Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Shodh Prabha: A Multidisciplinary Journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against publication malpractice. The journal strictly follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Duties of Editors:

Editors are responsible for evaluating manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. Editors must ensure a fair, unbiased, and confidential review process and must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and editorial staff.

2. Duties of Reviewers:

Reviewers must assist the editorial board in making editorial decisions and help authors improve their manuscripts through constructive feedback. All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not use unpublished materials disclosed in a manuscript for their own research and must declare any conflicts of interest that could affect their impartiality.

3. Duties of Authors:

Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original and properly cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors, and all co-authors must have approved the final version of the manuscript before submission.

4. Originality and Plagiarism:

The journal accepts only original works. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or redundant publication will be rejected or retracted immediately. Plagiarism detection software is used to check the originality of submitted manuscripts.

5. Multiple or Concurrent Publication:

Authors must not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one journal simultaneously, as this constitutes unethical publishing behavior.

6. Acknowledgement of Sources:

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite all publications that have influenced their research.

7. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest:

All authors must disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.

8. Duties of the Publisher:

The publisher is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions are independent and that all publishing activities are conducted ethically. The publisher shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred and will promptly investigate any reported unethical behavior.

9. Ethical Oversight:

In cases of suspected misconduct, data manipulation, plagiarism, or unethical research, the journal will follow COPE’s recommended procedures to ensure transparency and fairness.

10. Retraction Policy:

If serious ethical issues or errors are discovered after publication, the journal reserves the right to issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, as appropriate.

By submitting a manuscript to Shodh Prabha, authors affirm that their work adheres to these ethical standards and that all parties involved respect the integrity of the publication process.