Publication Ethics

On this page:
Authors
Editors and Editorial Board
Reviewers

Overview

Journal of Commerce and Trade (JCT) believes in the principles of not-for-profit organization, transparency and scholarly publishing to evaluate submitted manuscript on its website. The sole responsibility of a submitted manuscript is of submitting author/s. Any observed unethical behaviour or research misconduct is highly objectionable. Journal of Commerce and Trade has established its Publication Ethics Policy on the acknowledged practices settled by COPE-Committee on Publication Ethics.  JCT is Double-Blind Reviewed (peer reviewed/Refereed) journal with broad scope. Authors are bound to work with publication ethics and academic integrity. Following statement entails the ethical conduct of all parties of publication i.e.,  Authors, Editors & Editorial Board and Peer-Reviewers.

Authors

Authorship
Authorship should be limited to only those who have made a significant contribution in the process of research i.e., from idea generation to execution and results extraction. Corresponding author is the person who is responsible for communication with the journal and other researchers. He should ensure that names of all the authors are properly written. And, Manuscript has been approved by co-authors.

Standards
Manuscripts must be Scientifically sound, original, bonafide, significant, ethical and consistent with vision, mission, aim and scope of the journal. Any unethical approach or research misconduct is not acceptable. Manuscript should contain all necessary information which might help readers to understand the phenomenon deeply and it should also help them in replication of the topic. Every Author has to follow Author Guidelines of Journal of Commerce and Trade.

Acknowledgement of Sources and Citations
If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Such quotations and citations must be listed in the Reference at the end of the Manuscript. Authors should provide names of all those who supported in work in acknowledgement. It should be written in form of a statement at the end of Manuscript. Any financial support and providing agency should also be given due position in acknowledgement.

Data Fabrication and Falsification
Data fabrication means that the author did not actually did the study, but made-up the data. Data falsification means the author did the experiment, but then changed some of the data. Both of these practices are not acceptable. It creates a mistrust in the social, national and academic periphery by the Journal.

Multiple, Concurrent and RedundantPublication
Authors cannot get one work published in more than one journal. This is called multiple or concurrent publication. It is unethical to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Doing this wastes the time of editors and peer reviewers, and can damage the reputation of journals if published in more than one. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Redundant publications (or 'salami' publications) means publishing many very similar manuscripts based on the same experiment. It can make readers less likely to pay attention to your manuscripts. An author may publish a paper in a language other than English in a journal of local circulation and may then submit an English-language version to Journal of Commerce and Trade. It is highly objectionable.

Cooperation in Double Blind Peer Reviews
All submitted manuscripts have to undergo a strict and pre-defined Double-blind-peer-review process by not the less than two reviewers who have expertise in the area and are not a member in Editorial team. Authors must have to positively participate in the Double-blind-peer-review process as a policy of JCT. If any corrections, rejections or modifications are suggested, authors have to rectify them (even multiple times) with care and patience. The process of Peer Review enriches the manuscript.
Revisions do not gurantee the publication of paper until it suits to the whole Publication Ethics, Peer Review Process and Author Guidelines.

Plagiarism and Originality
Authors have to follow Plagiarism Policy as stated on the website. They are liable for any case of Plagiarism or research misconduct claimed against them. Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a manuscript submitted for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such, if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication. Author has the sole responsibility to reduce the plagiarism under 15 percent limit. Over limit manuscripts may be outright rejected.

Conflicts of Interest
Manuscript must not have conflict of interests, against public policy, copyright infringements and other legal issues. Authors should disclose any conflict of interest or opinion between authors including employment, consultancies, testimonies, registrations, funding and sequencing of the author names. If author found a mistake or any other thing that might affect the quality of publication, it is his/her responsibility to notify the editors.

Editors and Editorial Board

Quality Assurance and Transparency
Editors must evaluate the manuscripts purely on the basis of Merit and without any discrimination and favourism. Editors must keep each and every information confidential regarding submitted manuscripts and Peer-Reviews.
Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record. They should base their decisions solely one the papers’ importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to publication’s scope. They should not reverse their decisions nor overturn the ones of previous editors without serious reason. Editors should publish errata pages or make corrections when needed. Editors should have a clear picture of the research’s funding sources. They must ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. Editors should only accept a paper when reasonably sure.
Inconsistent or low-quality manuscript should be rejected outright at the initial stage. 

Authority
Editors have the authority to select/reject any manuscript if it is against publication ethics, weak in quality and does not follow the vision, mission, aim and scope of the journal or a case of research misconduct. Editors have the responsibility to reject any manuscript if it is plagiarized more than the said limit as stated in Plagiarism Policy.

Responsibility & Conflict of Interest
Editors will report to the Chief Editor of the journal. Chief Editor is responsible to follow the policies laid down by editorial board and the general body of the journal publisher. Editors are morally responsible for not to use any material from unpublished manuscripts. Editors should ask a co-editor or other member of the editorial board about any conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. 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 or expression of concern. 

Peer Reviewers

Timeliness and Objectiveness
Reviewers must take care of the Time as mentioned in review request. Reviewers must assist to the Editors in review process and assist the authors for further improvement. Reviewers should not try to correct typesetting and grammar of the manuscript. Repetitive checking of manuscript may disrupt objectivity of the review process.

Transparency and Confidentiality
Reviewers must evaluate the manuscripts with objective and constructive and without any discrimination and favour. They should Read the Journal-specific Guidelines carefully before starting a review. They should download the paper and make proper notes about flaws and good points. Reviewers must keep each and every information confidential regarding submitted manuscripts. Reviewers must immediately notify the editors if the manuscript does not relate to his expertise. Reviewers must contact any time to Chief Editor in case of any discrepancy, mal-practice or research misconduct found in Manuscript. Reviewers have to conduct the review by themselves. Don’t allow anyone to handle review except you only.

Against National Integrity and Public Policy
If paper is against India’s respect, integrity and public policy, reviewers should not forward and recommend it for publication. Reviewers should restrain themselves from to be influenced by the origin, nationality, religion, political beliefs, gender, caste, creed or social class or by commercial considerations.

Credit and Discredit
Reviewers should not use any information and submitted content obtained from the peer-review process for your own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage or to disadvantage or discredit others. They have to be apart from promoting their own research and hypothesis.

Conflicts of Interest
It is of paramount importance for Journal of Commerce and Trade to establish clear and transparent criteria on what constitutes a conflicting or competing interest. If reviewer feels that he has conflict of interest with any written script, he/she should decline to review it. In such circumstances alternative reviewers need to be sought, and in which cases disclosures need to be made effectively. Here are some points about competing interests among editors, reviewers and authors as given below:
Family or close personal friends: Never acceptable
Current collaborations: An ongoing collaboration is never acceptable. Collaboration in the past 3 years are manually verified. If the collaboration presents a low risk of potential bias, the editor/reviewer can continue with an accompanying disclosure statement.
Supervisor/advisor relationships: Ongoing supervisory relationships are never acceptable. The same is true for a student/subordinate relationship.
Shared affiliations: Generally not acceptable, except in the case of a large institution, and where no other conflicts exist. If a shared affiliation is permitted, a disclosure will accompany the publication.
Financial interests with the authors, related businesses, or the content of the manuscript: Never acceptable

 

Queries
In case of any query, message or email to Chief Editor.
Updated: 25 July, 2022.