Publication Ethics
During the process of conducting research and publishing it, it is of great importance for an author, alongside all parties involved, to strictly adhere to codes of conduct relevant to existing regulatory bodies. As the quality and integrity of the work displayed directly mirror that of the institution/author associated with it, publishing ethically is one thing to consider throughout the process. Environmental Science & Sustainable Development has listed its guidelines below for authors. It outlines ethical issues or misconduct cases that could arise when submitting a manuscript and should be made familiar to an author.

Authorship and Contributor-ship
Authors or co-authors should only be listed in the study submitted if they made a significant contribution to the manuscript. In other words, authors should avoid “gift” or “ghost” authorship; the addition of an individual to the list of authors without having contributed in any way to the writing of the study. That being said, an author, alongside co-authors involved, share the responsibility for the content and results of the submitted article. Co-authors, specifically, must have contributed to the work reported by: having taken part in the research concept/design, written/revised the work, and agreed on the journal where the article is submitted. If the article has been found to breach the codes of conduct, responsibility will then be equally shared by the named authors and corresponding authors.

Changes to Authorship
Before the submission of a manuscript, the author and corresponding authors of the article are expected to be in agreement and provide definitive information accordingly. Changes in the authorship of a submitted article are acceptable ONLY before its publication and upon the approval of the Journal Editor(s). For changes to be considered:

• The exact changes requested should be clearly stated in an email to the Editorial team.
• Reasons as to why the changes are necessary should be communicated in the same e-mail.
• Confirmation in an e-mail from all involved parties (Authors and corresponding authors) must be sent to the Editorial team.
  
  

Conflict of Interest
In case there are any relationships that could present some kind of conflict of interest, the author is obliged to disclose this information in full. Any financial relationship or any other kind that could be recognized as influencing an author’s objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest.

As part of the journal submission requirements, and during the process of an author’s submission of his/her article, they will be asked to provide ticks for statements that apply. The statement(s) are designed to ensure that there is no financial or personal interest that could affect their impartiality. If otherwise, authors are expected to contact the editor stating the source and nature of the potential conflict.

Copyright
ESSD is an open-access journal. In other words, all published material will be immediately available for the public to read and download free of any charge. To publish, the journal has specific fees to be paid by the author(s) or on their behalf.
Authors, publishers, and the research community/public are all closely governed by a set of guidelines in their use, distribution, and publishing of articles as follows:

Author Rights
After communication of the final acceptance of an article, authors are required to carefully read and sign a publishing agreement, to be communicated upon acceptance notice, pinpointing the rights granted to the author and publisher by publishing the submitted article. In this case, authors agree to be given copyrights for the article but license exclusive rights to the publisher as well. Resale or distribution of the published material is only possible if permission is granted by the publisher. Similarly, if the submitted manuscript includes works from copyrighted material, permission must be granted and the source referenced/credited. More information on copyrights will be found within the license agreement. This agreement is to ensure that the author’s submitted work has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication in another journal.

Publisher Rights
Rights given to IEREK Press over the published material is as follows:

• Publish the article and distribute it for commercial purposes.
• Grant rights to others for commercial purposes.
• Publish the article on its online platforms.
• Provide/generate the article in all forms, if needed, to make it accessible through all possible platforms.
• Promote the published material and index it in the appropriate databases to provide visibility and increase its reach.
• Enforce rights against third parties in the cases of breaches of copyrights and codes of conduct.
  
  

Originality and Plagiarism
One of the most common and frequently occurring types of misconduct cases is plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the use of others’ work as if it were the author’s own and without any sort of acknowledgment or reference to the original work or owner. Referring to work that is not the author’s own must be:

• Clearly emphasized through the use of quotation marks (“).
• Granted permission for use, in the same condition and format, from the original author/publisher or rights-holder.
• Followed by an in-text citation, an attribution to the source of the reference, as well as in the Reference/Bibliography.

Plagiarism takes different forms, and they include direct copying without the use of quotation marks around copied text, substantial copying such as the inclusion of tables, materials, and concepts that are not cited, and similarly paraphrasing someone else’s work without crediting it. Another common type of plagiarism is self-plagiarism or Text-recycling. Self-plagiarism is the redundant use of the author’s own work or the integration of an author’s own previous work into an entirely new paper as a reproduction. Most authors assume that self-plagiarism is acceptable as long as the work is his/her own. However, in such cases, proper use of quotation marks and citation of previously discussed/published work is still required.

IEREK Press uses iThenticate to screen for plagiarism entering the peer-review process. Detection of plagiarism, and any of its types mentioned above, will be investigated thoroughly by the editorial team of ESSD. If the assertions are found to be of truth, the author will be contacted for an explanation. In the case of an unsatisfactory submission, the author and his/her corresponding authors will be banned from submitting to the journal in the future.

Submission Checklist
Before you submit, make sure that:

• You’ve read the journal’s instructions for manuscript preparation and submission guidelines.
• You’ve closely followed the writing template(s).
• All authors have been named on the paper, and the online submission.
• All material has been referenced in the text and in the References List clearly and thoroughly, even if it is your own material/previously published work.
• You’ve obtained permission to reuse any figures, tables, and data sets if they have been collected from third-party sources/right-holders.
• You have not submitted work that has been previously, or partly published.
• You’ve only submitted the paper to one journal and not to more than one publisher at the same time.
• The article has been checked for proper grammar, spelling mistakes, and punctuation.
• You’ve notified all the co-authors that the paper has been submitted for publication.

For more instructions on how to submit your manuscript to our system, easily read through and follow our journal submission instructions.