Research and Publication Ethics Regulationsp

Established in June 19, 2008.
Revised in February 25, 2010.
Revised in June 12, 2014.
Revised in March 24, 2020.
Revised in December 23, 2021.

Article 1 (Scope) Code of Research Ethics fundamentally aims to establish research ethics and to prevent research misconduct in members of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (Society).

Article 2 (Agreement to code of research ethics) New members of the Society should agree to comply with the code of research ethics. The existing members should be considered to agree to the compliance of the code of research ethics as soon as the code is effective.

In manuscripts, any knowledge and findings that are originated to the authors should not be provided as if their own. References should be given when published data or information has been cited. In addition, if you quote the published academic materials, the source should be clearly disclosed, and you must pledge to comply with the code of research ethics when submitting the paper.
When evaluating acceptance or rejection of the submitted manuscripts, Editor-in-Chief should be objective based upon the quality of the manuscripts and submission policies only, regardless of any bias or personal relationship. 3. Reviewers are
Reviewers are responsible for evaluation of the manuscripts assigned by Editor- in- Chief within due date and then the results are sent back to Editor-in-Chief. If the assigned manuscripts are not the area of expertise for reviewers, they should not hesitate to inform to Editor- in- Chief.
Reviewers should be confidential with respect to any content of the manuscripts. Reviewers should not cite the information in the manuscript without authors’ permission prior to publication of the manuscripts.

Article 3 (Ethics committee and the term)

Research ethics committee (ethics committee) deliberates various ethics matters of the Society as well as misconduct against code of research ethics. Based upon the result of the deliberation, the committee determines necessary actions to be taken.
Ethics committee consists of maximum 5 members including an Editor-in-Chief.
The director of ethics committee becomes the Editor- in- Chief. The members of the committee are appointed by the president of the Society with recommendation from the director of the committee.
When the members of ethics committee are the subjects of deliberation, eligibility as a member of ethics committee will be deprived for the deliberation.
The term of committee members is 2 years but should be the same with the term of board of directors.
When anybody in the members is missed, the replacement should be appointed immediately and its term should be continued until the end of the remaining period.

Article 4 (Function of ethics committee)

Deliberation of misconduct against code of research ethics and establishment of policies as needed
Deliberation and decision of the filed cases within 60 days from the date of registration
Proclamation of disciplinary actions regarding the members of the filed cases such as expulsion, suspension of qualification, and public apologies
The research ethics guidelines of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, Korean Council of Science Editors, and the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors should be notified so that the violations in research or publication process are not occurred, and the prior education associated with the research ethics regulation should be conducted.

Article 5 (Meeting of ethics committee)

The director calls the committee meeting and becomes a chair of the meeting.
The chair should call the meeting when requested by a president or more than 3 committee members at least.
Unless specified, the meeting is held when two- thirds of the registered committee members attend and decision is made when two- thirds of the attendees are in agreement.
The chair should send meeting agendas and needs to each committee member in a written form at least 7 days prior to the date of the meeting.
The meeting and minutes of meetings should not be disclosed. However, if necessary, minutes of meetings can be disclosed based on the decision made by the committee.

Article 6 (The subjects of research misconduct) Dissertations and submitted and published manuscripts in journals are the subjects of research misconduct. The research performed by research institutes are also treated based upon manuscripts.

Article 7 (Authorship) An author should meet the following criteria for authorship:

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.

Article 8 (Falsification and fabrication) Falsification and fabrication are roughly defined as behaviors of altering data, numerical values, and figures used in the study that are intentionally different from the truth.

Falsification is defined as behaviors of creating false data and results which don’t exist.
Fabrication is defined as behaviors of distorting the content of studies and results by falsifying, altering, and deleting data artificially and intentionally.

Article 9 (Plagiarism) Plagiarism is defined as behaviors of utilizing academic ideas, opinions, expressions, and study results that have been already published through all kinds of mass media in letters such as journals, manuscripts presented in conferences, research reports, Master’s and Ph.D. dissertations, books, magazines, and internet, without any permission or references provided.

Self-plagiarism, plagiarizing previous studies performed by the same authors, is also considered as plagiarism.
However, providing the academic knowledge and study results without references that are universally admitted are not considered as plagiarism.

Article 10 (Duplicate submission and publication)

Manuscripts that have been already published in other journals are not allowed to submit and publish in duplicate in the journal.
The manuscripts presented in conferences, dissertations, and study reports closed in public are allowed to publish in the journal. In the case, however, references should be provided.
Submission and publication of the same manuscripts in different journals are prohibited.
The prevention of the redundant publication or the plagiarism through a crosscheck, and the originality of an academic journal should be secured.

Article 11 (References)

It should be clearly stated when the original manuscripts presented in conferences or its revised and modified version are submitted./li>
It should be clearly stated when the original study reports or its revised and modified version are submitted.
When the original Master’s or Ph.D. dissertations or its revised and modified version are submitted, the authors of the dissertations should be included in the manuscripts.
When citing disclosed academic information, it should be written as accurate as possible. References should be provided unless the information is admitted as common sense.

Article 12 (Decision of research misconduct)

If any research misconduct cases are reported from the members of the Society and inside and outside of the Society, Editor-in-Chief in charge should confirm reliability of the report by gathering all the information associated with the reported case.
When confirming reliability of the report, Editor-in-Chief presumes the reported case as the meeting agenda of the ethics committee and then submits the materials of deliberation.
Regarding the presumed agenda, the chair of the ethics committee provides an opportunity of explanation to the relevant researcher in documents prior to deliberation.
The ethics committee makes decision with respect to research misconduct when more than two-thirds of committee members attend the meeting and more than two- thirds of the attended committee members are in agreement at the same time. The result is informed to the president of the Society.
The president of the Society notifies the decision from the research ethics committee and the reasons to the relevant researcher of the reported case.

Article 13 (Objections)

If the researcher who is considered to be involved in research misconduct is not agreement with the decision and the reasons made by the ethics committee, the researcher can make only one objection within a month from the notification date in documents.
The chair of the ethics committee immediately evaluates validity of the objection and confirms the decision again. The case undergoes re-deliberation within 2 weeks and the result is notified to the president of the Society.
The president of the Society notifies the decision from the research ethics committee and the reasons regarding re-deliberation to the relevant researcher of the reported case.

Article 14 (Confidentiality)

The identity of the person who reported research misconduct should be kept confidential.
The identity of the relevant researcher of the reported case should be kept confidential until the final decision is made or when the case is decided as non-misconduct.

Article 15 (Result handling)

If the literature is currently under review and has slight duplication, notify the position of the academic journal to the author, and the review should be proceeded after requiring the addition and quotation of the original paper that did not quote and removing the duplicated materials.
If the literature is currently under review and has significant duplication, notify to the duty author and demand an explanation. If the author’s response is sufficient and reasonable, inform to all authors and treat as ‘not published’. If there is no response, or the author’s response is insufficient and unreasonable, treat as ‘not published’, and discuss about additional disciplinary.
If the literature has already been published and has a slight duplication, notify the position of the academic journal to the author, and consult with the author about the addition of the original paper that did not quote and the modification of the paper with the quotation, etc.
If the literature has already been published and has significant duplication, notify to the duty author and demand an explanation. If the author’s response is sufficient and reasonable, retract the publication of the paper. If there is no response, or the author’s response is insufficient and unreasonable, treat as ‘not published’, and discuss about additional disciplinary.

Article 16 (Ethics of research on humans and animals)

In order to conduct research with human or animal subjects, the subjects' safety, and welfare must be ensured.
The manuscripts related to the human subjects must have been approved in advance by the author's Institutional Review Board(IRB)
The manuscripts related to the animal subjects must have been approved in advance by the authors’ Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
If necessary, the ethics committee may request a copy of the document to resolve the questions about IRB · IACUC approval and its related issues.

Supplementary provision The code is effective from December 23, 2021.