Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE)

The Iraqi Journal of Environmental Science (IJES) follows the standards of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). The editorial board members fully adhere to and comply with the policies and principles of the COPE. All published articles by the journal follow the best practices on ethical matters, errors, and restrictions.

IJES requires all submissions to adhere to the highest ethical standards and best practices in publishing. All manuscripts submitted to IJES are expected to present accurate information and to properly cite all content referenced from other materials. Submitted articles should not have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). In addition, by submitting material to IJES, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he/she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at IJES.

Frequency of the journal

The Journal publishes three issues per year.

Duties of Editors

• The Editors of the journal should have the full authority to reject/accept a manuscript.
• The Editors of the journal should maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts under review until they are published.
• The Editor-in-Chief should decide on submitted manuscripts, whether to be published or not with other editors and reviewers.
• The editors of the journal should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
• The editors of the journal should disclose and try to avoid any conflict of interest.
• The Editors should comment on ethical questions and possible misconduct raised by submissions (e.g. unethical research design, and inappropriate data manipulation), and be alert to redundant publication and plagiarism. Editors' comments should be sent to authors in their entirety unless they contain offensive or libelous remarks.
• The Editors of the journal must not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their research purposes without the author's explicit written consent.
• Editors strive to ensure that peer review at IJES is fair, unbiased, and timely. The journal has established policies for handling submissions from editorial board members to ensure unbiased review.
• Editors should take all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, recognizing that different sections have different aims and standards.
• Editors should seek assurances that the research they publish has been approved by an appropriate body (e.g. research ethics committee, institutional review board) where one exists. Editors should be alert to intellectual property issues and work with their publishers to handle potential breaches of laws and conventions. Errors, inaccurate, or misleading statements must be corrected promptly and with due prominence.

 Duties of Reviewers

• Reviewers assist the editorial board in making editorial decisions. Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them to improve the paper. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
• Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
• Reporting possible research misconduct.
• Suggest alternative reviewers in case they cannot review the manuscript for any reason.
• Treating the manuscript as a confidential document.
• Not making any use of the work described in the manuscript.
• Not communicating directly with authors, if somehow they identify the authors.
• Ensuring that the manuscript is of high quality and original research.
• Informing the editor if he/she finds the assigned manuscript is under consideration in any other publication to his/her knowledge.
• Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. References to the ideas of others should be accompanied by the relevant citation.
• A reviewer should call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
• The reviewer should not force Authors to cite the reviewer's published articles.

 Duties of Authors

• The submitted manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
• The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid concerns about text-recycling (self-plagiarism).
• Results should be presented, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation (including image-based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting, and processing data.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgments to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized, and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.
• The submitting corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the manuscript article's publication has been approved by all the other coauthors.
• All authors have agreed to allow the corresponding author to serve as the correspondent with the editorial office, to review the edited manuscript and proof.
• All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims.
• Acknowledge the sources of data used in the development of the manuscript.
• IJES encourages the authors to register and create their ORCID ID and share it with us while submitting the manuscripts to add it to the published paper.

Contribution Details

Contributors should describe contributions made by each of them toward the manuscript. Authors must have:

• made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
• contributed to drafting the paper, or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
• provided final approval of the version to be published;
• agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved;
• agreed to be named on the author list;
• and approved the full author list.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors qualify for authorship and have agreed to be listed on the submission. He is also responsible for informing all co-authors of relevant editorial information during the review process.

Studies in Humans, Animals, and Plants

All original research papers involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections, or sites, must include a written statement under an Ethics Approval section including the following:

• The name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved.
• The number or ID of the ethics approval(s).
• A statement that human participants have provided informed consent before taking part in the research.
• Research involving animals must adhere to ethical standards concerning animal welfare. All original research papers involving animals must:
• Follow international, national, and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals.
• Receive approval by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice at which the research was conducted and provide details on the approval process, names of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved, and the number or ID of the ethics approval(s) in the Ethics Approval section.
• Justify the use of animals and the species selected.
• Provide information about housing, feeding, and environmental enrichment, and steps taken to minimize suffering.
• Provide mode of anesthesia and euthanasia.

Research that does not meet the above-listed requirements regarding ethical approval and animal welfare will be rejected.

Consent for Publication

For all manuscripts that include details or images relating to a person, written informed consent for the publication of these details must be obtained from that person (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18). The consent must be for publication of their details under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (such that they will be freely available on the internet). If the person has died, consent for publication must be obtained from their next of kin. The manuscript must include a statement that written informed consent for publication was obtained.

Authors can use the consent form to obtain consent for publication, or a consent form from their own institution or region if appropriate. The consent form must state that the details/images will be freely available on the internet and may be seen by the general public. The consent form must be made available to the Editor if requested and will be treated confidentially.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the published work, the author must promptly notify the journal editor and work with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in any form constitutes a serious violation of publication ethics and is not acceptable. The journal has a strict policy against plagiarism and misconduct. All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using professional plagiarism-checking software. Submitted manuscripts with an unacceptable similarity index resulting from plagiarism or misconduct research behavior are rejected immediately. Examples of plagiarism and misconduct include:

• Word-for-word copying of portions of another's writing without enclosing the copied passage in quotation marks and acknowledging the source in the appropriate scholarly convention.
• The paraphrasing or abbreviated restatement of someone else's ideas without acknowledging that another person's text has been the basis for the paraphrasing.
• False citation: material should not be attributed to a source from which it has not been obtained.
• False data: data that has been fabricated or altered in a laboratory or experiment; although not factually plagiarism, this is a form of academic fraud.
• Self-plagiarism or double submission: the submission of the same or a very similar paper to two or more publications.

Complaints/Appeals

All complaints, concerns, or appeals regarding authorship issues or the peer-review process, including concerns raised post-publication, should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, who shall investigate the claims by first, requesting information from all parties involved and second, proposing a course of action in line with academic ethical principles as outlined by the COPE (https://publicationethics.org/). Submissions can be halted in the review or publication process until the issues are resolved. In situations, when Editor-in-Chief is involved in the complaint, the Editorial Board members, led by the most senior member, investigate the claims and propose a course of action.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

All authors of articles must disclose any conflicts of interest they may have with the publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Confidentiality

A submitted manuscript is confidential material. The journal will not disclose submitted manuscripts to anyone except individuals who partake in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted). These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, reviewers, and editors. However, in suspected cases of misconduct, a manuscript may be revealed to members of the journal ethics committees and institutions/organizations that may require it for the resolution of the misconduct. The journal shall follow the appropriate COPE flowcharts wherever necessary.

Misconduct

Misconduct constitutes a violation of this editorial policy, journal policies, publication ethics, or any applicable guidelines/policies specified by COPE, WAME (World Association of Medical Editors), and ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors). Any other activities that threaten/compromise the integrity of the research/publication process are potential misconduct. Suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated according to COPE guidelines.

Correction and Retraction of Articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the editor of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected versions will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published. When necessary, the retraction of articles will be done according to COPE retraction guidelines.

Acknowledgment

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. Organizations that provide support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged. Information concerning funding organizations (including the grant numbers) for the reported research should be provided. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

 Citation Policy

1. Transparent Attribution

All content drawn from other sources, including the authors' previous publications, must be properly cited. Direct quotations must appear in quotation marks and be accompanied by an appropriate reference. This applies equally to the author’s own previously published work (i.e., self-reuse).

 

2. Responsible Self-Citation

While it is acceptable to reference one’s own work when it is directly relevant, excessive self-citation should be avoided. Citations should serve to support the content, not to artificially boost citation metrics.

 

3. Firsthand Use of Sources

Authors must only cite works they have read and understood. Copying citations from other reference lists without consulting the original material is considered unacceptable and unethical.

 

4. Avoiding Preferential Citations

Citations should be selected based on their scholarly merit and relevance. Authors must avoid favoring their own publications, those of close collaborators, or those affiliated with their institution without clear justification.

 

5. Exclusion of Non-Scholarly Sources

Materials such as advertisements, sponsored content, or commercial promotional materials are not appropriate for scholarly citation and should not be included in reference lists.

 

6. Compliance with COPE Guidelines

In line with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), citation practices must avoid manipulation. Any form of citation stacking, coercive citation, or inclusion of irrelevant references to influence impact metrics is strictly prohibited.

 

7. Ethical Conduct in Referencing

Manipulating citation patterns to influence metrics or editorial decisions undermines the integrity of the academic record. Such practices will be investigated and may lead to editorial sanctions or retraction of the submission.