 

  (1)  Objectivity and fairness shall be ensured. The peer reviewers should use their professional knowledge and ability to review and comment on the originality, scientificity and practicability of manuscripts, and they shall give clear, objective and fair comments. Only the academic level of the manuscripts shall be evaluated, and different academic opinions shall be respected. It shall be avoided to put forward offensive, derogatory or arbitrary comments, ormake personal evaluation on the authors. The opinions of peer reviewers shall not be affected by race, sex, religion or belief. Discriminations on the basis of race, sex, religion or belief are prohibited.

       (2)  The review shall be completed in a timely manner. Reviewers are required to finish the evaluation within the specified time frame and submit their review comments. If a reviewer is unable to complete the review on time, they should provide an explanation and apply in advance for an extension or return the manuscript.

      (3)  Confidentiality policy shall be strictly observed. Reviewers must keep the manuscript, review comments, and all related information confidential. It is prohibited to disseminate or discuss the paper with others. Review tasks may not be delegated to others without prior permission from the editorial office. Before an article is formally published, reviewers shall not cite the data, viewpoints, or conclusions of the manuscript under review, nor shall they appropriate such data, viewpoints, or conclusions as their own or disclose them for others to use.

         The avoidance system shall be implemented. Reviewers should proactively recuse themselves from handling papers where conflicts of interest exist with the authors, organizations, or affiliated institutes, whether due to competition or collaboration.
  

  3 Publishing ethnics for editors

    (1)  National laws and regulations, academic publishing ethics, professional ethics and the journal’s editorial rules and regulations shall be observed.

         (2)  Fairness and impartiality in the review and acceptance of papers shall be ensured. The manuscript processing procedures shall be strictly followed, and papers shall be handled in a timely manner. The peer review system, double-blind review system, and the avoidance system for interest-related peer reviewers shall be adhered to. Authors’ research achievements and reviewers’ opinions shall be respected, and appropriate standards for article selection shall be upheld.

        (3)  The confidentiality policy shall be observed. It is required to keep the information of authors and reviewers confidential, ensure the authenticity of review records, properly manage documents generated during the review and revision process, and maintain their confidentiality. Disclosure of information in manuscripts to any unrelated personnel shall be strictly prohibited.

        (4)  Integrity shall be upheld. Editors shall circumvent any commercial interests or exchanges that may compromise academic ethics. They should reject favor-based submissions, and must not interfere with the peer review process. The avoidance system shall be implemented. When there are competitive, cooperative, or other interest-related conflicts with the authors, organizations, or other parties involved in a manuscript, editors shall proactively recuse themselves from handling the manuscript.

         (5)  Academic misconducts shall be prevented. Editors shall strengthen the examination of received manuscripts and accepted manuscripts to be published, and make every attempt to avoid academic misconducts such as multiple submissions and redundant publishing. Any complaints of academic misconduct on published articles shall be promptly investigated in accordance with the regulations. The results should be announced in time.

        (6)  A sense of service and responsibility is encouraged. When an author raises a reasonable appeal with sufficient evidence, the responsible editor shall take it seriously, act as an intermediary to ensure effective communication, and promptly convey the information to the editorial office. The editorial office shall take further measures to address the issue. If necessary, the editorial board may be convened for discussion, and a final decision may be made by the board. The decision made by the editorial office accordingly shall be final. Repetitive or unsubstantiated claims will not be accepted.

        (7)  For editors who violate the regulations, the editorial office has the responsibility and obligation to feed back the situation to the journal’s sponsor for further penalty.

  
  

  4 Advertising Policy
  

  The journal will review both the content and format of advertisements. All advertisements must comply with legal regulations. Advertising content is strictly separated from academic content, and shall not influence the editorial process or acceptance decisions. The advertisement placements will be collectively discussed and decided.In case of conflicts of interest, disclosure must be made in accordance with relevant guidelines.

  
  

  
  

  
  

                  The Editorial Office, Journal of Tea Science

  
  

2019-07-05 Visited: 13621