The Academic Journal of Botanical Sciences (ISSN: 3084-0279) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, originality, transparency, confidentiality, and responsible scientific communication in botanical sciences and allied plant research fields.
This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement explains the ethical responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff in relation to manuscript submission, peer review, authorship, plagiarism, plant data accuracy, field research ethics, laboratory integrity, conflicts of interest, corrections, withdrawals, retractions, and publication malpractice.
Ethical Commitment of the Journal
Academic Journal of Botanical Sciences supports ethical, original, and scientifically valid research that contributes to botanical sciences, plant taxonomy, ecology, biodiversity, conservation, physiology, ethnobotany, medicinal plants, environmental botany, agriculture, biotechnology, and applied plant sciences.
Originality
Manuscripts must be original and should not contain copied, duplicate, or previously published content without proper citation.
Scientific Accuracy
Plant data, species names, taxonomy, observations, methods, results, and conclusions must be reported honestly and accurately.
Fair Review
Manuscripts should be evaluated fairly on botanical relevance, scientific merit, originality, clarity, and academic contribution.
Proper Citation
All books, articles, plant databases, field records, reports, methods, images, and previous research must be properly acknowledged.
Research Integrity
Field observations, laboratory results, plant records, tables, figures, and images should not be fabricated, altered, or misrepresented.
Responsible Publication
Editorial decisions should be based on scope, quality, ethics, originality, review comments, and journal publication standards.
Duties of Authors
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts are original, accurate, ethically prepared, properly referenced, and not submitted to another journal at the same time.
- Authors must submit only original and unpublished botanical or plant science research.
- The manuscript should not be under review or consideration by another journal at the same time.
- All sources, plant records, field data, laboratory methods, tables, figures, images, reports, and previous research must be properly cited.
- Authors must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent field observations, laboratory results, plant identification, or research findings.
- Authors should use accurate botanical names, accepted nomenclature, and reliable taxonomic references where applicable.
- All listed authors must have made a meaningful contribution to the study, analysis, writing, review, or development of the manuscript.
- Authors should disclose conflicts of interest, funding sources, institutional support, permissions, and acknowledgments where applicable.
- Authors should correct any significant error identified during review or after publication.
Originality, Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication
The journal does not accept plagiarism, copied content, duplicate submission, duplicate publication, self-plagiarism, improper paraphrasing, fabricated data, falsified results, or unauthorized use of another person’s research, botanical observations, images, tables, figures, or scientific material.
- Submitted manuscripts may be checked for similarity and originality.
- Copied text, tables, figures, data, methodology, results, or discussion without proper citation is considered unethical.
- Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.
- Previously published work should not be reused without proper acknowledgment and permission where required.
- Manuscripts with serious plagiarism or unethical duplication may be rejected.
- Published articles found to contain serious plagiarism may be corrected, withdrawn, or retracted according to editorial decision.
Unacceptable Practices
- Plagiarism or copied content
- Duplicate submission or duplicate publication
- Fabricated field or laboratory data
- False plant identification or misleading taxonomy
- Improper authorship or honorary authorship
- Unauthorized use of images, maps, records, or datasets
Expected Practices
- Original botanical research and writing
- Accurate plant names, methods, and results
- Proper citation and reference practice
- Responsible use of field and laboratory data
- Permission or ethical approval where required
- Transparent conflict of interest disclosure
Authorship Policy
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a meaningful academic, scientific, research, analytical, fieldwork, laboratory, or writing contribution to the manuscript. Authorship must not be used as a favour, formality, gift, or honorary recognition.
- All authors should approve the final version before submission.
- The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal.
- Guest authorship, gift authorship, honorary authorship, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.
- Any change in authorship after submission should be clearly justified and approved by all authors.
- All authors share responsibility for the originality, accuracy, ethical preparation, and integrity of the submitted work.
Field Research, Plant Data and Scientific Ethics
Manuscripts involving field surveys, plant collection, biodiversity records, herbarium specimens, ecological sites, laboratory experiments, ethnobotanical information, or sensitive plant locations should follow ethical and responsible research practices.
- Plant collection and fieldwork should follow applicable institutional, local, and environmental permissions where required.
- Rare, endangered, protected, or sensitive plant species should be reported responsibly.
- Field locations of vulnerable species should not be disclosed in a way that may create conservation risk.
- Herbarium records, voucher specimens, plant images, and taxonomic details should be accurate and properly documented.
- Ethnobotanical knowledge should be reported respectfully with proper acknowledgment of community knowledge where applicable.
- Laboratory results, plant extracts, phytochemical data, and experimental findings should not be altered or selectively reported.
Duties of Editors
Editors are responsible for maintaining fairness, confidentiality, academic quality, botanical relevance, scientific accuracy, and ethical integrity throughout the editorial and publication process.
- Editors should evaluate manuscripts based on quality, originality, scope, botanical relevance, and ethical compliance.
- Editors should make decisions without discrimination, personal bias, or unfair influence.
- Editors must protect confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and editorial communication.
- Editors should not handle manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.
- Editors may reject manuscripts that do not meet ethical, academic, originality, scientific, or publication standards.
- Editors should take suitable action if plagiarism, data fabrication, authorship dispute, image manipulation, or malpractice is identified.
Duties of Reviewers
Reviewers support the journal by providing fair, objective, respectful, and constructive comments that help improve manuscript quality and scientific value.
- Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts according to botanical relevance, scientific quality, methodology, ethics, and academic contribution.
- Reviewer comments should be clear, constructive, professional, and relevant to the manuscript.
- Reviewers must keep submitted manuscripts and review communication confidential.
- Reviewers should identify possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, weak methodology, inaccurate plant identification, citation errors, or ethical concerns where noticed.
- Reviewers should not use unpublished manuscript content, field data, images, laboratory results, or botanical records for personal, academic, professional, or commercial benefit.
- Reviewers should decline the review if they have a conflict of interest or lack suitable expertise.
Conflict of Interest
Authors, reviewers, and editors should disclose any real or potential conflict of interest that may influence manuscript preparation, review, editorial decision-making, or publication.
- Conflicts may be personal, academic, institutional, professional, financial, commercial, or research-related.
- Authors should disclose funding, sponsorship, institutional support, and professional relationships where applicable.
- Reviewers and editors should not participate in a manuscript process where a conflict exists.
- Undisclosed conflicts may lead to editorial action.
Publication Malpractice
Publication malpractice includes any unethical practice that affects the originality, accuracy, authorship, confidentiality, review fairness, or scientific integrity of a scholarly publication.
| Plagiarism | Copying text, ideas, data, tables, figures, images, methods, or results without proper acknowledgment. |
| Data Fabrication | Creating false field observations, laboratory results, plant records, survey data, or experimental findings. |
| Data Falsification | Manipulating data, excluding results unfairly, changing values, or presenting misleading botanical outcomes. |
| Duplicate Submission | Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. |
| Misleading Taxonomy | Presenting incorrect plant identification, unsupported species claims, inaccurate nomenclature, or misleading classification. |
| Improper Authorship | Including authors who did not contribute or excluding contributors who should be credited. |
Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawals
If an error or ethical concern is identified in a submitted or published manuscript, the journal may consider correction, clarification, withdrawal, or retraction depending on the seriousness of the matter.
- A correction may be issued for genuine errors that do not affect the main validity of the article.
- A retraction may be considered when serious plagiarism, data fabrication, false authorship, image manipulation, or major misconduct is confirmed.
- A withdrawal request may be considered for manuscripts under review according to journal policy and editorial approval.
- The journal may publish an editorial notice where clarification is required for the scholarly record.
Confidentiality
Submitted manuscripts, unpublished botanical data, plant records, field locations, laboratory results, reviewer comments, editorial decisions, revision files, author communication, and review records are treated as confidential. Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must not share or use unpublished content for personal, academic, professional, or commercial advantage.
Final Responsibility
Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, ethical compliance, data integrity, plant identification, citation quality, and scientific relevance of their manuscripts. The editorial team is responsible for fair review, responsible decision-making, confidentiality, and maintaining publication standards.
Important Note
Submission of a manuscript to the Academic Journal of Botanical Sciences confirms that the authors agree to follow the journal’s publication ethics, malpractice statement, authorship policy, originality standards, peer review process, correction policy, confidentiality rules, and final editorial decision.