Ethics Policy

It is necessary for there to be agreement upon the standards of ethical behavior expected from all parties involved in the publishing process; these include the author(s), the editor(s), the reviewer(s), and the publisher. IOS Press follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), in particular COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. 

Authors publishing a paper with IOS Press should certify that: (i) all those mentioned in the list of authors have contributed significantly to the paper according to the IOS Press Authorship Policy; (ii) no person who has made a significant contribution has been omitted from the list of authors or acknowledged persons; (iii) all authors agree with the paper submission; (iv) all sources of external funding have been disclosed in the paper; (v) the paper has not been and will not be submitted to any other publication until either the review process has been completed or the paper has been withdrawn; (vi) the submitting author assumes responsibility, within the limits of their professional competence, for the accuracy of the paper; (vii) the authors have read and agree to the IOS Press Author Copyright Agreement; and (viii) the authors have read and agree to this Ethics Policy. 

Authors are requested to disclose any potential conflict of interest upon submission. Editors and reviewers are asked to excuse themselves from reviewing a submission if a conflict of interest makes them unable to make an impartial scientific judgment or evaluation. Conflicts of interest include but are not limited to: collaboration with the author(s) in the past 3 years; any professional or financial affiliations that may be perceived as a conflict of interest; or a history of personal differences with the author(s). Any disputes will be handled by the publisher according to the COPE guidelines.

The editor or peer reviewer of any IOS Press publication shall evaluate manuscripts on  their intellectual content, irrespective of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. The editor and any editorial staff shall not disclose any confidential information concerning a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, or publisher, as appropriate. The content of any unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript is not to be used, either in whole or in part, in an editor’s or reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the submitting author.

The publisher, IOS Press, affirms that any misconduct – in the form of fabrication/falsification/manipulation of data, plagiarism, or other ethical misconduct – jeopardizes the success of the entire scientific endeavor. Any questions raised with regard to possible research misconduct will be investigated by the publisher in collaboration with the editor(s) of the publication, according to COPE’s guidelines. If deemed appropriate, the matter will be taken up with the institution where the scientific work in question was performed. At all stages, every effort will be made to ensure that the process is fair and just, both for those who have been accused of misconduct and those who have raised the issue of research misconduct. If the publisher is alerted to a matter of concern (i.e., a dispute or possible misconduct) for a manuscript that has not yet been published, this submission may be put on hold until the inquiry has been settled. In the event that a published article must be retracted or corrected, a correction to record will be published. If conclusive evidence about the reliability of a publication cannot be obtained, the editor may consider publishing an editorial expression of concern. Articles may be removed from the publication if deemed appropriate.