Introduction

At Gulf Journal of Mathematics (GJoM), the integrity of our academic content and publishing process is paramount.  We are committed to ensuring publication ethics throughout the entire editorial process from submission to the final publication. GJoM takes instances of ethics violations very seriously and proceeds in such cases with a zero tolerance policy. The editors of GJoM enforce a rigorous peer-review process to maintain the academic integrity of the publications. To verify compliance, articles may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check.

Editors, reviewers, and authors are required to adhere to the following GJoM policies regarding publication ethics. The journal ethics guidelines are adopted from those of Cambridge University Press. In addition, we strive to adhere to the guidelines provided by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). 

 

Research Integrity

We expect research published by GJoM to abide by the following principles:

• honesty in all aspects of research;
• scrupulous care, thoroughness and excellence in research practice;
•  transparency and open communication;
• care and respect for all participants in and subjects of research;
• accountability both for one’s own research integrity and that of others when behaviour
  falls short of our standards.

Anyone who believes that research published by GJoM has not been carried out in line with the above principles, should raise their concern with the editorial office by email admin@gjom.org. 

 

Editorial Process

We are committed to editorial independence, and strive in all cases to prevent this principle from being compromised through competing interests, fear, or any other financial influence.  GJoM does not discriminate against authors, editors or peer reviewers based on personal characteristics or identity. We are committed to embedding diversity, removing barriers to inclusion, and promoting equity at every stage of our publishing process. Appeals of editorial decisions or related concerns should be made by email to the editorial office admin@gjom.org.

GJoM does not tolerate abusive behaviour or correspondence towards our staff and others involved in the publishing process on our behalf. If anyone in such behaviour, we have the right to take action to protect others from the abuse. This may include, for example, withdrawal of a manuscript from consideration, or challenging clearly abusive peer review comments.

 

Peer Review

Peer review is critical to maintaining the standards of our publications. We:

• provide appropriate systems, training and support to facilitate rigorous, fair and effective peer review for all our publications;
• encourage our editors and peer reviewers to familiarize themselves with and act in accordance with relevant best practice guidelines on peer review. For journal editors and peer reviewers, please refer to COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers;
• support our editors and peer reviewers in investigating and acting on any suspected cases of manipulated or fraudulent peer review;
• protect the confidentiality of participants in the peer review process where anonymity forms part of that publication’s peer review process. We also expect our publishing partners, authors and peer reviewers to uphold any relevant confidentiality arrangements for each book or journal and to provide necessary information to support this.

 

Authorship and Contributorship

GJoM recommends applying the following principles in determining the authorship of a manuscript:

• substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and/or
• drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and/or
• final approval of the version to be published; and
• agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The corresponding author’s specific responsibilities include:

• submitting the original draft of the manuscript to the journal;
• handling the revisions and re-submission of revised manuscripts up to the acceptance of the manuscripts;
• if required, agreeing to and signing the Author Publishing Agreement on behalf of relevant coauthors;
• acting on behalf of all co-authors in responding to queries from all sources post publication, including questions relating to publishing ethics, reuse of content, or the availability of data, materials, resources etc.

We encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship in an Acknowledgments section in their publication with permission, for example to recognise the contributions of anyone who provided research or writing assistance. COPE also provides extensive resources on authorship and authorship disputes, and we
encourage anyone involved in editorial decisions to familiarise themselves with these resources. We support our editors in dealing with any authorship disputes. We integrate with established and emerging industry standards to increase transparency in authorship (for example, ORCID).

 

Affiliations

Any article affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, any affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated.

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using someone else’s ideas, words, data, or other material produced by them without acknowledgement. Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including:

• text, illustrations, extended mathematical derivations, computer code, etc.;
• material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media;
• published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations and grey literature.

GJoM does not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications, and we reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism checking tools such as Crossref Similarity Check. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered post publication, we will follow our guidance outlined in the Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern section of these guidelines. We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting the managing editor or by emailing admin@gjom.org.

 

Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Duplicate or redundant publication, or self-plagiarism, occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is published more than once by the author(s) of the work without appropriate cross-referencing or justification for the overlap. This can be in the same or a different language. We do not support substantial overlap between publications, unless:

• it is felt that editorially this will strengthen the academic discourse; and
• we have clear approval from the original publication; and
• we include citation of the original source.

We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of duplicate or redundant publication, either by contacting the managing editor or by emailing admin@gjom.org.

When an author submits manuscripts to GJoM, it should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or similar entity. However, deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication.

Any manuscript based on a thesis should be a reworking of the material in the thesis and written to conform to the GJoM style guide. When quoting from the thesis or reusing figures, authors should avoid self-plagiarism by citing and referencing any extracts copied or adapted from the thesis appropriately. The relevant editor should be informed that the manuscript draws on a thesis in the cover letter.

 

Competing Interests and Funding

We try to ensure that any manuscript published by GJoM is free from undue influence. Authors submitting GJoM as well as editors and reviewers are required to declare any potential competing interests that could interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication. Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the presentation, review or publication of a piece of work. These may be financial, non-financial, professional, contractual or personal in nature. We also expect that anyone who suspects an undisclosed competing interests regarding a work published or under consideration by GJOM should inform the managing editor or email admin@gjom.org. 

 

Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern

GJoM managing editors will consider retractions, corrections or expressions of concern in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines. If an author is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. If the journal is found to have made an error, they will issue an erratum. Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon, or that contain substantial plagiarism. 

 

Transparency

We strive to follow COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and encourage our publishing partners to uphold these same principles.

 

Data and Supporting Evidence

We support transparency and openness around data, code, and other materials associated with research. We expect authors to maintain accurate records of supporting evidence necessary to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate new findings, and to supply or provide access to this supporting evidence, on reasonable request. Where appropriate and where allowed by their employer, funding body or others who might have an interest, we
encourage authors to:

• deposit evidence in a suitable repository or storage location, for sharing and further use by others; and
• describe where the evidence may be found in a Data Availability Statement which authors can include in their publication.

 

Fair Access

Our mission is to make mathematics research accessible to everyone in the world regardless of their circumstances. Therefore, all GJoM publications are freely available on the journal website. As a nonprofit journal, we do not charge any article processing fees.

 

Marketing Communication/Advertising

As a non profit journal, we strive to eschew any communication with our readers and authors that is not directly related to the journal. In most cases, our readers are only contacted to notify them about a new issue of GJoM.