Publication Ethics

AD-Minister aims to continuously improve its processes for the submission, review, editing, and publication of scientific articles. Therefore, the journal adopts the publication ethics guidelines of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and Elsevier to prevent publication misconduct, implement agile correction and retraction procedures, and ensure readers that all published articles comply with the quality standards defined in the author guidelines. AD-Minister publishes its author guidelines on its website to provide authors with clear guidance regarding:

• 
  Authorship criteria
  • Standards for manuscript submission
  • Disclosure of conflicts of interest
  • Procedures for correcting publication errors

The following are considered misconduct and grounds for manuscript rejection at any stage of the publication process:

1. Redundant publication
2. Plagiarism
3. Data falsification (photographs, statistics, graphs, etc.)
4. Falsification of information (author affiliations, signatures, etc.)
5. Authorship impersonation and falsification

The entire editorial team of AD-Minister is committed to respectful treatment of authors, reviewers, and all participants in the editorial process. No manuscript shall be rejected for reasons other than the academic quality of its content. Likewise, the journal guarantees confidentiality: information submitted by authors and reviewers will be used exclusively for editorial activities, and files related to rejected manuscripts will be deleted from our records. The editorial team will maintain timely communication with authors regarding editorial decisions and will seek to ensure compliance with the journal’s publication schedule.

 

Duties of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to AD-Minister declare that:
• The work is original and has not been previously published, except in permitted academic formats (e.g., theses, working papers, or properly identified preprints);
• The manuscript is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal.
• All authors have approved the submitted version and assume responsibility for its content;
• The article will not be published elsewhere without explicit authorization once accepted.

Once the manuscript has passed the editorial evaluation and is accepted for external scientific review, the corresponding author must complete and submit a letter of originality and publication authorization certifying that the work is original, unpublished, and not under simultaneous consideration by another scientific journal.

 

Reporting Standards

Authors of original articles must present an accurate account of the work performed, as well as an objective discussion of its significance (see formatting guidelines). The underlying data must be accurately represented in the manuscript. Knowingly fraudulent or inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

 

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works and, if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, these must be properly cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical editorial conduct and is unacceptable.

 

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable. An author should not submit for consideration an article that has already been published in another journal. The publication of certain types of articles (for example, clinical guidelines or translations) in more than one journal may sometimes be justified, provided that specific conditions are met. Authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation as the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication. More details regarding acceptable forms of secondary publication can be found at www.icmje.org.

 

Acknowledgment of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be observed. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the determination of the nature of the work presented. Information obtained privately, such as through conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit written permission from the source. Information obtained through confidential services, such as peer review or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author involved in those services.

 

Authorship of the Manuscript

Authorship of manuscripts must be limited exclusively to those who have made substantial contributions to the development of the research and the academic content of the work. AD-Minister adopts the criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), according to which each author must have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for its content. Authorship recognition must be based on fulfillment of all the following conditions:

1. Significant participation in the conception and design of the study, or in the analysis and interpretation of data.
2. Substantial contribution to drafting the manuscript or critically revising its intellectual content. Exclusively grammatical or stylistic corrections do not constitute authorship criteria.
3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in obtaining funding, data collection, or general supervision of the research group does not justify authorship. Likewise, every part of the article essential to its conclusions must be supported by the academic responsibility of at least one of the authors. All manuscripts must include an explicit authorship contribution statement and designate a corresponding author responsible for communication with the journal during the editorial process. Changes in authorship will not be considered once the evaluation process has begun, except under exceptional circumstances duly justified and approved by the Editorial Team of AD-Minister.

 

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest and Funding

All authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal conflict of interest that could influence, or be perceived as influencing, the results, analyses, or interpretation of the manuscript. Potential conflicts of interest include employment relationships, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, grants, or other sources of funding. Authors must also explicitly disclose all sources of financial support related to the research, indicating, where applicable, the role of funders in the design, execution, analysis, and dissemination of the study. When the research has not received external funding, authors are encouraged to include an explicit statement indicating the absence of financial support.

 

Duties of Editors

 

Publication Decisions

The editor of AD-Minister is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. Validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always guide such decisions. The editor is guided by the policies of the journal’s Editorial Committee and constrained by legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may confer this decision-making responsibility upon other editors or reviewers (or society officers).

 

Fair Play

An editor must evaluate manuscripts based on their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy of the authors.

 

Confidentiality

The editor and all editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

 

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

• Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author.
  • Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
  • Editors shall refrain from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscripts.
  • Editors will require all contributors to disclose relevant conflicts of interest and publish corrections if conflicts are revealed after publication. If necessary, other appropriate actions will be taken, such as publication of a retraction or expression of concern.
  • AD-Minister ensures that the peer review process for special issues follows the same standards used for regular issues of the journal. Sponsored issues must be accepted solely based on academic merit and readers’ interests and must not be influenced by commercial considerations.
  • Sections subject to peer review are clearly identified.

 

Journal Self-Citation

The editor shall never engage in practices that require authors to cite the journal as an implicit or explicit condition of acceptance for publication. Any recommendation regarding references should be made solely on the basis of direct relevance to the author’s article, to improve the quality of the published research. Editors may direct authors to relevant literature as part of the peer review process; however, this should never extend to general instructions to cite participating journals.

 

Involvement and Cooperation in Investigations

An editor must take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints are presented regarding a submitted manuscript or published article, in collaboration with the Editorial Committee. Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or published work and giving due consideration to the complaint or allegations, but may also involve further communications with relevant institutions and research bodies. If the complaint is substantiated, publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other appropriate notice may follow. Every reported act of unethical editorial conduct must be examined, even if discovered years after publication.

 

Editorial Impartiality and Management of Conflicts of Interest

AD-Minister is governed by principles of impartiality, transparency, and editorial responsibility. Editors do not participate in editorial decisions concerning manuscripts in which a conflict of interest exists, including, among others, manuscripts:
• authored by themselves;
• written by family members, close colleagues, or frequent collaborators;
• related to organizations, projects, or initiatives in which they have direct interests.

In such cases, editorial management of the manuscript is assigned to another member of the editorial team to guarantee the independence of the evaluation process.

 

Appeals to Editorial Decisions

Authors may submit a formal appeal regarding an editorial decision, provided that the appeal is properly justified and based on substantive academic grounds. AD-Minister will consider only one appeal per manuscript, and the resulting decision will be final.

Special issues and thematic sections: Manuscripts submitted to special issues or thematic sections follow the same peer review standards and procedures as regular articles. In these cases, guest editors may coordinate the evaluation process and formulate recommendations under the supervision of the editor-in-chief, who retains responsibility for the final editorial decision.

 

Protocol for Corrections, Retractions, and Exceptional Removals

AD-Minister adopts the COPE and Elsevier guidelines for handling corrections, retractions, and exceptional removals of published articles. The journal recognizes the importance of preserving the integrity, transparency, and reliability of the academic record. When substantial errors, ethical concerns, or evidence of academic misconduct are identified, the Editorial Team will evaluate each situation and may adopt the corresponding editorial measures.

 

Corrections

When a published article contains minor errors or inaccuracies that do not compromise the overall validity of the study’s results, conclusions, or contributions, AD-Minister may publish an editorial correction, erratum, or corrigendum. Corrections will be officially published by the journal and will remain linked to the original article to maintain transparency and integrity in the publication record.

 

Retractions

AD-Minister may retract a published article when there is clear evidence that the results, findings, or conclusions are unreliable or when serious violations of publication ethics have occurred. Retractions will be officially issued by the journal and will be clearly identified and linked to the original article. Retractions may result from suspected or confirmed plagiarism, duplicate publication, data falsification, manipulation of the peer review process, undeclared conflicts of interest, ethical violations, or falsification of authorship information.

 

Exceptional Removal of Articles

Under exceptional circumstances, AD-Minister may remove a published article when legal, ethical, or security reasons require its partial or total removal from the journal’s website.

 

Policy for Reviewers

Reviewers must act with objectivity, independence, and transparency throughout the peer review process. Therefore, it is mandatory to identify and disclose any conflict of interest that may influence or be perceived as influencing their academic judgment. Reviewers must communicate any conflict of interest before accepting the invitation to review a manuscript. They must refrain from conducting the review when there is a close personal or professional relationship with the authors, such as:

• 
  Direct colleagues
  • Previous co-authorship (within the last two years)
  • Joint participation in projects, consultancies, or research
  • Academic supervisory relationships (advisor, tutor, or student)
  • Recent shared institutional affiliation
  • Direct financial interests (e.g., potential benefits derived from results such as patents or licenses)

In case of doubt, the reviewer must inform the editor, describing the situation. The editor will determine whether the conflict permits continuation of the review process under transparency or whether a new reviewer should be appointed.

 

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of the scientific method. AD-Minister shares the view that all scholars wishing to contribute to publications have an obligation to conduct fair reviews of submitted manuscripts.

Promptness

Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or who knows that prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument has been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editors’ attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers must not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions related to the manuscript.

 

Based on Elsevier recommendations and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.