Publication ethics and malpractice statement

 A) Authors

1. Publication and authorship:

• The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.

 • Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

• Authors should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.

 • Authors should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized1, and has not been published elsewhere.

• Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.

• The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.

• Authors must list all references used in/for the article and should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.

 • Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest2 should be disclosed.

2. Author’s responsibility:

• Only people who contributed significantly to the research and/or article can be listed as ‘author’. People who contributed in a lesser role must be acknowledged as ‘contributor’.

• Authors are obliged to participate in peer review process and should follow publisher’s requirements.

 • Authors should inform the editor if they withdraw their work from review or choose not to respond to reviewers comment after receiving a conditional acceptance.

 • Authors should respond to reviewers’ comments in a professional and timely manner.

• Authors should use appropriate methods of data analysis and display and should state that all data in article are real and authentic.

 • Authors should check their publications carefully at all stages to ensure methods and findings are reported accurately. Authors should carefully check calculations, data presentations, typescripts/submissions and proofs.

 • Authors should respond appropriately to post-publication comments and published correspondence. They should attempt to answer correspondents’ questions and supply clarification or additional details where needed.

 • Authors should alert the editor promptly if they discover an error in any submitted, accepted or published work. Authors should cooperate with editors in issuing corrections or retractions when required.

 • Authors should work with the editor or publisher to correct their work promptly if errors or omissions are discovered after publication.

 B) Peer reviewer/ responsibility of reviewers

• The reviewers only agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess in a timely manner.

• In reviewing an article they respect the confidentiality of process and the rights of those who submitted the articles. • The reviewers will not use any information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage or to disadvantage or discredit others.

 • The reviewers should not have any conflict of interest and will declare all potential conflicting interests.

 • They will not influenced by the origins of a manuscript, by the nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, or by commercial considerations.

 • The reviewers will be objective and constructive in their reviews, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory and from making libelous or derogatory personal comments.

 • They undertake to carry out their fair share of reviewing and in a timely manner.

• They will provide journals with personal and professional information that is accurate and a true representation of their expertise.

 C) Editorial Responsibilities

 • The editors are accountable and take their responsibility for everything they publish and editor-in-chief has authority to reject or accept an article.

• The editor/s will make fair and unbiased decisions and should not be involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest whether they reject or accept the article.

 • The editor/s will guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct.

 • The Editor/s will protect reviewers’ identities. However, if reviewers wish to disclose their names, this will be permitted

• The editor-in-chief will pursue reviewer and editorial misconduct.

D) Ethical Consideration for human and animal subjects

1) If human subjects are used then they have to be registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials website (www.irct.ir) or the related country and ethical committee of the research center or University where the study was carried out.

2) Research with human subjects should be conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the WMA Declaration of Helsinki-Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (2008) http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html

3) The submitted manuscripts must transparently state this in their methods and materials including a statement outlining whether the study has been independently reviewed and approved by an ethical board.

4) Moreover, where human subjects are used, the informed consent explaining the nature of the procedure and possible discomforts and risks should be obtained from all patients who participated in the experimental investigation and subjects should be able to freely reject participation.

5) If animals are used, a statement protocol approval by the institutional animal care and use committee must be included. Methods section must clearly show that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain and/or distress, for example the administration of local anesthetics or general anesthesia. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) and in accordance with local laws and regulations governed within that country or with the guidelines laid down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures.

 E) Publishing ethics issues

• The editorial board will monitor and safeguard the publishing ethics of the journal

• The guidelines for retracting articles are as follows: - Articles that are seriously unreliable will be retracted. Redundant articles (published in other journals) will be retracted. Minor errors or authorship changes will not lead to retraction but require a correction notice. - Notices of retraction will clearly state the reason and the retracted article will be clearly marked in all electronic versions of the journal, and a retraction notice will be published in the print copy of the journal.

• The journal will not compromise intellectual or ethical standards in favor of the business needs of the journal

• The editorial board will maintain the integrity of the academic record of the journal

 • The editorial board will always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

• No plagiarism and no fraudulent data will be tolerated in this journal.

 Notes:

 1) Plagiarism

We accept all terms and conditions of COPE about plagiarism and in case, any attempt of plagiarism is brought to our attention accompanied with convincing evidence, we act based on flowcharts and workflows determined in COPE.

2) Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure

 Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed. The disclosure of a potential conflict of interest does not necessarily exclude an article from consideration for publication; the goal of disclosure is transparency.

 Any existing financial arrangements between an author and a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or between the author and any company or organization sponsoring the research reported in the submitted manuscript should be brought to the attention of the Editor at manuscript submission.

All authors must declare all sources of funding for research reported in their manuscript and report all potential conflicts of interest in separate footnotes on the manuscript title page. If an author has no conflicts of interest, the footnote should list the author's name, followed by "no conflicts of interest".

Potential conflicts of interest include:

1. Having a close relative or a professional associate with financial interest in the research outcome.

 2. Serving as an officer, director, member, owner, trustee, or employee of an or as an expert witness, advisor, consultant, or public advocate (with or without compensation) on behalf of an organization with a financial interest in the outcome;

3. Receiving support, including grants, contracts or subcontracts, fellowships, consulting agreements, or gifts (eg, chemicals, experimental diets, trips) with a company or organization having a financial interest in the outcome at present, during the time the research was conducted, the near past and the near future.

Nutrition and Food Sciences Research retains the right to reject any manuscript on the basis of unethical conduct of either human or animal studies.