NAS Publisher is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, ethical conduct, and accountability in scholarly publishing. All journals published under NAS Publisher are expected to follow responsible editorial and publishing practices.

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Policy applies to authors, editors, editorial board members, reviewers, and the publisher.

1. General Principles

NAS Publisher is committed to:

Maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record;
Promoting ethical research and responsible publication practices;
Ensuring fair and objective editorial decisions;
Maintaining confidentiality throughout the editorial and peer-review process;
Preventing plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, and other forms of research misconduct;
Managing conflicts of interest appropriately;
Correcting, retracting, or otherwise addressing published content when necessary.

All participants involved in the publication process are expected to act honestly, responsibly, professionally, and ethically.

Responsibilities of Authors

2. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original works.

Authors must appropriately acknowledge and cite the work, ideas, data, and publications of others. Plagiarism, including the presentation of another person’s work as one’s own without proper acknowledgement, is unacceptable.

NAS Publisher may use appropriate methods or tools to identify potential plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other forms of publication misconduct.

Manuscripts found to contain serious plagiarism may be rejected or investigated according to the journal’s editorial procedures.

3. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

Manuscripts submitted to NAS Publisher should not have been previously published elsewhere, except where permitted under the relevant journal’s policies.

Authors must disclose any closely related publications, previous submissions, preprints, conference papers, or other versions of the work that may be relevant to the editorial assessment.

4. Data Integrity and Research Misconduct

Authors must present their research findings accurately and honestly.

Fabrication, falsification, manipulation of data, images, results, or other research materials is unacceptable.

Authors should retain relevant research data and supporting materials where appropriate and should provide access to such materials when reasonably requested for editorial or research integrity purposes, subject to ethical, legal, privacy, and confidentiality requirements.

5. Authorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript.

All authors should:

Have contributed significantly to the work;
Have participated in preparing or critically revising the manuscript;
Have approved the final version of the manuscript;
Agree to its submission and publication;
Accept appropriate responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

Guest, honorary, and gift authorship are unacceptable.

6. Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during the submission, peer-review, and publication processes.

The corresponding author should ensure that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and agree to its submission.

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, institutional, professional, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, or publication of the work.

Relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed within the manuscript and during submission where required.

8. Ethical Approval and Human or Animal Research

Research involving human participants, animals, or sensitive personal information must comply with applicable ethical standards and relevant laws and regulations.

Where ethical approval is required, authors should provide appropriate information regarding approval by a recognized ethics committee or institutional review body.

Authors should obtain informed consent where required.

Research involving animals should follow applicable standards for ethical treatment and welfare.

9. Corrections to Published Work

Authors have a responsibility to promptly inform the journal if they discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work.

NAS Publisher will consider appropriate corrective action, including the publication of corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions when necessary.

Responsibilities of Editors

10. Editorial Independence

Editors are responsible for making editorial decisions based on the scholarly merit, originality, relevance, quality, and integrity of submitted manuscripts.

Editorial decisions should not be influenced by an author’s nationality, ethnicity, gender, institutional affiliation, religion, political beliefs, or other irrelevant factors.

Editors should maintain appropriate editorial independence.

11. Fair and Objective Evaluation

Editors should evaluate manuscripts fairly and objectively.

Decisions should be based on the manuscript’s academic merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, quality, originality, methodological soundness, and contribution to the relevant field.

12. Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and related editorial communications.

Information about a manuscript should not be disclosed to unauthorized individuals.

13. Conflicts of Interest

Editors should disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.

Editors should not handle manuscripts where they have significant personal, professional, financial, institutional, or other conflicts that could compromise impartiality.

Such manuscripts should be assigned to an independent editor.

14. Ethical Concerns

Editors should take reasonable steps to investigate credible concerns regarding research misconduct or publication ethics.

Where necessary, editors may contact authors, institutions, or other relevant parties while respecting applicable confidentiality and due-process considerations.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

15. Confidentiality

Reviewers must treat manuscripts received for peer review as confidential documents.

Reviewers should not share, distribute, or use unpublished information from manuscripts for personal advantage.

16. Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively, constructively, and professionally.

Reviewers should provide evidence-based comments intended to assist editors and authors.

Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate.

17. Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should disclose any potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment.

Reviewers should decline assignments where a conflict could compromise their impartiality.

18. Timeliness

Reviewers should complete reviews within the agreed timeframe whenever possible.

If a reviewer is unable to complete a review, they should inform the editor promptly.

Responsibilities of NAS Publisher

19. Editorial Independence

NAS Publisher supports editorial independence and does not interfere with editorial decisions based solely on commercial interests.

Editorial decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts are made through the journal’s established editorial processes.

20. Publication Integrity

NAS Publisher is committed to maintaining the integrity of published content.

The publisher may take appropriate action when credible concerns arise regarding:

Plagiarism;
Data fabrication or falsification;
Duplicate publication;
Authorship disputes;
Undisclosed conflicts of interest;
Ethical approval concerns;
Manipulation of the peer-review process;
Other forms of publication misconduct.

21. Advertising and Commercial Influence

Editorial decisions must remain independent of advertising, sponsorship, or other commercial considerations.

Where advertising or sponsorship is accepted, it must not influence editorial decisions.

Complaints and Appeals

22. Editorial Complaints

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may raise concerns regarding editorial decisions, ethical issues, or publication practices.

Complaints should provide sufficient information and supporting evidence to allow an appropriate review.

NAS Publisher will consider complaints fairly and, where appropriate, investigate the matter.

23. Appeals

Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe a significant error occurred during the editorial or peer-review process.

An appeal should clearly explain the basis for reconsideration and provide relevant evidence.

Appeals will be reviewed according to the journal’s established procedures.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

24. Investigation

Allegations of research or publication misconduct will be assessed carefully and confidentially where possible.

NAS Publisher may request additional information or clarification from relevant parties.

Serious allegations may require consultation with relevant institutions, employers, research organizations, or other appropriate authorities.

25. Possible Outcomes

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the concern, actions may include:

Requesting clarification from the authors;
Requesting corrections or additional documentation;
Rejecting a submitted manuscript;
Publishing a correction;
Publishing an expression of concern;
Retracting a published article;
Removing or restricting access to content where legally required;
Taking other appropriate measures to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

26. Corrections

Corrections may be issued when errors affect the accuracy, interpretation, or completeness of a published article but do not invalidate the main findings.

27. Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when serious concerns exist regarding a published article but an investigation is incomplete or insufficient information is available to reach a final conclusion.

28. Retractions

An article may be retracted when its findings are considered unreliable due to serious error or misconduct, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unethical research, or other serious violations.

Retraction notices will clearly identify the affected article and explain the reason for retraction where appropriate.

Policy Review

29. Updates to This Policy

NAS Publisher may periodically review and update this Publication Ethics and Malpractice Policy to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, research integrity, ethical standards, and applicable requirements.

The current version of this policy will be published on the official NAS Publisher website.