Publication Ethics

This statement represents an agreement upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the process of publishing (the author/s, the editor, the peer reviewer and the journal editorial board). The ethics statements for Journal of Applied Science- Natural Science Series (JJOAS-N) are based on the committee on publication ethics (COPE) best practice guidelines for journal editors. The evaluation process of any submitted paper is fair as the manuscripts are evaluated for intellectual content, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s).

Research must respect human dignity, privacy, and the rights of participants. Authors must obtain the necessary consent for participation and publication.

Manuscripts should avoid unjustified bias, discrimination, or harmful representations of vulnerable individuals or groups, religious minorities, cultural communities, or protected and endangered animals. Submissions must comply with applicable international ethical and legal standards.

Prior to submission, all research involving human or animal participants must obtain ethical approval from the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Ethics Committee, or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Authors must submit documentation of this approval with their manuscript. This documentation should clearly state the name and contact information of the approving body, the approval date, and the approval number. Manuscripts must also describe how all ethical standards were followed (including informed consent for human participants and adherence to appropriate animal care guidelines), regardless of the source of these standards. The APA Publication Manual (7th ed., 2020) offers guidance on reporting this research.

Openness and transparency of all forms of research material are essential elements of our publication ethics rules. It is required of authors to keep precise records of the evidence they use. This is required to offer or grant access to this supporting evidence upon request, as well as to assist others in comprehending and validating new discoveries.

JJOAS-N keeps a flawless record of every piece of writing that has been published, and we never alter or manipulate how our academic records are presented—not even for commercial gain. Our journal's published material goes into great depth on each publication. If we need to make any changes to the publication records, we try our best to keep our records intact.
Every contributor to our publication, regardless of field of study, is treated with the utmost care and respect. Apart from the broad guidelines, our publication and editorial staff are also accountable for replying to every author across many fields of study with regards to ethical questions and guidelines that suit their field and topic. The editor-in-chief can be reached by email, if the author(s) have any questions about the publication ethics, guidelines, or processes.

Redundant or reused publication ensues when an author(s) appropriates a work, or significant portions of a work, and submits it to multiple journals more than once without following cross-referencing guidelines or offering adequate explanation for the overlap in publications. This might occur in one language or multiple languages, in our instance Arabic and English.

Overlapping publication may be permitted only when:

• The editors have given prior approval.

• The original publication is properly cited.

• The overlap has a legitimate scholarly purpose.

Authors should ensure that their manuscripts are not being considered for publication elsewhere, whether they are accepted for publication or in press in a different journal, book, or other location. This is because we want our readers, reviewers, and editors to bring up any concerns regarding reused or redundant publication.

While we value the right to free speech, we don't publish offensive remarks that injure the reputations of people, organizations, or institutions.

Researchers risk having their findings and importance rejected for misleading reasons if they alter the photographs they use as key sources of information. We highly advise authors to provide these photos as they are in the original sources, unless there are good reasons to alter them. Modifications made to the source images might readily result in the fabrication, falsification, or distortion of the intended outcomes.

JJOAS-N always tries to make sure that all the research that is submitted has ethical content. If any research is found to contain false data or findings, the published work will be updated or withdrawn, and the author(s) will be formally informed of our decision.

Authors are required to clearly disclose any funding sources that supported their research. This includes detailing the name(s) of the funding organization(s) and grant numbers, if applicable. If the research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies, authors should state 'No funding was received for this study'. This transparency is essential for maintaining the integrity of the research published in our journal.

Authors must disclose the use of any AI tools in the research and writing process, including but not limited to those used for literature reviews, data analysis, text generation, or editing.  The authors should clearly specify the AI tools utilized, the specific tasks they performed, and the reasons for their use (e.g., proofreading).  Authors retain full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and ethical implications of the submitted work.  Following AI tool use, authors must review and revise the generated content to ensure accuracy, originality, proper attribution, and adherence to all journal guidelines and ethical standards.  AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed or cited as authors or co-authors on the manuscript. Authorship implies intellectual contributions, critical judgment, and accountability, which can only be assumed by human researchers. Any instances of plagiarism or other breaches of ethical conduct will result in rejection of the manuscript. The statement will appear in the published work and should be placed in a new section before the references list. An example:

Title of new section: Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.

The declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools, such as tools used to check grammar, spelling and references. If you have nothing to disclose, you do not need to add a statement.

To ensure transparency and reproducibility, authors must provide a data availability statement outlining how the supporting data for this study can be accessed.  This statement should be included as a separate section within the manuscript before the references.  If data is not publicly available, authors must clearly explain why, specifying the reasons (e.g., ethical restrictions related to privacy or confidentiality, legal restrictions, or data size limitations preventing public deposition).

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other interests that could reasonably influence the research or its presentation.

The declaration must appear before the reference list. If no competing interests exist, authors should state:

The author(s) declare(s) that there are no competing interests related to this work.

Failure to disclose relevant interests may result in rejection or corrective action after publication.

All listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions, approved the final manuscript, agreed to its submission, and accepted responsibility for their contributions.

Contributions may be described using roles such as:

• Conceptualization

• Data Curation

• Methodology

• Investigation

• Software

• Resources

• Project Administration

• Validation

• Visualization

• Writing – Original Draft

• Writing – Review and Editing

• Supervision

• Funding Acquisition

• Formal Analysis

Authors are not required to perform every role. Individuals who contributed but do not qualify for authorship should be named in the Acknowledgments section with their permission.