Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Mindanao Journal of Science and Technology (MJST) is committed to meet the highest ethical standards in research publication. MJST, its publisher – the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) – editorial board members, reviewers, authors, and staff are guided by the following principles.

Should you prefer to read a layouted document of the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement,
please download the PDF file here.

 I. Professionalism

Editors, authors, referees, and editorial staff shall observe a sense of professionalism at all times. Courtesy and mutual respect should be demonstrated in exercising their roles and responsibilities.

II. Responsibilities of the Editors

The editorial board plays an important role in the double-blind peer-review process as it decides the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript. All members are requested to perform their reviews without any bias to increase the quality of the journal. While verifying the manuscript, the following points will have to be taken into consideration:

  • detailed examination and relevance of manuscript as per author guidelines (Information for Authors);
  • careful analysis of purpose and objectives of the work carried out;
  • correctness of the conclusions and recommendations along with up-to-date references;
  • copyediting and proofreading of the manuscripts in accordance with the publishing standards (i.e., grammar, punctuations, and spelling);
  • the coverage area of the manuscript in relevance with the scope of the journal, plagiarism-related issues; and
  • authorization to accept or reject manuscripts but the final decision remains with the Editor-in-Chief (EIC).

III. Responsibilities of the Reviewers

The reviewers nominated by the MJST EIC and editorial board are experts in their fields of specialization.

  • Reviewers assist the editorial board’s decision to accept, reject, or revise and resubmit manuscripts based on their comments and recommendations.
  • Reviewers are reminded that their evaluation should be conducted objectively. It should be based on the quality of the manuscript and its contribution to a particular body of knowledge. Personal criticism, gibberish remarks, and other inappropriate arguments are highly discouraged.
  • Reviewers shall keep the confidentiality of the manuscript to be reviewed.
  • In case of unavailability to do a review due to some circumstances, reviewers should notify the EIC so that other reviewers can be invited. They are also encouraged to respond to emails promptly.

IV. Responsibilities of the Authors

  • Authors should declare the originality of the work and confirm that the work described has not been previously published nor is it under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors should shun redundant publication – a study split into several parts which are submitted or published in MJST and other journals.
  • Authors must avoid data fabrication/falsification and likewise need to observe proper citation to acknowledge the work of others.
  • Authors should include information regarding sources of funding, if there is any, in the Acknowledgement section. Disclosure of potential or no conflicts of interest, informed consent if the study involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the study involved animals, should be written in the submission letter. Under the Methodology section, the study protocol number, and the name of issuing Institutional Ethics Committee and Institutional Animal Care Unit or Provincial/City/Municipal Veterinary Office for health-related studies involving human participants and animal subjects, respectively, should be written.
  • The authorship should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the study. Those who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the manuscript should be mentioned in the Acknowledgement section.
  • Authors are required to study the instructions for the preparation of manuscripts carefully and follow them properly in preparing the manuscript for submission. The instructions can be found in the Information for Authors. Authors who fail to follow these instructions are liable to have manuscripts returned to them before review and to be asked to prepare their manuscripts in the prescribed format of the journal. By submitting a manuscript in the prescribed format, an author can avoid desk rejection and delays in acceptance and publication of a manuscript.
  • Authors are encouraged to check their emails regularly and monitor the status of their manuscript through the online submission system on MJST’s website. They are required to respond to emails promptly.  
  • Authors who wish to withdraw their manuscript should write a letter of intent and send it to MJST email ([email protected]). MJST will then remove the manuscript from its pending list.
  • When authors find significant errors or inaccuracy in their published manuscript, they need to notify the EIC so that these will be corrected properly.  

 V. Review Process

The review process is done in an objective, accurate and comprehensive manner. All submitted manuscripts will undergo a pre-review process. Only those manuscripts that pass this initial screening will proceed to a double-blind peer-review process. Throughout the second process, the reviewers’ identity will remain unknown to the authors – the same case applies to the author’s identity to the reviewers.

 VI. Confidentiality

MJST has high regard for information privacy. Disclosure of information about the author and referee information, including correspondences, shall be limited to the editors and editorial staff. Also, information on submitted manuscripts shall be limited to editors, the editorial staff, corresponding authors, reviewers, and potential reviewers.

 VII. Correspondences and Notices

MJST shall respond in a timely manner to online correspondences made by authors and reviewers. The journal will provide notices to the authors on the status of their manuscripts once the results are available.

 VIII. Dealing with Misconduct

Any cases of ethical misconduct are treated very seriously and will be dealt with using the guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

IX. Plagiarism and Data Accuracy

To check their authenticity, all submitted, relevant manuscripts are checked using plagiarism detection software. A manuscript is halted from publication if it is found to have copied previous works or failed to cite an existing material. The editorial team likewise cross-checks data manually for accuracy.

 X. Copyright

When the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors should execute a transfer of copyright agreement with the publisher as a requirement for publication of the research manuscript.

 XI. Open Access

MJST is an open access journal. All published manuscripts are freely available to read through and download from the MJST’s website. In accordance to publication ethics and best practices of scholarly publishing, authors and MJST must be properly credited using the means stated in the succeeding section.

 XII. Citing an MJST Article

Using the American Psychological Association (APA) style, citation of MJST published manuscript as bibliography entry should begin with (1) the author’s last name, then first and middle name initials; (2) publication year between parentheses; (3) the title of the article in sentence-case; (4) name of the journal, Mindanao Journal of Science and Technology; (5) volume number; (6) issue number; and (7) page numbers. Refer to the sample below.

Castro, C.J.L., & Lomonsod, K.C. (2021). Phytochemical profile, free radical scavenging activity and anticancer potential of Pandanus odoratissimus leaves ethanol extract. Mindanao Journal of Science and Technology, 19(2), 184-208

Date of Revision: June 20, 2022