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Publication Ethics Statement

Submitted articles must not have been previously published or be forthcoming in an archival journal or book, whether in print or electronic form. Publication in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. By submitting material to BAU Journal – Science and Technology, the author confirms that the material is not currently under review by another journal and will not be submitted elsewhere until the journal’s editorial decision process is complete. For questions concerning the submission terms, please contact the editors.

Publication Ethics Policy

BAU Journal – Science and Technology (BAUJ-ST) follows clear ethical standards to ensure the quality, integrity, transparency, and reliability of scholarly publishing. The journal applies this policy in accordance with the COPE Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. This policy should be read together with the journal’s Authors Guidelines, Manuscript Preparation Guidelines, and guidelines for reviewers.

  1. Authorship: Published work must be attributed only to authors who meet the journal’s authorship criteria and accept responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work.
  2. Authorship Problems: Editors handle authorship concerns in accordance with relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts.
  3. Funding and Support: Authors must disclose all financial support, grants, sponsorship, or other assistance received from individuals or organizations in the Acknowledgment or Funding Statement section.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged, and where appropriate required, to provide access to the data, code, software, protocols, materials, and methods necessary to support, verify, and reproduce the findings reported in their articles. Manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement indicating whether supporting data are available and, if so, where they can be accessed. Where data cannot be shared because of ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, security, or institutional restrictions, authors must clearly state the reason. For computational, experimental, and empirical studies, authors should provide sufficient methodological details, parameters, software versions, and analysis procedures to allow verification and replication of the work.

Peer-Review Process

To ensure a robust, objective, confidential, transparent, and conflict-free peer-review process, BAUJ-ST applies internationally recognized peer-review practices, including double-blind review, appropriate reviewer selection, conflict-of-interest management, confidentiality, and timely communication.

  1. Reviewer Selection: Authors may suggest potential reviewers in their cover letter or through the submission system. The journal is not obligated to use the suggested reviewers and may select alternative reviewers.
  2. Peer-Review Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest as soon as they receive an invitation to review a manuscript.
  3. Confidentiality During Manuscript Handling: Editors do not share submitted manuscripts with third parties other than individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process.
  4. Manuscript Handling Time: The journal seeks to process manuscripts in a timely manner and will inform authors of any significant delays.

Publication Ethics

Research integrity is a central priority of BAUJ-ST. The journal makes every reasonable effort to identify, prevent, and address breaches of publication ethics.

  1. Misconduct: BAUJ-ST seeks to identify and prevent data fabrication, falsification, authorship abuse, inappropriate image manipulation, unethical research, plagiarism, biased reporting, duplicate publication, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.
  2. Fabrication, Falsification, and Image Manipulation: BAUJ-ST makes every reasonable effort to detect and prevent data fabrication, falsification, and inappropriate image manipulation. Images must not be altered in a manner that obscures, removes, introduces, or misrepresents information. Routine adjustments such as brightness, contrast, or colour balance are permitted only when they do not alter the meaning or interpretation of the original image. Generative AI must not be used to create or alter submitted images unless its use forms part of the declared research methodology and is fully described in the Methods section.
  3. Plagiarism: BAUJ-ST seeks to ensure that submitted manuscripts are original and free from plagiarism or duplicate publication. Where concerns are identified, the journal will investigate and take appropriate action in accordance with its procedures and COPE guidance.
  4. Duplicate Submission: Manuscripts must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time. If concurrent or duplicate submission is identified, the manuscript may be rejected or withdrawn, and additional action may be taken where appropriate.
  5. Sanctions: If a violation of publication ethics or professional standards is confirmed, the journal may take one or more of the following actions, depending on the nature and severity of the case:
    • Issue a warning letter to the author or reviewer.
    • Reject the submitted manuscript.
    • Restrict future submissions from the responsible author or authors for a defined period.
    • Restrict the responsible individual from serving as a reviewer for a defined period.
    • Publish a formal notice describing the confirmed misconduct.
    • Contact the relevant institution, department, employer, or funding organization.
    • Correct, retract, or withdraw the publication, as appropriate.
    • Refer the matter to a professional organization or competent authority for further investigation.
    • Impose additional measures where serious or repeated violations are confirmed.
  6. Editors and Board Members as Authors: Editors and editorial board members are excluded from the review and decision-making process for manuscripts in which they are authors or have another conflict of interest. Such manuscripts are handled independently by an uninvolved editor.
  7. Conflicts of Interest: Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the submission, review, editorial decision, or publication process. A person with a relevant conflict must not participate in handling or deciding the manuscript.
  8. Libel and Defamation: Editors seek to identify and prevent statements in manuscripts or peer-review reports that may be defamatory, unlawful, or based on negligent misrepresentation.
  9. Editorial Independence and Commercial Considerations: Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance, quality, and ethical compliance and are not influenced by commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, or the authors’ ability to pay.
  10. Post-Publication Discussions, Corrections, and Retractions: BAUJ-ST welcomes scholarly discussion, comments, and constructive criticism concerning published articles. Readers, authors, and other stakeholders may contact the editorial office to report errors, concerns, or requests for clarification. Where appropriate, authors will be invited to respond. If an error or concern is confirmed, the journal may publish a correction, erratum, clarification, expression of concern, retraction, or withdrawal notice, depending on the nature and severity of the issue and in accordance with COPE guidance.
  11. Complaints and Appeals: Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may submit complaints or appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, delays, publication ethics, or published content to the journal’s editorial office. Complaints and appeals are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or by an uninvolved editor where appropriate. Editors with a conflict of interest or direct involvement in the original decision will not handle the appeal. The journal will examine the available documentation, consult relevant parties where necessary, and provide a written response. Editorial decisions may be upheld, revised, or referred for further review according to the merits of the case.

Research Ethics in Journal Articles

  1. Human and Animal Research, Privacy, and Confidentiality: Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, or human biological materials must comply with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements. Authors must state the name of the approving institutional review board or research ethics committee, the approval or reference number where applicable, and whether informed consent was obtained or formally waived. Written consent for publication must be obtained where individuals may be identifiable from descriptions, photographs, images, videos, or other information. Research involving animals must receive approval from the appropriate institutional committee and comply with applicable institutional, national, and international animal-welfare standards. Submitted manuscripts and confidential information are shared only with individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process.
  2. Cultures and Heritage: Authors and editors should handle religious, cultural, historical, and heritage-related materials with accuracy, respect, and appropriate ethical sensitivity, while maintaining scholarly freedom and avoiding discriminatory or unnecessarily offensive content.
  3. Reporting Guidelines: Authors should follow recognized reporting guidelines relevant to their study design. Editors and reviewers seek to ensure that manuscripts contain sufficient information for readers to evaluate the research.

Copyright and Access

  1. Copyright, Licensing, and Intellectual Property: Copyright and licensing terms are clearly stated in the journal’s Authors Guidelines and on each published article. Copyright in published articles is held by Beirut Arab University. All articles published in BAU Journal – Science and Technology are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) . Under this licence, users may copy and redistribute articles in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and BAU Journal – Science and Technology and a link to the licence is provided. If an article is remixed, transformed, or built upon, the modified material may not be distributed. Commercial use or distribution of adapted material requires prior permission from Beirut Arab University. Authors must ensure that their submissions do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Reproduced figures, tables, images, datasets, software, or substantial text from third-party sources must be appropriately cited and used with permission where required.
  2. Open Access Policy: BAU Journal – Science and Technology is a fully open access journal. All published articles are freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, without subscription fees, access fees, registration requirements, or embargo periods. Use and reuse of published articles are governed by the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence stated above.
  3. Digital Preservation and Archiving: All published volumes and issues of BAU Journal – Science and Technology are openly accessible through the journal’s online repository on Digital Commons. BAUJ-ST assigns Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to its published articles, and article metadata are deposited with Crossref to support persistent identification, citation, discoverability, and access to the official published version of each article. The journal maintains institutional backup copies of published articles and metadata.
  4. Ownership and Management: BAU Journal – Science and Technology is owned and published by Beirut Arab University and is managed through its editorial structure, including the Editor-in-Chief, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editors, Consulting Editors, Publishing and Reviewing Assistants, and Scientific Editorial Board.
  5. Website: The BAUJ-ST website on Digital Commons is maintained to support high ethical and professional publishing standards and to provide accurate information to authors, reviewers, and readers.
  6. Publishing Schedule: BAUJ-ST clearly displays its publication frequency on the journal website.
  7. Name of the Journal: The journal’s name is distinctive, reflects its scope and institutional affiliation, and is not intended to mislead authors or readers or create confusion with another publication.