Publication Ethics.

KeyPoint Press is dedicated to following best practices on all ethical matters, errors, and retractions. Preventing publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editors of KeyPoint Press.

Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and KeyPoint Press does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting any ideas, concepts, or other written material—including abstracts and manuscripts—to KeyPoint Press affirm that the contents are original and contain no fraudulent data. Furthermore, they warrant that the contents have neither been published elsewhere in any language fully or partly nor is it under review or consideration for publication anywhere else.

To ensure the integrity of our publications and to ensure we achieve our aim of providing readers with accurate, reliable, and relevant information of the highest quality, KeyPoint Press works closely with authors and editors to promote adherence to the core principles of publication ethics as articulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We encourage further exploration of COPE’s resources on their website. All forms of manuscripts, archival materials, and supporting files (to include but not limited to interviews, images, data, infographics, audio and video) shared with KeyPoint Press are expected to conform to the standards of ethical behavior promulgated by COPE.

 Editors, authors, and reviewers will also adhere to the KeyPoint Press Policies and Submission Guidelines.

Publisher Responsibilities

  1. Publication Decisions: The Publisher has complete responsibility to accept, reject, or request modifications to any submitted manuscript. The Publisher shall only do so in a fair and impartial manner. 

  2. Fair Play: The Publisher shall not use prejudice or bias of any kind against any author during the review process. Manuscripts are accepted or rejected based purely on merit and relevance to the aim and scope of KeyPoint Press.

  3. Conflict of Interest: The Publisher shall not have any conflict of interest with respect to the manuscript under consideration. 

  4. Anonymity: The Publisher shall protect the anonymity of reviewers as well as author(s).

  5. Errors in Published Works: When an error is detected, the Publisher shall publish a correction or retraction.

  6. Certainty of Originality: The Publisher must make every effort to be reasonably certain that each manuscript is evaluated for originality.    

Author Responsibilities

  1. Reporting Standards: Authors shall present an accurate account of their work as original and will disclose whether any portion of their manuscript has been or will be considered for publication in any other source in any form. 

  2. Originality: Authors must ensure they have written entirely original work and own the copyright to any and all work submitted to KeyPoint Press.

  3. References and Sources: Authors shall fully annotate all sources of data used in the research and cite publications, adhering to the KeyPoint Press Submission Guidelines.  All citations must be accurate, relevant, and authentic.

  4. Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Author shall not submit the same manuscript to more than one publication concurrently.  It is also expected that the author will not publish redundant manuscripts or manuscripts describing the same research in more than one publication.

  5. Authorship: Authorship shall be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported content.  Others who have made significant contributions must be listed as co-authors.  Authors may use acknowledgements to recognize those who have made other contributions to the manuscript.  Authors must also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and the inclusion of their names as co-authors.

  6. Disclosure of Financial Support: Sources of financial support, if any, must be clearly disclosed.

  7. Errors in Published Works: All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes, and any error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscripts must be reported promptly to the Publisher.

Reviewer Responsibilities

  1. Standard of Objectivity: Review of submitted manuscripts shall be objective and the reviewers shall express their views clearly with supporting arguments to the Publisher.

  2. Conflict of Interest: Reviewers shall not have any conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors, and/or the research funders.  Reviewers shall not accept for review any manuscript for which there is a potential conflict of interest, and reviewers shall report to the Publisher any issue that may result in a conflict of interest.

  3. Confidentiality: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors shall be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information. Manuscripts shall be retained by reviewers for the purpose of review for publication consideration by KeyPoint Press and shall not be retained or used for any other purpose.

  4. Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should point out relevant published work that is not yet cited. Reviewers must ensure that authors have fully referenced and cited all relevant sources of information used in their content.  

  5. Promptness: In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible to complete a thorough and prompt review of the manuscript within the stipulated time (typically 14-21 days), then this information must be communicated to the Publisher so that the manuscript can be sent to another reviewer.

Ethical Publishing

  1. Safeguarding ethics: The monitoring and safeguarding of publishing ethics will be maintained by the Managing Editor of KeyPoint Press. 

  2. Retracting and correcting published work: KeyPoint Press is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies as appropriate and when needed in accordance with KeyPoint Press ethical guidelines.

  3. Integrity of the publishing record: The Managing Editor of KeyPoint Press shall maintain the highest levels of intellectual and ethical standards without the interference of business needs.

  4. No plagiarism, no fraudulent data: KeyPoint Press is committed to only publishing manuscripts that are free from any plagiarism and that contain no fraudulent data.  Unethical publication practices are not tolerated by KeyPoint Press.