Publication Ethics and Research Integrity Policy
Last updated: 10 July 2026
Global NEST Journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity and editorial independence. Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to act in accordance with internationally recognised standards of responsible scholarly publishing and the Journal’s applicable editorial policies.
1. Editorial Independence and Integrity
Editorial decisions are based exclusively on the scientific quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, ethical compliance and suitability of manuscripts for the Journal’s aims and scope.
Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, political considerations, personal relationships or an author’s ability to pay an Article Processing Charge.
Editors must disclose potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
2. Originality, Plagiarism and Text Recycling
Submitted manuscripts must represent original work and must not contain plagiarised material. All sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited. The Journal may use plagiarism-detection software or other appropriate methods to assess originality.
Substantial unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication and unacceptable text recycling may constitute grounds for rejection, correction, retraction or other appropriate editorial action.
3. Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Manuscripts submitted to the Journal must not simultaneously be under consideration by another journal.
Authors must disclose any substantial overlap with previously published or submitted work, including conference proceedings, preprints or related manuscripts, where relevant.
Redundant or duplicate publication may result in rejection or post-publication action.
4. Data Fabrication, Falsification and Manipulation
Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation or misrepresentation of data, images, figures or research results is prohibited.
Images must not be altered in a way that could misrepresent the original information. Any legitimate image processing must preserve the integrity of the underlying data.
The Journal may request original data, images, laboratory records or other supporting documentation where concerns arise regarding the reliability or integrity of submitted or published research.
5. Authorship and Contributorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the work and who accept accountability for its content. All listed authors must approve the submitted manuscript and the final version accepted for publication.
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged. Guest, gift and ghost authorship are not permitted.
Requests to add, remove or reorder authors after submission must be justified, approved by all authors and accepted by the Journal.
6. Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose all financial, personal, institutional, professional or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. All sources of funding must be disclosed.
Editors and reviewers must declare potential conflicts and decline involvement where their impartiality may be compromised.
7. Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
Research involving human participants, animals or sensitive personal data must comply with applicable legal, institutional and ethical standards.
Where required, authors must provide details of approval by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and obtain informed consent.
The Journal may request supporting documentation.
8. Data Availability and Research Transparency
Authors are encouraged to make the data underlying their research available wherever ethically, legally and practically possible.
Where appropriate, manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement indicating whether and where supporting data can be accessed or explaining why data cannot be made publicly available.
9. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies
Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity and appropriate attribution of all submitted content, including content generated or modified with AI assistance. The use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation must be transparently disclosed where such tools have contributed substantially to the creation or modification of text, images, data, analyses or other research content. AI tools must not be used to fabricate, falsify or manipulate data, citations, images or results.
Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality and must not upload unpublished manuscripts, confidential peer-review materials or identifiable author information to external generative AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality, intellectual property or data protection.
10. Reviewer Responsibilities
Reviewers must:
- treat manuscripts and peer-review materials as confidential;
- provide objective, constructive and timely assessments;
- disclose conflicts of interest;
- refrain from using unpublished information for personal advantage;
- alert the Journal to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication or other misconduct; and
- respect the Journal’s peer-review model and confidentiality requirements.
11. Editor Responsibilities
Editors must evaluate manuscripts fairly and independently, protect confidentiality, manage conflicts of interest appropriately and take reasonable action when ethical concerns arise.
Editors shall not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal advantage.
12. Research and Publication Misconduct
Suspected misconduct may include, but is not limited to:
- plagiarism;
- fabrication or falsification of data;
- inappropriate image manipulation;
- duplicate or redundant publication;
- unethical research;
- undisclosed conflicts of interest;
- inappropriate authorship practices;
- manipulation of peer review;
- citation manipulation; and
- deliberate misrepresentation of research findings.
The Journal may request explanations or evidence from authors, reviewers or editors and may contact institutions, funders or other relevant organisations where appropriate.
13. Post-Publication Concerns
Concerns regarding published articles will be assessed objectively and confidentially.
Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, the Journal may publish a correction, retraction, expression of concern or other editorial notice in accordance with its Corrections, Retractions and Editorial Notices Policy.
14. Special Issues
Special issues and guest-edited collections are subject to the same standards of peer review, editorial independence, publication ethics and research integrity as regular journal content.
Guest Editors must disclose conflicts of interest and must not make editorial decisions on manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned. The Editor-in-Chief or another designated senior editor retains oversight of the editorial process.
15. Reporting Concerns
Concerns regarding publication ethics or research integrity may be submitted confidentially to the Journal’s editorial office.
The Journal will assess concerns objectively, fairly and in accordance with its policies and recognised standards of scholarly publishing.