Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

The Journal of the Deep Science and Technology Consortium (JDSTC) enforces strict publication ethics and integrity standards across all editorial, peer review, and publishing workflows. Our policies are formulated in full accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

1. Authorship and Contributorship Criteria

JDSTC adopts the ICMJE four-point standard for authorship. An author must meet all four criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
• Final approval of the version to be published.
• 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.

CRediT Contributor Roles: Authors are encouraged to declare contributor roles using the ANSI/NISO CRediT taxonomy (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft).

Ghost & Gift Authorship: Ghostwriting (omitting substantial contributors) and honorary/gift authorship (listing individuals who did not contribute) are strictly prohibited.

2. Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

• Disclosure Requirement: Authors who use AI tools in the writing, data analysis, coding, or graphical design of a manuscript must transparently disclose their use in the Methods or Acknowledgements section.
• Author Accountability: Human authors remain fully responsible for the factual accuracy, citations, data integrity, and absence of plagiarism in their manuscript, regardless of any AI assistance used.
• Reviewer AI Restriction: Peer reviewers are strictly forbidden from uploading submitted manuscripts or review materials into public or unverified AI platforms, to preserve author confidentiality.

3. Plagiarism & Duplicate Submission Screening

Every submitted manuscript is screened for similarity and text recycling using industry-standard similarity detection software (e.g., iThenticate / Turnitin):

• Similarity Threshold: Overall similarity must typically not exceed 15%, with no individual source exceeding 3% (excluding standard methodology citations and references).
• Self-Plagiarism & Salami Slicing: Inappropriate duplication of an author's own previously published work without attribution, or unnecessary fragmentation of a single coherent study, is considered unethical.
• Simultaneous Submission: Submitting the same manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical and will result in immediate desk rejection.

4. Data Integrity and Reproducibility

• Data Fabrication & Falsification: Manipulating research images, fabricating datasets, or presenting simulated outcomes as empirical data constitutes severe scientific misconduct.
• Data Availability Statement: All empirical research papers must include an explicit Data Availability Statement indicating where datasets, code repositories, or raw figures can be accessed (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, GitHub, or institutional repositories).

5. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

JDSTC follows COPE Retraction Guidelines in handling errata, corrigenda, and retractions:

• Corrigendum / Erratum: Issued when an honest error is identified that does not compromise the overall scientific conclusions of the paper.
• Expression of Concern: Published by the Editor-in-Chief if an investigation into potential misconduct is ongoing or inconclusive.
• Retraction: Published when there is clear evidence that findings are unreliable (misconduct or honest error), findings were plagiarized, or the work violated research ethics. Retracted articles remain accessible in archives with a prominent "RETRACTED" watermark and linked notice.

6. Editorial Independence and Appeals

All editorial decisions are made solely by the editorial board on the basis of scholarly validity. The publisher, Quantum Science and Technology Pvt Ltd, adheres to strict ethical firewalls and cannot influence review outcomes. Authors wishing to appeal an editorial decision may submit an appeal letter with technical rebuttal to admin@dstc.org.in.