Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

APIS is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. The journal follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and expects all participants in the publication process — authors, reviewers, and editors — to adhere to these standards.

Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that their submissions:

• present original work that has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal
• are based on accurate data and transparent methodology, allowing reproducibility where applicable
• properly acknowledge the work of others through appropriate citation
• avoid plagiarism, data fabrication, and data falsification
• disclose all sources of funding and any potential conflicts of interest

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all listed co-authors have significantly contributed to the work and have approved the final manuscript.

Research Integrity

All studies must be conducted in accordance with accepted scientific principles. Methods and materials should be described in sufficient detail to allow replication.

Where applicable, authors must ensure that appropriate ethical approvals (e.g., animal welfare or human subject research) have been obtained.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Reviewers must:

• evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and confidentially
• provide constructive and evidence-based feedback
• disclose any conflicts of interest before accepting a review
• decline to review manuscripts outside their area of expertise

Reviewers must not use unpublished material disclosed in a manuscript for their own research.

Editors’ Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for:

• making publication decisions based on scientific merit, originality, and relevance
• ensuring a fair and unbiased peer review process
• maintaining confidentiality of submissions and reviewer identities
• avoiding conflicts of interest

Editorial decisions are independent of financial considerations or external influence.

Peer Review and Transparency

APIS operates a double-blind peer review system for research articles. Non–peer-reviewed content (such as editorials, practice reports, and historical notes) is clearly distinguished and evaluated internally by the editorial team.

Citation Ethics

Authors must cite the original source of an idea, result, method, observation, or data whenever possible.

Secondary or chain citation is not acceptable as a substitute for consulting and citing the original work. If an author learns about a finding through another publication, the original cited work must be consulted and cited directly, provided it is accessible.

Authors should not cite a secondary source merely because it mentioned or summarized earlier work. Proper citation must give credit to the researcher or source responsible for the original contribution.

Secondary citation may be used only in exceptional cases where the original source is unavailable, inaccessible, or written in a form that cannot reasonably be verified. In such cases, the citation must clearly indicate that the information is cited through a secondary source.

Citation practices must be accurate, relevant, and fair. Inappropriate citation practices, including excessive self-citation, citation padding, unrelated citations, and misleading attribution, are not acceptable.

Misconduct and Corrections

In cases of suspected misconduct (including plagiarism, data manipulation, or ethical violations), the journal will investigate in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Where necessary, the journal may publish corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern.

Integrity of Scientific Communication

All submissions must maintain scientific objectivity and must not contain misleading or unsupported claims.