This policy explains the guidelines for our journals in the publication process. In particular, Hexa Publishers adopts and strives to comply with the following standards and requirements:

• COPE – Committee on Publication Ethics
• ICMJE – International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
• STM – International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers
• WAME – World Association of Medical Editors

Originality

When an author submits a manuscript to, the manuscript must be an original work. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted.

If the manuscript contains materials that overlap with work that is previously published or is in-press, or that is under consideration for publication elsewhere, the Author must cite this work in the manuscript. The Author must also inform the Chief Editor of the related work and, if requested, send the manuscript to him

Authors must withdraw papers that are under review with any other journal if the paper is submitted to Hexa Publishers journals subsequently.

Authors must explicitly cite their own earlier work and ideas, even when the work or ideas are not quoted verbatim or paraphrased in the manuscript. If exact sentences or paragraphs that appear in another work by the Author are included in the manuscript, the material should be put in quotation marks and appropriately cited in a way that does not compromise the Triple-blind review process.

Authors should avoid excessively citing their earlier works in order to inflate their citation count. Authors should also avoid self-citation that might violate the Triple-blind review process. If self-identifying information is unavoidable, the author should include the information in the manuscript’s Acknowledgements (which are not forwarded to the Reviewers) and also inform  Chief Editor

Authors should not submit a manuscript to that was previously submitted to our journals, sent out for review, and rejected after review by an Editor. If an earlier version was previously rejected , and the author wishes to submit a revised version for review, this fact and the justification for resubmission should be clearly communicated by the author to the Chief Editor at the time of submission

It is strongly suggested that authors wishing to submit manuscripts for intending publication should check their manuscripts for possible plagiarism using any anti-plagiarism software such as Turnitin before submitting it to the Chief Editor

Plagiarism and Self-plagiarism

All work in the manuscript should be free of any plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, or omission of significant material

Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without credit), to claiming results from research conducted by others.

Plagiarism is the use of others’ published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism is to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic).

Authors are expected to explicitly cite others’ work and ideas, even if the work or ideas are not quoted verbatim or paraphrased. This standard applies whether the previous work is published, unpublished, or electronically available

Self-plagiarism (or “redundancy”) can occur in at least two ways:

1. Authors recycle portions of their previous writings by using identical or nearly identical sentences or paragraphs from earlier writings in subsequent research papers, without quotation or acknowledgement; or
2. Authors create multiple papers that are slight variations of each other, which are submitted for publication in different journals but without acknowledgement of the other papers.

Self-plagiarism is widespread and sometimes unintentional, as there are only so many ways to say the same thing on many occasions, particularly when writing the Methods section of an article. Although this usually violates the copyright that has been usually assigned to the publisher, there is no consensus as to whether this is a form of scientific misconduct, or how many of one’s own words one can use before it is truly “plagiarism”. Probably for this reason self-plagiarism is not generally regarded in the same light as plagiarism of the ideas and words of other individuals. Moreover, since publication decisions are influenced by the novelty and innovativeness of manuscripts, such deception is inappropriate and unethical. In actual fact this can be minimized or avoided by citing one’s previous publications wherever necessary.

Authors should therefore minimize recycling of previous writings. If recycling is unavoidable, the author should inform the Chief Editor at the time of submission and reference the previous writings in the manuscript. Such self-referencing should be worded carefully so as to avoid compromising the double-blind review process

If exact sentences or paragraphs that appear in another work by the author are included in the manuscript, the material must be put in quotation marks and appropriately cited 

Plagiarism is scientific misconduct and in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior which is unacceptable

Tips for avoiding plagiarism

• Cite all your sources, whether you have read or heard them,
• Keep full records of every source of information you use including the date you accessed electronic resources,
• Place quotation marks around any words you copy verbatim and credit the source,
• Use your own words when summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s words–but don’t forget–you will still need to reference it!
• Make sure you check with your Journal which referencing system they want you to use

Multiple Submissions

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication: An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Authors must not submit the same work, in whole or  in part, to two places of publication at the same time, or at any time while the manuscript is under review, or has been previously published. It is also improper for an Author to submit a manuscript describing essentially the same research to more than one place of publication unless it is a resubmission of a manuscript rejected for, or withdrawn from publication. Thus, an author may not submit to Hexa Publishers journals, a work that is in whole or in part under review elsewhere, nor submit to another publication outlet a work that is in whole or in part under review at Hexa Publishers journals.

The manuscript must not have been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere, either in whole (including book chapters) or in part (including paragraphs of text or exhibits), whether in English or another language.

Submission of Conference Proceeding Paper

Hexa publishers does not accept any submission of papers that have been published in full in a conference proceeding as novelty is an important criterion in the selection of papers. However, to encourage interdisciplinary contributions, Our journals may consider unpublished work that has been submitted or presented in part to a forum, particularly if it is unlikely to have been seen by more than a few members of a conference or where the circulation of the proceeding is limited. The author however must specify the dual submission and certifies that the journal submission contains significant material that is not included in the proceeding submission.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors should avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest throughout the research process. A conflict of interest is some fact known to a participant in the publication process that if revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived (or an Author, Reviewer, or Editor feel defensive).  Conflicts of interest may influence the judgment of Authors, Reviewers, and Editors. Possible conflicts often are not immediately apparent to others. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial. Financial interests may include employment, research funding (received or pending), stock or share ownership, patents, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies, non-financial support, or any fiduciary interest in the company. The perception of a conflict of interest is nearly as important as an actual conflict, since both erode trust. Any queries about possible conflicts of interest should be addressed to the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief

When submitting a manuscript to Hexa Publisher journals , the Corresponding Author has the opportunity to recommend up to three possible potential Reviewers for the manuscript. The suggested reviewers must not be the Co-Authors listed in this manuscript and have not seen the manuscript before. The editors are not, however, bound by these suggestions

Authors should avoid any possible conflict of interest, or appearance of a conflict of interest, in selecting Editors and Reviewers. Such conflicts of interest apply not only to the Corresponding Author but to any Co-Authors on the manuscript:

Examples of possible conflicts of interest include:

1. One of the Authors is at the same institution as the nominated Editor or Reviewer;
2. One of the Authors was a member of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB); or
3. One of the Authors, and the Editor or Reviewer, is currently Co-Authors on another manuscript

Authors should not nominate individuals whom they know have already read and provided comments on the manuscript or a previous version of the manuscript in such knowledge would automatically violate the Triple-blind review process

Authorship Policies

Authorship

The corresponding (submitting) author is solely responsible for communicating with the journal and with managing communication between co-authors. Before submission, the corresponding author ensures that all authors are included in the author list, its order has been agreed by all authors, and that all authors are aware that the paper was submitted

Change of Authorship

Hexa publishers journals policy on authorship does not support adding or removing of names once the article has been submitted  and has completed the review process. However, a request for a change to the authorship can be considered by the Editor-in-Chief if the Corresponding author of the manuscript addresses the following concerns:

For adding new Author(s):

1. The reason why new author(s) names have been added?
2. What relevance do these newly suggested author(s) have on this article? Provide their background
3. What have these new authors contributed to this research you intend to publish?
4. Why were not their name(s) included at the time of initial submission of your article?

In addition, a letter must also be provided from all the authors stating that they have no objection to the additional names to be added.

For removal of Author(s):

Reason why the author(s) names that were initially given have now to be removed? In addition, a letter must also be provided from all the authors stating that they have no objection to the removal of their names.

Authors’ Affiliation

The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved to another institution, the current address may also be stated.

Co-Authorship

All Co-Authors of papers should have made significant contributions to the work and share accountability for the results. Authorship and credit should be shared in proportion to the various parties’ contributions. Authors should take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed. Other contributions should be cited in the manuscript’s Acknowledgements or an endnote.

Authors should normally list a student as the principal Co-Author on multiple-authored publications that substantially derive from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Authors who analyze data from others should explicitly acknowledge the contribution of the initial researchers.

The Corresponding Author who submits a manuscript to Hexa Publishers journals should have sent all living Co-Authors a draft and obtained their assent to submission and publication.

Copyright Law

Copyright violation is an important, and possibly related, ethical issue. Authors should check their manuscripts for possible breaches of copyright law (e.g., where permissions are not needed for quotations, artwork or tables taken from other publications or from other freely available sources on the Internet) and secure the necessary citation proof before submission to Hexa Publishers journals.

Post Publication

Our Publisher, Orients Social Research Consultancy (OSRC) follow the copyright laws to all published articles.

Bioethics

Human and other animal experiments

For primary research, manuscripts in the Hexa Publishers journals (regular articles, short communications, reviews) reporting experiments on live vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates, the corresponding author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and the necessary ethics clearance has been obtained from the relevant body.

The manuscript must include in the supplementary information (methods) section (or, if brief, within of the print/online article at an appropriate place), a statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details such as how and why the animal species and model being used can address the scientific objectives and, where appropriate, the study’s relevance to human biology.

 The research should adhere to the guidelines for the care and use of animals in research, the legal requirements of the country in which the work was carried out, and all relevant institutional guidelines.

For experiments involving human subjects, authors must identify the committee approving the experiments, and include with their submission a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Manuscript Withdrawal

Authors may write to the Editor-in-Chief requesting for the withdrawal of a manuscript that has been previously submitted for intended publication in Hexa Publisher journals . However, such withdrawal   is usually permitted within two weeks from the date of initial submission, or prior to the peer-review process, whichever is earlier.

If the author withdraws the manuscript after the peer-review process has begun, Hexa Publisher journals has the right to reject the paper without taking into account the status of the referee’s evaluation.

Timeliness

Authors should be prompt with their manuscript revisions. If an Author cannot meet the deadline given, the Author should contact the journal’s Editor-in-Chief as soon as possible to determine whether a longer time period, or withdrawal from the review process should be chosen as an exceptional case

Acknowledgement

Individuals who participate in the development of an article but do not qualify as authors should be included. Organizations providing support in terms of financing and/or other resources should also be accepted.