Grace Open Access is working with a motto to team up for betterment in scientific community and believe in providing the reliable, transparent and robust resources for the research integrity worldwide.
We follow the cope guidelines and ethical core practices and try our best in providing transparency to maintain the research integrity.
1. Allegations of misconduct
According to the cope's working definition of misconduct, it is any practice that may affect the reliability of the research record in terms of findings, conclusions, or attribution.
* Significant departure from the accepted practices
* The misconduct committed intentionally, knowingly or recklessly
* The allegations such as falsification, fabrication, or plagiarism
Misconducts can be found in prepublication or post publication, there are also some cases which are dealt when the article is in process.
Any such misconduct which is found by the institution, or whistleblower will be taken through the website by clicking on the tab "Suggestions Here" which will be confidentially handled to investigate the case, the suggestions or complaints can also be sent by an email to the editor.
The Journal will look into the case, can also contact the institution or the whistleblower for the clear discussion if required.
Based upon the conclusion, the Journal has the right to accept, reject or retract the article.
2. Conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest or the competing interest is the condition in which a particular individual or group can get personally benefitted due to lack of lack of impartiality.
This can lead to the wrong handling of the research, review, or article processing which can impact the research integrity .
We recommend to go through the author, reviewer and editor guidelines to know the policy in detail.
The Journal has the right to take the actions against the manuscript processing in case of any conflict of interest found. The same can be intimated by the "Suggestions Here" or by mailing to the editor also.
3. Data and reproducibility
Reproducibility is the process of reproducing the results by collecting the same data and the computer codes given publicly by the researchers. This is the good practice which leads towards the accuracy of the data and the researchers who bring out their data openly to be used, achieve the social recognition and also their works are disseminated widely, known well and also they can get the chance to find stakeholders and the funding bodies to carry forward their research.
If you are planning to conduct the research then you can also register for the clinical trials wherein your plan of action will be recorded publically and the DOI will be given to your data. We provide the open platform for the discussion and the analyses of your data.
4. Ethical Oversight
The submitted manuscripts will be peer reviewed and they also will be reviewed based on the core practices and the publication ethics:
a. Plagiarism
It is the practice of including the knowledge or the work of someone else without their consent or acknowledging them in your manuscript. It may be done intentionally or by having lack of knowledge, Editorial Board may raise the questions based on the level of plagiarism found in the manuscript following to which the decision will be made as accepted, rejected or retracted.
b. Falsification
It is process of manipulating the accurate data, process, equipments, etc to bring out the desire results or can have many other reasons. We don't recommend this practice therefore the authors are suggested to submit the proper and precise data in their manuscript. The Journal has the right to reject or retract the manuscript when found with this practice.
c. Peer Review Manipulation
When the peer review process is impinged by various reasons which can be learnt by clicking the link below from COPE, the true publication ethics is disturbed followed by the publication of the wrong article which may lead towards the serious disputes in the research integrity and reliability.
Source: CLICK HERE We refute the wrong peer review practices, whistleblower can put their concerns in the "Suggestion Here" tab given in the website.
d. Fabrication
This is the practice of adding the false information which never occurred and deceiving the scientific community.
We expect our authors to provide the data precisely and provide the true explanation if found anything wrong.
However the final decision for the acceptance, rejection or retraction of your manuscripts is taken by the Editorial Team.
e. Citation Manipulation
When references are added without their involvement in the content of the manuscript just for increasing the citation.
We recommend authors to check on this before submitting articles for processing. The Journal's editor is obliged to take decisions against such misconduct.
f. Authorship Misconduct
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
* Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
* Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
* Final approval of the version to be published; AND
* Agreement 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.
Any improper credit is given to others than those who contributed, any conflicts of interests, etc lead to the misconduct in publication.
g. Redundant Publication
When the publisher/author publishes the same study twice or more number of times in different platforms without giving the clear justification or references is called as redundant publication.
This is the unethical practice which is not accepted in our journals. There is a consent form which is provided to authors to be filled before submitting their manuscripts for processing, this is to elude entertaining such practices.
h. Intellectual Property
In Gold Open Access model, the work of the creator is published immediately after going through the peer review process and the revision of the corrections if any under the creative commons license wherein the copyright is given to the authors and they provide the consent to make their work available for any of the users to copy, redistribute the material in any medium or format, and they can remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot repeal these freedoms unless they are obliged to follow the below terms and conditions:
Attribution: The user must give credit to the creator by providing the link to the license, they are supposed to mention the changes if any, nowhere adapt in a manner that the licensor endorses you. Source: Creativecommons
i. Post publication Discussions
We intend to provide the forum to have discussions after the articles get published and are open to accept any corrections if needed. The research community can post their comments for the same by clicking on "Suggestions Here" tab on the website which will be sent to the editorial management and they will investigate the matter and take the needful actions for the same. We will try to provide the answers for every query according to the investigations done. However we are always ready to add or eliminate the practice from our Journals which is good for the users and their reliability upon us for receiving best knowledge.
a. Retraction Policy
Grace Open Access is obliged to comply best practices and transparency to elude any misconduct in the scientific community.
We reserve the right to retract or withdraw the online published article in case of any post publication faults found like redundant publication, plagiarism, peer review manipulation, reuse of material or data without authorisation, copyright infringement or some other legal issue (eg, libel, privacy, illegality), unethical research, and/or a failure to disclose a major competing interest that would have unduly influenced interpretations or recommendations
Source: CLICK HERE Online record of retraction is maintained linking the article's name, authors' information and the reason behind retraction.
b. Erratum
Corrections are highlighted by the publisher's side and sent to the author to amend and send back after the article gets accepted and at the time of the proof correction . Corrections may be in writing errors, typesetting, figures, tables, and so on. Authors can also send the errors to the publisher for the corrections.
c. Corrigendum
The list of changes sent by the author to publisher after the article gets published which may include the corrections in authorship, affiliations, error in data, and so on without affecting the main results and the conclusion of the article. Corresponding author may send the letter to the editorial team including the corrections to be made with the supported proof or the evidence.
