1. Editors’ Responsibilities

Publication Decisions: The editorial board is accountable inter alia for deciding which of the research articles submitted to the journal should be published and preventing publication malpractice and unacceptable ethical behaviour. Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a manuscript for publication are based on the peer-review results, editorial boards’ reviews, and articles’ importance.

Review of Manuscripts: The editors guarantee that every manuscript is initially assessed and evaluated. The editors use Turnitin plagiarism software to examine the originality of the contents of the manuscript and ensure that less than 20% of the work was duplicated from other sources. They ensure that materials for publication align with the specific aims, mission, and standards of The Nursing Scope.

Fairness & Justice: Editors will ensure that peer review for the journal is truthful, fair, unbiased, and timely. They will ensure that every manuscript received is assessed and evaluated on its intellectual contents and merit without regard to authors’ gender, race, religion, citizenship, culture, political or other leanings.

Confidentiality: The editors shall not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author(s), reviewers, potential reviewers, alternative editorial advisers, the publisher, or person(s) authorized by the author(s) with written consent. The editor shall ensure that information concerning manuscripts submitted by the author(s) is kept confidential.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors will require reviewers to disclose any potential conflict of interests before agreeing to review a submission.

2. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Confidentiality: Manuscript reviewers and editorial board members shall treat all submitted manuscripts as privileged data and shall not disclose them. Editors shall provide guidance to reviewers on what is expected of them as well as on the necessity to handle submitted material in confidence.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers shall guarantee that authors have acknowledged all sources of information used in the article. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported on should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer ought to call the editors’ attention to any substantial similarity or overlapping within the manuscript under consideration and any other published article of which they have personal knowledge of or of which they discovered with the aid of electronic software.

Standards of Objectivity: Review of submitted manuscripts shall be conducted objectively. The reviewers will express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate and unacceptable.

Promptness: If a reviewer believes that it is not attainable for him/her to revise the manuscript within the designated guidelines or within the stipulated time framework, he/she shall notify the editors, so that accurate and timely review can be ensured.

Conflict of Interest: All reviewers must not have any conflict of interest with respect to the research work, the author(s), and/or the funding body/ies.

3. Authors’ Responsibilities

Reporting Standards: Authors shall present their original work and objectively discuss its significance. Manuscripts are to be edited in accordance with the submission guidelines of the journal.

Originality: Apart from the originality index testing with the Turnitin software, Authors shall also certify that their work(s) belong(s) to them and that they are entirely distinctive and original.

Redundancy: Authors should not concurrently submit articles describing primarily the same research. Submitting the same article to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable and therefore, sanctionable.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Authors should acknowledge all sources of information utilized in their works and cite publications that have influenced their research appropriately.

Authorship of the Article: Authorship should be restricted solely to those who have created a vital contribution to the conception, planning, execution and/or interpretation of data of the submitted study. All those who have significantly contributed to the study should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author should also guarantee that all the authors and co-authors have seen and approved the final submitted version of the manuscript and their inclusion as co-authors.

Information Access and Retention: Authors shall retain raw data related to their submitted articles, and must provide it for editorial review, upon request by the editors.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her submitted manuscript, the author must immediately notify the editors.

4. Policy on Generative AI

As we navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, our journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity. The use of generative AI tools in manuscript preparation is permissible, but authors must adhere to specific guidelines. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and originality of their work, even when AI tools are employed. Any use of generative AI must be transparently disclosed in the manuscript, including the specific tool used and the extent of its application. Plagiarism detection software will be used to verify the originality of all submissions. Authors who fail to disclose the use of generative AI or engage in academic misconduct may face severe consequences, including rejection or retraction of their manuscript. By submitting a manuscript to our journal, authors confirm that they have used generative AI responsibly and in accordance with our guidelines. We reserve the right to investigate any allegations of misconduct and take necessary actions to uphold the integrity of our publication

5. Change or Modification of Published Article

Withdrawal: The published articles can be withdrawn if the author(s) noticed significant errors. Before processing the withdrawal request, the editorial board members will discuss the issue with the author(s) sufficiently. If the article is agreed to be withdrawn, the following steps shall be followed: The article in the journal database shall be removed; the link in online publication site shall be removed; Withdrawal announcement will be shown in the article’s online location.

Replacement: The articles published can get replaced if the author(s) send(s) an updated article. Before accepting the replacement request, the editorial board members shall discuss with the author(s) sufficiently, and the changes shall be evaluated in collaboration with reviewers. After an update, the old version shall be kept separately. Upon request, the editor can avail of the old version.

Removal: The published articles can be removed if reviewers, readers, librarians, publishers, or other subjects noticed a significant error or plagiarism. Before removing an article, a member of the editorial board members shall have a sufficient discussion with the author(s) and seek an explanation from the author(s). To remove the article the following steps shall apply: The article in the journal database shall be removed; the link in the online publication site shall be removed; an announcement of removal will be shown in the article’s online location.

6. Penalties

Double Submission: If a double submission was discovered or noticed from other sources, the editorial board shall check the status. If the double submission is confirmed as intentionally done, then the following actions will be carried out: Review process will be terminated; the rationale will be sent to reviewers, editorial board members and author(s); the author(s) shall be sent a reprimand letter and may be sanctioned accordingly as determined by the board.

Double Publication: If a double publication is found or noticed from other sources, the editorial board shall check the status. If the double publication is confirmed as intentionally done, then the following actions will be carried out: The author(s) shall be contacted; the publisher who published the same article shall be contacted; the Article shall be removed; Author(s) shall be blacklisted.

Plagiarism: If it is discovered that an article does not originally belong to an author (even if it met the less than 20% Turnitin originality index for plagiarism), the author will be blacklisted by The Nursing Scope.

7. 7. COPE Subscription: UGONSA subscribes to theCommittee on Publication Ethics (COPE) andThe Nursing Scope follows closely the recommendations of COPE. COPE was established to provide a range of services and products aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at editors and publishers of academic journals and to provide advice and guidance on best practice for dealing with ethical issues in publications in journal. COPE consults editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics and, in practice, how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. More information about COPE can be found at http://publicationethics.org/
8. Alignment with WMA Declaration of Helsinki and Declaration of Taipei: The Nursing Scope strongly aligns with the World Medical Association’s (WMA) Declaration on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, including the importance of protecting the dignity, autonomy, privacy, and confidentiality of research subjects, and obtaining informed consent for using identifiable human biological material and data (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/.). In addition, it also aligns with the WMA’s Declaration of Taipei which is a back-up to the Declaration of Helsinki  providing additional ethical principles for the use Human Subjects’ Health Databases and Biobanks, including research on identifiable human material and data (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-taipei-on-ethical-considerations-regarding-health-databases-and-biobanks/.). Every work that involves human subject must be in compliance with these declarations.

Address

UGONSA Nursing Scope Desk

C/O Institute of Global Education (IGE)

NO 166 Okigwe Road, Orji Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

Emails: gnan2ugonsa@gmail.com

Website: www.thenursingscope.org