Developing a publishing ethics policy for your journal

• that the work has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis)
  
• that the work is not under consideration elsewhere
• that copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication
• that the publication has been approved by all co-authors and responsible authorities at the institute or organization where the work has been carried out
  

For example:

• are translations of previously published articles acceptable?
  
• are extended versions of conference proceedings acceptable?
  

In these cases the author is expected to give full disclosure for transparency reasons but it could also be necessary for the author to seek approval from the original publisher.

It should also be noted that different disciplines have different expectations. When authors cross over to other disciplines, make sure they are aware of the explicit policies of the journal in order to manage their expectations. Please note there are no universally agreed rules or regulations.

Although there is no universal definition of what constitutes authorship it is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines ^_a,b:

1. made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; 
2. drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
3.  approved the version to be published; and
4. agree 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.

^{Based on/adapted from:}

^{a. ICMJE, Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html}

^{b. Transparency in authors’ contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication, McNutt at all, PNAS February 27, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715374115}

Peer review is fundamental in ensuring the integrity of the scientific publication process and can flag potential misconduct at an early stage.

COPE has developed ethical guidelines for peer reviewers which can be used as a reference for providing guidance to peer reviewers.

For more information see COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.

Certain Abstracting & Indexing services (notably PubMed) insist on compliance with the ethical requirements Conflict of Interest, Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent and require authors to declare compliance in their articles.

Springer has designed instructions for authors to declare compliance in their articles (see the topic Publishing Ethics in the journal author helpdesk).