Publication Ethics for Editors & Authors
Volkson Press policies and practices
Good ethical awareness and practice are essential for everyone involved in academic research, manuscript production and publishing. The ethical standards set out by groups such as COPE, are the standards against which journals and our fellow researchers will hold your work.
As a member of COPE, Volkson Press seeks to be at the forefront of the author services industry in upholding the highest standards for transparency and ethical practice.
How Volkson Press supports ethical publication practices:
We are the only major author services provider with a policy of full transparency, meaning that we always make available the full names and profiles of all freelance editors and expert reviewers who have worked on your manuscript.
In addition, we take part in the following activities:
- Participate in COPE activities as a member
- Have staffs who are members of COPE Council
- Work with EASE to translate author guidelines into Chinese
- Advice authors on the appropriate course of action when an ethical issue arises with their manuscript
- Advise on authorship and conflict of interest issues
- Conduct regular author workshops, of which publication ethics are a part
- Ensure authors make all decisions regarding the content of their manuscripts
- As an ethical service provider, we will never:
- Knowingly edit or rewrite the plagiarized text
- Knowingly facilitate any malpractice, including:
- Inappropriate authorship
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest
- Duplicate publication
- Concurrent submission to multiple journals
- Data fabrication or manipulation
- Peer review fraud
Plagiarism
Our policies on plagiarism
Plagiarism is a major ethical offense in publishing and Volkson Press strives to ensure that all of our dealings with authors are ethically responsible and also to encourage and educate authors to be ethically responsible. Knowingly modifying plagiarized text still counts as plagiarism; therefore, Volkson Press has set out strict policies on any plagiarism found in a manuscript submitted to us.
If the plagiarized text is found during editing, the text will be highlighted and left unedited. Authors will be advised about the issue and guidance offered if needed on how to resolve the situation. Any text that has been directly copied and pasted from another source and submitted to us for rewriting/editing will be returned to the author without revision so that the author can replace it with original text prior to editing. Articles or portions of articles that have previously been published cannot be rewritten or used without attribution. These will be returned to the author with guidance on proper publication and citation practice. Please note, although we will identify any text to the author that has been found to be plagiarized, we do not screen for plagiarism. The final content of all manuscripts handled by Volkson Press is always the responsibility of the author.
Acknowledgments
International publishing guidelines (e.g., of COPE) require full transparency in manuscripts, which includes acknowledging individuals who provided writing or editorial assistance to authors during the preparation of their manuscript. A declaration of professional English-language assistance can also reassure editors and reviewers that they can concentrate on evaluating the scientific merit of a manuscript. Volkson Press always lets authors know who edited or reviewed their manuscript. We also actively encourage authors to acknowledge the assistance that they received to improve their manuscript, by suggesting wording when they order our services.
Please email info@volksonpress.com if you have any queries about acknowledgments and transparency in publishing.