Description:

When a manuscript is submitted, it assumes that all authors have agreed with the content, that all have given explicit consent to submit, and that they have obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute or organization where the work was carried out before the manuscript is submitted. The types of contributions that are acceptable for authorship are not prescribed by the Publisher. It is recommended that authors adhere to the authorship guidelines that are applicable in their specific research field when writing their manuscripts. All the authors whose names appear on the submission are included made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;

·       drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;

·       approved the version to be published; and

·       agree 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.

Research articles, case studies, technical reports, and expanded conference papers are invited for submission.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the authorities responsible where the work was carried out. However, we accept submissions that have previously appeared on preprint servers (for example arXiv, bioRxiv, Nature Precedings, Philica, Social Science Research Network, and Vixra); have previously been presented at conferences; or have previously appeared in other “non-journal” venues (for example: blogs or posters). Authors are responsible for updating the archived preprint with the journal reference (including DOI) and a link to the published articles on the appropriate journal website upon publication.

Before Submitting Your Article:

1.      Please prepare your article according to our template ( Download MS Word Template or Download Latex Template).

2.      All journals require the submission of articles via our online submissions system.

3.      All articles must be written in English. If English is not your first language, please ask an English-speaking colleague to proofread your article.

4.      Submissions may be formatted in single or double spacing, preferably in Times New Roman size 12 font. All accepted articles will be correctly formatted for publication.

5.      The text of the article should include the following :

·        title

·        abstract

·        text

·        references and notes

·        tables, figure captions and figures

·        keywords

·       Please make sure that the authors" names, affiliations, email addresses (official email is recommended) are included in the first pages under the article title.

Templates (Word or LaTex) for all journals are available here, should you wish to use one. Although the templates will allow you to estimate the total number of pages if typed in single line spacing, it is not essential that you use one, since all accepted articles will, as stated above, be correctly formatted for publication by ASPG Publisher.

ASPG journals encourage collaboration with colleagues in the locations where the research is being conducted, and they expect them to be included as co-authors if they meet all of the authorship criteria described in the preceding section. Contributors who do not meet all of the requirements for authorship should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript.

Disclosures and declarations 

Specifically, all authors are asked to include information about their funding sources, financial and non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on animal welfare if the research involved animals (as appropriate).

The decision on whether or not such information should be included is dependent not only on the scope of the journal, but also on the scope of the article in question. In some cases, work submitted for publication may have implications for public health or general welfare, and in those instances, it is the responsibility of all authors to include the appropriate disclosures and declarations in their work.

Data transparency 

All authors are urged to ensure that all data and materials, as well as any software application or custom code, support their published claims and comply with field standards before submitting their work. Please keep in mind that journals may have their own policies on (sharing) research data that are in line with disciplinary norms and expectations, so check with them first. Check the Instructions for Authors of the journal that you are submitting to for any additional information or specific requirements.

Role of the Corresponding Author 

Assigned as Corresponding Author, one author represents all co-authors and ensures that any questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are addressed in a timely and appropriate manner.

Specifically, the Corresponding Author is in charge of the following requirements:

• ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
• managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication;
• providing transparency on re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
• making sure disclosures, declarations and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate.

Author contributions 

Specific instructions regarding contribution statements can be found in the Instructions for Authors of the journal to which you are submitting your work.

In the absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends that authors include contribution statements in their work that specify the contributions of each author in order to promote transparency. At the end of the submission, a list of the contributors should be included.

Affiliation

Each author's primary affiliation should be the institution where the majority of their work was completed. This is known as the primary affiliation. If an author has since relocated, the author's current address may be included in the citation as well. After the article has been published, no changes or updates will be made to the addresses listed.

Changes to authorship 

It is strongly recommended that authors double-check the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors before submitting their work. After a manuscript has been accepted, changes in authorship, such as the addition or deletion of authors, as well as changes in the Corresponding Author and/or changes in the sequence of authors, are not permitted.

Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision process is generally not permitted, but it may be necessary in certain circumstances. It is necessary to explain the reasons for these shifts in authorship. The Editor-in-Chief has the final say on whether or not to approve a change made during revision. Please keep in mind that individual journals may have their own policies regarding the addition and/or deletion of authors during the revision stage.

Author name change 

In the case of a gender transition or religious conversion, an author may request that their name, pronouns, and other relevant biographical information be corrected in papers that were published prior to the change in their name. The author can choose to have this correction occur silently, in which case there will be no note indicating the change on either the pdf or the html version of the paper, or they can choose to have it occur publicly, in which case there will be a note indicating the change on both the pdf and the html version of the paper.

Author identification 

Authors are strongly recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process.

Deceased or incapacitated authors 

For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative which could be a direct relative.

Confidentiality

Authors should treat all communication with the Journal as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

Authorship issues or disputes 

The Journal cannot investigate or adjudicate authorship disputes during peer review or after acceptance and publication. Authors will be asked to settle disputes. If they cannot, the Journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or raise the issue with the authors' institution(s).

Guidelines for Retracting Articles

ASPG Journals take the responsibility to maintain the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record of the content for all end users very seriously. The journals place great importance on the authority of articles after they have been published and our policy is based on the best practice followed in the academic publishing community.

It is a general principle of scholarly communication that the Editor of a learned journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding which article(s) shall be published out of the submitted articles in a particular time. In making this decision, the Editor is guided by the policies of the journal's Editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements in force regarding copyright infringement and plagiarism. An outcome of this principle is the importance of the scholarly archive as a permanent, historic record of the transactions of scholarship. Articles that have been published shall remain extant, exact and unaltered as far as possible. However, occasionally unavoidable circumstances may arise where after publication the article requires retraction or even removal from a particular journal. Such actions must not be undertaken lightly and can only occur under exceptional circumstances, such as:

Article withdrawal: This is only used for “Article in Press” which represents the early versions of the accepted articles. If any article at the stage of “Article in Press”, by any means, represents infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submissions, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or similar incidences, the article may be withdrawn depending on the Editor’s discretion. In this regard, Editor’s decision must be considered as final following the deep assessment and analysis of the situations, on a case by case basis.

Article retraction: Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submissions, sham claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data and similar claims will lead to the retraction of an article. Occasionally, a retraction may be considered to correct errors in submission or publication.

Article removal and replacement: Subjected to legal limitations of the publisher, copyright holder or author(s). Identification of false or inaccurate data representation which may pose a serious health risk and involves any means of scientific data tampering or other fraud hindering fair practice of science should be treated with the highest possible strictness.

The core objective of these measures is necessary to maintain the integrity of the academic record.

Encouraging academic integrity

Request evidence of ethical research approval for all relevant submissions and be prepared to question authors about aspects, such as, how patient consent was obtained or what methods were employed to minimize animal suffering.
Ensure that reports of clinical trials cite compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki 6th revision, Good Clinical Practice and other relevant guidelines to safeguard participant.
Ensure that reports of experiments on or studies of, animals cite compliance with the US Department of Health and Human Services 
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or other relevant guidelines. Consider appointing a journal ethics panel to advice on specific cases and review journal policies periodically.

Ensuring the integrity of the academic record
Take steps to reduce covert redundant publication, e.g., by requiring all clinical trials to be registered.
Ensure that published material is securely archived. 
Have systems in place to give authors the opportunity to make original research articles freely available.

Preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards
Errors, inaccurate or misleading statements must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. Editors should follow the COPE guidelines on retractions.

 Looking forward to working with you

ASPG Team