Regulation on Research and Publication Ethics.pdf

(Enacted on Sep 25, 2014, Amended on Sep. 18, 2015)

Article 1 (Purpose)

This regulation is aimed to establish and clearly define research and publication ethical code of the Korean Society of Clean Technology (hereinafter referred to as the “Society”), to prevent research misconduct in advance, and to ensure fair and systematic verification when unethical behavior is suspected or occurs.

Article 2 (Subject of Application)

This regulation applies to all the members of the Society including student members, authors, referees, editors and the Society's business affiliations.

Article 3 (Range of Application)

This regulation is followed except for the case where there are other more specific rules on establishing and verifying research ethicality.

Article 4 (Definitions)

The definitions of terms used in this regulation shall be as follows:
 

1. The term “Research misconduct” (hereinafter referred to as the “Misconduct”) means but is not limited to fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, improprieties of authorship, self-plagiarism, duplicate publications, official misrepresentation or interference in the investigations or injury to the informant of the misconduct in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
2. The term “Fabrication” means the practice of making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
3. The term “Falsification” means the practice of manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
4. The term “Plagiarism” means the practice of using or copying another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without proper consent or credit.
5. The term ‘Improprieties of authorship’ means improper assignment of credit including an individual’s name as author who has not contributed significantly to either the research or contents of a paper as a token of gratitude or for reason of honorable treatment, etc. or to not grant authorship to a person who has academically contributed to research contents or results without right reason.
6. The term “Informant” means a person who makes known the fact or related proof of the Misconduct to the Society.
7. The term “Examinee” means a person who has become subject to investigation of the Misconduct due to an informant’s report or the Society’s recognition. A testifier or witness is not involved during the investigation process.
8. The term “Preliminary Investigation” means the process by which the necessity of an official investigation on suspicion of the Misconduct is determined.
9. The term “Main Investigation” means the process of collecting facts to determine if the Misconduct has been committed.
10. The term “Judgement” means the process by which the result of an investigation is confirmed. The informant and examinee are officially notified of the outcome of the judgment.

Article 5 (Research Ethics Education)

The Society should provide all its members with promotion and education on the standards of research ethics. This training will include information regarding the scope, countermeasures, and verification procedures of ethics violations.

Article 6 (Research Ethics Committee)

1. The research ethics committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Ethics Committee”) will consist of the chairman, deputy chairman, editor-in-chief and editing directors, and the Chief Commissioner is the chairman.
2. The Ethics Committee deliberates the matters on Research and Publication Ethics, and make a decision when the Misconduct occurs.
3. The Chief Commissioner organizes each meeting of the Ethics Committee and presides over the meetings as Chairman.
4. A meeting is held by the attendance of a majority of the total committee members, and decisions are made by the concurrence of two-thirds or more of the members present. In the event of a minor issue, the chief commissioner can deliberate and decide based on his/her review of the relevant documentation.

Article 7 (Receipt of Misconduct Report)

1. An informant may report the Misconduct to the Society by any means including but not limited to letter, telephone, and email, and an informant must use his/her real name in reporting as a rule. If a report has to be made anonymously, however, the informant must submit the title of the relevant research project name or research paper in writing or via email and provide the detailed contents and evidence of the Misconduct.
2. The verification process for the Misconduct shall be completed in order from the procedure of investigation from a preliminary investigation to a main investigation and finally, judgement.

Article 8 (Preliminary Investigation)

1. The Ethics Committee is in charge of a preliminary investigation and is able to request additional information from the informant and support from relevant experts if necessary.
2. The preliminary investigation should be initiated within 15 days of the initial receipt of the Misconduct report and commenced within 30 days of the start of the investigation.
3. The necessity of a main investigation is determinated by the committee after reviewing the following matters during the preliminary investigation.
   1. The report, itself, refers to the Misconduct as described in Article 4, Clause 1.
   2. The report contains concrete, clear and accurate information pertaining to the reported Misconduct and is useful to the investigation.
4. The preliminary investigation report should include the following content:
   1. Detailed report of the Misconduct
   2. Explanation of the Misconduct under investigation
   3. Grounds for the decision to perform the main investigation
   4. Relevant evidence
5. If the Misconduct is corresponding to simple mistakes, simple and honest errors in research methodology and results, misconduct irrelevant for performing research or low level of research unless work is proven to be fraudulent after the preliminary investigation, the Ethics Committee can make a final decision without further investigation.
6. The informant shall be notified of the results of the preliminary investigation within 10 days after the findings are approved by the chief commissioner. In the case of an anonymous informant, the result is not shared.

Article 9 (Main Investigation)

1. The main investigation committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Investigation Committee”) will consist of Chairman-Elect and editor-in-chief serving ex-officio members and also three to five expert commissioners recommended by editor-in-chief.
2. The Chief Commissioner is elected by the mutual vote in the Investigation Committee.
3. A main investigation is initiated within 30 days after the Ethics Committee’s approval based on the result of the preliminary investigation. The main investigation, including adjudication, is completed within 90 days of the date of investigation initiation.
4. If the Investigation Committee decides that they are unable to finish the main investigation within the period stated in Clause 3 (above), the investigation can be extended by 30 days.

Article 10 (Protection and Confidentiality of Informant and Examinee)

1. The Ethics Committee and the Investigation Committee should guarantee equal rights to all parties involved and the opportunity for statements of opinion, objection and defense. Parties involved should be informed of the related procedures in advance.
2. Identification of the informant should not be exposed directly or indirectly under any circumstance, and, unless necessary, should not be included on the investigation reports.
3. Neither the identity of the examinee, nor the fact that the examinee is being investigated, should be exposed outside of Ethics Committee and the Investigation Committee until the misconduct investigation is completed. The examinee’s honor and rights should not be infringed upon. Also, the committee should make every effort to redeem the damaged reputation of an examinee once free from suspicion.
4. All information regarding the initial report, investigation, deliberation, decision and proposed measures for resolution should be in confidence and any direct or indirect participants of the investigation should not reveal information acknowledged during the investigation and during the performance of one’s duties. In the event that reasonable exposure is necessary, the release of information must go to a committee vote.
5. If an informant reports untruthful information knowingly or makes a report even though he/she suspects that the information may be false, the informant shall not be entitled to protection.

Article 11 (Judgement)

The Investigation Committee must come to a conclusion based on the investigation and with respect to any objections and defense presented. The informant and examinee must be notified of the resulting decision.

Article 12 (Appeal and Reinvestigation)

1. If either the informant or the examinee disagree with the decision of the Ethics Committee or the Investigation Committee, an appeal stating valid reasons for objection and a request for a retrial must be submitted to the committee within 15 days of the date on which the committee’s decision was made available.
2. The appeal’s validity and the granting of a retrial are decided within 15 days after receiving the appeal. If a retrial is granted, the Ethics Committee or a new Investigation Committee can be organized within 15 days after the decision to hold a retrial was made.
3. If a retrial is to be held, the committee in charge of the retrial will reinvestigate, determine the result, and inform the informant and examinee of said result within 30 days from the date on which the committee was convened. Clean Technology

Article 13 (Main Investigation Report)

1. The Investigation Committee is required to submit an main investigation report (hereinafter referred to as the “final report”) to the Ethics Committee within 10 days after the final judgment.
2. The following content should be included in the final report:
   1. Detailed content of the Misconduct report
   2. Explanation of the Misconduct that is the subject of investigation
   3. Examinee’s role in the research/paper and the reason(s) for suspicion
   4. Relevant evidence
   5. Information relating to defense and/or objection by the informant and/or examinee to the investigation result and the related outcome
   6. List of members of the Investigation Committee
3. The Ethics Committee is able to propose disciplinary measures for the person (s) who is found to have participated in the Misconduct to the Chairman of the Society if a majority of the committee members convene and at least 2/3 of the attending members agree on said measures.

Article 14 (Treatment of the Misconduct)

1. The Chairman of the Society decides the proper disciplinary measures and officially informs the Editorial Board of said measures in writing.
2. If the suspicion of the ethics violation of the submitted article is judged to be true, the Editorial Board shall treat it as ‘a ban on publication’. Authors are notified of their misconduct and advised to be more careful when writing and submitting their next paper.
3. In cases of proven the Misconduct involving published articles even in future, articles shall be retracted by the Editorial Board. The article authors shall be prohibited from submitting articles to this journal within 3 years from the date of the judgment.
4. The Chairman of the organization with which first author and corresponding author are affiliated are officially notified in writing of the Misconduct.
5. If the Misconduct is one of plagiarism, the Chairman of the Society will provide an official letter of apology to the authors of the original paper.

ADDENDAArticle 1 (Enforcement Date) These regulation shall be applied as from September 25, 2014.
Article 2 These regulations shall be in effect beginning October 1, 2014.ADDENDA

Article 1 (Enforcement Date) This regulation shall enter into force as of the date promulgation.