Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Marine Science and Environmental Research is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. The journal adheres to the principles and recommendations established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as internationally accepted ethical standards for scientific publishing. All parties involved in the publication process—including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher—are expected to comply with these ethical principles.

1. Publication Ethics

Submitted manuscripts must represent original work that has not been previously published, except in the form of an abstract, thesis, conference presentation, or preprint where permitted by journal policy. Manuscripts must not be under consideration by another journal simultaneously.

Any form of scientific misconduct, including but not limited to plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, and undisclosed conflicts of interest, is considered unethical and will result in appropriate editorial action.

The journal reserves the right to investigate suspected ethical violations and to reject, retract, or correct published articles when necessary.

2. Authorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the study.

All authors must:

• Approve the final version of the manuscript before submission.
• Agree to the order of authorship.
• Accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the study but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

Any request to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be accompanied by written consent from all authors and approval from the Editor-in-Chief.

3. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are entirely original and that all sources of information are properly cited.

The journal may use plagiarism detection software to screen submissions. Manuscripts containing significant levels of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or unattributed content will be rejected.

4. Data Integrity and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to present their results accurately and honestly without fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, or inappropriate data manipulation.

The underlying data supporting the findings of a study should be retained by the authors and made available upon reasonable request when required by the editors.

5. Ethical Approval for Research

Studies involving humans, animals, or protected species must comply with relevant institutional, national, and international ethical regulations.

Where applicable, authors must provide:

• The name of the ethics committee or institutional review board.
• Approval number and date.
• A statement confirming compliance with ethical guidelines.

Research involving endangered, protected, or threatened species must demonstrate that all necessary permits and authorizations were obtained.

6. Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional relationships that could influence the interpretation, evaluation, or publication of the work.

All manuscripts must include a Declaration of Competing Interests statement immediately after the Conclusion section and before the References section.

If no competing interests exist, authors should include the following statement:

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

If competing interests exist, they must be fully disclosed under the same heading. Failure to disclose relevant competing interests may result in rejection of the manuscript or retraction of a published article.

7. Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Marine Science and Environmental Research are evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another.

Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two independent experts in the relevant field. Editorial decisions are based solely on scientific merit, originality, methodological quality, significance, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

Editors have full authority regarding the acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts.

8. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

• Provide objective, constructive, and timely evaluations.
• Maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts.
• Identify relevant published work that has not been cited.
• Inform editors of any potential conflicts of interest.
• Refrain from using unpublished information obtained during the review process for personal advantage.

9. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for:

• Making fair and impartial publication decisions.
• Evaluating manuscripts solely on scientific merit.
• Preserving reviewer and author confidentiality.
• Managing conflicts of interest appropriately.
• Taking necessary action in cases of suspected misconduct.
• Ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record.

10. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

When significant errors or ethical issues are identified in published articles, the journal may publish:

• Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda) for minor errors,
• Retractions for major ethical breaches or unreliable findings,
• Expressions of Concern when investigations are ongoing.

Such actions will be carried out in accordance with COPE recommendations.

11. Copyright and Use of Published Material

Authors retain responsibility for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material included in their manuscripts.

Published material may not be reproduced, distributed, or used in whole or in part without proper citation of the original source and compliance with applicable copyright regulations.

12. Open and Ethical Scientific Communication

The journal supports transparency, reproducibility, and responsible scientific communication. Authors are encouraged to share data, methods, and supplementary materials whenever possible to facilitate verification and further scientific advancement.

By submitting a manuscript to Marine Science and Environmental Research, authors confirm that they have read and agreed to these Ethical Principles and Publication Policy provisions and that their submission complies with all applicable ethical standards and regulations.