Publication Ethics
Journal of Power, Energy, and Control (PEC) is committed to following best practices on publication ethics. The following policy is based mainly on the Core Practices from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This policy should be read in conjunction with the journal’s author guidelines.
Duties of Editors
Review of Manuscripts
Editors will take all reasonable steps to ensure that peer referees’ identities are protected, and that the peer review process is fair, unbiased and timely.
Publication Decisions
Editorial decisions are not affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors. The decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its relevance to the remit of the journal.
Confidentiality
Editors will ensure that the information and material submitted by the authors remains confidential while under consideration for the journal, and will only be disclosed as appropriate to the author(s), referees, potential referees, other editorial advisors and MSD Institute.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Editors will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper for their own research purposes without the author’s explicit written consent. Submissions made to a journal by the Editor will be handled by an alternative Editor to ensure the process remains fair and unbiased.
Intellectual Property
Editors will ensure that all submissions are checked for originality using Turnitin’s similarity check software prior to peer-review. Editors should be alert to intellectual property issues and will work with MSD Institute to ensure that the COPE guidance on handling of intellectual property is followed.
Data Protection Requirements
The Editors agree to comply with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (as applicable), the Data Protection Act 2018, Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations, and codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner from time to time (all as amended, extended, re-enacted or replaced from time to time), in so far as the same relates to the provisions and obligations of this Agreement.
Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards
Authors should present their results accurately, clearly and honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. Misleading, selective or ambiguous reporting should be avoided. Authors should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others. The submission guidelines of the journal must be followed.
Acknowledgement of Sources, Plagiarism, Infringement of Copyright and Infringement of Moral Rights and Submission to Multiple Publications
Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work, acknowledge all sources of data and appropriately represent the work or words of others in citations or quotations. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) should be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Authors should ensure that they have not submitted the same manuscript or manuscripts describing essentially the same work to more than one journal concurrently.
Authorship
MSD Institute believes in clear, transparent and verifiable authorship. In line with ICMJE guidance, to qualify for authorship, each individual must:
- Have made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the article; or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the article; AND
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Approved the version to be published; AND
- Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Contributors who do not meet all these criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgements section. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written approval by any persons named in the Acknowledgements section.
The submitting author must ensure that all authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and to the inclusion of their names as co-authors or to the inclusion of their names in the Acknowledgements section.
The contributions of each author to the work must now be indicated as part of the submission process, and you will be asked to add Author Contributions using CRediT Taxonomy. Each author on a paper may have one or more CRediT contribution roles, but having a role described by the taxonomy does not automatically qualify one as author.
The submitting author is responsible for ensuring all qualifying authors are included on submission with the correct spelling, institution and address details and in the agreed order. The primary affiliation listed for each author should be where the majority of the work was done. If the author has subsequently moved, the current address may be listed as a second affiliation. The Acknowledgements section may be used to further clarify if some or all of the work was conducted at one or more different institutions. We strongly encourage the use of institutional email addresses for all authors listed on your manuscript. If we are unable to verify the identities of any of the authors, your paper may be withdrawn or rejected.
Unacceptable Authorship Types
The following types of authorship are considered unacceptable and a contravention of publication ethics:
- "Ghost" authors, who contribute substantially but are not acknowledged;
- "Guest"/"Gift" authors, who have made very little or no contribution to the work and do not qualify for authorship.
PEC does not recognize AI tools as authors or as able to fulfil authorship criteria, as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. If AI tools were used in the preparation of any part of the paper, this should be clearly disclosed in the appropriate section of the paper, and authors take full responsibility for the paper in its entirety.
Limit on Number of Submissions per Author
In order to ensure sufficient diversity within the authorship of our journals, authors will be limited to being listed as an author (including as a co-author) on five manuscripts submitted for consideration in a single journal and ten manuscripts submitted for consideration across the MSD Institute Journals within a 12-month period.
This policy does not apply to editorials and other non-peer-reviewed manuscript types.
Authorship Change Requests
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and to provide the definitive list of authors with the correct institutions and verifiable details at the time of the original submission.
Adding and/or deleting authors after submission (including at revision stage) is generally not permitted and will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and only where the authorship change complies with PEC’s authorship policy. No requests to amend the authorship can be made after the manuscript has been accepted. Any changes to the listed authors on a paper must be done via an Authorship Change Form which can be requested from the Editorial Office. Any changes to authorship between submission and acceptance must be approved by all authors (including any authors to be removed) and justified. In addition to this, we require the change(s) stated in the form to be approved by the Head of Department of the submitting author (and by the Head of Department of the corresponding author if different).
All requests made will be assessed by the Editorial Office and Editor, and we may request further evidence or contact the authors' institutions to confirm the contribution of each author. PEC reserves the right to refuse requests we do not believe conform with our authorship policies.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All sources of financial support must be disclosed in the submitted manuscript. A statement should also be included disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be seen to influence the results or interpretation of the presented work.
Significant Errors in the Work
Authors should alert the Editor promptly if they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted, accepted or published work. Authors should cooperate with the Editor in issuing retractions or corrections when required.
Duties of Referees
Confidentiality
Referees should respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process, beyond those that that are released by the journal.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Referees should ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in their reported work. If the referee finds that the manuscript has similarity or overlap with any other published paper, this must be brought to the attention of the Editor immediately.
Standards of Objectivity
Referees should not allow their reviews to be influenced by the origins of a manuscript, by the nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, or by commercial considerations. Referees should be objective and constructive in their reviews, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory, and from making libelous or derogatory personal comments.
Promptness
Referees should only agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess in a timely manner.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Referees should not agree to review any 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. Referees should not use information obtained during the peer review process for their own or any other person’s advantage, or to disadvantage or discredit others.