Editorial Policy

This policy describes guidelines in the publication process of our journals. Specifically, the Academy Journal of Science and Engineering (AJSE) adopts the following standards and requirements:

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Academy Journal of Science and Engineering (AJSE) is committed to uphold the highest standards of publication ethics and takes measures against any publication malpractices.

AJSE Editorial Board is responsible for preventing; publication malpractice. Unethical behavior, plagiarism in any form etc. Authors who submits article(s): affirm that manuscript content is original and adheres to the journal submission guidelines. This implies that the submission has not been published previously in any language, either wholly or partly, and is not currently submitted for publication elsewhere.

Editors, authors, and reviewers, within the  AJSE, are fully committed to good publication practice and accept the responsibility for fulfilling the duties and responsibilities, as set by the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. The COPE Core Practices guidelines are available at  http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.

Section A: Publication and authorship 

All submitted manuscripts are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two reviewers that are experts in the area of the manuscripts. Review process are double blind peer review. The factors that are considered in review include; relevance, soundness, significance, originality, readability and language. The possible decisions include acceptance, acceptance with revisions, submit to another journal 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 may be re-considered depending on the reason for rejection. The paper acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. Only corresponding authors can make a request for a change in authorship. The request shall be granted if there is sufficient evidence that the suggested author made a significant contribution as stipulated in the authorship editorial policy.

Section B: Authors’ responsibilities

Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere. Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.  Authors must participate in the peer review process. Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes. All Authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research. Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic. Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest. Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript. Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the Editors. Author(s) is/are individual(s) who significantly contributed to the development of a manuscript on well researched theoretical, experimental and analytical papers in all areas of Science, Technology and Engineering. AJSE recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria:

• 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.

Section C: Reviewers’ responsibilities

Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information. Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Reviewers should also call to the Editor in Chief’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge. Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers. 

Section D: Editors’ responsibilities

Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article. Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication. Editors should always consider the needs of the authors and the readers when attempting to improve the publication. Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record. Editors should publish errata pages or make corrections when needed. Editors should base their decisions solely one the papers’ importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication’s scope. Editors should not reverse their decisions nor overturn the ones of previous editors without serious reason.  Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers. Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. Editors should only accept a paper when reasonably certain. Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem. Editors should not reject papers based on suspicions, they should have proof of misconduct.Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers and board members.

Acknowledgment

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. Organizations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged.

Submission of Manuscript

Authors should read the “Instruction for Authors” on the journal’s page before making a submission.

The manuscript should be prepared according to the style and specifications of the journal’s policy available online.

The authors listed in the manuscript should have met the requirements for Authorship specified above. Where possible, specify the contribution of each of the authors.

The corresponding author shall approve the final version of the manuscript on behalf of the authors. Once a manuscript is submitted, it is therefore assumed that all authors have read and given their approval for the submission of the manuscript.

Contact information of all authors should be stated on the manuscript. Surname/Other names, affiliation, emails, and phone/fax numbers.

Confidentiality

A submitted manuscript is confidential material. AJSE will not disclose submitted manuscripts to anyone except individuals who partake in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for possible publication. These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors.  However, in suspected cases of misconduct, a manuscript may be revealed to members of the AJSE ethics committee and institutions/organizations that may require it for the resolution of the misconduct.

Correction and retraction of articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected version will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published.

Publication Schedule 

The Academy Journal of Science and Engineering is published bi-annually.

Article Processing

AJSE uses a double-blind peer review option which ensures that authors remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout the peer-review process and vice versa. 

Received articles are sent to three independent reviewers (usually from different locations). 

There are four categories of recommendations from reviewers are:

• Publishable  without amendment
• Publishable with minor amendment
• Publishable with major amendment
• Not publishable 

Depending on the category recommended, an article may be sent out twice for assessment (i.e. when the recommendations from the reviewers are conflicting).

Reviewed articles are returned to the Secretary AJSE. An honorarium is given to each reviewer for the reviewed article.

The reviewed articles are sent back to the corresponding author to effect corrections as may be recommended by the reviewers.

The revised document is vetted to ensure that the recommendations of the reviewers are effected.

Articles are formatted in line with the standard of the Journal and made camera ready.

Production of the Journal

Due to the technical nature of the articles (equations, tables, diagrams, and graphs) in Science and Engineering, typesetting is done by competent hands supervised by the Editorial Board to ensure quality before engaging the services of a publisher.