Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
The Progress Journals (TPJ), India is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, transparency, originality, and responsible scholarly publishing. All Editors, Managing Editors, Editorial Board Members, Reviewers, and Authors are expected to comply with the ethical principles and responsibilities outlined below.
1. Editorial Responsibilities
The Editor and Managing Editor are responsible for maintaining a fair, transparent, and consistent editorial process.
• Manuscripts are initially assessed for scope, relevance, originality, and basic academic quality.
• Suitable manuscripts are assigned to qualified reviewers through the journal's double-blind peer-review process.
• Editorial decisions are based on academic merit, originality, relevance, methodological quality, and overall suitability for publication.
• Manuscripts, reviewer reports, and other confidential information are handled appropriately and kept confidential.
• Editors are expected to identify and appropriately manage actual or potential conflicts of interest.
2. Authors' Responsibilities
Authors are responsible for ensuring the integrity and originality of their submitted work. Authors must:
• Submit original work that has not been previously published and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
• Properly acknowledge and cite all sources, quotations, data, ideas, and other material used in the manuscript.
• Ensure that all listed authors have made a genuine and substantial contribution to the work and have approved the final version of the manuscript.
• Provide accurate information, research data, and supporting documentation when reasonably required.
• Avoid plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate image manipulation, and other forms of academic or publication misconduct.
• Disclose relevant financial, personal, professional, or academic conflicts of interest.
• Notify the journal promptly if a significant error is discovered in a published manuscript.
3. Editorial Board Members
Editorial Board Members are expected to support the journal's academic and ethical standards.
• Provide academic and editorial advice when requested.
• Maintain confidentiality regarding unpublished manuscripts and related information.
• Disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest.
• Avoid using confidential or unpublished information obtained through their editorial role for personal or professional advantage.
4. Reviewers' Responsibilities
Reviewers play an important role in maintaining the quality and integrity of the peer-review process. Reviewers must:
• Maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and information received during the review process.
• Evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and professionally.
• Provide clear, constructive, and academically relevant comments.
• Identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited, where applicable.
• Inform the Editor of suspected plagiarism, substantial similarity, duplicate publication, or other ethical concerns.
• Declare any conflict of interest before accepting or completing a review.
• Complete assigned reviews within the agreed timeframe whenever reasonably possible.
5. Plagiarism and Similarity
All manuscripts submitted for publication in TPJ are subject to plagiarism and similarity screening as part of the journal's editorial process.
The journal generally expects manuscripts to have an overall Similarity Index below 10%. However, a similarity percentage alone is not considered conclusive evidence of plagiarism.
The editorial team may examine the similarity report, identified sources, location of matched text, quotations, references, commonly used terminology, and properly acknowledged material before making an editorial decision.
Manuscripts showing substantial, inappropriate, or unattributed similarity may be returned to the authors for revision or may be rejected, depending on the nature and extent of the identified content.
6. Publication Misconduct
TPJ considers plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship misconduct, citation manipulation, unethical research practices, and other forms of publication malpractice to be serious ethical concerns.
When an allegation or indication of misconduct arises, the journal may review the matter, request clarification or supporting documentation from the authors, and consult relevant editorial or academic personnel where appropriate.
Depending on the circumstances and available evidence, possible editorial actions may include manuscript rejection, request for correction, publication of an expression of concern, correction of the published record, or retraction.
7. Research Ethics
Authors are responsible for ensuring that research involving human participants, animals, personal data, or other ethically sensitive subjects complies with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and relevant regulations.
Where required, appropriate ethical approval, informed consent, permissions, or other safeguards must be obtained before the research is conducted and documented appropriately in the manuscript.
8. Conflict of Interest
Authors, Editors, Editorial Board Members, and Reviewers must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, or academic relationship that could reasonably influence the research, review, or editorial decision.
Where a conflict of interest is identified, appropriate steps may be taken to maintain the fairness and independence of the editorial and peer-review process.
9. Complaints and Appeals
Authors may submit complaints or appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer-review procedures, publication processes, or other journal-related matters to the journal's editorial management.
Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly, objectively, and confidentially. Where appropriate, the journal may request additional information or documentation before reaching a decision.
10. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
TPJ is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the published scholarly record. If a significant error, ethical concern, or publication issue is identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate action.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include publishing a correction, expression of concern, or retraction. The action taken will depend on the nature, seriousness, and available evidence relating to the issue.
11. Intellectual Property and Copyright
Authors must respect applicable copyright and intellectual property rights and ensure that submitted manuscripts do not knowingly infringe the rights of others.
Authors are responsible for obtaining appropriate permission for copyrighted material where such permission is required and for providing proper acknowledgement of third-party material.
12. Data Integrity and Reproducibility
Authors are responsible for ensuring that research data, results, figures, tables, and supporting information presented in their manuscripts are accurate and appropriately reported.
Where appropriate and ethically permissible, authors should retain relevant research data and supporting information and make them available when reasonably required for verification of the published work.
13. Confidentiality and Responsible Scholarly Communication
TPJ respects the confidentiality of manuscripts, reviewer reports, author information, and other non-public information obtained during the publication process.
All participants in the publication process are expected to communicate professionally and responsibly and to avoid the misuse of confidential information.
The Progress Journals (TPJ) is committed to fairness, transparency, confidentiality, originality, academic integrity, and responsible scholarly communication throughout the publication process.