Focus and Scope

Section Policies

Society’s Answer to Pandemic

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Artificial Intelligence

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Computer Science

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Medical Sciences

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Medicine

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Psychology

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Psychiatry

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Psychotherapy

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neuroscience

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neuroethics

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neuropsychology

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neuropedagogy

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neurophysiology

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Neurology

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Special Education

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Philosophy of Mind

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Inter-disciplinary Perspectives

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Varia

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

BRAINovations

In this section we will publish peer-review articles, with high scientific value.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Articles (peer reviewed)

Editors

• Bogdan Patrut

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

BRAINStorming

In this section we publish high-quality papers. These papers are works in progress or discussions between experts and researchers from different areas.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Lecture BRAINotes

We publish here original lecture notes and laboratory applications in the topics of the journal.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Abstracts in other languages

Here we post the abstracts of the papers in other languages (French, Deutsch, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Hungarian and Dutch languages).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

BRAINterviews

Here we publish interviews with doctors, scientists, experts in the topics of our papers.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Special issue papers

Peer-reviewed papers, presented in some associated conferences (e.g. UICS 2009).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Sociology of cognition

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Enhanced Reality

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Letter to Editor

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

Peer review

1. EDITORIAL EVALUATION

This is the first stage evaluation, in which the paper proposed for evaluation is assessed from the technical and administrative points of view. The evaluation is made by the editor in charge with the issue following to identify whether the paper is related to the specificity of the journal and if it addresses subjects that are in direct connection with the current issue's topic. The editor in charge will also assess if the author complies with the editorial requirements, such as the citation system, respecting the journal's technical parameters from the template available online, or the structure of the article.

Only after the technical requirements are fulfilled by the author will the paper be the subject of the peer review process and its scientific quality evaluated. After texts are analyzed to see if they match the disciplinary and thematic orientation of the publication's editorial quality standards of EduSoft publications, manuscripts are sent to two reviewers selected from the Board of Reviewers of EduSoft Publishing House, whose scientific activity and expertise corresponds most with the proposed manuscript.

2. SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION

After texts are analyzed from the scientific point of view, reviewers communicate their decision and the observations/requirements (if any) as a condition of publication. The editor in charge transmits the reviewers’ decision to the author and, if the reviewers agreed on the acceptance for publication but recommend changes of the text, it is sent back to the author to make changes. Once the requested changes are made, the text returns to the two reviewers of EduSoft Publishing House Committee to check the final version of the text and transmit their decision.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript they evaluate. The reviewers must have a rich expertise and experience to be chosen as a referent, certified through publications, conferences, grants, etc.

EduSoft policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• the reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• the reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• the reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

The scientific evaluation is completed in at least one of the following ways:

DOUBLE BLIND PEER REVIEW

The blind peer review process consists of assigning a blind manuscript (with no identification information of the author/s) to a reviewer whose identity is not known to the author whose paper is subject to evaluation, nor will be known by the author after the evaluation is completed. The correspondence between the reviewers/s and the author/s will be intermediated by the publisher EduSoft Publishing House.

The results of evaluation can be of the following types: acceptance, acceptance with modifications or rejected. If a reviewer rejects the manuscript but another one accepts it, the manuscript is assessed by a third reviewer, or the editor responsible for the issue, who will accomplish the advocate function and take the final decision. If it is accepted with modifications, corrections will be asked for from the author.

REVIEWERS PROPOSED BY AUTHORS

In specific situation, in very particular cases, where the article is of niche, the authors are invited to propose their own specialty referrers when they submit their paper for publication. They cannot be coordinators of doctoral theses, or members from the thesis’s evaluation committee etc.

The opinions of the authors proposed reviewers will be considered, in the event of a disagreement between the two peer reviewers proposed by EduSoft Publishing, or where peer reviewers accept papers with a reserve. Also, this method is used as an additional editorial peer review, in the case of editorial programmes that request it. It is not mandatory for the proposed referees to be considered by the editor of the journal or of the editor for a specific issue.

3. ETHICAL EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF, AND DEALING WITH ALLEGATIONS OF RESEARCH MISCONDUCT

EduSoft is member of PILA and some journals are individual member of COPE. EduSoft Publishing fully adheres to the ethical standards of Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), even for the journals that are not yet members.

Ethical evaluation follows two directions, namely Editorial Ethics and Research Ethics.

Regarding Editorial Ethics, these are analyzed suspicions of plagiarism and the improper award of authorship (including authors who contributed to the text or research and the exclusion of authors who have contributed). They also track potential conflicts of interest that occurred after publication by EduSoft, the rights to reproduce images, text or republication rights fragments where appropriate. The aim is to avoid the request for double financing when the manuscript published through public financing. Each journal where ethical misconduct was identified and submitted for an analysis keeps a record for such issues, and a selection of cases which can be useful for better understanding the ethical and editorial decision to be made by reviewers, authors, editors, were listed on a dedicated page.

The second direction – Research ethics – aims of evaluation for respecting the ethical rules of scientific research where appropriate: the rules of data confidentiality; obtaining the agreement for participation in research from research population; in the protection of the interests of natural or legal persons, in order not to violate any image or other rights of nature provided by law.

In case of any suspicion of research misconduct a peer process is initiated by EduSoft for performing inquiries and investigations of possible research misconduct; This process goes deeply into the specific questioned research and the research record, in order to verify that the research respects the principle of integrity, confidentiality, fairness and respect for human dignity - especially where the research involves human subjects.

4. EDITORIAL REVIEW of TRANSLATIONS

Editorial reviewers target the quality of translations in language of publication of the journal. An evaluation is undertaken by a specialist, a connoisseur of the language in which the work appeared or a native speaker and the quality of translation is checked. EduSoft Publishing is providing in depth copy editing and language proofreading, but we strongly recommend to all authors that are not native speakers of the language of publication to consult specialists in such matter.

Plagiarism

EduSoft Publishing House scans each article accepted for publication with the Crossref Similarity Check - iThenticate software only after the article is considered final, so as not to make any changes that may increase the likelihood to be above the accepted limit, which is at most 5% to 10% similarity (due to the specific of each article). EduSoft expresses zero tolerance to plagiarism, but we accepted at most 10% similarity with other sources, which are due to specific denominations, internationally accepted nomenclatures, and/or expression that are common knowledge in the field.  The articles that were proven to have plagiarism elements will automatically be rejected from publication.

If the article exceeds the accepted quota of similarity, but it is not proved to be plagiarised, the editor could send the article back to the authors, to motivate the identified similarities, and eventually to correct possible negligence.

If suspicions of plagiarism occur after the initial check or even after the publication of the paper – that implies the paper retraction, either partially, or entirely - the full refund of the open-access fee for is not possible.

Authorship & contributorship

EduSoft adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations related to authorship.  ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• 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 (ICMJE: Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2022).

These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. In the group of authors, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work, in order to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done. Also, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

All authors must agree on publication and be able to support research by answering questions about this research. Contributors who do not meet the criteria to be authors should be included in the acknowledgments.

As regards the authors' order, this should respect the volume of work and the importance of the scientific contribution of each author. Presenting in alphabetical order, mentioning the equal contribution of each author in acknowledgment, draws attention to the equal quoting of each author.

Lead Author (First Author)

In the case of publications with multiple authors, one author should assume the role of lead author. Even in different publications, the lead author is different to the first author; in all EduSoft Publishing Journals, the lead author is considered to be the first author and some case corresponding author. We admit exceptions, based on an all-authors’ request, for the corresponding author to be mentioned as being different to the lead author, with special mention, and is placed as the last author. Authors should decide to be equally responsible for the paper; in this case, they are mentioned in alphabetical order, with the acknowledgement that all authors have an equal contribution to the article.

The lead author assumes full responsibility for the order of the authorship and assume the responsibility to consult with the other authors before submitting the manuscript for evaluation.

If, following the peer review process, changes occur in the authorship, it is necessary to be agreed by all authors and justified from the perspective of the contribution of the newly introduced author / authors, respectively the elimination of the contribution of the one withdrawn from the author. An author cannot be removed if his contribution, even an idea, is maintained in the article. A special ethical evaluation is organized which may lead to the rejection of the article, regardless of the stage of the editorial evaluation. No change of authorship can be made after the final acceptance of the article.

Co-authors
All co-authors of a publication are responsible for:

• Authorship: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors acknowledge that they meet the authorship criteria set above. A co-author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
• Approval: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors are acknowledging that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript.
• Integrity: Each co-author is responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.
• An individual retains the right to refuse co-authorship of a manuscript if s/he does not satisfy the criteria for authorship.

Non-Author Contributors

Where contributors meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship, those should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged.

In accordance with ICMJE guidelines, here are some examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship:

• acquisition of funding;
• general supervision of a research group or general administrative support;
• and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading.

In addition, those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. "Participating Investigators"), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," "provided and cared for study participants," "participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript") (ICMJE: Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2022).

Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged are included above.

When submitting the manuscript, author must supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Third party submissions - Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Based on previous editorial experience, where appropriate, EduSoft reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

Because acknowledgment may imply endorsement by acknowledged individuals of a study’s data and conclusions, EduSoft reserves the right to require that the corresponding author obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all acknowledged individuals.

Funding

All research articles should have a funding acknowledgement statement included in the manuscript in the form of a sentence under a separate heading entitled ‘Funding’ directly after your Acknowledgements and Declaration of Conflicting Interests, if applicable, and prior to any Notes and References. The funding agency should be written out in full, followed by the grant number in square brackets, see following example (the text in bold is mandatory, unless specified otherwise by the journal):

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Y Institute [grant number xxx].

Multiple grant numbers should be separated by comma and space. Where the research was supported by more than one agency, the different agencies should be separated by semi-colon, with “and” before the final funder. Thus:

This work was supported by the X [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Y [grant number zzzz]; and the Z [grant number aaaa].

There are cases where research is not funded by a specific project grant, but rather from other resources available to a university, college or other research institution. Where no specific funding has been provided for the research, we ask that corresponding authors use the following sentence:

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Please mention this information under a separate heading entitled “Funding” directly after any Acknowledgements and Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), and prior to any Notes and References.

When submitting the manuscript, author must supply any information about funding agencies separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Conflict of Interest, Human and Animal rights, and Informed Consent

Declaration of conflicting interests

Though this policy our journal requires a conflict-of-interest statement or conflict of interest disclosure from any submitting or publishing author.

In accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) statement, “conflicts of interest comprise those which may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgment of author, reviewers, and editors. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. “Financial” interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and company support for staff” (COPE, 2017)

As many scholars, researchers and professionals may have potential conflicts of interest, that could have an effect on their research, EduSoft journals require a formal declaration of conflicting interests enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated published article.

Manuscripts will be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when any competing interests are declared.

Here are some examples of conflicts of interest:

Having received fees for consulting.

Having received research funding.

Having been employed by a related company.

Holding stocks or shares in a company which might be affected by the publication of your paper.

Having received funds reimbursing you for attending a related symposium, or talk. (Note: it is not expected that details of financial arrangements be disclosed when a competing interest is declared.)

Any other interests which the reasonable reader might feel has affected the research author may also wish to declare them.

Author obligations regarding conflicting interests

At the earliest stage possible, authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Prior submission, author will be asked to certify that: 1) All forms of financial support, including pharmaceutical company support (if the case), are acknowledged in the author’s contribution; 2) Any commercial or financial involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the contribution are disclosed in a covering letter accompanying the contribution and all such potential conflicts of interest will be discussed with the Editor as to whether disclosure of this information with the published contribution is to be made in the journal; 3). That the author/s have not signed an agreement with any sponsor of the research reported in the contribution that prevents them from publishing both positive and negative results or that forbids you from publishing this research without the prior approval of the sponsor; 4) That they  have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to see whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.

That you have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to see whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.

• How do I make a declaration?

If you are submitting to or publishing your manuscript in a journal which requires you to make a Declaration of Conflicting Interests, please include such a declaration at the end of your manuscript after any Acknowledgements and prior to the Funding Acknowledgement, Notes (if relevant) and References, under the heading 'Declaration of Conflicting Interest'. If no conflict exists, please state that 'The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest'.

Human and Animal Rights

All research must have been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework. If there is suspicion that work has not taken place within an appropriate ethical framework, Editors will follow may reject the manuscript, and/or contact the author(s)’ ethics committee. On extraordinary cases, if the Editor has serious concerns about the ethics of a study, the manuscript may be rejected on ethical grounds, even if approval from an ethics committee has been obtained.
Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee.
The submitted study has to be supported by the ethics/bioethics committee approval, or at least IRB (Institutional Research Board).
Authors reporting the use of a new procedure or tool in a clinical setting, for example as a technical advance or case report, must give a clear justification in the manuscript for why the new procedure or tool was deemed more appropriate than usual clinical practice to meet the patient’s clinical need (such justification is not required if the new procedure is already approved for clinical use at the authors’ institution). Authors will be expected to have obtained ethics committee approval and informed patient consent for any experimental use of a novel procedure or tool where a clear clinical advantage based on clinical need was not apparent before treatment.

Informed Consent
Images related to individual participants are not allowed when allowing the individual identification.
Experimental research on vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee.
A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines (e.g. the revised Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in the UK and Directive 2010/63/EU in Europe) and/or ethical approval (including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate) must be included in the manuscript. If a study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption and the reasons for the exemption). The Editor will take into the account the animal welfare issues and reserves the right to reject a manuscript, especially if the research involves protocols that are inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of animal research. In rare cases, Editors may contact the ethics committee for further information.
Field studies and other non-experimental research on animals must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or appropriate permissions or licenses must be included in the manuscript.

Editors' Declarations and disclosure

Journal editors should behave with responsibility and manifest sensitivity to the issue of actual or perceived conflicts of interest; They must be especially rigorous in acting to avoid them.
No member of the editorial board of the EduSoft journal shall derive any personal gain, financial or materially, directly or indirectly, by reason of his/her participation on the board.
Each member of the board, if they participate in editorial decisions, at the time of their acceptance of a position on the editorial board, and annually thereafter (at the start of each term) shall sign a conflict of interest statement to indicate they have no perceived or real conflicts of interest OR provide a full disclosure of any personal conflict of interest which he/she may have.
In the event that any conflict of interest arises during their tenure as a board member the conflict must be disclosed immediately in full, in writing. Having declared the conflict of interest in writing the individual shall, on each and every occasion:
• withdraw from all participation in any discussions or voting related to the specific contract(s);
• withdraw themselves physically from any related discussions;
• stoping any potential action of influencing others regarding any associated decision making, or discussion.

Editors for the EduSoft are responsible for disclosing to the editor-in-chief any personal or financial relationship that may bias their work during the peer review process and recuse themselves when such conflicts are of sufficient. Editors should inform the editor-in-chief at the time of manuscript invitation of any potential conflict of interest with a potential author or reviewer. If an editor becomes aware of an apparent conflict of interest, he/she will inform the editor-in-chief. 

Editors and manners of managing specific conflicts

Submission by an editor
A manuscript submitted by a EduSoft editor or board member will be handled by one of the other associate editors who are not at the same institution as the submitting author. The chosen associate editor will select referees and make all decisions on the paper. Moreover, the journal's review system OJS (Open Journal System), does not allow a conflicted editor to be assigned to work to relevant information concerning their manuscript. If the case, a conflicted editor will be blocked from participating in any discussion among the editors pertaining to such manuscripts.

Submission by author from same institution as one of the editors
A manuscript submitted by an author who is at the same institution as one of the
editors will be handled by another editors who is not at that specific institution. This procedure includes continuing employment or negotiations for prospective employment at the institution of the author(s), which could affect or be affected by the peer review outcome. Another editor will select reviewers and make all decisions on the paper.

Potential conflict of interest for reviewers
The EduSoft publishing attempts to prevent conflicts of interest by not inviting reviewers from the same institutions as authors. However, previous relationships or places of employment may not be obvious, therefore the invitation to
potential reviewers, the editors will ask that they decline to review if they know, or guess the identity of the author.

You may find the following useful resources to refer to for more information on Conflict-of-Interest policies, existing codes of practices and more general good practice in relation to journal publication ethics:

• View the Guidelines published on good publication and the Code of Conduct by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).
• View the guidelines published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

 

Publication Frequency

We publish 4 issues per year, usually in March, June, September/October, December, with possible supplementary issues.

 

Open Access Policy

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

We invite you to consult the Directory of Open Access Journals website, in order to see the policy EduSoft adheres for its journals related to Open Access. EduSoft applies the DOAJ's principle of Open access for its digital content -  " Open Access is only when digital content is freely available online AND user rights and the terms of copyright are defined. (source: https://blog.doaj.org/2020/11/17/what-does-doaj-define-as-open-access/)

Paper Template for Authors

Dear Authors,

We would like to kindly remind you that adherence to the provided article template is mandatory for all submissions. The editorial team will automatically reject any article that does not comply with the prescribed formatting guidelines. This includes, but is not limited to, alignment, fonts, font sizes, and the proper inclusion and citation of figures, tables, and bibliographic references.

It is imperative that all submissions strictly follow the formatting rules to ensure consistency and professionalism in our publications. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter.

Thank you for your attention to this important detail!

https://www.edusoft.ro/brain/brain_template.doc

Publication Ethics Statement

EduSoft Journals follows to International Guidelines in the field - the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. This publication ethics and publication malpractice statement comes to resume the EduSoft journals’ editorial policies, ethics policies, but also the authors guidelines and publishing policies.

Responsibilities of Editors

Respect for Fairness and editorial independence

EduSoft editors evaluate submitted manuscripts based on their academic merit (importance, authenticity, research validity, clarity) and its relevance to the journal’s focus and scope, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political views or affiliation. The Editor-in-Chief is authorizing the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content. The journal itself take decisions on editing and publishing, no other agencies outside of can decide the journal’s activities.

Respect for Confidentiality

No information about a submitted manuscript will be disclosed by any editors and editorial staff to other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Editors and members of editorial board will make no use of unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript. Exception should make when they obtain the authors’ explicit written consent in using such information.

Decisions on publication

The editors of the journal ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication will be peer-review subjected by at least two experts in the field as reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief is sole responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published; this decision is grounded on the authenticity of the paper, its novelty and significance for the researchers and readers, the reviewers’ feedback, and aspects related to copyright infringement and plagiarism and other legal matters.

Co-working in investigations of possible research misconduct

Editors, together with the academic community, will take necessary measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. No matter the time of publication, if an unethical publishing behavior will be discovered years after publication, we will take action. EduSoft editors use and follow the COPE guidelines, especially the Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspicions of research misconduct. COPE flowcharts offer a step-by-step process, for practical use, on handling different aspects of publication ethics issues.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Value added to editorial decisions

After texts are analyzed to see if they match the disciplinary and thematic orientation of the publication's editorial quality standards of EduSoft publications, manuscripts are sent to two reviewers selected from the Board of Reviewers of EduSoft Publishing House, whose scientific activity and expertise corresponds most with the proposed manuscript. After texts are analyzed from the scientific point of view, reviewers communicate their decision and the observations/requirements (if any) as a condition of publication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript they evaluate. The reviewers must have a rich expertise and experience to be chosen as a referent, certified through publications, conferences, grants, etc.

Acting Prompt

Any invited peer reviewer who considers unqualified to review a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be rather impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review. Based on its decline, the editor will proceed to contact alternative reviewers.

Respecting Confidentiality

The manuscripts received for review are subject of confidentiality, being considered confidential documents and must be treated as such; the reviewers should not discuss these documents with others except if authorized by the Editor-in-Chief. This statement applies also to invited peer reviewers who declined the review invitation.

Evaluating with objectivity

Any evaluation should be conducted objectively. There are expected clear observations with supporting arguments, in order for the authors to be able to use any feedback for improving their manuscript.

Acknowledgement of used sources

Peer reviewers are invited to identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. There must be a direct connection between the ideas and the sources used to support the argumentation, but not appropriately quoted in the references chapter or text. The similarity with other online sources must be notified by the reviewer to the editor in charge, if the peer reviewer identifies such issue.

Responsibilities of Authors

Integrity and transparency in reporting data

After submitting an original manuscript, the authors could be asked to provide the editors with many information on the data gathering or any other report that grounded the research submitted for evaluation. The authors should provide the editors with all the required information that the editorial team could use in order to finish the evaluation and give the final decision.  This action goes to support a transparency in publication, making sure there will not be published fraudulent works.

Originality check and plagiarism

Authors should submit only entirely original works. Where the authors used the work and/or words of other authors, they must ensure that they appropriately cited the source. EduSoft expresses zero tolerance to plagiarism, but we accepted at most 10% similarity with other sources, which are due to specific denominations, internationally accepted nomenclatures, and/or expression that are common knowledge in the field.  The articles that were proven to have plagiarism elements will automatically be rejected from publication. If the article exceeds the accepted quota of similarity, but it is not proved to be plagiarized, the editor could send the article back to the authors, to motivate the identified similarities, and eventually to correct possible negligence.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication

Where a manuscript describes essentially the same research it should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. In these regards, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal, as we consider that submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable publishing behaviour. EduSoft agrees to the secondary publication, in special cases, where the second publication comes with improvements or additional content of novelty. This second publication must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document, with the condition for the primary reference to be cited in the secondary publication.

Authorship of the manuscript/ Contributorship

EduSoft adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations related to authorship.  ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria: 1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND 2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND 3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND 4) 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 (ICMJE: Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2022). These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. In the group of authors, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work, in order to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done. Also, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

At the earliest stage possible, authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Prior submission, author will be asked to certify that: 1) All forms of financial support, including pharmaceutical company support (if the case), are acknowledged in the author’s contribution; 2) Any commercial or financial involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the contribution are disclosed in a covering letter accompanying the contribution and all such potential conflicts of interest will be discussed with the Editor as to whether disclosure of this information with the published contribution is to be made in the journal; 3). That the author/s have not signed an agreement with any sponsor of the research reported in the contribution that prevents them from publishing both positive and negative results or that forbids you from publishing this research without the prior approval of the sponsor; 4) That they have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to see whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.

Acknowledgement of sources

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged are included above. When submitting the manuscript, author must supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review. Third party submissions - Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Based on previous editorial experience, where appropriate, EduSoft reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

Hazards and human or animal subjects

If the research involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript. Furthermore, if the research involved the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them. The manuscript should contain a statement in accordance with the context. In direct situation of research on human subjects, authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants. In case of minor human subjects involved in the research, the authors must provide the editors with the consent of the caregivers of the minor subjects.

Peer review process

EduSoft accepts papers for publication only based on a previous peer review process, in which authors are actively involved, by responding on the reviewers’ feedback on their manuscript. The full cooperation and responsiveness of the authors in relationship with the editors is mandatory. In case of requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, patient consents and copyright permissions the authors should act promptly and provide the editor with the information requested. When "revisions required" decision is sent to the authors, they should respond to the reviewers’ comments in a clear manner, point by point, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal by the deadline given.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

Ethical evaluation and identification of, and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

EduSoft is member of PILA and some journals are individual member of COPE. EduSoft Publishing fully adheres to the ethical standards of Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), even for the journals that are not yet members. Ethical evaluation follows two directions, namely Editorial Ethics and Research Ethics. Regarding Editorial Ethics, these are analyzed suspicions of plagiarism and the improper award of authorship (including authors who contributed to the text or research and the exclusion of authors who have contributed). They also track potential conflicts of interest that occurred after publication by EduSoft, the rights to reproduce images, text or republication rights fragments where appropriate. The aim is to avoid the request for double financing when the manuscript published through public financing. Each journal where ethical misconduct was identified and submitted for an analysis keeps a record for such issues, and a selection of cases which can be useful for better understanding the ethical and editorial decision to be made by reviewers, authors, editors, were listed on a dedicated page.  In case of any suspicion of research misconduct a peer process is initiated by EduSoft for performing inquiries and investigations of possible research misconduct; This process goes deeply into the specific questioned research and the research record, in order to verify that the research respects the principle of integrity, confidentiality, fairness and respect for human dignity - especially where the research involves human subjects.

Open access to journal content

The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility to all its readers using an open access system. 

Ethics & co-responsibility

EduSoft is committed to support and increase the integrity of the materials we publish and we consider value of academic publishing relies on everyone involved behaving responsibly. We believe in the ethical meaning of all research undergone in order to improve the knowledges in the researched field, therefore we discuss about trust in the results of the researchers. In order to justify the trust of the academic community in the results of the research, a series of ethical rules target the honesty of the researcher:

• honesty and fairness in elaborating research proposals, in the process of research and reporting the results obtained;

• accuracy and fairness in presenting the contributions of each author to the research proposal and the research reports – including obtaining data, where this contribution is really significant;

• spirit of collegiality, accompanied by the availability towards communication and sharing results, but where appropriate, also in cases specific to the research institution and the resources destined for research;

• disclosure and avoidance of potential conflicts of interest;

• the protection of the participants in the research;

• the care for the animals used in the research;

• assuming the mutual responsibility of the research team coordinator and researchers, but also of the coordinator and the researcher in training – MA, PhD student, etc. (ORI, n.d.)

The above points are only intended to give a broad overview and are not exhaustive. EduSoft encourages its authors and editors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website. 

We believe deeply in maintaining an accurate academic record and follows COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

EduSoft is paying significant attention to issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication. We do our best to protect the rights of the authors who publish with us; therefore, we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. For us, both the authors and the journal reputation are equally important, we do our best to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Articles submitted for evaluation may be checked with similarity-checking software. In case of an article is found to have plagiarised other work/s or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, EduSoft reserves the right to take action. In such cases, the action is including, but not limited to: publishing a correction on the web address of the article or/and within the PDF version of the article; retracting the article from both website and data bases the article was indexed in; initiating communication with the representative in charge of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies.

EduSoft shows no tolerance to fraudulent activities; these might include: manipulating the peer review process and the use of submission farms (not legitimate third-party submission agencies). Where we have suspicions or evidence of such activities, unpublished contributions will be automatically withdrawn from evaluation process, regardless the evaluation stage, and will be disqualified from further consideration in the journal. As member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), where is the case of on a published paper resulted from any fraudulent activities, EduSoft will do all the necessary actions for the paper to be re-reviewed, in accordance with guidance from the COPE. As follow-up of such intervention, the editorial decision will be made based on the re-reviews and this may result in correcting the academic record.  For such matters, EduSoft reserves the right to inform the relevant institutions or affiliations.

EduSoft is committed to and provides support for:

• the journal editors to enjoy their editorial independence;

• the journal editors to run their journals ethically and transparently;

• the academic record to be accurate and transparent (where the case, publishing corrections and retractions)

Authors should ensure that:

• they submit an original work which is written by them only

• they didn’t previously publish their work and they submitted their work only to our journal 

• in case of material is taken from other sources the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained (including their own published writing)

• their work does not bring any infringements on any rights of others (including privacy rights and intellectual property rights)

• their data used in their work is true and not manipulated

• they own the data used in their work or that they have permission to use data reproduced in their paper

• they clearly state any real or apparent conflicting or competing interest on submission of their paper (this would include funding information)

• they adhere to all research ethics guidelines of their research area, especially where human or animal subjects are involved

• they act proactively and contact the Editor to identify and correct any material errors upon discovery, whether prior or subsequent to publication of their work

• they expose accurately the authorship of the paper, by ensuring that: all individuals credited as authors participated in the actual authorship of the work; all who participated are credited and have given consent for publication; all the contributors who agreed to be mentioned in the work as contributors are listed

• they are transparent and well-intended – in communication with the editor on its work, prior publication.

Reviewers must:

• respect and maintain the confidentiality of the review process

• urgently alert their journal editor of any real or potential competing interest that could affect the impartiality of their reviewing and decline to review where appropriate

• conduct themselves fairly and impartially

Editors should:

• respect, maintain and promote consistent ethical policies for their journals

• act to enforce those policies as needed in a fair and consistent manner

• ensure the confidentiality of the review process

• exercise the highest standards of personal integrity in their work as editor of the journal

• work with authors, reviewers, and Editorial Board members as necessary to ensure they are sufficiently advised regarding their journals’ ethics and publishing policies

Ethical Guidelines Resources

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) - http://publicationethics.org/

• American Educational Research Association (AERA) - http://www.aera.net/Portals/38/docs/About_AERA/CodeOfEthics(1).pdf

• American Political Science Association (APSA) - http://www.apsanet.org/RESOURCES/For-Faculty/Ethics

• American Psychological Association (APA) - http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

• British Educational Research Association (BERA) -  https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers

• Council of Science Editors (CSE)  - http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3331

• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) - http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) - http://ethics.od.nih.gov/procedures.htm#protocol

• World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) - http://www.wame.org/policies-and-resources

• World Medical Association (WMA) - http://www.wma.net/en/20activities/10ethics/index.htm

• Guidelines for managing the relationships between society-owned journals, their society, and publishers - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/guidelines-managing-relationships-between-society-owned-journals-their-society

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing -https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing

• Journals’ Best Practices for ensuring consent for publishing medical case reports: guidance from COPE - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/journals%E2%80%99-best-practices-ensuring-consent-publishing-medical-case-reports

• Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/sharing-information-among-editors-chief-regarding-possible-misconduct

• Text recycling guidelines for editors - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/text-recycling-guidelines-editors-0

• A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/short-guide-ethical-editing-new-editors

• Guidance for Editors: research, audit and service evaluations- https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/guidance-editors-research-audit-and-service-evaluations

• Ethical Guidelines for peer reviewers (English version) - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers

• Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity cases: guidance COPE - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/cooperation-between-research-institutions-and-journals-research-integrity

• Guidelines for the Board of Directors of Learned Society Journals - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/guidelines-board-directors-learned-society-journals

• How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/how-handle-authorship-disputesa-guide-new-researchers

• Guidelines for retracting articles - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/guidelines-retracting-articles

• Human research: Helsinki Declaration as revised in 2013

• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: PRISMA guidelines (for protocols, see the PRISMA-P guidelines)

• Case reports: the CARE case report guidelines

• Clinical trials: CONSORT (for protocols, see the SPIRIT guidance)

• Animal studies: ARRIVE and Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

Publishing Policies