Ethics and Malpractice

eContent Pro International Press upholds the highest ethical standards in scholarly publishing, ensuring originality, transparency, and integrity across all books.

Publication Ethics Statement | Authorship and Contributorship | Academic Peer Review | Unethical Research Practices | Informed Consent and Participant Privacy | Copyright Infringement and Intellectual Property | Plagiarism | Corrections and Retractions | Appeals and Complaints | Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests | Data Sharing and Reproducibility | Paid Advertisements | Ownership and Management

Publication Ethics Statement

eContent Pro International Press’s scholarly research book publications adhere to the Core Practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). eContent Pro International Press is committed to publishing original scholarly materials of the highest quality that provide comprehensive insight into various subject areas.

Our goal is to facilitate the availability of academic excellence and disseminate innovative knowledge worldwide.

eContent Pro International Press book editors and authors are provided with written guidelines and checklists that must be followed to maintain the high value that eContent Pro International Press places on the work it publishes. eContent Pro International Press reviewers are an important component of the scholarly process and therefore are instructed to provide comprehensive, detailed appraisals of work that they are reviewing to assist the author in improving the quality and usability of the presented research.

eContent Pro International Press affirms that ethical publication practices are critical to the successful development of knowledge. Therefore, it is the policy of eContent Pro International Press to maintain high ethical standards in all publications. These standards pertain to all books and chapters accepted for publication. This is in accordance with standard scientific principles and our position as a source of scientific knowledge.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authors and contributors may play a number of roles in the research, writing, and preparation of submitted manuscripts.

eContent Pro International Press as the publisher does assume that all authors listed on the work have agreed with the content and have given explicit consent to submit. It is expected that consent has been obtained from the responsible authorities at the institution/organization where they work prior to the submission of the manuscript.

eContent Pro International Press recommends adhering to the following guidelines when establishing authorship of a submitted manuscript. Specifically, all authors whose names appear on the submission should have contributed in the following ways (Sources: ICMJE and PNAS):

  • Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, or the creation of new software used in the work;
  • Drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
  • Provided final approval of 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.

Special recognition may be added to the acknowledgements section of the submission for anyone who has contributed to the work but not in an author capacity.

Use of AI/LLM/AI-Assisted Technologies in Authorship

eContent Pro International Press allows limited use of AI tools to support authors' writing processes. However, as AI can produce incorrect, repetitive, or biased output, authors must provide a level of oversight and control in its usage and must carefully review and edit the content generated. Authors are ultimately accountable for the contents of the work. Authors may use AI tools to:

  • support the analysis of data during the research process; and
  • improve the readability of the paper.

Authors choosing to use AI tools in the research and writing process must also disclose the tool and its usage by providing a written statement in the manuscript.

No AI tool will be credited with authorship and authors should not list or cite any AI as an author. This is because only humans have the ability to accept the responsibilities and accountability for the work, such as confirming its accuracy and integrity, of which AI cannot take responsibility.

Diversity and Inclusion

eContent Pro International Press does not tolerate discrimination based on age, gender, race, affiliation, religious beliefs, political beliefs, sexual orientation or country of origin. We are an inclusive company, and we continually strive to ensure that our staff, management, review boards, publications, and all aspects of the company reflect the highest level of inclusion of experts from all over the world. Our goal is to continue to demonstrate a diverse, inclusive culture that fuels innovation among the communities we serve.

Please visit our Accessibility page for more information on how we are continually working to make our content more inclusive.

Academic Peer Review

All chapters published in eContent Pro International Press publications must undergo a rigorous double-anonymized academic peer review process. Allegations of improperly or unethically conducted peer review can be very damaging to the success of a publication, as well as to the careers of any scholars affiliated with the questioned work. For this reason, eContent Pro International Press follows the guidelines set out by COPE for any situation of suspected peer review misconduct or manipulation as can be found in the resources below:

The double-anonymized peer review process should be fully conducted within the eEditorial Discovery® online submission management system, and as such, the reviews should be easily accessible to eContent Pro International Press editorial staff. This is to ensure that should accusations of fraudulent peer review arise, eContent Pro International Press will be able to support its published authors and editors in dismissing these claims and ensuring the continued success of the corresponding publications.

Use of AI/LLM/AI-Assisted Technologies in Peer Review

Manuscripts under peer review may contain sensitive or confidential information that should not be shared outside the peer review process. Uploading a manuscript to any generative AI tool or service is a breach of confidentiality and privacy. eContent Pro International Press does not permit editors and peer reviewers to upload an unpublished manuscript or any information pertaining to the manuscript (files, images, data, etc.) into generative AI tools.

It is the peer reviewer’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the research and to formulate their own opinions and recommendations. Allowing AI to assist with decision making, using it to vet accuracy and integrity, etc. are not permitted.

The use of AI in any aspect of the peer review process, including evaluation, decision-making, and the generation of summaries or comments, is strictly prohibited due to concerns regarding confidentiality and potential biases. eContent Pro International Press will continue to monitor advancements in AI technology and will update this policy as necessary.

Unethical Research Practices

All research is to be conducted according to the general standards of practice, which include proper protection of any subjects, whether they are individuals or organizations. Defamatory or intentionally false information is considered a serious offense, and any work including unethical research will be rejected and the authors barred from publishing with all eContent Pro International Press publications. All identities of private organizations and individuals should be removed from any proposed work, unless proper written consent has been gained prior to publication.

Furthermore, research and data being presented for publication must be complete and whole. Falsification of one’s research through intentional data suppression or misrepresentation is considered unethical and will result in the rejection of the submitted work and may be cause for other actions. This pertains only to cases in which data is misconstrued with the author’s knowledge.

Informed Consent and Participant Privacy

eContent Pro International Press follows the guidance of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which acknowledges that patients and study participants have a right to privacy that should not be breached without informed consent.

Consent to Participate

Informed written consent must be voluntarily provided by any and all participants involved in a study, prior to the start of the study. Should the participant be a minor or is considered vulnerable and unable to provide informed consent, a legal guardian will need to provide consent. Should the participant be deceased, a next of kin may provide consent. Participants must have full knowledge of the study they are participating in, including the risks involved. Authors must include a statement confirming the participants’ consent within the manuscript.

Should verbal consent be obtained instead of written consent, authors must explain why written consent was not obtained, the approval process for the verbal consent, and its documentation methods.

Consent to Publish

Individuals who agree to participate in a study may not agree to have their identifiable data published. Identifiable data includes but is not limited to descriptions, photographs, images, videos, names, dates of birth, and biometrical characteristics. Identifiable data should generally be excluded from the manuscript as much as possible. Manuscripts that do include potentially identifiable data should obtain written informed consent that the data and any additional images may be published. Consent must be received from the participant (or a legal guardian for minors or next of kin for the deceased) prior to submission. When in doubt, it is best to obtain written informed consent.

Manuscripts that include identifiable images or data of participants must include a statement confirming that permission was obtained to publish the images or data. If the data is anonymized, authors must state that no consent to publish was required. Alterations to images and/or data to anonymize them should not distort scientific meaning.

Research Involving Humans

Ethics Approval

All studies on humans (individuals, human data, or material) must be conducted in accordance with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must receive ethical approval for all protocols from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee to ensure compliance with national and international guidelines. Authors must include details of this approval upon submission of the manuscript and should provide the name of the ethics committee and permit numbers where available.

Manuscripts granted exemption by an ethics committee should state so with a full explanation and the name of the granting committee within the manuscript. Ethical approval should always be sought prior to the start of the research/study. Retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained. Authors should also check their national ethical guidelines.

Non-stigmatizing and non-discriminatory language should be used when categorizing groups by race/ethnicity, age, disease, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. A justification of the choice of definitions and categories should be explained including whether a relevant funding agency requires the categorization.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible registry prior to the trial’s initiation. Suitable registries can be found at the World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). The trial registration number and registration date should be included in the chapter and/or chapter’s abstract.

Should a trial not have registered prior to participant recruitment, a retrospective trial registration should be sought. Authors retrospectively registering trials should provide an explanation for the retrospective registration as well as the trial registration number and date.

Human Embryos and Stem Cells

Human embryos and gametes, embryonic stem cells, and related materials that are included in report experiments must have been utilized in accordance with all safety considerations, ethical guidelines, and applicable regulations. Authors must include a statement within the manuscript that outlines the name of the ethic(s) committee that approved the study, reference/permit numbers (if applicable), and confirmation of informed consent from recipients, donors, or next of kin if the donor is deceased. Please follow the principles described in the ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation.

Research Involving Animals

Submissions that include studies involving vertebrates or regulated invertebrates must offer detailed information on the ethical treatment of the animals including their appropriate care and handling. Manuscripts should include the name of the ethics committee(s) which approved the study and study procedures must be carried out in accordance with applicable national or international guidelines. If the study did not require ethics approval or was granted an exemption, this should be stated in the manuscript.

Studies involving client-owned animals should have documented informed consent from the client or owner. Such studies should still showcase an adherence to the best practices of veterinary care.

Authors should consult with the “Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments’ (ARRIVE) guidelines developed by the NC3Rs when submitting manuscripts describing animal research. Every effort should be made to reduce suffering and euthanasia or anesthesia methods must be described in detail. Researchers are advised to consult the NC3Rs guide on Humane Endpoints and the American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines for the Humane Slaughter of Animals, as well as follow applicable veterinary guidelines such as the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Authors should also consult the ethical principles in the Basel Declaration and the guidelines by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and the Association for the study of Animal Behaviour.

When describing research on threatened/endangered species, studies should comply with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction, the IUCN red list index of threatened species and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Research Involving Plants

Research involving cultivated or wild plants and plant material should follow guidelines provided by the authors’ institution and national or international regulations. Manuscripts describing such research should include a statement of permissions granted and/or licenses.

Voucher specimens must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collection that provides access to deposited material. The manuscript must include information on the voucher specimen and who identified it, including Genus name, species name, and year of publication.

Authors should comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Research Involving Paleontological and Geological Material

Manuscripts that include paleontological and geological material should provide detailed information that shows a clear provenance (or attempt to determine provenance in older museum collections), numbers and repository information, museum name (if applicable), and geographic location. Studies must be conducted in accordance with national or international regulations and the author should obtain any permits that may be required for the research and publication of the manuscript from the relevant authority. Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the necessary permits were acquired and should name the authority that provided those permits. All samples must be collected and exported responsibly and in accordance with national and local law.

Archaeological work that involves human remains requires that all necessary permits relevant to access the site and the handling of the remains is obtained prior to data collection. Authors should comply with the Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains (Chartered Institute for Archaeologists).

Authors should also consult the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) normative instruments for the protection of cultural heritage, and Resolutions, Motions, guidance and other statements of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Research Involving Heritage Sites

Manuscripts that include studies from protected heritage sites must be conducted in accordance with any necessary guidelines and authors should obtain any permits that may be required for the research and publication of the manuscript from the relevant authority prior to data collection. Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the necessary permits were acquired and should name the authority that provided those permits.

Authors should also consult the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) normative instruments for the protection of cultural heritage.

Data Availability and Privacy

Authors may be asked to provide the underlying source data used to support their manuscript in order to comply with open data requirements of the publication, especially in the case of Open Access publications. In such cases, authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data or present an explanation for why the data cannot be openly displayed (i.e., ethical or security considerations). In cases where the data is restricted for such reasons, authors should provide a description for its restrictions and the necessary information required for a reader to apply to access the data.

Standards of Reporting

Standards of reporting guidelines should be utilized to ensure transparency and reproducibility of research. A comprehensive list of reporting guidelines for medical research can be viewed via the EQUATOR network website.

Copyright Infringement and Intellectual Property

Author-Retained Copyright

At eContent Pro International Press, all books are published under our platinum open access model. This means you retain full copyright to your work. We do not require copyright transfer. Instead, you grant us permission to publish and distribute your book under an open access license (such as a Creative Commons license), allowing readers worldwide to read, share, and build upon your work without paywalls or access restrictions.

Author’s Warranty and License Agreement

All eContent Pro International Press authors submitting chapters to platinum open access books must sign an Author’s Warranty and License Agreement upon submission. This agreement confirms that:

  • The work is original and has not been previously published.
  • All third-party materials (e.g., images, tables, figures, large text excerpts) are either in the public domain, used under a license that allows such use, or have written permission from the copyright holder.
  • Any trademarks or proprietary materials are credited and used with permission.
  • The work will be published under the CC BY 4.0 license, allowing use and adaptation with proper attribution to the original author(s).

The agreement must be signed before publication. If not received in time, the chapter may be removed to avoid delaying the book’s release.

Third-Party Material

We cannot accept manuscripts that include materials for which the copyright is held by a third party without proper permission. This includes but is not limited to images, screenshots, diagrams, and extended text excerpts. A sample permission form is available in our Submission Guidelines.

Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism

We take copyright compliance seriously. If infringement is identified before publication, we will return the manuscript for revision. If it is discovered after publication, the infringing content will be removed, and a retraction notice may be issued. Repeated or severe violations may result in a publishing ban. Allegations of plagiarism will be investigated in accordance with our ethical publishing policies.

Plagiarism

eContent Pro International Press defines plagiarism as the intentional or unintentional use of another individuals, or collection of individuals’, ideas, theories, models, equations, conclusions, research (intellectual property), and/or verbatim or paraphrased words without proper attribution to the original source.

eContent Pro International Press takes these claims very seriously and immediately will launch a full and fair investigation of the allegations to learn more about the claim. eContent Pro International Press conducts the appropriate due process in order to be fair to both the individual bringing forth the claim, as well as to the author(s) in question to ensure their side of the story is also fairly heard. As a result, the due process may take some time, as proper documentation must be secured.

Furthermore, the manuscript will be carefully reviewed with the goal of determining if plagiarism has taken place and, if so, to what extent. eContent Pro International Press uses plagiarism detection software to assist with the identification of plagiarized content.

If it is determined that a manuscript contains plagiarism, the author(s) will be notified promptly of the rejection of their submitted work and may be barred from consideration for future publication with eContent Pro International Press for an allotted period or indefinitely, at the publisher’s discretion. Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the plagiarism. Any submissions accepted for review after the allotted period may be subject to further review by the publisher to satisfy the publisher that no plagiarism is included.

Simultaneous Submission (Self-Plagiarism)

Simultaneous submission is defined as a work submitted to eContent Pro International Press for publication that is under review, has been previously published, or has been accepted for publication elsewhere in whole or in part. Although eContent Pro International Press acknowledges the importance of the use of previously published work to the evolving research process, work submitted for publication must show significant advances in the research conducted and should appropriately quote, cite, and attribute the earlier work for any prior research mentioned. The failure to disclose previously published work upon which the current work is based may be considered a cause for investigation into allegations of plagiarism.

Below are three articles that explain the dangers of plagiarism and self-plagiarism in greater depth:

Corrections and Retractions

After a chapter is published, it may be found that major corrections must be made, or the chapter needs to be retracted due to ethical concerns including plagiarism. eContent Pro International Press will conduct a thorough investigation of these corrections and retractions and take the appropriate steps, as outlined below.

Cases of Plagiarized Content

The chapter in question is fully and thoroughly investigated before further action is taken. Once confirmed to be plagiarized, eContent Pro International Press keeps the full plagiarized content (body text) within the publication; however, each page is noted with a watermark that the content is considered retracted from the publication. This is so that the various retraction monitoring databases can adjust their data appropriately and it offers even fuller transparency. The adjusted publication is resent to the printers and our full network of booksellers and distributors are notified and provided with updated metadata feeds and electronic content.

Regarding Major Corrections

If an author, editor, or reviewer brings forth a major correction request to eContent Pro International Press, the request will be carefully reviewed and the decision to honor the change request will be made at the publisher’s discretion. Major correction requests include:

  • Changes to titles
  • Name changes
  • Affiliation changes
  • Content changes

If a change is made, the file in question will be updated appropriately and distributed out in the form of updated files and/or metadata to all impacted parties, and eContent Pro International Press will communicate with the contributors impacted.

Appeals and Complaints

eContent Pro International Press carefully selects its editors based on academic standing, experience, and expertise in a topic, as supported by their submitted CV prior to appointment. However, in the event that a contributor has questions or concerns, they are first encouraged to contact the editor of the publication directly.

If a complaint is directed to the Editor of a publication, and there is no response within 30 days, the contributor may contact the eContent Pro International Press Intellectual Property and Contracts Division at customerservice@ecppress.com.

All submissions to eContent Pro International Press publications undergo a multi-step process. The Editor(s) leading the publication perform the initial evaluation of the submission to ensure it meets the coverage and follows the guidelines of the publication. If it does, then the Editor(s) will anonymize the submission to remove all contributors’ personal information and assign the manuscript for the double-anonymized peer review process to reviewers within the eEditorial Discovery® online submission management system. The Editor(s) will make a final decision on the manuscript based on the results of the peer review process. There may be several rounds of revision and additional review.

Some of the reasons for complaints include:
1. Questions or disagreement with the final decision on a manuscript, such as rejection of a submission
The Editor receives the authors’ argument and, after looking at the paper and its evaluations, can make a decision whether the decision to reject should stand or further investigation is needed. The person lodging the complaint should be informed of the decision with an explanation if appropriate. Decisions on appeals are final.

2. Complaint about the length of time from submission until a decision on publication is made

The Editor and/or in-house contact (where appropriate) will investigate the matter. The complainant will be given appropriate feedback. Feedback is provided to relevant stakeholders to improve processes and procedures.

3. Questions concerning publication ethics, e.g., researcher's, author's, or reviewer's conduct
The Editor follows guidelines published by COPE such as can be found in the guides and resources pages found below:

The Editor may ask the publisher via their in-house contact for advice on difficult or complicated cases. The Editor decides on a course of action and provides feedback to the complainant. If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint, they can submit the complaint to our in-house book contact or to COPE. More information can be found here.

Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests

A conflict of interest occurs when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal (or self-serving) interests and professional duties or responsibilities and can be highly detrimental to academic publications.

  • If at any time an Editor suspects a conflict of interest, they should bring the matter to the publisher’s attention immediately (e.g. an author of submitted work is based at their same institution and on a competitive project).
  • Should a reviewer experience a conflict of interest (e.g. they are aware of the manuscript author’s identity and/or are based at the same institution), they should bring the matter to the Editor(s)’ attention immediately.
  • If an author perceives that there may be a conflict of interest for their submitted work, they should include a declaration of any conflict of interest along with the manuscript upon submission.

Competing interests include, but are not limited to:

  • Funding sources
  • Financial interests
  • Employment status
  • Those that go beyond financial interests (non-financial interests)

Data Sharing and Reproducibility

If an author is interested in having a chapter reproduced in a forthcoming publication (for commercial or non-commercial use), they should contact our Intellectual Property and Contracts Division at customerservice@ecppress.com. It is recommended to consult our Fair Use Policy for further details on sharing.

eContent Pro International Press currently does not accept external paid-for advertisements to be published in its publications.

Ownership and Management

The In-House Editorial Office manages publishing operations for all books.

eContent Pro International Press
250 Broadway, Suite 620
New York, NY 10007, USA

Book Contact
eContent Pro International Press
Phone: 646-551-4700
Email: customerservice@ecppress.com