Publication Ethics and Malpractice statement

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers, and other participants in the publication process to comply with recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing.

This statement outlines the ethical responsibilities and standards that apply throughout the submission, peer-review, editorial decision-making, and publication processes.

Authors' Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts represent original work and have not been published previously or submitted simultaneously to another journal. All authors who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research should be appropriately acknowledged and included as authors.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts are accurate, complete, and presented in accordance with accepted academic standards. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation of data, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are unacceptable.

Authors must properly acknowledge the work of others and provide appropriate citations for ideas, methods, data, and results obtained from previous publications. Where applicable, authors should provide sufficient information to allow their research methods and results to be evaluated and reproduced.

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. Any potential conflicts of interest should be declared at the time of submission.

Where research involves human participants, animals, confidential information, or other matters requiring ethical approval, authors must comply with applicable ethical and regulatory requirements and provide appropriate statements concerning approval and informed consent where relevant.

Editors' Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are evaluated fairly, objectively, and confidentially. Editorial decisions should be based primarily on the manuscript's originality, scientific quality, methodological soundness, relevance, and contribution to the field.

Editors should not discriminate against authors on the basis of nationality, gender, institutional affiliation, professional position, or other personal characteristics.

Editors must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and should not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone other than those directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process.

Editors must avoid handling manuscripts where a personal, professional, financial, or other conflict of interest could affect their impartiality. Where necessary, manuscripts should be transferred to another editor.

Editors should take appropriate action when concerns arise regarding plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, or other forms of research or publication misconduct.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts objectively, constructively, and within a reasonable period. Reviews should provide clear and professional comments that can assist editors and authors in improving the quality of the manuscript.

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts received for review and must not use unpublished information obtained during the review process for personal advantage or research purposes.

Reviewers should disclose any potential conflict of interest and decline to review a manuscript where their relationship with the authors, institutions, or subject matter could compromise their impartiality.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors where appropriate and should notify the editor if they identify substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and another published or submitted work.

Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or duplicate publication. Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-detection tools.

If substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated data, falsified results, or other serious misconduct is identified, the journal may reject the manuscript, withdraw or retract the published article, notify the relevant institutions, and take other appropriate action in accordance with established publication-ethics principles.

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship should accurately reflect substantial contributions to the research and preparation of the manuscript. Individuals who have made significant contributions should be appropriately recognized, while individuals who have not made meaningful contributions should not be listed as authors.

Any changes to the authorship of a manuscript after submission should be justified and agreed upon by all affected authors. The journal may request written confirmation from all authors before approving an authorship change.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to disclose relationships or circumstances that could create an actual or perceived conflict of interest.