Ship Engineering adheres to internationally recognized publication ethics standards and has formulated its publication ethics statement based on the relevant guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), tailored to the actual situation of the journal. All authors, editors, and reviewers are required to strictly abide by these standards.
I. Responsibilities of Authors
The main responsibilities of authors include:
1. Authorship: The authorship of the manuscript must meet the journal's authorship criteria, meaning the authors must have substantially contributed to the research or related work, including: the conception and design of the study, acquisition of research data, analysis and interpretation of research data, writing the article, or making critical revisions to important content. Providers of laboratory facilities or funding cannot be listed as authors. Any addition, removal, or change of authors before publication must be accompanied by a handwritten signed permission letter from the first author and corresponding author, stamped with the institution's stamp.
2. Academic Integrity: Authors commit that their manuscript does not involve plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification of research data. The manuscript has not been published in any form or language in any media, in China or abroad, and has not been submitted to multiple journals simultaneously. After publication, it will not be submitted to other journals in any language.
3. Use of Others' Work: If the manuscript uses others' research results, clear attribution must be given, and permission must be obtained from the original authors in accordance with copyright law to avoid infringing on others' intellectual property rights. In case of copyright disputes, the author assumes full responsibility.
4. Confidentiality and Legal Compliance: Authors ensure that their manuscript does not involve state-related confidential content or infringe on the interests of other organizations or individuals. Otherwise, the author assumes responsibility.
5. Acknowledging Contributions: The corresponding author should ensure that all major contributors are listed as co-authors and that no contributors are omitted. Only after all authors agree can the manuscript be submitted. Those who contributed to the research but are not authors should be acknowledged.
6. Conflict of Interest: Authors must declare their individual contributions to the research and any potential conflicts of interest. Authors must fill out and submit the journal's "Copyright License Agreement and Declaration of Authors." A potential conflict of interest exists when the financial/personal/affiliative relationships of the author (or their institution/employer) may influence the author's decisions, work, or manuscript. If the manuscript mentions specific products, the author should also disclose any conflicts of interest with competing products.
II. Responsibilities of Editors
The main responsibilities of editors (including editorial board members) include:
1. Decision Making: Editors should make their decisions based on the scientific value of the articles, irrespective of the authors' affiliations, nationalities, races, genders, ages, or other personal characteristics.
2. Fair and Timely Review: Editors should make every effort to ensure a fair and timely review process for submitted manuscripts.
3. Confidentiality: Manuscripts should be handled confidentially. Details should not be disclosed to anyone other than the reviewers without the authors' permission.
4. Conflict of Interest:
1) If the editor is the author of a manuscript, it must be reviewed independently by another editor.
2) If there is a conflict of interest between the editor and the author (such as colleagues, teacher-student relationships, collaboration, competition), the manuscript must be handled by another editor.
3) If the research topic is too close to the editor's own projects, the manuscript should be transferred to another editor.
5. Reviewer Selection: Editors should carefully select reviewers to ensure a fair review process:
1) Caution should be exercised when using reviewers recommended by the authors to avoid excessive affirmation (e.g., avoiding reviewers who are former supervisors, students, or co-authors of the authors).
2) The identity of recommended reviewers should be verified to ensure the fairness of the peer review process.
3) Editors should avoid selecting reviewers who the authors have requested to be excluded.
6. Handling Appeals: Editors should fairly and thoroughly investigate and handle appeals against review decisions.
7. Academic Misconduct: Editors should rigorously examine manuscripts for academic misconduct. If allegations of misconduct are raised, editors should promptly investigate and address them.
III. Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers, who assist the editorial office in reviewing manuscripts, should be experts in the relevant field. Their main responsibilities include:
1. Confidentiality:
1) Reviewers should keep the content and process of the review confidential and not share manuscript data, information, or arguments with others.
2) Reviewers' identities and details of the review process should not be disclosed to others.
3) After completing the review, reviewers should not retain copies of the manuscript and must comply with data protection regulations.
2. Use of Manuscript Information: Reviewers should not use confidential information from the manuscript under review for their own research.
3. Conflict of Interest: If a reviewer has a conflict of interest with the authors (e.g., colleagues, teacher-student relationships, collaboration, competition), they should recuse themselves from reviewing the manuscript.
4. Timely Review: Reviewers should conduct reviews in a timely manner. If unable to complete the review or requiring more time, they should notify the editorial office immediately.
5. Objective and Fair Review: Reviewers should provide detailed and objective assessments and offer fair and impartial opinions.
6. Professional and Respectful Comments: Reviewers should provide professional and polite feedback on manuscripts, avoiding personal criticism of the authors.
7. Similarity Detection: If reviewers find similarities between the manuscript under review and other published or unpublished articles, they should notify the editorial office.
8. Ethics Issues: If reviewers discover potential ethical issues in the manuscript, including plagiarism, data fabrication, or any academic misconduct, they should promptly inform the editorial office.