Publishing Ethics

All participants in the publication process, including authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, and the publisher (ISA), must adhere to publication ethics. Mutual respect, dignity, and avoidance of behaviors such as discrimination, harassment, bullying, or retaliation are essential. The journal aims to uphold the utmost integrity during the publishing process, supporting all parties with policies and procedures to adhere to these ethical standards.

 

Editor Responsibilities

 

The editor should ensure a fair, timely, and quality-driven peer review process.

Manuscripts recommended for publication must adhere to high technical standards.

Typically, research articles should undergo reviews by a minimum of two independent external reviewers. However, the editor can consult more reviewers if needed.

Reviewers should be specialists in the related technical field, with a focus on achieving diverse representation.

Fraudulent peer reviewers must be avoided.

The editor must scrutinize potential conflicts of interest and reviewer's self-citation suggestions to eliminate potential biases.

Maintaining confidentiality of submissions and reviewer communications is paramount.

 

Reviewers

Treat all received manuscripts as confidential.

Reviews must be objective, with clearly articulated views and, if needed, supported by references.

Direct personal criticism of authors is discouraged.

Declare potential conflicts of interest and avoid reviewing manuscripts where such conflicts might exist.

Do not use unpublished content from a manuscript in your own research without the author's written permission.

Confidentiality should be maintained regarding peer review insights.

If ethical concerns arise in a manuscript, notify the editor, especially if the manuscript shares substantial similarities with other known publications.

Private comments about a manuscript should be communicated only to the editor.

 

Authors

Submit original, accurate, and significant research.

The accuracy of the presented data is the author's responsibility.

The manuscript should be detailed enough to allow replication.

Unethical behaviors, like making fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate statements, are prohibited.

Ensure originality, properly citing or quoting others' works to avoid plagiarism.

Avoid excessive self-citations and coordinated self-citation among multiple authors.

Submitting the same research to more than one primary journal is prohibited.

Published work, including academic theses or electronic preprints, shouldn't be resubmitted, unless it's an expanded version.

If duplicate publication is discovered, the Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA) reserves the right to lodge complaints.

 

Authorship:

Should be granted to those who significantly contributed to the work.

All co-authors should approve the submitted version.

Everyone listed as an author must be ready to be accountable for the work's integrity.

Author contributions should be detailed using the CRediT roles.

Changing the list of authors post-submission is discouraged unless there are justified reasons.

The corresponding author has additional responsibilities regarding content accuracy and communication post-publication.

Authors must correct errors detected during the manuscript processing or after publication. Depending on the error's gravity, various corrections (Erratum, Corrigendum, or even retraction) might be required.

 

Preprint Policy

While IJA requires unique content submissions, posting a preprint on a recognized platform isn't considered prior publication. Authors should mention any preprint details during submission. Once an article is accepted, the preprint should link to the final version and acknowledge the article's subsequent publication in IJA. After IJA publication, the preprint should also guide readers to the published article, providing the publication date and a link to the official online version.