Ethical Standards for Authors Publishing Articles in Plant Physiology

Over the past year, Plant Physiology featured a series of articles focused on agricultural ethics. This series is a collection presented by authors who consider the morals and ethics surrounding the global issues related to natural ecosystems, food production systems, and the feeding of the world's population, expected to exceed 9 billion by the year 2050 (Chrispeels 2003). As a series, these articles look outward, at the world at large, and reflect Plant Physiology's commitment not only to chronicle the most original scientific research, but also to partake in the ethical/moral conversation that goes hand-in-hand with scientific research in the plant sciences.

Just as these articles review agricultural ethics on a global scale, we, as a journal office and professional society, are frequently challenged to look inward, at the ethics and moral debates surrounding publishing. With the advent of full-text online publications, published research is more easily available around the world than ever before. Ease of access is beneficial to scientific discourse, but it also increases the possibility of plagiarism and fraud and has prompted Plant Physiology and ASPB to focus on refining policies and procedures regarding ethical issues surrounding the publishing process.

Part of Plant Physiology's obligation in presenting original research is a clearly defined ethics policy. It should be understood by all those associated with Plant Physiology that the journal will not tolerate plagiarism or fraud under any circumstance. The revised ASPB Ethics in Publishing policy is located on the ASPB web site at: http://www.aspb.org/publications/ethics.cfm. There is also a link to this policy at the author area and reviewer area in our online peer-review and tracking system at http://submit.plantphysiol.org/. The policy covers ethical standards for both Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell.

The policy is split into two broad categories: “Expectations for Publishing in ASPB Journals” and “Procedure for Addressing Allegations of Scientific Misconduct or Other Ethical Violations.” Extracts of each category are reprinted below.

Expectations for Publishing in ASPB Journals focuses on authors and the expected ethical standards when submitting manuscripts to an ASPB publication. Any material submitted to either journal must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere. If related material is under consideration elsewhere, authors must disclose to the journal office while their contributions are under consideration.

Authors also must properly cite the work of others as well as their own related work. It is the responsibility of the authors, not the Society or the editors or reviewers, to ensure that relevant prior discoveries are appropriately acknowledged with the original citations in manuscripts submitted for publication.

All authors of articles submitted for publication assume full responsibility, within the limits of their professional competence, for the accuracy of their paper.

Procedures for Addressing Allegations of Scientific Misconduct or Other Ethical Violations focuses on steps taken when scientific misconduct is suspected.

All allegations of scientific misconduct or ethical violations will be referred to the Executive Director of the Society. Persons making oral allegations will be advised by the Executive Director that no action will be taken by the Society unless the allegation is made in writing.

Once written allegations are received, the Executive Director will notify the President and the Editor-in-Chief of the complaint. The Executive Director, President, and Editors-in-Chief of both journals, the Chair of the Publications Committee, and the Plant Physiology monitoring editor or The Plant Cell co-editor or who handled the manuscript (hereafter know as the Review Committee) will review the allegations and determine whether further action is necessary.

Please refer to the policy to read about steps taken if further action is deemed necessary.

Our editors and reviewers have been notified of the revised ASPB policies and will follow the procedures when scientific misconduct is suspected.

Plant Physiology is committed to the advancement of plant science, and we hope that our ethics policy helps to ensure the same high-quality scientific research in the future that we have had since the journal's inception in 1926.