Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

General Publication Principles and Commitments

The NEVU Journal of Engineering and Architecture (NEVU JEA) is committed to maintaining high ethical standards, scientific quality, and academic integrity in all stages of the publication process. The journal aims to promote original, reliable, and innovative scientific research in engineering, architecture, and related interdisciplinary fields.

The journal's editorial and publication policies are guided by the principles of transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), as well as relevant recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

All manuscripts submitted to NEVU JEA are evaluated in accordance with the principles of originality, scientific validity, impartiality, confidentiality, and publication ethics.

Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics

NEVU JEA does not tolerate practices that violate scientific research and publication ethics. The following actions are considered major ethical violations:

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, figures, designs, or research findings of others as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment or citation.
• Fabrication: Creating, recording, or reporting fictitious research data, experimental results, simulation outputs, or observations that were not actually obtained.
• Falsification: Manipulating research materials, experimental procedures, computational results, images, or data; selectively omitting findings; or misrepresenting research methods and outcomes.
• Duplicate Publication and Multiple Submission: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously or republishing previously published research without appropriate disclosure and justification.
• Salami Slicing: Inappropriately dividing the findings of a single research study into multiple publications without sufficient independent scientific contributions.
• Unfair Authorship: Including individuals who have not made substantial intellectual contributions as authors (gift authorship) or excluding individuals who have made qualifying contributions (ghost authorship).
• Citation Manipulation: Including irrelevant references or requesting unnecessary citations primarily to increase the citation counts of particular authors, journals, or institutions.
• Misrepresentation of Research Findings: Deliberately presenting inaccurate experimental measurements, computational analyses, architectural designs, engineering calculations, or technical evaluations.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to NEVU JEA are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

• Originality and Accuracy: Authors must ensure that their manuscripts represent original scientific research and that all reported findings, experimental data, computational results, figures, and conclusions are accurate and reliable.
• Proper Citation: All previously published studies, methods, datasets, software tools, and other intellectual contributions used in the research must be appropriately acknowledged and cited.
• Authorship and Contributions: All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the research, approved the final version of the manuscript, and accepted responsibility for their contributions.
• Reporting Errors: Authors who identify significant errors or inaccuracies in their submitted or published manuscripts must immediately inform the editorial board and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
• Data Access and Transparency: Authors may be requested to provide supporting research data, experimental records, simulation parameters, source code, or other relevant materials when necessary to verify the findings, subject to ethical, legal, and confidentiality restrictions.
• Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal relationships that could influence or be perceived to influence the research findings or their interpretation.
• Funding Disclosure: All sources of financial support, including research grants and institutional funding, must be clearly acknowledged.
• Ethical Compliance: Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions, ethics committee approvals, and informed consent where required by applicable regulations.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to contribute to the scientific quality and integrity of NEVU JEA through objective, constructive, and confidential evaluations.

• Confidentiality: Manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, reproduce, or use unpublished materials for personal or professional purposes without appropriate authorization.
• Objectivity and Constructive Evaluation: Reviews must be based on scientific merit, methodological soundness, originality, and relevance. Personal criticism of authors is unacceptable.
• Declaration of Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest and decline the review assignment when impartial evaluation cannot be ensured.
• Identification of Ethical Concerns: Reviewers should notify the editorial board of suspected plagiarism, data manipulation, duplicate publication, inappropriate image processing, or other potential ethical violations.
• Identification of Missing References: Reviewers should identify relevant published research that has not been appropriately acknowledged.
• Timely Evaluation: Reviewers are expected to complete their assessments within the agreed review period and promptly inform the editorial office if additional time is required.

Responsibilities of Editors

The editorial board of NEVU JEA is responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are evaluated fairly, independently, and in accordance with scientific and ethical standards.

• Independent Decision-Making: Editorial decisions are based on the originality, scientific quality, methodological rigor, clarity, and relevance of submitted manuscripts.
• Fair and Impartial Evaluation: Manuscripts are evaluated without discrimination based on authors' nationality, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, institutional affiliations, or personal characteristics.
• Confidentiality: Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer identities, and editorial correspondence throughout the review process.
• Peer Review Process: Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial evaluation undergo a double-blind peer review process involving at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the relevant research field.
• Management of Conflicts of Interest: Editors must disclose potential conflicts of interest and withdraw from the editorial evaluation of manuscripts where impartiality could be compromised.
• Ethical Oversight: Editors are responsible for investigating allegations of research misconduct and taking appropriate action in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Plagiarism Prevention and Similarity Screening Policy

All manuscripts submitted to NEVU JEA are subject to similarity screening using plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin or other recognized similarity checking tools.

The overall similarity rate is expected not to exceed 25%, and similarity with any single source is expected not to exceed 2%.

Similarity reports are evaluated by the editorial board, considering the nature and extent of textual overlap, properly cited quotations, bibliographic references, standard technical terminology, and methodological descriptions.

Exceeding the specified similarity thresholds may result in a request for revision or rejection of the manuscript. However, similarity percentages alone do not establish plagiarism, and manuscripts are evaluated in accordance with relevant publication ethics principles.

If plagiarism is suspected or identified in a submitted or published manuscript, the editorial board follows the procedures recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Correction, Retraction, and Expression of Concern Policy

NEVU JEA follows relevant COPE guidelines to maintain the integrity and reliability of the scientific record.

• Correction (Erratum): A correction may be published when errors are identified that do not substantially invalidate the scientific findings or overall conclusions of a published article.
• Retraction: An article may be retracted when serious errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or other major ethical violations undermine the validity or integrity of the published research.
• Expression of Concern: An expression of concern may be issued when substantial concerns exist regarding a published article but an investigation is ongoing or the available evidence is inconclusive.

All corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are documented transparently and linked to the original publication.

Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent

Research submitted to NEVU JEA must comply with applicable national and international research ethics regulations.

Ethics committee approval is required for studies involving human participants, personal data, animal experiments, or other research activities for which ethical approval is legally or institutionally required.

Such studies may include:

• Surveys, interviews, focus groups, observational studies, and other research methods involving human participants.
• Experimental studies involving human participants or animals.
• Research involving personal, sensitive, or identifiable data.
• Human-centered architectural and urban planning research involving participant data collection.
• Engineering research involving human subjects, including usability testing, human-computer interaction experiments, and user experience studies.

Authors must clearly state the name of the approving ethics committee, approval date, and approval number where applicable.

For studies requiring informed consent, authors must confirm that appropriate consent was obtained from participants.

Studies that do not require ethics committee approval, such as purely theoretical, computational, simulation-based, or certain laboratory-based engineering studies, should comply with applicable institutional and legal requirements.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Manuscript Preparation

NEVU JEA recognizes the increasing use of artificial intelligence technologies in scientific research and academic writing.

Authors must ensure transparency and accountability when using artificial intelligence tools in manuscript preparation or research activities.

• The use of generative artificial intelligence tools that materially contribute to manuscript preparation or content generation must be disclosed.
• Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.
• Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and scientific validity of AI-generated or AI-assisted content.
• Fabricated references, manipulated research findings, or misleading AI-generated scientific images are unacceptable.
• The use of artificial intelligence as a research methodology, including machine learning, deep learning, and generative models, must be adequately described to support scientific reproducibility.

Editors and reviewers must maintain manuscript confidentiality when using AI-assisted tools.

Ethical Violations and Sanctions

Allegations of publication ethics violations are evaluated by the editorial board in accordance with COPE guidelines and principles of fairness and proportionality.

Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, the following actions may be taken:

• Rejection of the submitted manuscript.
• Request for clarification, correction, or supporting research documentation.
• Suspension of the review or publication process pending an investigation.
• Publication of a correction, retraction, or expression of concern.
• Notification of relevant institutions or research organizations when justified.
• Restrictions on future submissions in cases of serious or repeated misconduct, following an appropriate investigation.

Authors will be given an opportunity to respond to allegations before a final decision is made.

NEVU JEA is committed to maintaining ethical standards, protecting the integrity of scholarly communication, and supporting responsible scientific research in engineering and architecture.