Publication Ethics

1. General provisions

Publication ethics is the regulation of interrelations between the publisher, author, reviewer and reader, which emanates from their integrity requirements.
The publisher of the scientific periodical “AgriScience and Technology” is Armenian National Agrarian University Foundation.
The Foundation delegates the management of the scientific periodical to the Editorial Board of the periodical. The Board’s activities are guided by the criteria adopted by the international scientific community.
The scientific periodical is published in electronic format.
No fee is exacted from any author submitting article for the publication in the mentioned periodical.
The editorial division takes no responsibility for the authors’ ideas, opinions and attitudes which are addressed in the published materials.

2. Decision on publication

The right to make decision on publication is reserved to the chairman of the Editorial Board and the Editor-In-Chief who may consult with the members of the editorial board when making a decision.
In decision making process, the scientific content of the reviewed work, its trustworthiness, as well as its scientific novelty are considered as priorities.
If it is decided to publish the article, the author must agree to transfer his/her copyright to the publisher to popularize it via accessible national and international data bank and other indexed information sources. As soon as gets the author’s agreement is received, the publisher has the right to make the article readable and applicable.

3. Duties of the Editorial Board and Editor-In-Chief

 3.1 Editorial Board assists those who are liable to the reputation of the periodical in their scientific activities.
Upon its activities the Board ensures availability of scientific novelty in the articles published in the periodical, and the references for cited ideas and statements, as well as observance of editorial ethics. The Board also ensures the compulsory revision of the scientific articles by the experts to, what is called, the ‘blind’ principle: without informing the personal data of the reviewers to the authors, and vice versa.
3.2 The Chairman of the Editorial Board coordinates the periodical’s activities and conducts the policy.
The Chairman has right to suspend the publication of the particular edition of the periodical as well as those article(s) about which he/she has profound objection.
3.3   Editor-In-Chief is liable for the scientific content of the periodical; participates in the policy making process of the periodical; presents the issues concerning the scientific periodical to the Ministry of ESCS of RA and other bodies as well.
Editor-In-Chief looks through the articles and sanctions it for review. Since the very moment of the admitted articles he/she has right to discuss with all parties the relevance of the article(s) with the specialization categories, purpose and content of the periodical.
3.4  Editorial Board is obliged to keep to the principles below:
Integrity of scientific research
Integrity of scientific research should be maintained in the periodical. As a conscientious publisher following the adopted criteria of Publication ethics, the editorial-publishing division upon the scientific periodical of “Agri-Science and Technology” sticks to the following order of actions in case of any actual misconduct.
Objectivity
Members of the Editorial Board are responsible for impartial evaluation of the documents provided for publication; they have no right to pursue personal interests or be guided by interpersonal relationships throughout in the evaluation process. They are obliged to treat the authors respectfully and impartially irrespective of their racial and gender affiliation, nationality, religion, social or political standing or any other subjective reason.
Confidentiality
Any original material which is received for publication must be viewed as a confidential document. Members of the Editorial Board take responsibility to keep confidentiality of the evaluation process.
They are responsible and entitled to accept the article, in accordance to the principle of confidentiality, either in the presented content, or to make recommendations for making contextual change(s), or to reject it if it doesn’t comply with the publication requirementșs and ethical principles as stated for the periodical. The member has no right to use in his/her individual research any unpublished material which has been provided in the original document. He/she has no right to make the author of the article cite his/her own research as an alleged or obvious condition for accepting the presented article.
Declaration of conflicting interests
Members of the Editorial Board and the editors must state about any competitive interest and can remove the article from the reviewing process if any competitive interest is observed. The editorial-publishing division, in due order, must demand disclosure of competitive interests from all participants of the reviewing process. If any conflict of interests is disclosed after publication, the editors must provide the publication of relevant amendments.
In case of conflict of interests the original copy of the article is returned to solve the conflict.

4. Rights and liabilities of the authors

When submitting an article for publication in the scientific periodical “Agri-Science and Technology” the author must observe to criteria identified by the editorial division (Author Guidelines).
The author mustn’t present original materials (or original materials which basically describe the same topic) simultaneously to several journals. Author mustn’t present any previously published work to journals for discussion. In certain conditions, publication of articles concerning the specific topic in more than one journal is acceptable, if they belong to a series of articles.
Before being published on the internet, the author has right to demand his/her article back.
The author has right to demand simultaneous or additional reviewing if he/she doesn’t agree with the reviewer’s considerations, as well as to present written counterarguments.
The author must collect, analyze and explain the data of his/her research without any misinterpretation. Editorial staff, reviewers and readers are entitled to demand starting research data from the author for editing, reviewing and making them public. The author must keep the data, if possible, to be used after they have been published.
The author must guarantee that the data he/she has presented are unique.
If the author has used words, sentences or paragraphs taken from other authors, he/she must provide the proper reference, otherwise it will be taken as a case of plagiarism.
The author must clearly provide all sources that have contributed to the research, as well as he/she must state about any conflict(s) of interests.
The author has right to express his/her gratitude to those who have had any contribution to the research. Those who have had significant contribution must be mentioned as co-authors. The author must provide information to certify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the article and have come to an agreement over its final publication.
The author must immediately inform the editor of the journal about any obvious mistake(s) in his/her work, and must closely cooperate with the editor to call the issue back and make necessary amendments. If any other party except the author informs the editor that the publication contains obvious mistake, the author must write a denial or make relevant changes.

5. Implementing decisions of the Editorial Board 

Submission, acceptance, reviewing and publication of the articles to be published in the periodical “AgriScience and Technology” is carried out via editorial staff in the person of the Associate Editor.
The Associate Editor must make the content of the original copy available to a limited number of people, i.e. members of the Editorial Board, reviewers, authorized members such as:
-An expert chosen by the Editor-in-Chief as a primary reader,
-Administrative assistant of the Associate Editor.
The editorial division must inform the author about the status of the article within 2 weekdays.
If the list of the authors is changed within the period of article submission, the editorial division requires a document signed and approved by all authors of the article. The editorial division must immediately respond and take proper measures whenever ethical complaint arises concerning the original copy or published work by establishing direct contact or consulting with the Editor-in-Chief and the author. The editorial division must get proper answers which are based on the experience of reputable international journals and publishers. Any report about the fact of immoral behaviors of any party, is observed without determination of limitation period.
If needed, the editorial office must publish written official denial or amendment.