Publishing Ethics and Malpractice statement 
Scope and Junctures  (26 January 2021) 

Introduction 

This document covers Otago Polytechnic Ltd’s overarching ethical considerations for publishing issues of Scope: Contemporary Research Topics and Junctures: Journal of Thematic Dialogue. Further information about our publishing processes can also be found in our Editor’s Manual (available on request from researchoutputs@op.ac.nz)  

Ethical considerations for research undertaken at Otago Polytechnic Ltd is covered by our Research Ethics Committee.  

Otago Polytechnic Ltd also recognises the Royal Society of New Zealand's Code of Professional Standards and Ethics in Science, Technology, and the Humanities.   

Ethical Considerations in publishing 

Authorship of the paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. See Determining Authorship i.  

Originality and plagiarism: Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and that the work and/or words of others have been appropriately cited, quoted, and referenced. All submissions must include disclosure of whether and how AI was used in writing the work.

Permissions: As a rule, permission should be sought from the rights holder to reproduce any substantial part of a copyrighted work. This includes any text, illustrations, charts, tables, photographs, or other material from previously published sources. A permissions form provided by the editor should be completed to re-use content published by Otago Polytechnic Ltd.  Exceptions to this are specified in endnote. ii (If in doubt authors should discuss this with their editor).  

Prior publication: Work published in Scope is deemed to be original work that has not previously been published  or is under consideration by another publisher. We do however accept work that is an artwork that has previously been exhibited in a gallery context, or that has been: 

• re-interpreted from a previously published abstract.  

• published as an academic thesis, or  
• published as an electronic preprint.  

Acknowledgement of sources: Appropriate acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given using full journal citations. 

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All submissions must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. 

Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. Any correction or retraction will be made on the online version on our website.  

Compliance:  Statements of compliance are required if the reported research involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use.  Research involving animal or human subjects needs to indicate which body reviewed and approved ethical approval.  

Open Access & Data Mining: Scopes and Junctures are open access journals this means anyone can download open access content via our DOI retrieval function and by aggregators. 

Archiving: Electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content in the event a journal is no longer published shall be maintained by Otago Polytechnic Ltd. 

Editor’s responsibilities 

Each journal has their own chief editor and sometimes a co-editor/s as well as an editorial board.  As the publisher the overall responsibility for these publications is provided by the Series Editor who represents the publisher.  The roles of the chief and co-editors are contained in Manual for Editors.  

Author responsibilities 

Authors are required to: 

• cite the ethics approval number for their work if it involves research with human or animal participants/subjects
• ensure that the manuscript they are submitting to Scope has not already been previously published by or under consideration by another publisher  
• include a list of references that have been cited in the work in the style requested
• identify all authors who have significantly contributed to the research, see endnote (i) Determining Authorship 
• inform editors if they need to make retractions or corrections of mistakes after publication
• acknowledge any financial support received for the research

Complaints procedure 

Complaints related to editorial practice or decisions must be received in writing to the Series Editor whose role is to investigate such complaints. The Series Editor may facilitate mediation between the complainant and the Journal Editor, and/or make a ruling based on the information provided.  Any complaints of alleged research misconduct related to published work in Scope or Junctures, and that are authored by Otago Polytechnic staff or students will be referred to the Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies. 

Copyright 

Contributors retain copyright in their submissions and must obtain permission for the use of any material that is not their own included in their submission. Contributors grant the publishers permission to deposit the published work in our institutional repository.   

Except for images, mātauranga Māori, and where otherwise indicated, content will be made available as open access on a Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0.   
All images, figures and tables are copyright to the respective artists and photographers.    

Mātauranga Māori is a significant component of New Zealand’s heritage, and sharing mātauranga Māori facilitates inter-cultural dialogue and understanding that is in the national interest. However, we recognise that the originating Māori community and/or individual has the primary interest as kaitiaki over the mātauranga and we are therefore committed to ensuring that the sharing, promotion and innovation based on mātauranga Māori respects and enhances its cultural and spiritual integrity, as well as that of the originating community and/or individual. 

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(i) Determining authorship: 
Staff and students submitting to Scope or Junctures should be guided by the Vancouver Guidelines. The Vancouver Guidelines specify that all listed authors should have made a significant contribution to the work. 

Authorship credit should be based on: 

1 “substantial contributions to conception and design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work AND 

2 drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content AND 

3 final approval of the version to be published AND 

4 agreement 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.”i 

• Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4.  

• All people who meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4 should be listed as authors. 

• For articles that document student research, supervisors/facilitators will be guided by the Otago Polytechnic Learner Intellectual Property Guidelines as to whether it is appropriate for them to be listed as co-authors.  

• Acquisition of funding, collection of data, provision of routine technical help, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. 

• All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgement, and their function or contribution should be described, for example “collected data”, “provided writing assistance”, “served as scientific advisors”. 

•  In the case of co-authored work the lead author is responsible for the entire publication and should ensure that co-authors are aware of the submission and agree to the way their individual contributions are represented.