Publication Ethics

At Plant and Environment, we strongly uphold publication ethics. A peer-reviewed article, once published, is a key component in curating a coherent and respectable knowledge network. It directly reflects the quality of work of the authors and their respective institutions. The scientific method is embodied in the form of peer-reviewed articles.

Plant and Environment is dedicated to excellence in scholarly publishing and adheres to COPE guidelines, following COPE’s “Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing”. We recommend that reviewers follow COPE’s “Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers”. For ethically acceptable editing, our editors adhere to COPE’s “Guidelines for Ethical Editing” and “Editing Peer Review”. Additionally, we follow COPE guidance on “Editorial Board Participation” for the advice and participation of editorial advisory board members.

COPE Links:

“Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing”: Link
“Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers”: Link
“Guidelines for Ethical Editing”: Link
“Editing Peer Reviews”: Link
“Editorial Board Participation”: Link

It is essential to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, and the publisher.

Publication decisions The editor of Plant and Environment is responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles will be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by legal requirements regarding copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play An editor will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

Confidentiality The editor and editorial staff of Plant and Environment will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest All authors, reviewers, editors, editorial advisory board members, and the publisher are required to declare any conflicts of interest. All complaints related to conflicts of interest are addressed in light of the COPE guidelines by the Complaint Redressal & Appellate Committee. Plant and Environment entertains such complaints before, during, and after the publication of the article. COPE link.

Data Sharing & Reproducibility Plant and Environment encourages authors to share raw data where possible. We also encourage authors to use reporting guidelines, register clinical trials, and adhere to standard ethical practices in their discipline. The journal follows COPE guidance on data sharing and reproducibility, available here.

Ethical Oversight Plant and Environment’s policy on ethical oversight includes, but is not limited to, policies on consent to publication, research involving vulnerable populations, the ethical conduct of research using animals and human subjects, handling confidential data, and ethical business/marketing practices. The journal ensures that the research described in articles follows standard ethical practices and COPE guidelines, available here.

Intellectual Property Plant and Environment has clearly defined policies on intellectual property, including copyright and publication licenses. The journal accepts pre-prints for publication after a proper peer review process. Plant and Environment does not allow plagiarized results for publication, permitting a similarity of less than 20% for parts of the manuscript other than results. The journal follows COPE guidance on intellectual property policies, available here.

Post-Production Discussion & Corrections Plant and Environment is open to and accepts discussions and critiques of articles published in the journal. We are open to correspondence regarding correction, revision, and retraction of articles after publication, if justified. The journal follows COPE guidance on post-production discussion, available here.

Duties of Reviewers Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and may also help the author improve the paper through editorial communication. Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review a manuscript or knows that timely review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse themselves from the review process. Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents and not shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation or argument has been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reviewers should also alert the editor to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Author’s Liabilities Corresponding Author’s Responsibilities: The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with Plant and Environment and managing communication between co-authors. Before submission, the corresponding author ensures that all authors are included in the author list, the order has been agreed upon by all authors, and all authors are aware of the paper's submission. After acceptance, the proof is sent to the corresponding author, who deals with Plant and Environment on behalf of all co-authors. The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof, ensuring that co-author names are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Confidential Process: Plant and Environment treats submitted manuscripts and all communications with authors and referees as confidential. Authors must also treat communications with the journal as confidential and not publicize correspondence, referee reports, or other confidential materials without prior permission from the editorial office.

Reporting Standards: Authors of original research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately, and the paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention: Authors are asked to provide raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable, and to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism: Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, it should be appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of others' work must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All significant contributors should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included, and that all co-authors have approved the final version and agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects: If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might influence the results or interpretation. All sources of financial support should be disclosed.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate to retract or correct the paper.

Referee Suggestions: Authors are welcome to suggest suitable independent referees when submitting manuscripts, but these suggestions may not be used by the editorial office. Authors may also request the exclusion of a few individuals or laboratories. The editorial office considers such requests sympathetically but the decision of the Editorial Board Member on the choice of referees is final.

Complaints & Appeals: Plant and Environment has a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, and/or its editorial advisory board members. All complaints and appeals are sent to the “Complaint Redressal & Appellate Committee”, which aims to resolve the issue within four weeks of receiving the complaint/appeal. All complaints and appeals are addressed in light of COPE guidance, available here.

Composition of Complaint Redressal & Appellate Committee: