Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The following list discusses guidelines for ethical publishing for authors, reviewers, and editors. Being published in a peer-reviewed publication such as Conference Proceedings or Journals is an essential part of every researcher’s career. The benefits that come to you as the author (and to your funder and institution) arise from ensuring that every article adheres to quality standards. Below are the major ethical issues you should be aware of as an author. Use these as a guide as you submit and publish your research.

Authorship

Every author listed on a journal article or conference paper should have made a significant contribution to the work reported. This could be in terms of research conception or design, or acquisition of data, or the analysis and interpretation of data. As an author or co-author, you share responsibility and accountability for the content of your article. All authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process; and all authors should have significantly contributed to the research. The author(s) are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes; and authors should provide a list of references and works cited in the article, as well as an acknowledgement of any financial support. Proceedings of the Conferences are published as a matter of course after the Conference, with no additional fees beyond that of the Conference itself. Papers selected for inclusion in the ASR Journal Special Editions will be contacted by the editors of the Journal regarding publication.

Avoid: Gift (guest) authorship: where someone is added to the list of authors who has not been involved in writing the paper.
Avoid: Ghost authorship: where someone has been involved in writing the paper but is not included in the list of authors.

Peer Reviewing of Work

The Architectural Science Association only publishes work which has undergone a strict double-blind refereeing process: peer-review is defined as “obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers’ expert in the field of publication.” Peer reviewers in the peer-review process should have no conflict of interest, should be objective and reviewed articles will be treated confidentially prior to their publication.

Plagiarism

“When somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment.” Committee of Publications Ethics (COPE)

When citing others’ (or your own) previous work, please ensure you have:
• Clearly marked quoted verbatim text from another source with quotation marks.
• Attributed and referenced the source of the quotation clearly within the text and in the Reference section.
• Obtained permission from the original publisher and rightsholder when using previously published figures or tables.
• Please note: publishers and editors will take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred; but also publishers and editors will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

Any allegations of plagiarism or self-plagiarism made to the ASA conference committee will be investigated. If the allegations appear to be founded, we will then contact all named authors of the paper and request an explanation of the overlapping material. We may ask ASR Journal Editorial Board members to assist in further evaluation of the paper and allegations. If the explanation is not satisfactory we will reject the submission. We may also choose not accept future submissions from these authors.

Data fabrication / falsification

It is essential that all data is accurate, and representative of your research. Data sharing is more and more prevalent, increasing the transparency of raw data. Cases of data fabrication / falsification will be evaluated by the editor of the ASA Proceedings. We may then ask authors to provide supporting raw data where required. We may also ask ASR Journal Editorial Board members to assist in further evaluation of the paper and allegations. If the explanation is not satisfactory we will reject the submission. We may also choose not accept future submissions.

Conflicts of interest

It is very important to be honest about any conflicts of interest, whether sources of research funding, direct or indirect financial support, supply of equipment or materials, or other support. Declare any conflicts of interest when you submit your paper. If an author does not declare a conflict of interest to the journal upon submission, or during review, and it affects the actual or potential interpretation of the results, the paper may be rejected or retracted.

Copyright and access

Copyright for any articles published on this website remain at all times with the authors of the papers or journal articles concerned. Articles are available free to download and read, and may be quoted as long as due credit is given to the author and reference is provided to the source.

Archiving

The website is planned to provide a permanent electronic archive for published work and preservation of access to the content is intended to be ongoing. The web site is maintained to ensure high ethical and professional standards.

Ready to submit your paper?

Before you submit, make sure you’ve checked the following off your ethics checklist:

• Read the instructions for authors, and checked and followed any instructions regarding data sets, ethics approval, or statements.
• Named all authors on the paper, and on the online submission form.
• Referenced all material in the text clearly and thoroughly.
• Carefully checked data and included any supplemental data required by the publication.
• Declared any relevant interests to the committee.
• Obtained (written) permission to reuse any figures, tables, and data sets.
• Only submitted the paper to one journal or conference at a time.
• Finally, notify all the co-authors once you have submitted the paper.