«T-Comm – Telecommunications and Transport» journal (T-Comm) is committed to upholding the standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. The editors of T-Comm journal enforce a rigorous peer-review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure the addition of high-quality scientific studies to the field of scholarly publication. In cases where we become aware of ethical issues, we are committed to investigating and taking necessary action to maintain the integrity of the literature and ensure the safety of research participants.
ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS:
Summary
Authors wishing to publish their papers in T-Comm journal must abide to the following:
- Authors should accurately present their research findings and include an objective discussion of the significance of their findings.
- All and only those who qualify for authorship should be included as authors, and their contribution should be described in a letter to the editor.
- Any facts that might be perceived as a possible conflict of interest of the author(s) must be disclosed in the paper prior to submission.
- Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the paper so that other researchers can replicate the work.
- Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not permitted.
- Original research results must be novel and not previously published, including being previously published in another language.
- For any content previously published (including quotations, figures or tables), any necessary permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder.
- Errors and inaccuracies found after publication must be promptly communicated to the Editorial Office.
This list is not exhaustive, and authors should be aware of local regulations and accepted norms within academic publishing.
Authorship
In order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, authors must satisfy the following:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
- Final approval of the version to be published;
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments. The corresponding author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article.
Any change to the author list during the editorial process or after publication should be approved by all authors, including any who have been removed. We reserve the right to request evidence of authorship, and changes to authorship after acceptance will be made at the discretion of T-Comm editors.
Author Contributions
For complete transparency, all submitted manuscripts should include an author contributorship statement that specifies the work of each author. For research articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided.
The following statements should be used: Conceptualization, and methodology; software; formal analysis; investigation; resources; data curation; writing-original draft preparation; writing-review and editing; translation; supervision; project administration; funding acquisition. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work reported.
The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and the other authors, keep co-authors informed, and involve them in major decisions about the publication.
Joint first authors can be indicated by the inclusion of the statement “contributed equally to this paper” in the manuscript. The roles of the equal authors should also be adequately disclosed in the contributorship statement.
Where work is presented by the author(s) on behalf of a consortium or group, this should be clarified in the author list, “on behalf of.” The consortium/group will not retain authorship and will only appear in the author list.
Changes to Authorship
Any change to the author list should be made during the editorial process, before manuscript acceptance. Authorship changes, including any addition, removal, or rearrangement of author names will require the approval of all authors including any to be removed. To request any change in authorship, the journal must receive a completed authorship change form that includes the signatures of all authors, and provides a reason for the change. If the manuscript has already been published, requests for a change in authorship will be evaluated and require the publication of a Correction. We reserve the right to request evidence of authorship, and changes to authorship after acceptance will be made at the discretion of T-Comm editors.
Scientific misconduct
Scientific misconduct is defined as “the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research”. If a substantial doubt arises about the honesty or integrity of the scientific report, the Editor will follow the principles formulated by COPE.
Authors should avoid the following forms of scientific misconduct:
Fabrication is making up primary documentation and study results and recording or reporting them; deceptive selective reporting of findings; omission of conflicting data; or willful suppression and/or distortion of data. A more minor form of fabrication is where references are included to give arguments the appearance of widespread acceptance, but are actually fake, and/or do not support the argument.
Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. Violations of generally accepted research practices, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations. Deliberate misinterpretation of qualifications, experience, or research accomplishments in order to advance research program, to obtain external funding, or for other professional advancement. Failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements.
Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, thoughts, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit and representation of them as one’s own original work. Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. A subset is citation plagiarism – willful or negligent failure to appropriately credit other or prior discoverers, so as to give an improper impression of priority. Arguably, this is the most common type of scientific misconduct. Self-plagiarism is multiple publication of the same content with different titles and/or in different journals is sometimes also considered misconduct. It is not regarded in the same light as the plagiarism of the ideas and words of other individuals. It is referred to as “salami” (i.e. many identical slices). This includes publishing the same article in a different language. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Editors of «T-Comm – Telecommunications and Transport» journal reserve the right to reject the work from publication in case of revealing any such malpractices.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage. Authors must state all other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest and constitute an embarrassment to any of the authors if it were not to be declared and were to emerge after publication. Such conflicts might include, but are not limited to, shareholding in or receipt of a grant or consultancy fee from a company whose product features in the submitted manuscript or which manufactures a competing product. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. The corresponding author must ensure in the Cover letter that the conflict of interest disclosures reported, up-to-date, and consistent with the information provided for each author.
Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in a published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the editor of T-Comm journal and cooperate with Publisher to retract or correct the paper, If the editor or the publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper.
ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR EDITORS AND REVIEWERS
Confidentiality and Anonymity
Reviewers must keep the content of the manuscript, including the abstract, confidential. They must inform the Editorial Office if they would like a student or colleague to complete the review on their behalf. T-Comm journal operate double-blind peer review. Reviewers should be careful not to reveal their identity to the authors, either in their comments or in metadata for reports submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format. T-Comm journal offer authors the possibility to publish review reports with their paper and for reviewers to sign their open review reports but will not reveal reviewer name until publication and only with their explicit agreement. The editor and any editorial staff of T-Comm must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
The Editor of T-Comm is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always underwrite such decisions. The Editor may be guided by the policies of T-Comm journal’s editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision. An editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication, and lies at the heart of the scientific method. Publisher shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor of T-Comm and excuse himself from the review process. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Disclosure and Conflicts of interest
We ask reviewers to inform the journal editor if they hold a conflict of interests that may prejudice the review report, either in a positive or negative way. The Editorial Office will check as far as possible before invitation; however, we appreciate the cooperation of reviewers in this matter. Reviewers who are invited to assess a manuscript they previously reviewed for another journal should not consider this as a conflict of interest in itself.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Editors should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers.
An editor presented with convincing evidence that the substance or conclusions of a published paper are erroneous should coordinate with the publisher to promote the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note, as may be relevant.
An editor should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper, in conjunction with the publisher. Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies.
ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR PUBLISHER
All submitted papers are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two international reviewers that are experts in the area of the particular paper. The factors that are taken into account in review are relevance, soundness, significance, readability and language. Contain original research that has not been published before. The possible decisions include acceptance, acceptance with revisions, or rejection. If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted. Rejected articles will not be re-reviewed.
Articles may be rejected without review if they are obviously not suitable for publication. The staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one publication concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.
All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. Authors who submit to publication are required to disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest in their submission.
T-Comm adheres to ethical standards formulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), recommendations of Elsevier publisher, ICMJE, EASE, EQUATOR.
Copyright and Licensing
Publication is fully open access. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work, while ensuring that the authors receive proper credit. License permit the author to retain copyright to the article and permit readers to distribute, reuse, modify, and build upon the work as long as proper attribution to the original article is provided. All authors submitting their works acknowledge that they have disclosed all and any actual or potential conflicts of interest regarding authorship and publication of the work and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For all articles published in T-Comm journal, copyright is retained by the authors.
Permissions
Prior to article submission, authors should clear permission to use any content that has not been created by them. Failure to do so may lead to lengthy delays in publication. Editors are unable to publish any article which has permissions pending. The rights we require are:
– Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the article or book chapter.
– Print and electronic rights.
When reproducing tables, figures or excerpts (of more than 400 words) from another source, it is expected that:
- Authors obtain the necessary written permission in advance from any third party owners of copyright for the use in print and electronic formats of any of their text, illustrations, graphics, or other material, in their manuscript. Permission must also be cleared for any minor adaptations of any work not created by them.
- If an author adapts significantly any material, the author must inform the copyright holder of the original work.
- Authors obtain any proof of consent statements.
- Authors must always acknowledge the source in figure captions and refer to the source in the reference list.
- Authors should not assume that any content which is freely available on the web is free to use. Authors should check the website for details of the copyright holder to seek permission for re-use.
Advertising
Third-party advertising is permitted in T-Comm journal publications, subject to approval by the advertising department of Media Publisher LLC which supports the publication. The publication’s Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board retain editorial control of the publication and their decisions regarding the merit of submitted articles are unaffected by advertising considerations.
Verbatim copying
Verbatim copying of more than 10 per cent of another person’s work without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks.
Paraphrasing
Improper paraphrasing of another person’s work is where more than one sentence within a paragraph or section of text has been changed or sentences have been rearranged without appropriate attribution. Significant improper paraphrasing (more than 10 per cent of a work) without appropriate attribution is treated as seriously as verbatim copying.
Re-using parts of a work without attribution Re-use of elements of another person’s work, for example a figure, table or paragraph without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks. It is incumbent on the author to obtain the necessary permission to reuse elements of another person’s work from the copyright holder.
Handling allegations of plagiarism
Editors of «T-Comm – Telecommunications and Transport» seek to uphold academic integrity and to protect authors’ moral rights. We take all cases of plagiarism very seriously being aware of the potential impact an allegation of plagiarism can have on a researcher’s career. Therefore, we have procedures in place to deal with alleged cases of plagiarism. In order for us to take an unbiased approach, we investigate each case thoroughly, seeking clarification from all affected parties.
Plagiarism detection
T-Comm uses Crossref Similarity Check (using Turnitin’s iThenticate system) for English-language submissions, native russian-language submissions are checked with Antiplagiat software. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.
Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image. Irregular manipulation includes 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image, 2) grouping of images that should obviously be presented separately (e.g., from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels), or 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information.
If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the paper.
Data presented must be original and not inappropriately selected, manipulated, enhanced, or fabricated. This includes 1) exclusion of data points to enhance significance of conclusions, 2) fabrication of data, 3) selection of results that support a particular conclusion at the expense of contradictory data, 4) deliberate selection of analysis tools or methods to support a particular conclusion (including p-hacking). We strongly recommend preregistration of methods and analysis.
If we are approached by a third party with an allegation of plagiarism, we would always seek a response from the original author(s) or copyright holder(s) before we decide on a course of action. We will not be influenced by other parties and will form our decisions in an unbiased and objective manner.
Editors are not obliged to discuss individual cases of alleged plagiarism with third parties. We reserve the right not to proceed with a case if the complainant presents a false name or affiliation or acts in an inappropriate or threatening manner towards editorial staff.
Responses to possible misconduct
Media Publisher LLC staff investigates all allegations of scientific misconduct and reserves the right to contact all interested parties if needed. If we find conclusive evidence of misconduct we will take steps to correct the scientific record, which may include issuing a correction or retraction.
All allegations of misconduct will be addressed to the Editor-In-Chief of T-Comm journal. Initial fact-finding should include a written request to all the interested parties and explain the circumstances. All allegations should be kept confidential. The Editor-In-Chief may confidentially consult experts who are blinded to the identity of the individuals. If allegations concern authors, the peer review and publication process for the manuscript in question will be halted while the process above is carried out. The investigation will be completed even if the authors withdraw their paper. In the case of allegations against reviewers or editors, they will be replaced in the review process while the matter is investigated. Editors or reviewers who are found to have engaged in scientific misconduct should be removed from further association with the journal.
If the inquiry concludes there is a reasonable possibility of misconduct, responses should be undertaken and their implementation should depend on the circumstances of the case and severity of misconduct.
Previously published content
For previously published content, it is essential that prior to submission, authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, tables, text, etc.) that does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright.
Permission is required for:
- Your own work published by other publishers and for which you did not retain copyright.
- Substantial extracts from the work of anyone’s works or a series of work.
- Use of tables, graphs, charts, schemes and artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified.
- Photographs for which you do not hold copyright.
Permission is not required for:
- Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please note that in this case, you must cite the source of the data in the form of either “Data from…” or “Adapted from…”.
- Very short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission.
- Graphs, charts, schemes and artwork that is completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission. However, you may need to check the copyright permissions of any underlying data.
Once you have obtained permission, the copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed. Alternatively, we recommend following the style: “Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], 2024”.
Translations
T-Comm journal may choose to publish high-quality content that has been previously published in a different language. In order for a manuscript containing translated content to be considered for publication, authors must ensure that:
- All authors from the original publication also appear on the submitted manuscript;
- Appropriate permission is sought and granted from the publisher, copyright holders, and/or authors of the original article prior to manuscript submission;
- The journal editor is informed about the publishing history of the previously published content;
The original article is referenced in the acknowledgement section using the below templat.
This is a translation/reprint of (insert title here) originally published in (insert language) by (insert publisher) (insert journal name, year, issue/volume number, page numbers). This translation was prepared by (insert name) with support from (insert name of funding source, if any). Permission was granted by (insert publisher, copyright holder, and/or authors name).
Any translated articles that do not follow the above guidelines are unacceptable.
Citation Policies
Authors should ensure that where material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing), the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained.
Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work.
Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.
In accordance with COPE guidelines, we expect that “original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations”. This condition also applies to an author’s own work. COPE have produced a discussion document on citation manipulation with recommendations for best practice.
Embargo policies
Authors are allowed to present their works ahead of publication: at scientific conferences, public databases, blogs and other informal communication channels. But we recommend that authors not contact the media unless an article has been accepted for publication and an embargo date has been established. This will help to ensure that your work is the full peer-reviewed paper and is freely available to any interested reader. If mass media has covered a paper ahead of publication, this will not affect consideration of the work for publication.
We do not discuss any submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author before the manuscript has been accepted for publication in the journal.
Updating Published Papers
To offer transparency regarding any changes for our authors and readers, we have the following standardized criteria in place for updates to any of our published papers.
Minor errors that do not affect readability or meaning (e.g., spelling, grammatical, spacing errors) do not qualify for an update, regardless of when or by whom the error was introduced.
Requests to correct errors in a paper’s metadata (e.g., title, author name, abstract) can be completed, if deemed by the Editorial Office to be a reasonable request. Once approved, the paper will be updated and re-published on our website. Following this, all relevant indexing databases will be notified to ensure that the database versions have also been revised.
Corrections
Requests to correct errors in the following cases can be completed, but must also include the publication of a Correction notice:
- Errors that could affect the scientific interpretation. For example: error in a misleading section of an otherwise reliable publication; error in data or interpretation (that does not affect final conclusions);
- Scientifically relevant formatting changes. For example: missing or unclear figures/tables;
- Addition or removal of an author from authorship list (including addition or removal of entire affiliations);
- Addition or removal of an entire reference;
- Addition or removal of a significant amount of text within the back matter. For example: funding, author contributions, acknowledgements.
Once the update request has been approved, the paper will be updated and re-published on our website, along with the publication of a Correction. This notice is a separate publication that links to the updated paper, but is published in the most current Issue of the journal. The Correction serves the purpose to notify all readers that a significant change has occurred to the paper, and that the revised version is now available on the website. Following these updates, all relevant indexing databases will be notified to ensure that the database versions have also been revised.
Author Name Change Policy
Some authors might wish to change their name following publication. In such cases, T-Comm editors will update and republish the article and re-deliver the updated metadata to the appropriate indexing databases (please note that all updates are dependent upon the policies of the databases). Our teams are aware that name changes can be sensitive and/or private in nature, for a variety of reasons that may include alignment with gender identity, marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Therefore, to protect author identity, a Correction will not be published and co-authors will not be notified. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.
Retractions
Sometimes a paper needs to be retracted from the body of research literature. This could be due to inadvertent errors made during the research process, gross ethical breaches, fabrication of data, large amounts of plagiarism, or other reasons. Such articles threaten the integrity of scientific records and need to be retracted.
T-Comm follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for retraction.
If a Retraction is published, the original publication is amended with a “RETRACTED” watermark, but will still be available on the journal’s website for future reference. However, retracted articles should not be cited and used for further research, as they cannot be relied upon. Retractions are published using the same authorship and affiliation as the paper being retracted, so that the notice and the original retracted paper can be properly found by readers within indexing databases. The Retractionnotice will also be published in the current Issue of the journal. Partial Retractions might be published in cases where results are only partially wrong.
A paper will only be completely removed from Media Publisher LLC website and relevant indexing databases in very exceptional circumstances, where leaving it online would constitute an illegal act or be likely to lead to significant harm.