Future Computing and Informatics Journal
Code of Ethics
Preamble.
Future Computing and Informatics Journal (FCIJ) is an International Journal, a scholar open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, and fully referred international scientific journal focusing on research in computer science, information systems, information technology, and relative fields. FCIJ aims to contribute in promoting the research in the field of applied computing and information technology. The journal scope covers the whole areas of computer science, information systems, and information technology like Management of Green IT, Artificial Intelligence, Embedded Systems, Mobile Computing, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Software Engineering, Data and Network Security, Human-Computer Interaction, Computational Intelligence, Biometrics and Bioinformatics, Database Management Systems and more.
Scholarly Ethics.
FCIJ is committed to publishing original scholarly materials of the highest quality that provide comprehensive insight into all aspects of Computing and information science. FCIJ goal is to facilitate the availability of academic excellence and disseminate innovative knowledge worldwide. FCIJ journal editors and authors are provided written guidelines and checklists that must be followed to maintain the high value that FCIJ places on the work it publishes. FCIJ reviewers are an important component of the scholarly process and therefore are instructed to provide comprehensive, detailed appraisals of work that they are reviewing to assist the author in improving the quality and usability of the presented research. FCIJ affirms that ethical publication practices are critical to the successful development of knowledge. Therefore, it is the policy of FCIJ to maintain high ethical standards in all publications. These standards pertain to all articles accepted for publication. This is in accordance with standard scientific principles and FCIJ’s position as a source of scientific knowledge.
Diversity and Anti-Discrimination.
FCIJ does not tolerate discrimination based on age, gender, race, affiliation, religious beliefs, political beliefs, sexual orientation or country of origin.
Plagiarism.
FCIJ defines plagiarism as the intentional or unintentional use of another individual’s, or collection of individuals’, ideas, theories, models, equations, conclusions, research (intellectual property), and/or verbatim or paraphrased words without proper attribution to the original source. As plagiarism is considered to be one of the most serious breaches in publication ethics, all allegations of plagiarism shall be investigated with the utmost diligence.
Furthermore, all submitted manuscripts will be reviewed with the goal of determining if plagiarism has taken place and, if so, to what extent. FCIJ uses iThenticate, a plagiarism detection software, to assist with the identification of plagiarized content. If it is determined that a manuscript contains plagiarism the authors(s) will be notified promptly of the rejection of their submitted work and may be barred from consideration for future publication with FCIJ for an allotted period or indefinitely, at the publisher’s discretion. Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the plagiarism.
Allegations of plagiarism in which the work has already been published by FCIJ will be investigated immediately upon receipt of the initial complaint. Work which has been found to contain plagiarism will be removed from all FCIJ electronic database products. A statement of notification and retraction will be included at the electronic database link providing the citation for the original work. The authors of the work that contains the plagiarism will be notified of the findings, and any work currently under review will be returned. Authors of work containing plagiarism will be prohibited from publishing with FCIJ for an allotted period or indefinitely, at the publisher’s discretion. Any submissions accepted for review after the allotted period may be subject to further review by the publisher to satisfy the publisher that no plagiarism is included. Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the plagiarism.
Simultaneous Submission (Self-plagiarism).
Simultaneous submission is defined as a work submitted to FCIJ for publication that is under review, has been previously published, or has been accepted for publication elsewhere in whole or in part. Although FCIJ acknowledges the importance of the use of previously published work to the evolving research process, work submitted for publication must show significant advances in the research conducted and should appropriately quote, cite, and attribute the earlier work for any prior research mentioned. The failure to disclose previously published work upon which the current work is based may be considered cause for investigation into allegations of plagiarism. Below are three articles that explain the dangers of plagiarism and self-plagiarism in greater depth: Download a free whitepaper from iThenticate on self-plagiarism. A Q&A forum, also provided by iThenticate. The 10 types of plagiarism and how to avoid them, provided by Turnitin.
Conflicts of Interest.
A conflict of interest occurs when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal (or self-serving) interests and professional duties or responsibilities and can be highly detrimental to academic publications. If at any time an Editor-in-Chief suspects a conflict of interest they should bring the matter to the publisher’s attention immediately (e.g. an author of submitted work is based at their same institution and on a competitive project). Should a reviewer experience a conflict of interest (e.g. they are aware of the article manuscript author’s identity and/or are based at the same institution), they should bring the matter to the Editor(s)-in-Chief attention immediately. If an author perceives that there may be a conflict of interest for their submitted work, they should include a declaration of any conflict of interest along with the article manuscript upon submission.
Unethical Research Practices.
All research is to be conducted according to the general standards of practice, which include proper protection of any subjects. Defamatory or intentionally false information is considered a serious offense, and any work including unethical research will be rejected and the authors barred from publishing with FCIJ. Furthermore, research and data being presented for publication must be complete and whole. Falsification of one’s research through intentional data suppression or misrepresentation is considered unethical and will result in the rejection of the submitted work and may be cause for other action. This pertains only to cases in which data is misconstrued with the author’s knowledge.
Academic Peer Review.
All articles published in FCIJ publications must undergo a rigorous double-blind academic peer review process. Allegations of improperly or unethically conducted peer review can be very damaging to the success of a publication, as well as to the careers of any scholars affiliated with the questioned work. The double-blind peer review process should be fully conducted within the online submission system, and as such, the reviews should be easily accessible to the FCIJ editorial staff.
Copyright Infringement.
Copyright infringement is the reuse of materials for which the author does not have ownership without the express permission of the copyright holder. FCIJ recognizes that transfer of copyright to a publisher is a standard practice in the industry and that large quantities of quoted text, images, layouts, and formats, which may or may not be the creation of the author, may be owned by a third party. FCIJ also recognizes that all models, equations, conclusions, theories, algorithms, mathematical definitions, and computer code are the intellectual property of the author and that ownership of these elements belongs solely to that author, unless otherwise agreed upon with a third party. In cases in which an author is allegedly infringing upon the copyright of a third party prior to the publication of the work in question, FCIJ will return the work to the author(s) and request revision to remove all copyrighted materials.
Allegations of copyright infringement in which the work has already been published by FCIJ will be investigated immediately upon receipt of the initial complaint. Work which has been found to be in breach of a third party copyright will be removed from circulation and a retraction and notification of the infringement will be published at the corresponding link in FCIJ electronic database products.
The author(s) of the infringing work may be prohibited from publishing with FCIJ for an allotted period of time or indefinitely, at the discretion of the publisher. Any submissions accepted for review after an allotted period may be subject to further review by the publisher to satisfy the publisher that no copyrighted material is included in the manuscript and that all legal stipulations within the publisher’s Author’s Warranty and Transfer of Copyright are met. Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the infringement.