Responsibilities

Aquatic Ecosystems and Environmental Frontiers is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, publication ethics, transparency, and professional accountability. Authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher share responsibility for ensuring the quality, reliability, and ethical integrity of the scholarly publishing process.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, and ethical integrity of their submitted research. They must:

• Submit original, unpublished manuscripts that are not under consideration by another journal.

• Ensure proper acknowledgement and citation of all sources and avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or other forms of misconduct.

• Ensure that all listed authors have made substantial contributions, approved the final manuscript, and agreed on the authorship order. Any authorship changes must be justified and approved by all authors.

• Present research methods, data, results, and conclusions accurately, disclose limitations, and retain supporting data for verification when reasonably required.

• Obtain necessary ethical approvals, institutional permissions, and environmental clearances for research involving human participants, animals, aquatic organisms, fieldwork, or environmental samples, wherever applicable.

• Disclose relevant conflicts of interest, funding sources, and financial or institutional support.

• Follow the journal's author guidelines and ensure that all figures, tables, images, and third-party materials have appropriate permissions and acknowledgements.

• Use artificial intelligence tools responsibly, disclose their material use where required, verify AI-assisted content, and never list AI tools as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the submitted work.

• Respond professionally to editorial and reviewer comments and cooperate with the journal in issuing corrections or retractions if significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication.

2. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the academic quality, fairness, and integrity of the journal. They must:

• Evaluate manuscripts objectively based on originality, scientific quality, methodology, relevance, and suitability, without discrimination or external influence.

• Conduct an initial assessment of submissions and identify concerns relating to scope, completeness, originality, ethical compliance, or publication misconduct.

• Select qualified and independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise and no identifiable conflicts of interest.

• Maintain confidentiality of manuscripts, reviewer reports, author information, and editorial communications. Unpublished information must not be used for personal or professional advantage.

• Disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest and transfer manuscripts to another qualified editor when impartiality may be compromised.

• Communicate editorial decisions clearly, professionally, and within reasonable timeframes, providing appropriate academic reasons and reviewer feedback.

• Investigate suspected publication misconduct fairly and confidentially, seeking clarification from authors or relevant institutions where necessary.

• Consider corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions when errors or ethical issues affect the reliability of the scholarly record.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers contribute to maintaining the scientific quality and reliability of published research. They are expected to:

• Evaluate manuscripts objectively, impartially, and constructively, focusing on originality, methodology, scientific accuracy, relevance, and academic contribution.

• Assess the research design, data quality, analytical methods, interpretation of results, conclusions, and relevance of references.

• Treat all manuscripts and review-related communications as confidential and not share or use unpublished information for personal, academic, or commercial advantage.

• Disclose potential conflicts of interest and decline review invitations when impartiality may be affected.

• Avoid uploading confidential manuscript content to external AI platforms or third-party services without appropriate authorisation.

• Submit clear, evidence-based, respectful, and timely review reports, avoiding personal remarks or unsupported criticism.

• Identify potential ethical concerns, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, and missing ethical approvals, and report them confidentially to the editor.

• Provide justified recommendations for acceptance, revision, or rejection. Final publication decisions remain the responsibility of the journal's editors.

4. Responsibilities of the Journal and Publisher

The journal and publisher are responsible for maintaining a transparent, ethical, and reliable publishing environment. They must:

• Establish and publicly communicate clear policies on authorship, peer review, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, research ethics, corrections, and retractions.

• Provide accurate information about the journal's aims and scope, editorial board, submission procedures, peer-review process, and applicable publication charges.

• Ensure that editorial decisions are based on academic and ethical considerations and are not influenced by commercial interests or external pressure. Publication or acceptance must never be guaranteed in exchange for payment.

• Maintain the accuracy and accessibility of published content through appropriate digital preservation and archiving arrangements.

• Clearly identify and link corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions to the relevant published articles.

• Provide mechanisms for receiving and addressing complaints and appeals objectively, confidentially, and without discrimination.

• Periodically review editorial policies and publishing procedures, considering relevant feedback to improve transparency and publication quality.

5. Commitment to Publication Ethics

Aquatic Ecosystems and Environmental Frontiers is committed to protecting the integrity of scholarly publishing and maintaining public trust in academic research. All participants are expected to comply with this policy and uphold responsible publishing practices.

Suspected violations of publication ethics will be taken seriously and addressed through appropriate procedures. Depending on the nature of the concern, the journal may request clarification, reject a manuscript, issue a correction, publish an expression of concern, or retract an article.

Through shared accountability, transparent editorial practices, and ethical research communication, the journal seeks to maintain a credible platform for high-quality research in aquatic ecosystems and environmental sciences.