All corresponding authors are implied to have read and understood this policy when their contributions are submitted to the Journal of Quantum Sicence (JQuant).
JQuant's ethical policy fully adheres and refers to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and recommendations.
Before submitting a manusctipt, authors are kindly invited to read the Guidelines for Authors to ensure compliance with JQuant's editorial standards.
Misconduct
Manuscripts submitted to JQuant must not have been published or be under consideration for publication in other refereed journals, nor should they be sent to other journals while still being considered for publication in JQuant. Cases of misconduct are seriously considered and investigated and anonymity of whistleblowers is protected. To report any concerns relating to potential misconduct, please contact the Editorial Office.
Authorship
All those who have made a significant contribution to a manuscript must be cited as co-authors. According to JQuant policy, authorship is based on the following 4 criteria:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement 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.
Other contributors to the study should be acknowledged, but not cited as authors. All co-authors are assumed to share full responsibility for all of the paper and are expected to agree on this and on the order in which they appear in the author list. Authorship or acknowledgements must not be used misleadingly to imply a contribution or endorsement by anyone who has not been involved with the work.
Authors take full responsibility for the content they submit for publication which must adhere to the ethical standards at JQuant. In particular, authors have a responsibility to fully acknowledge the work of others, disclosing their sources clearly and thoroughly in their manuscripts.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:
- all authors have approved the final version of the article as accepted for publication
- the manuscript is not under consideration by any other journal at the time of submission
- all co-author details and contacts are correct at the time of submission
Any changes to authorship must take place before the editor's final decision and must be approved by all the authors, who must all confirm that they give their consent to the requested changes in the author’s list.
Sharing of login details or allowing anyone to submit on one’s behalf is considered to be a serious ethical policy breach. Authors must not fabricate, falsify or misrepresent data or results. Should an honest error occur, authors should contact the Editorial Office. Corrections must be approved by all authors of the original article. All authors are required to declare any funding they received related to their research and ensure they have permission from their funders before submitting their article.
Use of generative AI
In submitting their work authors should be aware of the possible shortcomings of AI generated material. The journal's policy on AI use is guided by the principles of ethical use, transparency and accountability, inclusivity and diversity, fairness and intellectual property protection. Aside from the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references, etc., authors should report the use of artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies to create content or assist with writing or editing of manuscripts in the Acknowledgment section or the Methods section if this is part of formal research design or methods, including a description of the content that was created or edited and the name of the language model or tool, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer.
Generative AI technologies cannot be considered as authors and their use and material created or edited through them, whether written or visual, is the authors’ responsibility. Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of the material produced/edited through generative AI tools and that such material is free from plagiarism.
Reviewers, on the other hand, are requested to refrain from using GenAI to produce their reviews, Aside from the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references, etc..
Referencing
Authors must fully acknowledge the work of others (be it published or unpublished) used in their research and cite publications that have influenced their study. Permission by the original authors is required for any figures or extracts subject to copyright.
Including superfluous references to the authors’ own work or the works of others to promote and inflate citation scores is considered unethical.
Plagiarism and duplicate publication
Plagiarism constitutes unethical scientific behaviour and is never acceptable. Duplicate publication (production of multiple papers with essentially the same content by the same authors) is also considered unacceptable.
Conflict of interest
Any potential conflicts of interest should be declared by the authors when submitting their article. Examples of conflicts of interest that must be disclosed are: direct or indirect sources of funding (employment, grants, patents, sponsorships, consulting fees, equipment supplies); unpaid advisory affiliations and memberships of professional organisations which may influence publication. Editors and reviewers must remain unbiased during the review process. A conflict of interest is anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with an objective peer review. Circumstances that may preclude editors or reviewers to remain unbiased include (but are not limited to) personal competing interests of any kind with any of the authors, being currently employed at the same institution as any of the authors, or having been close collaborators of any of the authors in the last three years. If at any point of the review process, editors or reviewers feel they cannot provide a fair and unbiased review, they should notify the journal immediately and seek advice.
Confidentiality and fair-play
Any manuscripts received for review must always be treated as confidential by both editors and reviewers. Directors may nonetheless contact editors of other journals in cases of suspect misconduct. Reviewers are expected to bring any ethical issues to the attention of the editor, including substantial overlap or similarity with other published papers.
Post-publication corrections
Errors and Misconduct: If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, it is their responsibility to promptly notify the journal. Corrections or retractions will be issued promptly with proper acknowledgment of the nature of the error and the reasons for the correction.
Misconduct Investigations: JQuant takes allegations of research misconduct seriously. In cases of suspected misconduct, we will follow established guidelines and procedures following the recommendations by COPE and other international research integrity hubs to investigate and address the issue.