Publishing & Ethics Policies

AR Publishers maintains comprehensive websites that provide essential publisher and journal information, adhering to ethical and professional standards. Websites detail editorial and publication policy elements, present instructions for authors, Editorial Board members, and External Reviewers, describe manuscript submission procedures, publication costs, and discount systems. Information includes journal co-founders and publisher data, editorial team details, Editorial Office contact information, complete Editorial Board and External Reviewer data, indexing databases and content aggregators, plagiarism-checking software products, regularly updated news, partnership and cooperation information, and provided services.

All journal issues are published with open access since the foundation, with each article page containing author information, abstracts, reference lists, manuscript receipt dates, acceptance and publication dates, and download and view counters. Readers can download complete article texts without restrictions from the journal website article pages. Journal ISSNs are displayed on websites, with unique journal titles preventing confusion with other publications.

AR Publishers supports double-blind peer review models, where Editorial Board members and External Reviewers review manuscripts selected based on research interests that align with the article topics. Referee reports sent to authors contain reviewer opinions on manuscript acceptance, rejection, or revision along with recommendations. Websites outline review processes and stages, potential reasons for article rejection, and provide detailed explanations of reviewer work, along with various case recommendations.

Academic Research and Publishing UG (i.e., UG) serves as the publisher and founder of multiple journals, with editors and publishers cooperating and distributing duties according to the journal's publication policies. Following the WAME key principles, co-founders and publishers are authorized to hire and dismiss editors and Editorial Board members only for substantial reasons, including unreasonable decisions, violations of editorial policy, or personal conduct inconsistent with trust, such as criminal acts, ethical violations, or failure to fulfill duties honestly and in good faith.

Journal activities involve Editors-in-Chief, Section Editors, Editorial Board members, invited External Reviewers, and Editorial Offices. Editorial Board members and External Reviewers are specialists in fields corresponding to the journal's aims while adhering to publication ethics standards. The Editorial Board and External Reviewer lists are regularly reviewed, with complete names, affiliations, research interests, and links to scientific profiles represented on the journal's websites.

Copyright policies are clearly described with all papers published under open access Creative Commons CC BY licenses, allowing use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided original works are properly cited. CC BY licenses permit both commercial and non-commercial reuse, with authors required to receive permission for previously published information use and republishing while providing correct original source links prior to submission.

Article processing charges are paid by authors when their articles are accepted for publication after peer review, with no submission or review fees required. Charges cover manuscript text editing, figure and table preparation, text formatting, review process administration, article archiving, site administration, including article posting and maintenance, journal and article promotion, including content distribution and indexing service maintenance, and customer support. Discounts offered to authors from low- and middle-income countries, as well as exemptions available to authors from developing countries, areas affected by military conflict, or those with limited financial means.

AR Publishers urges manuscript-submitting authors to adhere to principles of scientific transparency, honesty, thoroughness, and research excellence, while showing respect to co-authors and researchers. Adherence to ethical standards follows the COPE principles, with articles accepted only if they contain the authors' original ideas and research results. Originality and plagiarism checking utilize advanced detection software, which includes manuscript rejection for any form of plagiarism, including direct copying, self-plagiarism, mosaic writing, accidental plagiarism, remix, hybrid, mashup, non-existent source links, aggregation, find-replace, and re-tweet patterns.

Manuscript authors or co-authors are persons owning ideas or developing and implementing research through the dissemination of intellectual and creative work. Authorship requires a substantial contribution to conception or design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation, as well as drafting or critical revision for important intellectual content, final approval of the published version, and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring accuracy and integrity. Investigation questions are appropriately investigated and resolved.

To qualify for authorship, individuals must make significant contributions to the research that warrant recognition and must be able to take responsibility for the content. All four criteria must be met: substantial contributions to conception or design of work or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Persons not meeting authorship criteria but contributing to the work may be acknowledged in acknowledgment sections with contribution descriptions and written permission from acknowledged persons. CRediT - Contributor Roles Taxonomy provides standardized approaches for determining author contributions and specifying author roles in accordance with the COPE Principles and Recommendations. Contributors may include research assistants, technical support staff, personnel responsible for funding acquisition, or administrative support providers.

Corresponding authors serve as primary contacts during manuscript submission, peer review, and publication processes, ensuring all co-authors have seen and approved final manuscript versions, agreeing to publication, and managing communication with journals throughout submission and publication processes. Corresponding authors must maintain contact information currency and respond promptly to editorial queries throughout the publication process.

Author order should reflect the significance of contributions to the research and manuscript preparation, with first and last author positions typically carrying special significance in many fields. Authors must provide detailed contribution statements describing each author's specific role in the research and manuscript preparation, allowing readers to understand individual contributions to the published work.

Any changes to authorship after initial manuscript submission must be approved by all authors and adequately justified to the editorial office. Addition or removal of authors requires written confirmation from all parties involved, including the individual being added or removed. Changes to author order must be requested with clear justification and approved by all listed authors.

All authors must provide accurate institutional affiliations at the time of manuscript submission, reflecting their primary affiliation during the research period. Changes in affiliation between research conduct and publication should be noted appropriately, ensuring readers understand the institutional context of the research work.

Authors submit disclosure statements (PDF) with all relevant relationships: funding, employment, grants, patents, stocks, consulting, equipment, speaking fees, travel, etc. Corrections must be submitted if conflicts are found post-publication.

Editors disclose conflicts and recuse when necessary. Reviewers must decline reviews where conflicts exist and notify Managing Editors of potential conflicts.

Disclose unpaid positions, organizational memberships, personal relationships/beliefs, collaborations, and affiliations that could affect objectivity.

Plagiarism involves appropriating another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without proper attribution. Academic plagiarism encompasses all source types, including texts, figures, fragments, mathematical formulas, and program codes from published and unpublished materials. We utilize Turnitin, iThenticate for originality verification before manuscript review.

Academic plagiarism includes word-for-word text use without citations, fact, idea, or formula application without citations, text paraphrasing without citations, and recognition of commissioned works as original research. Additional forms include copy (significant text chunks from single sources without modification), self-plagiarism (literal borrowing from previous works without references), mosaic or patchwriting (phrase borrowing without quotation marks or synonym use maintaining original structure), and casual plagiarism (neglecting source citations or inadvertent paraphrasing).

Remix involves using paragraphs from multiple sources without providing references, while a hybrid combines properly cited references with unreferenced copied text. Mashup mixes copied material from multiple sources, and non-existent source links (404 Error references) include citations to unavailable sources. An aggregator refers to properly referenced work with minimal original contribution. Find-and-replace preserves source content while replacing keywords, and re-tweet involves properly referenced work that relies heavily on original wording or structure.

The Editorial Board rejects manuscripts containing any form of plagiarism, considering the presence of plagiarism to be indicative of unethical and unprofessional author behaviour, which can potentially undermine the author's and publisher's reputations. Plagiarism detection occurs through advanced software analysis before peer review initiation, ensuring only original works proceed through the publication process.

Beyond plagiarism, various actions constitute research misconduct including authorship manipulation, same study submission to multiple journals, excessive publication, citation manipulations, data fabrication and falsification, reprinting significant portions without acknowledgment, research result concealment, sponsor independence compromise, unjustified bibliography expansion, malicious researcher accusations, scientific achievement distortion, result importance exaggeration, researcher work sabotage, official position abuse, integrity violation ignorance or cover-up, and predatory journal creation or support.

Authors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with proper citation practices, understand fair use principles, and utilize plagiarism detection tools during the manuscript preparation process. Educational resources are provided to help authors distinguish between appropriate citation, paraphrasing, and potential plagiarism violations.

Research misconduct policy violations may result in immediate manuscript rejection and subsequent manuscript submission prohibition, manuscript submission bans for one to two years, and editor position and reviewer duty prohibition in any AR Publishers journal. Severe violations may also result in notification to authors' institutions and professional organizations.

All contributing authors must be listed in submission cover letters, with authorship requiring accountability for specific research aspects, work preparation, or unique contributions to ideas, projects, or research explanations. Contributors making smaller contributions may be acknowledged rather than listed as authors. Authors and co-authors must complete cover letter forms identifying all contributors and confirming publication approval.

Duplicate submission involves submitting essentially identical studies to multiple journals simultaneously or consecutively. Redundant publication, known as "salami publishing," refers to submitting separate portions of single studies to multiple journals or disclosing previously published results without required citations, approval, or justification. Self-plagiarism, also known as redundant publication, involves reusing ideas from previous works without proper attribution, although this may be unintentional.

This encompasses excessive self-citation solely to increase author citation counts, excessive citation of journal articles to inflate journal metrics, and honorary citations designed to benefit editors-in-chief or prominent researchers. Authors must follow COPE Guidelines on Citation Manipulation to maintain ethical citation practices.

Data fabrication involves knowingly using implausible data, deliberately discovering research results, or using unreliable information during data collection or processing. This includes referencing non-existent publications or distorting bibliographic information. Falsification involves manipulating research data through equipment parameter violations, biased data correction during processing, or setting individual data points to obtain desired results.

Plagiarism applies to all source types, including texts, drawings, fragments, mathematical expressions, transformations, and program codes from published or unpublished materials. The main types include verbatim borrowing without quotation designation and source reference, using facts, ideas, or formulas without proper citation, paraphrasing source texts closely without attribution, and submitting commissioned works as original research.

These include reprinting significant portions of early publications without acknowledgment, concealing research results, allowing sponsor compromise of research independence, unjustified bibliography expansion, malicious researcher accusations, distorting scientific achievements, exaggerating result importance, sabotaging other researchers' work, abusing official positions to encourage integrity violations, ignoring or covering up integrity violations, and creating or supporting predatory journals.

Upon detecting ethical violations during submission, review, or publication, the editorial board informs all authors and reviewers about discovered violations. For unpublished manuscripts, authors may be asked to make changes for minor violations; however, major violations result in the termination of the manuscript. For published articles, the board publishes corrections, additions, editor's notes, or expressions of concern, with potential retraction for significant violations. The editorial board reserves the right to inform authors' organizations, funding institutions, or research bodies about significant ethical violations.

Research misconduct policy violations may result in immediate manuscript rejection and subsequent manuscript submission prohibition, manuscript submission bans for one to two years, and editor position and reviewer duty prohibition in any AR Publishers journal.

Complaints regarding articles, authors, or reviewers should be directed to relevant journal Editors-in-Chief, including authorship disputes, plagiarism in published materials, duplicate publication or simultaneous submissions, research result appropriation and data fabrication, research process errors or fraudulent actions, research standard violations, undisclosed conflicts of interest, reviewer confidentiality violations, reviewer bias or harmful actions, and misuse of privileged information by reviewers.

Complaints regarding Editorial Boards, employees, Editorial Offices, or Publishers should be sent to Publisher addresses, covering undisclosed conflicts of interest by editorial board or office members, confidentiality violations, bias or harmful actions, privileged information misuse, editorial process violations, staff misconduct, including impolite or delayed responses, and publication process administration or policy improvement recommendations.

Publishers and Editorial Boards review all complaints, whether from open sources or anonymous submissions. Complaints must clearly state their nature, subject matter, and provide convincing evidence of misconduct. For published article content complaints, annotated PDF or Microsoft Word documents highlighting concerning text portions are requested.

Complaint reviews are conducted in a timely and efficient manner, with acknowledgment letters sent within seven days. Investigations follow COPE recommendations and involve contacting all parties, examining correspondence and submission history, and requesting additional information from relevant institutions, research bodies, funding organizations, and third parties. Standard investigations typically take two weeks, during which complainants receive responses to their complaints. Extended investigations include interim status updates every two weeks until the project is completed.

Substantiated complaints result in the Editorial Board organizing an expression of concern or correction publication, article withdrawal or removal, or correction of the related dataset. All communication occurs via email, with Editorial Boards and Publishers documenting all investigations and decisions. Dissatisfied complainants may appeal to COPE.

Article-related complaints should be sent to specific journal Editors-in-Chief, while complaints about Editorial Boards, staff, or Publisher should be directed to the Publisher's designated contact address. All complaints receive prompt acknowledgment and thorough investigation, in accordance with established timelines and procedures.

Authors disagreeing with Editorial decisions may send appeal letters to the Editorial Boards with detailed grounds and explanations. Appeals provide an opportunity for reconsideration when authors believe editorial decisions were made in error or when they can provide additional evidence supporting their manuscript's merit.

Appeals must contain a detailed justification of reasons for appealing Editor decisions, encouraging authors to identify every unacceptable Editor or reviewer comment. Authors should provide manuscripts with color-coded questionable statement areas, clear evidence of editorial or reviewer error, and any additional information for Editorial Board consideration. Appeals must be comprehensive and well-documented to receive proper consideration.

Editors-in-Chief consider appeals only for manuscripts rejected after review, with appeals required within fourteen days of the decision dates. This timeframe ensures timely resolution while allowing authors sufficient time to prepare comprehensive appeals. Appeals submitted after the deadline may not receive consideration unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

Appeal consideration involves cooperation with all parties involved in manuscript submission, including authors, managing editors, editors-in-chief, handling editors, and reviewers. The process ensures all relevant perspectives are considered while maintaining objectivity and fairness. Editors-in-Chief may uphold rejection decisions, conduct additional reviews, or request revised manuscripts based on appeal merits.

Appeal decisions are provided within six weeks of receipt, with outcomes including confirmation of the decision, initiation of additional review, or requests for manuscript revision. All appeal decisions are final and represent the conclusion of the internal review process. Authors are provided with detailed explanations of appeal outcomes and any additional steps that may be available.

All appeals are thoroughly documented, including the original decisions, the justification for the appeal, the review processes, and the final outcomes. This documentation ensures consistency and transparency in appeal handling while providing accountability for editorial decisions.

An erratum addresses significant mistakes occurring during article preparation, including omissions or failures to implement author corrections within specified timeframes. Significant mistakes are defined as those affecting scientific achievements, article reliability, or the reputation of authors and journals. The editorial board initiates errata when procedural errors impact publication quality or scientific validity.

Authors who identify significant errors affecting scientific integrity may request corrections by contacting the Editorial Board with detailed explanations of the error's nature and the necessity of correction. The corrigendum must include complete bibliographic data for the original article, the precise location of the error, the error citation, and the corrected wording. Each corrigendum receives a unique identifier, and the electronic version of the original article is updated with correction links and edit dates.

Editor's Notes notify readers of ongoing investigations into post-publication issues, while Editorial Expressions of Concern alert readers to significant integrity concerns. These communications are assigned unique identifiers and indexed in scientometric databases. Upon completion of the investigation, these notices are typically replaced by corrections or retractions.

AR Publishers reserves the right to remove articles only in cases of clear defamation, legal rights violations, court orders, or serious health risks. Removed content is replaced with legal removal notifications while preserving metadata, including titles and author information.

Retraction reasons include previous publication of results in other editions without proper referencing, permission, or justification, plagiarism in any form, inconsistent or fabricated data, honest research errors discovered during reproduction attempts including technical failures, equipment failures, or analytical errors, deliberate research mistakes including legal principle violations, legislative requirement violations, ethical violations, copyright infringement, improper result interpretation, or analytical and experimental errors, and reproduction of graphic material previously published without obtaining author or publisher permissions.

When Editorial Offices receive complaints from non-authors, such as readers, institutions, journal publishers, or owners, thorough investigations into reported incidents are obligatory. Retraction decisions are made only based on investigation results, with article authors informed of decisions throughout the process. Investigations follow established procedures to ensure fairness, thoroughness, and adherence to ethical standards, while protecting the rights of all parties involved.

Retraction notices are published in printed and online versions of the next journal issues as separate objects noted in issue contents. According to COPE Guidelines: Retraction Guidelines, retracted articles are not removed from online journal versions but kept on websites with retraction notes. Readers following links to retracted articles see retraction announcements on screens with redirects to pages accessing articles, while "retracted article" watermarks are placed on article texts.

Retraction notices must include complete article bibliographic data, retraction dates, article retraction reasons, retraction initiators (authors, co-authors, Editorial Boards at the reader, institution, journal publisher, owner, or other subject requests), violation information sources causing retractions (applicant names mentioned only with permission), and incident details causing retractions. We recommend using the European Association of Scientific Editors' retraction recommendations and filling retraction forms for article retraction processes.

Following the publication of the retraction notice, notifications are sent to scientometric databases where articles are indexed and journal content aggregators. Retraction notices must appear on all online search options used to view retracted publications, ensuring comprehensive notification of retraction status. Clear communication helps maintain the integrity of the scientific record and informs the broader research community of publication status changes.

In sporadic cases related to law violations, privacy breaches, or serious health risks, manuscripts may be removed from the journal's website entirely. Bibliographic information about articles is retained to ensure the integrity of journal content, with retraction notices clearly stating the reasons why full texts have been removed. Such removals occur only under exceptional circumstances that require the complete withdrawal of content.

Retraction procedures strike a balance between transparency requirements and legal considerations, ensuring appropriate documentation while protecting the legitimate interests of all parties involved. Retractions serve the scientific community by maintaining publication integrity and preventing the propagation of unreliable or invalid research findings throughout the scholarly literature.

All journals are open-access periodicals with reproduction and distribution restrictions limited to author control over work integrity and proper recognition and citation rights. Open access symbols are displayed on the journal website's main pages and next to each article in the corresponding issue table of contents. Readers can access all journal issues through volume and issue sections, as well as the current issue contents in the latest issue sections. This commitment ensures maximum dissemination and impact of research, while supporting global knowledge sharing.

AR Publishers supports Budapest Open Access Initiative, Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in Sciences and Humanities, Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC), Cape Town Open Education Declaration, Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing, ALPSP principles of scholarship-friendly journal publishing practice, EC Recommendation on Access to and Preservation of Scientific Information, and IFLA Statement on Open Access.

All articles are published under Creative Commons CC BY licenses, enabling free use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided original works receive proper attribution. These licenses support both commercial and non-commercial use while ensuring authors receive appropriate recognition for their contributions. Copyright remains with authors while enabling broad dissemination and reuse of research findings.

Open-access publication removes financial barriers to research access, supporting researchers, students, and practitioners worldwide, regardless of institutional resources or geographic location. This approach promotes scientific collaboration, accelerates research progress, and ensures that knowledge benefits global communities rather than being restricted to well-funded institutions.

Open access publication enhances research visibility, citation potential, and scholarly impact by removing access barriers that limit readership. Studies consistently demonstrate higher citation rates for open-access articles compared to subscription-based publications, supporting the academic advancement of published authors while contributing to scientific progress.

Open-access delivery employs a robust technical infrastructure, ensuring reliable content access through multiple channels, including journal websites, indexing databases, and institutional repositories. Technical standards compliance facilitates content harvesting by search engines and academic databases, maximizing the discoverability and accessibility of published research.

AR Publishers' business model supports sustainable open-access publication through article processing charges, rather than reader subscription fees, ensuring long-term viability while maintaining free access to published content. This approach aligns financial sustainability with open access principles, supporting continued publication excellence without compromising accessibility.

Processing charges encompass all aspects of professional publication including comprehensive manuscript editing for clarity, accuracy, and style compliance, professional formatting of text, figures, tables, and supplementary materials, peer review coordination and administration including reviewer recruitment and communication, digital archiving and preservation ensuring long-term content accessibility, website maintenance and technical support for optimal user experience, journal promotion and marketing to enhance visibility and reach, indexing service maintenance and submission to relevant databases, and responsive customer support throughout the publication process.

Payment is made after article acceptance for publication, with fees independent of article length, ensuring fairness regardless of manuscript size. Processing is facilitated through secure online payment systems supporting various payment methods and currencies. Fee transparency is maintained through clear pricing information available on journal websites before manuscript submission, enabling authors to make informed decisions about publication venues.

Journals offer discounts to authors from low- and middle-income countries, acknowledging economic disparities and promoting global research participation. Exemptions are available to authors from developing countries, military conflict areas, or those who lack the financial means to pay processing charges. Financial support decisions are made confidentially and compassionately, ensuring worthy research is not excluded due to economic constraints.

Revenue sources include author, institution, or research sponsor fees for article processing upon publication acceptance, thematic collection preparation fees for individual author or reader requests based on criteria such as topic, author groups, geographic regions, universities, or institutions with prices agreed upon separately, and promotional activities for scientific conferences, books, publications, services, or products encouraging lifelong learning and educational collaboration. This diversified approach ensures sustainable operations while maintaining service quality.

AR Publishers works with institutional libraries, research offices, and funding organizations to facilitate article processing charge payments through established channels. Many institutions and funding bodies provide dedicated budgets for open access publication charges, and authors are encouraged to explore these options. Institutional billing arrangements can be established for organizations supporting multiple author publications.

Financial assistance applications are handled confidentially through direct communication with editorial offices, requiring a brief justification of circumstances and a demonstration of need. Decisions are made promptly to avoid publication delays, with approvals communicated clearly and processed efficiently. Financial circumstances are evaluated individually, recognizing diverse economic situations across global research communities.

Article processing charges support the maintenance of high publication standards, including rigorous peer review processes, professional editing and formatting services, technical publishing expertise, comprehensive indexing and distribution, responsive customer support, and the continuous improvement of publication services. Quality metrics are regularly monitored to ensure that charges deliver appropriate value and service excellence to the research community.

AR Publishers partners with the Internet Archive for comprehensive digital preservation of all journal content. The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing "Universal Access to All Knowledge." It has established partnerships with over 800 libraries, universities, and scholarly organizations worldwide to preserve research outputs, particularly open-access journal literature.

All published articles, including full-text content in HTML and PDF formats, supplementary materials, editorial content, and associated metadata, are automatically archived with the Internet Archive. This includes both current publications and retrospective content to ensure complete preservation coverage.

Journal content is systematically deposited into the Internet Archive through automated web harvesting and direct content submission. Our content is delivered through a unified format to facilitate efficient preservation. All archived content includes proper metadata, citation information, and licensing details to ensure discoverability and appropriate access.

Archived content remains accessible through the Internet Archive's platform, providing researchers and readers with permanent access to published articles even in the event that AR Publishers' primary website becomes unavailable. The Internet Archive serves as both a preservation system and an access platform, ensuring continuity of scholarly communication.

AR Publishers ensures the timely and complete submission of all published content to the Internet Archive, maintains accurate metadata for all deposits, provides proper licensing information with archived materials, and regularly verifies the successful archiving of new publications. We monitor the preservation status of our content and maintain open communication with the Internet Archive to address any technical or access issues that may arise.

This preservation policy meets the requirements established by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for digital archiving and aligns with best practices in scholarly publishing. Our commitment to preservation through the Internet Archive demonstrates our dedication to transparency and long-term accessibility of research.