Publication Ethics and Plagiarism

We believe that ethical publishing leads to a better science community and ensures quality of research. We follow the code of conduct and plagiarism policies similar to those of University of Sindh and Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan. We accept manuscripts, which must meet with the following set of ethical measures:

• Submitted manuscripts is original and not published elsewhere
• There is no conflicts of interest declaration
• All co-authors meet criteria for authorship and ensure appropriate acknowledgements made in the manuscript
• Appropriate funding statement is given in the manuscript
• Informed consent and assurances that participants’ rights are protected (where applicable)
• A copyright agreement

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, Plagiarism means ‘taking and using the thoughts, writings, and inventions of another person as one's own’.  Thus, plagiarism includes;  the practice of directly copying; presenting others’ production without proper citation or referencing, and passing off the ideas/thoughts as one’s own without permission from the original producer. The wrong reference or citation also comes under plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism once must ensure that all words or ideas, which have been taken from elsewhere, are referenced and cited appropriately and accurately.