Ethics and Disclosures

Ethics and Disclosures

Ethics and Disclosures

The Research Data and Reports (RDR) is committed to ensuring the highest level of integrity in the content published.

Ethics in publishing

Authors must follow ethical guidelines stated in RDR's Publishing Ethics Policy.

Submission declaration

When authors submit a data article or journal article to RDR journal it is implied that:

  • the work described has not been published previously except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, an academic thesis, or a registered report.
  • the article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  • the article's publication is approved by all authors and by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.
  • if accepted, the article will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English, or in any other language, including electronically, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

We may check your manuscript with our screening tools to verify compliance with our journal publishing policies.

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Authorship

Each author should have made substantial contributions to any of the following:

  1. The conceptualization and design of the study, methodology, resources, acquisition of data, data curation, software, analysis and interpretation of data, and validation.
  1. Leading the project and funding acquisition.
  2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the version to be submitted.

A corresponding author is required to communicate with the journal during the editorial process. All authors are accountable for all aspects of the work to ensure that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Changes to authorship

The editors of this journal generally will not consider changes to authorship once a manuscript has been submitted. It is important that authors carefully consider the authorship list and order of authors and provide a definitive author list at the original submission.

The policy of this journal around authorship changes:

  • All authors must be listed in the manuscript and their details entered into the submission system.
  • Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should only be made prior to acceptance, and only if approved by the journal editor.
  • Requests to change authorship should be made by the corresponding author, who must provide the reason for the request to the journal editor with written confirmation from all authors, including any authors being added or removed, that they agree with the addition, removal, or rearrangement.
  • Only in exceptional circumstances will the journal editor consider the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors post-acceptance.
  • Publication of the manuscript may be paused while a change in authorship request is being considered.
  • Any authorship change requests approved by the journal editor will result in a corrigendum if the manuscript has already been published.
  • Any unauthorized authorship changes may result in the rejection of the article, or retraction if the article has already been published.
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Declaration of interests

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:

  • Employment
  • Consultancies
  • Stock ownership
  • Honoraria
  • Paid expert testimony
  • Patent applications or registrations
  • Grants or any other funding

Authors with no competing interests to declare should select the option, "I have nothing to declare".

The Word document containing your declaration should be uploaded at the "attach/upload files" step in the submission process. It is important that the Word document is saved in the .doc/.docx file format. Author signatures are not required.

We advise you to read our policy on conflict-of-interest statements, funding source declarations, author agreements/declarations, and permission notes.

Funding sources

Authors must disclose any funding sources or funding agencies who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of the sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the report, and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance with the funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology, India [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; and the Ministry of Higher Education, India [grant number zzzz].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions of the program or type of grants, scholarships, and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

Authors must declare the use of generative AI in scientific writing upon submission of the paper. The following guidance refers only to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyze and draw insights from data as part of the research process:

  • Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should only be used in the writing process to improve the readability and language of the manuscript.
  • The technology must be applied with human oversight and control and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
  • Authors must not list or cite AI and AI-assisted technologies as authors or co-authors on the manuscript since authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans.

The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing must be declared by adding a statement at the end of the manuscript when the paper is first submitted. 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.

Please read RDR’s author policy on the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies, which can be found in our GenAI Policies for Journal.

Please note: to protect ‘the authors’ rights and the confidentiality of their research, this journal does not currently allow the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies such as ChatGPT or similar services by reviewers or editors in the peer review and manuscript evaluation process, as is stated in our GenAI Policies for Journal. We are actively evaluating compliant AI tools and may revise this policy in the future.

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Preprints

Authors may share preprints in line with RDR's article-sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.

Free preprint posting on RDR

In support of open science and technology, this journal offers authors a free preprint posting service on RDR to ensure early registration and dissemination of research and facilitate early citations and collaboration. Posting to RDR is subject to RDR's standard checks.

You will be provided with the option to release your manuscript on RDR during the submission process. Agreeing to this option will have no effect on the editorial process or outcome, and your manuscript will remain publicly available and free to read on RDR whether our editors accept or reject your manuscript.

You will receive an email when your preprint is posted online on RDR and a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned.

Corresponding authors must seek approval from all co-authors before agreeing to release a manuscript publicly on RDR.

We advise you to read about RDR, including the RDR Terms of Use and RDR FAQs before selecting this option.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Authors should ensure their work uses inclusive language throughout and contains nothing that might imply one individual is superior to another on the grounds of:

  • age
  • gender
  • race
  • ethnicity
  • culture
  • sexual orientation
  • disability or health condition

We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors about personal attributes unless they are relevant and valid. Write for gender neutrality with the use of plural nouns ("Engineers, contractors/clients") as default. Wherever possible, avoid using "he, she," or "he/she."

No assumptions should be made about the beliefs of readers and writing should be free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture, and/or cultural assumptions.

These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help you identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

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Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

There is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender. We offer the following guidance:

  • Sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) should be integrated into research design when research involves or pertains to humans, animals, or eukaryotic cells. This should be done in accordance with any requirements set by funders or sponsors and best practices within a field.
  • Sex and/or gender dimensions of the research should be addressed within the article or declared as a limitation to the generalizability of the research.
  • Institutional affiliations: Authors should use either the full, standard title of their institution or the standard abbreviation of the institutional name so that the institutional name can be independently verified for research integrity purposes.
  • Maps: Readers should be able to locate any study areas shown within maps using common mapping platforms. Maps should only show the area actually studied and authors should not include a location map that displays a larger area than the bounding box of the study area. Authors should add a note clearly stating that "map lines delineate study areas and do not necessarily depict accepted national boundaries”. During the review process, RDR’s editors may request authors to change maps if these guidelines are not followed.
  • Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features such as chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, and internal and external anatomy. A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth") and is in most cases based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. In reality, sex categorizations include people who are intersex/have differences in sex development (DSD).
  • Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men, and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact, and how power is distributed in society. Definitions of sex and/or gender applied should be explicitly stated to enhance the precision, rigor, and reproducibility of the research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer.

Definitions of sex and/or gender

We ask authors to define how sex and gender have been used in their research and publication. Some guidance:

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Jurisdictional claims

RDR respects the decisions taken by its authors as to how they choose to designate territories and identify their affiliations in their published content. RDR’s policy is to take a neutral position with respect to territorial disputes or jurisdictional claims, including, but not limited to, maps and institutional affiliations. For articles that RDR publishes on behalf of a third-party owner, the owner may set its own policy on these issues.