Publication Ethics

AREMA is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. This statement is based on the guidelines and best practices developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the act of publishing — authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher — are expected to adhere to these ethical standards.

Duties of Authors

• Originality and plagiarism. Authors must ensure their work is entirely original, and must appropriately cite and quote the work and words of others. Plagiarism in all its forms is unacceptable.
• Data access and retention. Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study for editorial review and should retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
• Multiple or concurrent submission. Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously, nor publish redundant papers.
• Authorship. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution. All co-authors must approve the final version and its submission.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest. Authors must disclose any financial or other conflict of interest and acknowledge all sources of funding.
• Errors in published work. Authors must promptly notify the editor of any significant error and cooperate to correct or retract the paper.

Duties of Editors

• Publication decisions. The editor is responsible for deciding which submitted articles are published, based on validity and importance to researchers and readers, free from commercial or personal interest.
• Fair play. Manuscripts are evaluated for intellectual content without regard to race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political philosophy of the authors.
• Confidentiality. The editor and editorial staff must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the publisher.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest. Unpublished material must not be used by the editor for their own research without the author's written consent.

Duties of Reviewers

• Contribution to editorial decisions. Peer review assists the editor in making decisions and helps the author improve the paper.
• Promptness. A reviewer who feels unqualified or unable to review promptly should notify the editor and withdraw.
• Confidentiality. Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
• Objectivity. Reviews should be conducted objectively, with observations expressed clearly and supported by arguments.
• Acknowledgement of sources. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited, and alert the editor to any substantial similarity with other work.

Duties of the Publisher

Equaril, as the publisher, is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions remain independent of advertising or commercial revenue, and supports the editors in handling research misconduct, retractions, and corrections in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Plagiarism Screening

Every submitted manuscript is screened for textual similarity before entering peer review. Manuscripts with a similarity index above 20% (excluding references and quotations) are returned to authors for revision or rejected. AREMA uses standard similarity-checking software as part of its editorial workflow.