Ethical Guidelines for Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica

To enhance academic integrity, regulate paper writing, submission, review, and publication processes, and prevent academic misconduct, Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica has developed the following ethical guidelines for authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers, based on relevant content from the Code of Publication Ethics for Scientific Journals and adapted to our actual practices.

1. Definition of Publication Ethics

"Publication ethics" refers to the ethical standards, professional conduct, and behavioral guidelines that should be followed by all parties involved in the publication of scientific journals.

2. Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct refers to actions that violate academic standards and professional ethics. The most common types are:
  1. Fabrication: Making up data or results.
  2. Falsification: Manipulating or misinterpreting data or results.

  3. Plagiarism: Stealing or modifying another's work and presenting it as one's own. This includes copying ideas, paragraphs, or entire works without proper attribution.

Specific forms of misconduct include plagiarism, forgery, falsification, improper authorship, duplicate submission, repeated publication, slicing of research findings, and violations of relevant research ethics.

3. Duplicate Content Limit
The journal rejects papers with a text duplication rate exceeding 15%. For those under 15%, further considerations include:
  1. Whether the repeated sections contain key results or opinions. If so, the manuscript will not be accepted.

  2. After removing the duplicated content and replacing it with references, whether the remaining sections still justify a full paper. If not, the submission will be deemed unfit for publication.

4. Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest arise when there is a clash between secondary interests (e.g., financial, personal, or familial ties) and the primary interest of ensuring the objectivity of research.
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I. Author Ethics
  1. Authors are responsible for the authenticity of their papers and must provide original images, raw data, project names, grant approval numbers, and other supporting materials as requested by the editorial office.
  2. Upon submission, authors must provide a Confidentiality and Copyright Transfer Statement. This certifies the manuscript's authenticity, confirms no duplicate submissions, and ensures no disputes regarding authorship.
  3. Authors must adhere to the Five Prohibitions:
        o No third-party ghostwriting.
        o No third-party submissions.
        o No unauthorized third-party edits.
        o No false peer reviewer information.
        o No violations of authorship norms, such as listing contributors who made no substantive academic contributions.
  4. Authors listed must have made substantive contributions to the work, such as:
        o Significant input to the research's design, data acquisition, or data analysis.
        o Drafting or revising the intellectual content of the paper.
        o Final approval of the version to be published.
        o Agreement to take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of any part of the work.
  5. Author order should reflect their contribution and must be agreed upon by all authors at submission. After submission or publication, changes to authorship require a formal application signed by all listed authors.
  6. In general, only one corresponding author should be indicated. If the research is a collaboration between multiple institutions, no more than two corresponding authors are allowed.
  7. Author affiliations should be relevant to the research. If there are discrepancies, authors must explain their contribution or provide proof from their institution that they contributed to the research.
  8. When institutional affiliations differ from the one providing research conditions (e.g., for students or visiting scholars), the institution where the research was conducted should be listed first.
  9. Authors must declare any conflicts of interest upon submission. If conflicts exist, all financial interests that may influence the research results must be disclosed.
  10. Authors may contest review outcomes by submitting a formal appeal with detailed explanations addressing each review comment.
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II. Reviewer Ethics
  1. Reviewers should provide honest, objective, and fair evaluations, free of bias related to the author's nationality, institution, race, religion, politics, or gender.
  2. Reviewers should consult the editorial office if there is a conflict of interest with the author (e.g., familial or professional ties) to ensure impartiality.
  3. Reviewers should avoid unsubstantiated or malicious criticism and should not raise unfounded allegations against the author's work.
  4. If a reviewer cannot complete the review within the agreed timeframe, they must inform the editorial office promptly and may suggest alternative reviewers.
  5. Reviewers must disclose if they encounter previously reviewed manuscripts and provide a review based on the journal's evaluation criteria.
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III. Editor Ethics
  1. Editors must handle each manuscript fairly and promptly, basing decisions on the paper's importance, originality, scientific quality, readability, and relevance to the journal.
  2. Editors must maintain confidentiality regarding both the author’s research and the reviewer’s identity.
  3. Editors should not allow personal interests to interfere with the review process, ensuring objective peer review.
  4. If authors suggest reviewers, editors must verify the reviewers' authenticity and consider whether a conflict of interest exists.
  5. Editors should avoid selecting reviewers from the same institution as the authors.
  6. Editors with conflicts of interest with the authors must recuse themselves from handling the manuscript.
  7. Editors must respond to author appeals thoughtfully, organizing discussions or re-reviews if necessary.
  8. Editors are responsible for identifying potential cases of academic misconduct, such as duplicate submissions, and must perform plagiarism checks at both the initial submission and pre-publication stages.
  9. Editors should advise authors on potential intellectual property issues that may arise from changes in authorship or affiliations.
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IV. Publisher Ethics
  1. The journal strictly adheres to an objective and fair peer review process.
  2. If academic misconduct is identified after acceptance, the journal reserves the right to retract the paper and notify the author’s institution and related journals.
  3. If academic misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal will issue a retraction notice.
  4. The journal must provide authors with detailed submission and writing guidelines and update them as needed.
  5. The journal must establish a policy for managing conflicts of interest among editors, authors, reviewers, and editorial board members.
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V. Implementation
These guidelines come into effect as of the date of publication.