PUBLISHING ETHICS POLICY

1. Commitment to Ethical Standards

Zerodale Publishing and its affiliated journals are committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, transparency, and ethical publishing. All participants in the publication process—authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members—are expected to adhere to internationally recognized ethical guidelines, including principles consistent with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All submitted works must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.

2. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are entirely original and properly cite all sources. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, and data falsification, is strictly prohibited. All submissions may be screened using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts found to contain substantial plagiarism or unethical content will be rejected. If misconduct is identified after publication, appropriate corrective action—including retraction—will be taken.

3. Authorship and Contribution

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made significant scholarly contributions to the research, including study design, data collection, analysis, or manuscript preparation. All listed authors must:

Approve the final version of the manuscript
Agree to its submission and publication
Take responsibility for the integrity of the work

Ghost authorship, guest authorship, or honorary authorship is not permitted.

4. Conflict of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or academic conflicts of interest that could influence their work or evaluation. Reviewers must decline assignments where impartial assessment cannot be guaranteed. Failure to disclose relevant conflicts may result in rejection, correction, or retraction of the publication. Transparency is essential to maintaining trust in the scholarly process.

5. Peer Review Integrity

All academic manuscripts undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure scholarly quality and integrity. Unless otherwise specified, manuscripts are evaluated through a double-blind peer review system, in which both authors and reviewers remain anonymous. Each submission is reviewed by at least two independent experts in the relevant field. Reviewers evaluate:

Originality
Methodological rigor
Theoretical contribution
Clarity and coherence
Relevance to the journal’s scope

Reviewers must maintain confidentiality and assess manuscripts objectively and fairly. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final editorial decision based on reviewer reports and editorial judgment. Decisions may include acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. Editorial decisions are made solely on scholarly merit and relevance, free from commercial or institutional influence.

6. Research Ethics and Human Subjects

Authors must ensure that research involving human participants or sensitive data complies with applicable institutional and national ethical standards.

Where appropriate, authors must confirm:

Institutional ethical approval
Informed consent from participants
Protection of participant confidentiality

Evidence of ethical compliance may be requested during review.

7. Data Availability and Transparency

Authors should maintain accurate records of data and be prepared to provide supporting data upon reasonable request. Where possible, authors are encouraged to make data accessible in recognized repositories to promote transparency and reproducibility.

8. Retraction and Correction Policy

Zerodale Publishing is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.

Corrections may be issued in cases of minor errors that do not invalidate the overall findings.

Retractions may occur in cases of:

Proven research misconduct
Plagiarism
Duplicate publication
Serious methodological flaws
Ethical violations

Retraction notices will remain publicly accessible and clearly linked to the original publication to ensure transparency. All allegations of misconduct will be investigated thoroughly and fairly.

9. AI Use and Disclosure

Authors must disclose any substantial use of artificial intelligence tools in the preparation of manuscripts, including text generation, data analysis, or image creation. AI tools may assist in language editing or technical refinement; however:

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy and originality of the content.
AI systems cannot be listed as authors.
Undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI may result in editorial action.

10. Open Access Policy

Where publications follow an open-access model, articles may be freely accessed and used for non-commercial purposes with proper citation, according to the licensing terms specified in the publishing agreement. Licensing conditions (such as Creative Commons licenses) will be clearly stated for each publication.

11. Copyright and Permissions

Transfer copyright to the publisher, or
Retain copyright while granting an exclusive publishing license

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce third-party copyrighted material.

No part of any publication may be reproduced or distributed without proper authorization, except as permitted by law.

12. Data Protection and Privacy (PIPEDA Compliance)

Zerodale Publishing complies with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Personal information collected during the editorial and publishing process (e.g., names, affiliations, contact details) will:

Be collected with consent
Be used solely for legitimate publishing purposes
Be stored securely
Not be shared with unauthorized third parties

Individuals may request access to their personal information and request corrections where necessary. Reasonable safeguards are implemented to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse.