Research Ethics and Misconduct Policy
Innovative Research in Applied, Biological and Chemical Sciences (IRABCS) recognizes that research integrity is fundamental to scientific advancement and responsible scholarly communication. The journal is committed to protecting the accuracy, reliability, transparency, and credibility of published research by promoting ethical research practices and addressing violations of research integrity.
All research published in IRABCS must be conducted according to recognized ethical principles, responsible research practices, and applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research is ethically conducted, accurately reported, and transparently presented.
Research misconduct includes actions that intentionally or negligently misrepresent scientific information, compromise research reliability, violate ethical standards, or undermine confidence in the scientific record. IRABCS does not tolerate fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unethical research practices, or any other form of misconduct.
Research Ethics Requirements
Human Research Ethics
Research involving human participants must comply with internationally accepted ethical principles, including respect for participant autonomy, privacy, dignity, safety, and informed decision-making.
Authors must obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee, institutional review board, or relevant regulatory authority before conducting research involving human participants where required.
Manuscripts involving human research must include appropriate ethical statements describing the approval process, name of the approving committee where applicable, approval reference number if available, and compliance with relevant ethical guidelines.
Authors must ensure that participant confidentiality and privacy are protected throughout the research process and publication.
Animal Research Ethics
Research involving animals must follow internationally accepted standards for animal welfare and ethical treatment.
Authors must provide information regarding institutional approval, animal care procedures, housing conditions where relevant, and measures taken to minimize pain, distress, and unnecessary use of animals.
IRABCS expects authors to follow recognized principles for humane treatment and responsible use of animals in scientific research.
Biosafety and Laboratory Ethics
Research involving biological materials, microorganisms, genetically modified organisms, chemicals, hazardous substances, or specialized laboratory procedures must comply with appropriate biosafety regulations and institutional safety requirements.
Authors are responsible for ensuring safe handling, storage, transportation, and disposal of research materials and must follow applicable laboratory safety standards.
Research involving potentially hazardous materials must be conducted by appropriately trained personnel using suitable containment and risk management procedures.
Ethical Reporting of Research
Authors must report research methods, results, limitations, and interpretations honestly, accurately, and transparently.
Researchers must avoid selective reporting, misleading presentation of findings, inappropriate omission of relevant data, or misrepresentation of results.
All reported data, images, figures, and research outcomes must accurately represent the original work performed.
Research Misconduct
Research misconduct refers to actions or behaviors that compromise the integrity, reliability, or credibility of scientific research.
Examples of research misconduct include fabrication, falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, duplicate publication, redundant publication, citation manipulation, and other unethical practices.
Fabrication of Data
Fabrication refers to creating, inventing, recording, reporting, or presenting data, observations, results, or experiments that were not actually conducted or obtained.
Manuscripts containing fabricated research findings represent serious violations of research integrity and may result in rejection, withdrawal, retraction, and notification of relevant institutions.
Falsification of Data
Falsification involves manipulating, altering, selectively reporting, excluding, or misrepresenting research materials, methods, processes, or results in a way that creates inaccurate or misleading conclusions.
Examples include inappropriate modification of datasets, manipulation of experimental conditions, selective removal of observations without scientific justification, or misleading presentation of research findings.
Image, Figure, and Data Manipulation
Scientific images, figures, graphs, and visual representations must accurately reflect the original research findings.
Appropriate adjustments that improve clarity, such as brightness or contrast adjustments applied consistently across the entire image, may be acceptable when they do not alter interpretation.
Manipulation that removes information, changes scientific meaning, duplicates images, conceals results, or creates misleading representations is considered unethical.
Authors must provide original data or supporting information when requested by editors during review or investigation.
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
IRABCS does not accept manuscripts that substantially duplicate previously published research unless there is a clear scientific justification, appropriate disclosure, and necessary permission.
Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals, republishing substantially similar findings without transparency, or dividing research into unnecessary multiple publications to increase publication output may be considered unethical.
Authors must disclose any related manuscripts, previous publications, conference abstracts, or overlapping research during submission.
Citation Manipulation
Citation practices must reflect genuine scholarly relevance and accurately acknowledge previous research.
IRABCS considers inappropriate practices such as excessive citation of unrelated articles, unnecessary self-citation, coordinated citation arrangements, or artificial citation inflation as violations of publication ethics.
Authors should cite sources based on scientific relevance rather than attempting to influence citation metrics or journal rankings.
Investigation of Research Misconduct
When concerns regarding research ethics or misconduct are raised, IRABCS follows a fair, transparent, and confidential investigation process.
The editorial office initially evaluates the concern to determine whether further investigation is required. Authors may be contacted and requested to provide explanations, original data, ethical approvals, documentation, or other supporting information.
Where necessary, IRABCS may consult independent experts, members of the editorial board, or relevant institutions responsible for research oversight.
Investigations are conducted objectively while protecting the confidentiality and rights of all parties involved.
Editorial Actions and Outcomes
If research misconduct or serious ethical violations are confirmed, IRABCS may take appropriate actions depending on the severity, timing, and impact of the issue.
Possible actions include:
- Requesting clarification or correction.
- Rejecting submitted manuscripts.
- Publishing corrections.
- Issuing expressions of concern.
- Retracting published articles.
- Removing unethical content where appropriate.
- Restricting future submissions.
- Informing relevant institutions, funding agencies, or ethical authorities.
The primary objective of IRABCS is to maintain the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the scientific record while ensuring fair treatment of authors and researchers.
