Publication Policies and Procedures

Advertising is not accepted on the Diamond Scientific Publishing website or in Diamond Scientific Publishing publications.

In the event a manuscript is removed from publication as a result of academic misconduct the author may appeal the decision directly to the individual journal’s editor or to the editorial staff. The author should include a discussion stating why the items identified in the research-misconduct investigation are either wrong or do not rise to the level of research misconduct. The author should attach any documentation supporting his/her position. The appeal and documentation will be forwarded to a panel consisting of three members of the Diamond Scientific Publishing Advisory Board not involved in the original decision. The panel will evaluate the appeal and 1) uphold the removal, 2) overturn the removal and restore the manuscript to publication, and 3) determine that the threshold for research misconduct was not reached but that the manuscript needs revision prior to republication.

This policy does not apply to unpublished papers rejected during the manuscript review process.

Complaints of research misconduct should be emailed directly to the individual journal’s editor or to the editorial staff.

Diamond Scientific Publishing maintains all active and retired journals on both the https://www.diamondopen.com/journals-list/ website journals page and Internet Archive.

Links to all published manuscripts (excluding manuscripts removed from publication for cause) are accessible through the individual journals’ web pages. Retired journals are not removed from web publication.

Also, journals page on Internet Archive is accessible through its icon on each journal webpage.

All manuscripts must be the author’s own work, not previously published in whole or part. Reviewers are not expected to be able to identify all instances of plagiarism. Consequently, all papers will be submitted to an online plagiarism detection website to verify authenticity. Papers between a 10% and 20% similarity level (excluding quotes, bibliography and matches of 1% or less) will be reviewed and returned to the author for revision prior to peer review. Authors will have two opportunities to correct the excessive similarity. If not corrected, the paper will be rejected without peer review. Papers exceeding 20% similarity will be rejected without peer review.

For the purpose of manuscripts submitted to a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal for review, plagiarism is defined as the act of presenting the words, ideas, or images of another as your own whether deliberate or unintentional (APA). Plagiarism occurs when an author does not use adequate paraphrasing, paraphrases without citations, or fails to quote (quotation marks or block quoting) material directly copied from another source.

All named authors on a manuscript are expected to have provided significant contributions to the manuscript. Contributions may include literature review, data collection, data analysis, conclusion determination, and other significant components of the research/writing effort. Authors may work on any component or collaborate with other authors to be construed to have provided a significant contribution. Reading, reviewing, or editing the manuscript in itself is not considered to be a significant contribution. The authorship of a manuscript may not be changed after submission for review.

Diamond Scientific Publishing is committed to high standards of academic publishing principles. Diamond Scientific Publishing requires all editors, authors, reviewers, and staff to disclose any potential conflicts of interest which might affect professional judgment as it relates to the editorial and peer review process of submitted manuscripts. For the purposes of this disclosure statement, a conflict of interest occurs when an editor, author, or reviewer has a beneficial or personal relationship with a third party which could bias or compromise his or her academic or professional objectivity. Editors, reviewers and authors are responsible for disclosing financial and other potential conflicts of interest that could potentially impact your submission or reviews. Editors and Reviewers must complete the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form. Authors must complete the form if they have a potential conflict of interest to disclose.

Diamond Scientific Publishing Author(s) certify that the submitted manuscript is their own original work that has not been previously published in whole or part in an academic journal or other copyrighted material. Authors certify that the submitted manuscript is not currently being reviewed for publication consideration by another journal or other copyrighted material. Author(s) agree to and accept all the terms and conditions published herein including the Diamond Scientific Publishing & Plagiarism Policy and the Submission Guidelines. Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the author(s) grants in perpetuity to Diamond Scientific Publishing the right to journal-publish this manuscript at its discretion in a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal or website. Diamond Scientific Publishing also has the non-exclusive right to publish or list Diamond Scientific Publishing journal-published manuscripts on any hosting site or database (i.e. Crossref, DOAJ, etc.). Authors retain the copyright of the manuscript and are free to reuse, remix, publish or license the manuscript for all purposes at their discretion without consulting Diamond Scientific Publishing. Diamond Scientific Publishing authors are free to self-archive Diamond Scientific Publishing -published manuscripts or have manuscripts archived by a third party without permission from Diamond Scientific Publishing. Individuals or organizations desiring to license, archive or republish documents published in Diamond Scientific Publishing journals should contact the author(s) directly. Authors may assign copyright ownership without permission of Diamond Scientific Publishing providing it does not interfere with the aforementioned publication of the copyrighted material by Diamond Scientific Publishing.

All manuscripts submitted to a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal are subject to double-blind peer review. Double-blind review is defined as a review process wherein both the authors and the reviewers are anonymous to each other. Peer review is defined as the evaluation of academic research by other academics in the field. Author names, university affiliations, and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript. Manuscripts are subsequently sent by a Diamond Scientific Publishing staff member or the journal’s editor to reviewers for blind-peer review. See Peer review process below for additional information.

Diamond Scientific Publishing maintains a contact list of academics worldwide. The information contained in this contact list includes the academic’s First Name, Last Name, University, and Email Address. Individuals can add themselves to/from the list using the Diamond Scientific Publishing Contact List form on the contact information webpage https://www.dpublication.com/contact-us/.

Individuals on the list may receive periodic emails announcing upcoming Diamond Scientific Publishing conferences, journal Call for Papers, retractions or corrections, and other notices of significance to Diamond Scientific Publishing stakeholders. At no time will Diamond Scientific Publishing sell, give or otherwise distribute the information contained in the list to an outside individual or organization. At no time Diamond Scientific Publishing will contact individuals on the list for a third party or with information not specifically related to Diamond Scientific Publishing conferences and journals.

Editors or review-board members may contact a manuscript author with an invitation to submit for review if they identify a manuscript that appears suitable for a particular Diamond Scientific Publishing journal. At no time will the editor or review-board member imply that the paper has been pre-accepted. Editors or review-board members should include the following statement in all invitations to submit:

Diamond Scientific Publishing is a privately-owned, for-profit publishing corporation incorporated and operating in Vilnius, Lithuania. All revenues are generated from author fees. See the Publication Charges webpage for the complete fee structure. Not all institutions recognize publications in for-profit or author-pays journals for tenure and promotion. Please check with your institution prior to submission.

All journal submissions are reviewed for compliance with the Submission Guidelines to be considered for publication. Authors are expected to review their manuscripts for compliance prior to submission. While minor areas of noncompliance will be corrected by the editorial staff, manuscripts not predominantly meeting the Submission Guidelines will be returned to the author for revision and resubmission.

See the Publication Ethics Policy.

Behavioral research involving human subjects requires institutional review board (IRB) approval from the author(s)’ university. Non-university related authors will be required to provide signed consent releases from each and every individual involved in the research. Authors must secure IRB approval (or signed releases) prior to submission for review and provide concurrent with manuscript submission for review.

Diamond Scientific Publishing journals target acceptance rates of 40% or less.

All Diamond Scientific Publishing journal editors and coeditors serve as members of the Diamond Scientific Publishing advisory board. The advisory board meets at every Diamond Scientific Publishing conference to discuss and advise on issues pertinent to the operation and policies of Diamond Scientific Publishing. Editors and coeditors are expected to attend at least one advisory-board meeting biannually. Journal editors and coeditors have the right to refuse for cause review/publication of any manuscript submitted. Editors and coeditors are copied on all manuscripts when sent out for review for their respective journals. If an editor or coeditor finds issue with any manuscript prior to publication, can send an email to info@dpublication.com and include the specific problem(s) with the manuscript and/or the specific reasons the editor takes issue with publication of the manuscript. The manuscript will be removed from consideration for the journal. If the editor finds the manuscript more suitable to another Diamond Scientific Publishing journal it will be redirected as appropriate. Editors and coeditors are requested to review final web publication of accepted manuscripts for formatting/editorial errors. In the event of a dispute between reviewers or a reviewer and author regarding the acceptability of a manuscript for publication, the editor or coeditor of the applicable journal will be requested to review the manuscript. The editor then has the final authority to accept, request revision, or reject the manuscript.

Each active Diamond Scientific Publishing journal has a review board consisting of terminally-degreed academics holding degrees in the subject area of the journal. Invited reviewers are also terminally degreed and published in the field. Invited reviewers will occasionally be called upon to review manuscripts as the need arises. Review-board members and invited reviewers serve voluntarily and may decline to review any manuscript if they do not believe themselves qualified. All qualified Diamond Scientific Publishing authors are invited to participate as review-board members or invited reviewers. Other individuals interested in serving as review-board members or invited reviewers may also participate. Diamond Scientific Publishing authors and other individuals are required to complete the Reviewer Information Form. Information collected therein is used to verify reviewer qualifications.

Diamond Scientific Publishing journal editors may not submit a manuscript for review to the journal they edit. Diamond Scientific Publishing journal editors may submit manuscripts for review to any of the other Diamond Scientific Publishing journals. The editor of the journal the manuscript is submitted to and/or Diamond Scientific Publishing editorial staff will verify that all author names, university affiliations and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript prior to sending the manuscript to reviewers.

Diamond Scientific Publishing journal review-board members may submit manuscripts for review to any Diamond Scientific Publishing journal including the journal for which they review. The Diamond Scientific Publishing journal editor and/or Diamond Scientific Publishing editorial staff will verify that all author names, university affiliations and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript prior to sending the manuscript to reviewers.

Diamond Scientific Publishing advisory-board members who do not serve as journal editors may submit manuscripts for review to any Diamond Scientific Publishing journal. The Diamond Scientific Publishing journal editors and/or Diamond Scientific Publishing editorial staff will verify that all author names, university affiliations and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript prior to sending the manuscript to reviewers.

All manuscripts published in Diamond Scientific Publishing journals are published online, open access. Manuscripts are available to the readers at no cost. Readers may read, download, and use the manuscripts and information therein for any lawful purpose without permission from Diamond Scientific Publishing. Copyright to all Diamond Scientific Publishing published manuscripts is retained by the author(s). See Copyright Policy above.

Diamond Scientific Publishing Author(s) certify that the submitted manuscript is their own original work that has not been previously published in whole or part in an academic journal or other copyrighted material. Authors certify that the submitted manuscript is not currently being reviewed for publication consideration by another journal or other copyrighted material. Author(s) agrees not to submit the manuscript to another journal or other copyrighted material until such time that the manuscript is rejected by a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal or until the Author(s) notifies in writing (email acceptable) the withdrawal of the manuscript from Diamond Scientific Publishing-journal publication consideration. Author(s) agrees to and accepts all the terms and conditions published herein including the Research Misconduct Policy and the Submission Guidelines herein.

Diamond Scientific Publishing is a privately-owned, for-profit publishing corporation incorporated and operating in Vilnius, Lithuania. All revenues are generated from author fees. See the Publication Charges webpage for the complete fee structure. Not all institutions recognize publications in for-profit or author-pays journals for tenure and promotion. Please check with your institution prior to submission.

All manuscripts submitted to a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal are subject to double-blind peer review. Double-blind review is defined as a review process where the author does not know the identity of the reviewer and the reviewer does not know the entity of the author. Peer review is defined as the evaluation of academic research by other academics in the field. All Diamond Scientific Publishing reviewers are terminally degreed and published in the field(s) they review.

When a manuscript is received for review in a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal the following procedure is followed:

1. The manuscript is logged into the Journal Registration Database.
2. Reviewers are not expected to be able to identify all instances of plagiarism. Consequently, 100% of manuscripts received for review will be submitted to an online plagiarism detection website to verify authenticity. Papers between a 10% and 20% similarity level (excluding quotes, bibliography and matches of 1% or less) will be reviewed and returned to the author two times for revision prior to peer review. Papers >= 20% similarity will be rejected without peer review.
3. If the manuscript is determined to be original in accordance with the above it is then forwarded for editorial review by a staff member or the journal’s editor. This review is to ensure conformance with the Submission Guidelines. Manuscripts with minor deviations from the submission guidelines are corrected. Manuscripts substantially non-conforming to the submission guidelines are returned to the submitting author for correction prior to peer review.

4. Author names, university affiliations, and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript. Manuscripts are subsequently sent by a Diamond Scientific Publishing staff member or the journal’s editor to reviewers for blind-peer review. Peer reviewers are requested to use their panel on the OJS platform for the review process. Reviewers are requested to type their comments on the cover sheet of the manuscript.
5. Manuscripts may be accepted, returned for revision, or rejected. Authors are so notified.
6. If manuscripts are returned for revision, the author is provided specific instructions as to the revision requirements via email. Authors then have two weeks to complete the required revisions and return the manuscript. Revised manuscripts evaluated for compliance with the revision requirements.
7. If a manuscript is rejected, the author is notified and provided with the reviewer’s comments specifying the reason(s) for rejection. Rejection is final, there is no appeal procedure for rejected papers.
8. If a manuscript is accepted the author is notified.

Diamond Scientific Publishing journals are published only in the online version.

Manuscripts submitted for review to Diamond Scientific Publishing journals are double-blind peer reviewed. By definition, the names of the reviewer(s) and author(s) are not disclosed to each other or individuals other than Diamond Scientific Publishing editors and staff. Authors submitting human-subject based research (either observational or interventional) are required to provide IRB approval documentation concurrent with the submission of the manuscript for review. Individual research participant information is not published or disclosed without participant permission.

Personal information collected on Diamond Scientific Publishing journal-submission, conference-submission, and reviewer-information forms is restricted to Diamond Scientific Publishing editors and staff except as indicated on the individual form webpages. We will not sell, disclose or distribute information provided on the forms to any individual or organization outside of Diamond Scientific Publishing unless required to do so by law.

Diamond Scientific Publishing uses Google Analytics to evaluate website performance. Google provides aggregate information regarding browser types used, organic/non-organic searches, City/State/Country of individuals using Diamond Scientific Publishing webpages, pages viewed and time on the Diamond Scientific Publishing website and individual web pages. Personal individual information is not provided by Google analytics.

All Diamond Scientific Publishing journals are published online, open access. No charges are required to read or download any manuscript published in a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal. Since all manuscripts are available online open access subscriptions are not offered or necessary.

All manuscripts accepted for publication in a Diamond Scientific Publishing journal are published to the online journal shortly after acceptance and receipt of publication fee. Web publication is scheduled quarterly (or semiannually depending on the publication period.).

Diamond Scientific Publishing journals are continuously web published. Diamond Scientific Publishing journal volumes are closed, and a new volume starts when an online volume has been published or when one quarter has passed since the last volume closed.

All Diamond Scientific Publishing online journals are dated when the volume is completed online.

All manuscript content that is not the author’s original work must be properly quoted, cited, and referenced whether published or not published. All manuscript content that has been previously published and/or copyrighted, in whole or part, must be properly quoted, cited, and referenced. All manuscript content that is taken from one of the author’s previous academic-journal or other copyrighted publications in whole or part, must be properly quoted, cited, and referenced.

As stated in the APA Publication Manual, “If the quotation comprises fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into the text and enclose the quotation with double quotation marks…If the quotation comprises 40 or more words, display it as a freestanding block of text and omit the quotation marks”(APA-6, 2015, pp. 170-171).

Manuscript content that is substantially paraphrased does not need to be quoted but must be cited and referenced. Sufficiency of paraphrasing will be determined by the journal editor or publisher guided by the result of the ithenticate.com evaluation (see the Originality Policy and the Research Misconduct Policy herein).

Review Service Charge Refund Policy – Review services are free of charges.

Publishing Service Charge Refund Policy – If a refund is requested subsequent to web-publication of an accepted manuscript or prior to web publication of an accepted manuscript, no refund will be issued.

Research misconduct includes fabrication of data, falsification of results, plagiarism, or self-plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reporting research results. Research misconduct will not be tolerated in any Diamond Scientific Publishing journal publication.

Definitions:

Fabrication is defined as the making up of data or making up of results not derived from research and reporting these results.

Falsification is defined as the manipulating of research, changing or omitting research data or results in order to represent results that are not actually derived from the research/data collected.

Plagiarism is defined as (1) copying someone else’s exact words, either in whole or in part, without quoting and properly citing, either intentionally or inadvertently, (2) paraphrasing another author(s)’ work, either in whole or in part, without properly citing, (3) presenting the results of another individual’s research as one’s own, (4) representing facts, statistical analysis, or charts created by someone else as one’s own. Using the same research methodology or analytical procedures is not considered plagiarism so long as the empirical data is originally obtained (or used with permission) and the statistical analysis is performed on the originally obtained data by the submitting authors.

Self-plagiarism is defined as the republication in whole or part of an author’s own previously published work without appropriately quoting or paraphrasing and citing.

When research misconduct is discovered prior to publication the submission will be rejected and the author(s) notified of the reason for rejection.

All manuscripts submitted for journal-publication review will be evaluated using ithenticate.com online plagiarism detection and visual evaluation. If the online plagiarism detection website evaluation indicates a similarity index less than or equal to 20% (excluding matches of 1% or less), the paper is routed for review in accordance with the Peer review process herein. If the plagiarism was inadvertent (incomplete paraphrasing, failure to adequately cite, improper formatting) the author(s) will be given the opportunity to rewrite the paper, correct the areas of concern, and resubmit. If the plagiarism appears to be blatant (entire paper or major section(s) of paper copied) the paper will be rejected outright.

If research misconduct is alleged, suspected, or discovered subsequent to publication, the suspect manuscript will be removed from publication and evaluated in accordance with the following:

Fabrication/Falsification– the author(s) will be asked to provide original survey data, observation notes, etc. to verify data used was validly obtained. Data analysis will be duplicated to verify the validity and accuracy of the results reported. If the data is found to be complete, accurate, and original and the data analysis is determined to be valid and accurate the manuscript will be restored to publication, and no further action taken. If the data and/or the results are determined to be fabricated and/or falsified the manuscript will be permanently removed from publication.

Plagiarism/Self Plagiarism – manuscripts will be evaluated using ithenticate.com online plagiarism detection and visual evaluation. If the online plagiarism detection website evaluation indicates a similarity index less than or equal to 20% (excluding matches of 1% or less), the paper will be restored to publication, and no further action taken. If the online plagiarism detection website evaluation indicates similarity exceeding 20%, it will remain removed from publication and the Diamond Scientific Publishing journals author(s) notified. If the plagiarism was inadvertent (incomplete paraphrasing, failure to adequately cite, improper formatting) the author(s) will be given the opportunity to rewrite the paper, correct the areas of concern, and resubmit. If the plagiarism appears to be blatant (entire paper or major section(s) of paper copied) the paper will be retracted in accordance with the Retraction/Correction/Withdrawal Policy below.

No additional information will be released to any third party regarding actions taken unless authorized by the author(s) in writing.

Readers are encouraged to notify Diamond Scientific Publishing in the event of suspected research misconduct. Please email.

Manuscripts will be retracted from publication if:

1. There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable (either through author misconduct (see Research Misconduct Policy) or unintentional error.
2. The content/findings have been previously published in an academic journal or other copyrighted material (without written permission). Academic manuscripts published in conference proceedings are acceptable for journal publication if the proceedings are not copyrighted.
3. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or self-plagiarism as discussed in the Research Misconduct Policy.
   A notice of retraction will be posted on the journal page link to the manuscript and on the manuscript itself. The notice of retraction will read:

Diamond Scientific Publishing has permanently retracted this manuscript from publication for non-compliance with the Diamond Scientific Publishing __________________ policy specifying the specific policy or policies that are violated.

In the event a manuscript is permanently retracted from publication, indexing services (Crossref, DOAJ, …) will also be notified that the paper has been retracted from publication and the reason(s) for the retraction. The retraction notice will be published and indexing services will be notified as soon as possible after the decision to retract the manuscript is made.

Manuscripts will be corrected and a correction statement posted if a small portion of the manuscript of the publication is inadvertently misleading or apparently inadvertent plagiarism. If the misleading portions of the paper or the plagiarism was inadvertent (incomplete paraphrasing, failure to adequately cite, improper formatting) the author(s) will be given the opportunity to rewrite the paper, correct the areas of concern, and resubmit. If a correction is made a correction statement will be posted to the cover page of the online manuscript indicating the page and paragraph corrected along with the nature of the correction.

A correction may also be made if a participating author has been left off of the author list on the title page or a non-participating author included in the author list. This correction will be made only with the consent of all listed authors. In the event of this type of correction no correction notice will be posted.

Withdrawals requested by authors subsequent to publication will not be honored. In the event an author(s) requests a withdrawal it will be evaluated as either a retraction or correction and processed as specified above.

This policy is based on the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Decisions related to retractions, corrections, or withdrawals not directly addressed herein will be guided by those guidelines.

This retraction policy is effective beginning January, 2023. Retracted manuscripts published before this policy became effective may alternatively have the statement “The following manuscript has been retracted from publication:” added to the online volume table of contents before the manuscript title and author name.

Submitters are provided feedback on all papers returned for revision/resubmit or rejected. Feedback for accepted papers is provided upon request by the submitting author. Email info@dpublication.com

Diamond Scientific publishing is continuously striving to improve the quality of its journals and conferences along with the level of service to our authors and potential authors. If you have any questions or comments regarding our procedures or policies, we encourage your feedback.