Ethical Code of Shanshui Magazine
1. Purpose and Scope
This Ethical Code defines the guidelines adopted by Shanshui to ensure the integrity, transparency, and scientific quality of publications. It is in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) recommendations and applies to publishers, editors, reviewers, authors, and the scientific community.
2. Peer Review
- The journal adopts a double-blind model.
- The editorial board supervises the review process, selecting qualified and unbiased reviewers.
- Editorial decisions are based solely on scientific merit, without discrimination based on nationality, gender, age, or affiliation.
- Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest before accepting a review.
- Authors receive clear and timely communication regarding review outcomes and the reasons for editorial decisions.
3. Conflicts of Interest
- All parties involved (authors, reviewers, editors) must declare financial, academic, or personal conflicts of interest.
- The journal manages conflicts through transparent procedures, documenting the actions taken.
- Conflicts identified after publication are publicly addressed and documented.
4. Scientific Integrity
- Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, or manipulation are strictly prohibited.
- The journal has procedures to handle external reports of misconduct.
- In case of violations, the journal may issue corrections, retractions, or withdrawal of articles according to documented procedures.
5. Post-Publication Discussion
- Authors and the scientific community may submit letters to the editor or responses.
- Any modifications to published articles are communicated transparently to readers.
6. Ethical Oversight of Research
- Authors must ensure that research complies with international ethical standards.
7. Consent and Publication
- All authors must provide informed consent and release forms for texts, data, images, audio, and video.
- The journal respects disciplinary standards and confidentiality requirements, ensuring the possibility of open access where applicable.
8. Intellectual Property
- Authors retain the moral rights to their work. Copyright and licensing are managed in accordance with the journal’s policies.
- The journal exclusively endorses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license for all published works.
- Under this license, authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions. Users are permitted to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work for any purpose, provided they give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and source.
- No other Creative Commons variants (e.g., NC, ND, or SA) are permitted.
- Works published before this policy remain under the authors’ copyright.
9. Publication of the Ethical Code
- This Ethical Code is published on the journal’s website and accessible to all users.
- The journal reserves the right to update the Code, with notification of any changes.