Publication Ethics

University of Thi-Qar Journal for Engineering Sciences

Ethical guidelines and responsibilities for editors, reviewers, and authors based on COPE Best Practice Guidelines.

University of Thi-Qar Journal for Engineering Sciences (UTJES) is a peer-reviewed electronic international journal. This statement clarifies ethical behavior for all publishing parties—authors, chief editors, Editorial Board, peer reviewers, and the publisher—based on the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

UTJES supervises and monitors all publication stages, ensuring all editorial decisions are made fairly and confidentially by the Editorial Board, driven by work validation and its importance to researchers and readers.

Duties of Editors

  • Fair Play: Evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
  • Confidentiality: Do not disclose information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher.
  • Disclosure & Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in submitted manuscripts must not be used in an editor's own research without express written consent from the author.

Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribution & Promptness: Assist editors in making decisions and help authors improve papers. Notify editors promptly if unqualified to review or unable to meet deadlines.
  • Confidentiality & Objectivity: Treat manuscripts as confidential documents. Conduct reviews objectively without personal criticism, expressing views clearly with supporting arguments.
  • Acknowledgement of Sources: Identify relevant un-cited work and report any substantial similarity or overlap with other published papers.
  • Disclosure & Conflicts of Interest: Keep privileged information confidential and do not use it for personal advantage. Decline reviews when conflicts of interest exist.

Duties of Authors

  • Reporting Standards & Data: Present accurate accounts of original work, objective discussions, and sufficient detail/references for replication. Provide raw data when requested and retain data for a reasonable time post-publication.
  • Originality & Plagiarism: Ensure entirely original work and properly cite or quote the work/words of others.
  • Concurrent Publication: Avoid publishing manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Concurrent submission is unacceptable.
  • Authorship Criteria: Limit authorship to significant contributors to conception, design, execution, or interpretation. Ensure all co-authors approve the final version.
  • Conflicts of Interest & Funding: Disclose financial or substantive conflicts of interest and all funding sources.
  • Fundamental Errors: Promptly notify the editor or publisher to retract or correct work upon discovering significant errors.

Questions? Contact us at utjeng@jutq.edu.iq.