Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Approximation Theory and Special Functions is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, following the guidelines set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We expect all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, to adhere to ethical principles that ensure the integrity and credibility of scientific research.

1. Open Access and Licensing

2. Responsibilities of Authors

  • Authors must ensure that their submitted work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration by another journal.
  • Proper citation and acknowledgment of all sources, including prior works that influenced the research, must be provided.
  • Plagiarism, data fabrication, and falsification are strictly prohibited.
  • All authors listed must have significantly contributed to the research and approved the final version of the manuscript.
  • Any conflicts of interest must be disclosed.
  • If an error is discovered in a published article, the author must promptly inform the journal and cooperate in issuing a correction or retraction if necessary.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts fairly, impartially, and confidentially.
  • Reviews should be objective and constructive, aimed at improving the quality of the submitted work.
  • Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest and decline to review a manuscript if a conflict exists.
  • Reviewers must report any suspected ethical violations, such as plagiarism or data manipulation, to the editors.
  • Manuscripts and review-related communications must remain confidential.

4. Responsibilities of Editors

  • Editors must make fair and unbiased decisions based on the manuscript’s academic merit, originality, and relevance.
  • Editors should ensure that the peer-review process is conducted in a timely, confidential, and ethical manner.
  • Editorial decisions must not be influenced by personal, financial, or political interests.
  • Editors should actively investigate and address any ethical concerns, including allegations of plagiarism, redundant publication, or conflicts of interest.
  • The editorial team is responsible for issuing corrections, clarifications, or retractions when necessary.

5. Ethical Oversight

  • The journal follows COPE guidelines for handling cases of ethical misconduct.
  • Research involving human or animal subjects must comply with ethical standards, and appropriate approval must be obtained.
  • Authors must disclose any funding sources and any potential conflicts of interest.

6. Plagiarism and Misconduct Policy

  • The journal may use plagiarism detection software to ensure originality.
  • If misconduct is suspected, an investigation will be conducted, and appropriate actions, including rejection, correction, or retraction, will be taken in accordance with COPE guidelines.

7. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should reflect a substantial intellectual contribution to the research, including its conception, mathematical development, analysis, or interpretation. All authors must participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approve the final version, and accept responsibility for their contributions and for addressing questions concerning the integrity of the work. Contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their consent.

Authors should describe their respective contributions where appropriate; a statement of equal contribution is acceptable when it accurately reflects the work.

Requests to add or remove authors, or change their order, must include an explanation and written agreement from all affected authors. Changes require editorial approval. Unresolved authorship disputes may lead to suspension of the publication process and referral to the relevant institutions.

8. Conflicts of Interest and Editorial Independence

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose financial, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably influence their judgment. Authors must include a conflict-of-interest statement, including an explicit declaration when no conflicts exist, and disclose relevant funding.

Reviewers and editors must withdraw from handling manuscripts where a conflict could compromise impartiality. Submissions authored by the Editor-in-Chief or editorial board members are subject to the same review standards as other submissions. Their evaluation and publication decisions are managed by an independent editor without a relevant conflict of interest. The author-editor has no role in selecting reviewers or making the editorial decision on their manuscript.

9. Complaints and Appeals

Complaints about editorial procedures or publication ethics, and appeals against editorial decisions, should be submitted through the journal’s Contact page. Submissions should identify the relevant manuscript or article and provide a clear explanation and supporting evidence.

Appeals must address the specific grounds for the decision, including any factual errors or substantive misunderstandings. The journal will assess the appeal and may seek an additional independent opinion where appropriate. An appeal does not guarantee reversal of the original decision.

Complaints involving the Editor-in-Chief will be referred to an editorial board member or independent adviser who is not involved in the complaint and has no relevant conflict of interest. The complainant will be informed of the outcome, subject to confidentiality requirements.

10. Handling Misconduct and Citation Manipulation

Concerns about plagiarism, redundant publication, fabricated or falsified results, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, or other misconduct may be reported through the journal’s Contact page. Reports should identify the publication or submission concerned and provide sufficient information for assessment.

The journal will assess the available evidence, seek explanations from the relevant parties, and consult independent experts or the authors’ institutions when necessary. Actions will be proportionate to the findings and guided by relevant COPE procedures.

References must serve a legitimate scholarly purpose. Authors, reviewers, and editors must not request or include unnecessary citations solely to increase citation counts for particular individuals, journals, or organizations. Acceptance must not be conditional on adding citations without a scientific justification.

11. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal will consider a correction when an error can be resolved without invalidating the principal findings. Retraction may be appropriate when the central results are unreliable, whether because of an honest error or misconduct, or when serious publication ethics violations are established.

Where a substantial concern remains unresolved during an investigation, the journal may publish an expression of concern.

Notices will explain the reason for the action and be clearly linked to the original article. Retracted articles will normally remain accessible, clearly marked as retracted, to preserve the scholarly record. Substantive changes to published content will not be made silently.

12. Data, Code, and Reproducibility

Authors should provide sufficient mathematical detail, assumptions, and methodological information to allow their results to be assessed and, where applicable, reproduced.

For studies involving numerical experiments, simulations, or datasets, authors should describe the algorithms, software, parameters, and relevant computational settings, including random seeds where applicable. Sharing supporting data and code through suitable repositories is encouraged.

Where data or code cannot be shared, authors should explain the restrictions and how the results can otherwise be assessed. For purely theoretical studies in which no datasets were generated or analysed, a statement that data sharing is not applicable is appropriate.

13. Intellectual Property and Post-Publication Discussion

Authors must respect third-party intellectual property rights, acknowledge reused material, and obtain permission where required. Copyright ownership and reuse conditions are governed by the applicable publication agreement and the licence identified for each article. Details of the journal’s licensing arrangements are provided in its Open Access Policy.

Authors must disclose relevant preprints, conference versions, and other prior dissemination at submission, explain their relationship to the submitted work, and cite them where appropriate.

The journal welcomes reasoned scholarly comments and criticisms concerning published articles. Readers may submit these through the journal’s Contact page. Substantive comments may be assessed by editors or independent reviewers, and the original authors will be given an opportunity to respond. Where appropriate, the journal may publish a comment and response or issue a correction.

By adhering to these ethical principles, Approximation Theory and Special Functions aims to maintain the integrity, transparency, and quality of scientific research published in the journal.