Journal Ethics and Policies

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

NDC Journal is dedicated to publishing high-quality work and giving exceptional services while adhering to the highest ethical principles of scholarly publishing. NDC E-JOURNAL follows the "Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing" given jointly by the Scopus, The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice followed by NDC E-JOURNAL:

The website is made ensuring high ethical and professional standards. An 'Aims & Scope' statement is included. Criteria for publication followed by the journal is given. ISSN is clearly displayed under Bibliographic Information.
Every article is clearly marked as to whether peer reviewed or not. The peer review process and policies are clearly described on the journal's website.
Journal Editorial Board members are recognized experts in the subject areas included within the journal's scope. The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editorial board are provided on the journal’s website.
The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors are given on the journal website. The contact information for the editorial office is also given.
The policy for copyright is stated in the copyright policy section separately. The name of the copyright holder is given in all published articles. Licensing information is also clearly described on the website.
The editors are vigilant to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/ fabrication, among others. The publisher and editors follow COPE guidelines in dealing with allegations of research misconduct.
The periodicity of publication of the journal is clearly indicated on Editorial Note and Call for Papers' pages.
The way(s) in which the journal and individual articles are available to readers is stated on the journal website.
NDC is a non-profit organization.

ETHICAL EXPECTATIONS

Executive Editor

To perform all editorial duties in a fair, impartial, and balanced way, without discrimination on grounds of race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or geographical origin of the authors.
To provide a constructive, fair, and informative critique of the author's work indicating weaknesses in content and language and comments for improvement.
To be alert for instances of ethical violations in the author's work, like plagiarism and duplicate submission.
To investigate all complaints of ethical violations and conflicts of interests, in a fair and objective way, without regard to the date of the incident.
To protect and maintain the confidentiality of information, ideas, and author's work and not use it for personal advantages or gains.
To take all possible steps to protect and maintain the integrity of the journal.

Other Members of Editorial Team

To perform all editorial duties in a fair, impartial, and balanced way, without discrimination on grounds of race, gender, ethnicity, religious identity, or geographical origin of the authors.
To provide a constructive, fair, and informative critique of the author's work and unbiased decisions about the suitability of work for publication in the journal based on the peer review comments.
To be alert for instances of ethical violations in the author's work, like plagiarism and duplicate submission.
To investigate all complaints of ethical violations and conflicts of interests, in a fair and objective way, without regard to the date of the incident.
To protect and maintain the confidentiality of information, ideas, and author's work and not use it for personal advantages or gains, that of including preservation of national security interest.
To take all possible steps to protect and maintain the integrity of the journal.

Peer Reviewers

To provide a constructive, fair, and informative critique of the author's work indicating weaknesses in analytical presentations, scientific contents, and language, and corrective comments for improvement.
To maintain the confidentiality of the peer review process by not disclosing or discussing the contents of the manuscript with persons not directly involved with peer review of the manuscript.
To be alert for instances of ethical violations in the author's work, like plagiarism and duplicate submission, and inform the editors immediately if such instances are noticed.

Authors Responsibilities

To submit a manuscript for publication only if it is not published previously, not accepted for publication, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
To maintain accurate records of data associated with the submitted manuscript and to make it available on request by the Editorial Office.
To acknowledge and cite sources if any content is taken from the author's own or someone else's previously published articles or articles currently under review in any journals, including citing further original sources from where secondary sources are developed.
To take written informed consent from human subjects and respect their privacy.
To take written informed consent from human subjects if any identifying information like photographs or names of subjects is included in the study.
To declare any potential conflicts of interest for all authors of a submitted work at the time of manuscript submission.
To assign authorship according to international norms and acknowledge anyone else who provided support for the study but do not quality for authorship.
To take all possible precautions to avoid occurrences of ethical violations and unethical behaviour in the submitted manuscript like duplicate submissions, plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification, improper author contributions, and redundant publications. (Note about citation manipulation: Citation Manipulation is said to occur if a manuscript submitted for publication includes citations whose primary aim is to increase the number of citations of a specific journal or of any specific author's work. Publication policy of NDC Journals does not allow more than 20% citations in a manuscript submitted.)
To promptly notify the journal editor or publisher if a significant error is identified in the author's work during review or after the publication of the article.
To cooperate with the editor in the investigation of ethical violations and immoral conduct.
Not to violate National Publishing Law of the land (The Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973), offend any religious faith, humiliate any person or community or nation, and undermine the spirit of Liberation War directly or indirectly.