Publication Ethics
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. All individuals involved in the journal publishing process—including authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff—are required to comply with the Core Practices as defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Our publishing operations are conducted in strict accordance with COPE’s Ethical Guidelines and are further guided by several internationally recognized frameworks. These include the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, as well as the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing jointly endorsed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.
We place utmost importance on the confidentiality and ethical treatment of author information. All personal data provided during submission and review are handled with care and are disclosed only when legally mandated or essential to the publishing process. To safeguard the integrity and impartiality of publication, we actively monitor and manage potential conflicts of interest among all participants.
For research involving human subjects, authors must include an ethical approval reference number issued by an accredited ethics committee. Furthermore, a written Informed Consent Statement must be acquired from all participants, specifying the intent of publication and its potential implications. In cases involving vulnerable populations, consent must be secured from a legally authorized representative. Detailed guidelines regarding studies with human participants or animals can be found in our dedicated policy documents “Research Involving Humans” and “Research Involving Animals”.
We take all forms of academic misconduct seriously. Suspected violations—such as plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, or authorship misrepresentation—may be reported by any member of the academic community. All allegations will be promptly addressed following COPE’s complaint handling workflow. Concerns can be submitted via email to JOR@chalcogen.ro.
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL enforces a zero-tolerance stance toward ethical breaches. A designated ethics panel will thoroughly investigate any claims of misconduct. Should violations be substantiated, consequences may include immediate rejection of the manuscript, notification of all authors, and, if applicable, public retraction of published articles. Authors retain the right to appeal within 30 days of receiving the ethics decision by writing to JOR@chalcogen.ro.
Erratum, Withdrawal & Retraction Policy
Erratum
All publisher-introduced changes are highlighted to authors at the proof stage and any errors are ideally identified by authors and corrected by the publisher before the final publication. For any errors in published articles discovered by readers, authors, editors, et al., please contact the journal editor.
It should be noted that errors made by editors are called erratum, and errors made by authors are called corrigendum. However, erratum and corrigendum have no influence on the research logic and the correctness of the results.
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL will only issue an erratum or corrigendum for a published article after receiving approval and instructions from the editor.
Withdrawal
If authors change their mind and decide not to pursue publication of their paper with the journal, they must write a letter addressed to the journal editors, explaining the reason(s) of the submission withdrawal. Consent of all co-authors must be obtained for author-initiated submission withdrawal. The decision to withdraw a submission will eventually rest with the journal editors, including the Editor-in-Chief.
It is relatively more difficult to withdraw a paper that has been processed for peer review or is undergoing peer review compared with withdrawing a new submission because the editors and reviewers have expended much time and energy in the editorial process and manuscript evaluation, respectively. To withdraw a paper that has been processed for peer review, authors should clearly argue their case on scientific reasons; only valid and sound reasons will be accepted. Authors will also be required to pay a penalty fee (euros 500). Authors are advised to keep in mind that an article should only be withdrawn if the authors detect significant errors or flaws, as it is not an acceptable practice to withdraw an article after it has been sent for peer review. Once the approval for submission withdrawal is granted, the submission will be removed from the journal’s online submission system, and a confirmation email of submission withdrawal will be sent to the authors. The withdrawal process is considered to be complete once authors receive the confirmation of withdrawal from the journal’s editorial office.
Submission withdrawal is also possible for accepted papers that have not been formally published, including newly accepted papers and articles in press.
The withdrawal of an accepted paper and article in press is usually editor-initiated. The reasons for withdrawing an accepted paper and article in press are similar to those of retracting a published article (see “Retraction”), and at this stage the article will not be arranged for article production or finalization. A panel will be organized to investigate misconduct allegations. If the allegations are proven true with supporting evidence, the accepted paper or article in press will be marked for withdrawal, and any appeals regarding the panel’s decision will have to be made to the publisher within 14 days of the decision date. In the absence of an appeal from the authors within the 14 days, the submission will be removed from the journal’s online submission system, and a confirmation email of submission withdrawal will be sent to the authors.
Retraction
Readers can contact the editorial office to report allegations of possible academic misconduct, i.e., ethical violations in research and publication regardless of the severity of these issues. Misconducts and violations include plagiarism, falsification of research, data fabrication, submitting manuscripts of others as one’s own, submission of the same manuscript to different publication venues at the same time, and breached intellectual property rights. Once the suspected misconduct and ethical violation is brought to the attention of the publisher, the journal editors will organize an investigation and authors are required to cooperate in the investigation. A panel will be organized to investigate the allegations. If the allegations are proven true with supporting evidence, the published article will be marked for retraction both in HTML and PDF, and a notification email regarding the panel’s decision will be sent to all authors of the work. Any appeals regarding the panel’s decision will have to be made to the publisher within 14 days of the decision date. In the absence of an appeal from the authors within the 14 days, a confirmation email of article retraction will be sent to the authors.
Authors should note that the paid Article Processing Charges will not be refunded if their article is retracted or withdrawn on the grounds of academic misconduct and ethical violation in research and publication.
Disclaimer
- For authors: Once submitting a manuscript, It means that you have be aware of all publishing policies & ethics, and will strictly abide by them.
- For reviewers: Once accepting the request to become a reviewer, it means that you must be aware of the peer review policies, and proactively disclose of all potential conflicts of interest, and guarantee that an article will be judged fairly and objectively.
- For publisher: This journal is not liable to the statements, perspectives, and opinions contained in the published articles. The appearance of advertisements in the journal shall not be construed as a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised and/or the safety thereof. This journal and the Publisher disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in the articles or advertisements.
Copyright and License
The authors shall retain the copyright of their work but allow the Publisher to publish, copy, distribute, and convey the work.
All articles published by Journal of Ovonic Research are licensed under the Creative Commons International Licenses. Without any explicit request from the corresponding author during submission stage, a paper will be published under the Deed - Attribution 4.0 International - Creative Commons by default. The authors who would like to publish their work under a non-commercial license, i.e. Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International - Creative Commons, they should express explicit request during submission stage. Please include statement below in the Comments for the Editor column on the submission page:
The contributors or authors for this submission entitled “[MANUSCRIPT TITLE]”, i.e. [NAMES of ALL AUTHORS], have given their consents to alter the Creative Commons license to *CC BY-NC 4.0* under which this submission will be published in Journal of Ovonic Research.
Advertising Policy
All advertisements are subject to approval to the Publisher. Advertisements must comply with the relevant regulations in the country where the advertisements appear. Advertisements must not influence the content of each journal and the making of editorial decisions. For more inquiries, please send email to JOR@chalcogen.ro.
Preprint Policy
Authors are permitted to post their non-peer-reviewed original research manuscripts on community preprint servers, such as bioRxiv, medRxiv, and PeerJ Preprint, before or in parallel with the formal submission to VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s journals. During submission, authors are obliged to declare in the cover letter if the corresponding preprint version of their submission has been deposited on a preprint server and provide any associated accession numbers or DOIs.
Nonetheless, authors are not allowed to post on a preprint server any versions of articles that have been revised as a result of peer review, accepted for publication, or published in the journal. A manuscript of which its corresponding preprint version has been indexed (e.g., in MEDLINE or PubMed) will not be considered.
This policy applies to original research papers only. VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL reserves the right not to consider for publication or publish material that has been formally published in digital media that are not construed as preprint servers.
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL encourages a formal citation of preprints in the reference list, where appropriate.
Research Involving Humans
If human subjects were used in the experiment, authors should identify during the submitting process the committee or organization (e.g., author’s Institutional Ethics Review Board) that approved the experiment as well as detailed ethical approval information, such as approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s journals require that authors provide proof of research ethics or ethics statement along with the submission. In the case that ethical approval identifiers are not available, written approval from the granting committee or organization must be provided as a confidential supplemental file.
The manuscript should confirm that the experiment was carried out in adherence to the ethical principles set out in Declaration of Helsinki – WMA – The World Medical Association and that Informed Consent Statement was obtained from all human subjects.
For an investigation undertaken on human subjects, the manner in which written informed consent was obtained from the study participants should be stated clearly as well.
Authors should inform study participants of the purpose(s) of the publication, the possible risks and benefits as a result of the experiment, and the patient's right to withhold or withdraw consent. Consent should be obtained from parent(s) or legal guardian(s) if the study participant is a minor.
Authors are obliged to declare and clearly specify any restrictions on the availability or the use of human data in the manuscript.
Research Involving Animals
The procedures of research involving animals including insects and husbandry, must be carried out in accordance with national and institutional regulations. For further guidance on experiments involving animals, authors can refer to [Withdrawn] Code of practice for the housing and care of animals used in scientific procedures - GOV.UK, Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3 Rs) | Department of Primary Industries, Core Principles for the Care and Use of Animals in Research - International Animal Research Regulations - NCBI Bookshelf, and EU regulations on animal research. If ethical approval is not required by national laws, authors should provide an exemption from the ethics committee if one is available.
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL endorses The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 | ARRIVE Guidelines for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers can use the ARRIVE Essential 10: Compliance Questionnaire as a checklist. Editors reserve the right to reject submissions based on ethics guidelines or animal welfare concerns.
Patient Anonymity and Privacy
Patient Anonymity
Human subjects have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information or patient identifiers, including patient names, initials, date of birth, contacts, medical record numbers, hospital numbers, and geographical location, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Efforts must be made by authors to at least mask or conceal any identifying information of the patients that appear in writing or in photographs.
Authors are obliged to explain to the patient if revealing the patient’s identity cannot be fully avoided, e.g., an image of an identifiable body part, such as the face, has to be published in the report. The relevant identifying information to be published, e.g., the image, must be shown to the patient, and consent for publication must be obtained for the use of that information in the publication. If the patient has died, then consent should be obtained from the next of kin or a legal representative. Submissions that include identifying patient information without appropriate patient consent will not be considered for publication.
Please refer to ICMJE | Recommendations | Protection of Research Participants for more information about patient anonymity and privacy.
Information Privacy
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL respects and strives to protect the privacy of its users and visitors. Hence, users and visitors are encouraged to read VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s privacy policy regarding the usage and handling of user information.
(1) User information
Names and email addresses entered in all VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s journal sites will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the journals and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. For submission and peer review, users should register an account for further procedures, including but not limited to name, email, address, interests, affiliation, and postcode, as editors need the information to complete in-house processes (e.g., processing a manuscript).
When users visit the publisher's website, information about the visit is saved in web logs (e.g., device, IP address, time of visit, etc.), which are only used to help improve the structure and content of the website.
(2) User rights
Users have the right to register or update their personal information and contact the publisher to cancel/delete their account if required.
(3) Third-party link
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL is not responsible for private information obtained by third-party websites when users log in via a pop-up screen from third-party software installed on their computer.
When users visit third-party platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, COPE, etc.) through hyperlinks from VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s journal websites, the privacy policy follows the policies of the third-party platforms.
(4) Queries or contact
For any queries about VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL’s privacy policy, please contact the editorial office at JOR@chalcogen.ro.
Ethical Oversight
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL strictly abides by 'Ethical Oversight' | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics. All the editorial process is run with the monitor of Editor-in-Chief. Any manuscript that may involve unethical possibility including but not limited to fraud, plagiarism, and multi-contribution, will not be push forward to the next stage of editorial process. The strict editorial process ensures the fairest and most objective review decision.
For any subject involved populations or animals, authors must comply with international research guidelines in the field of their discipline, will be asked to provide the granting committee or approval identifiers including but not limited to reference numbers. EiC and reviewers who are experts in the disciplilne, they will make an objective and fair decision on the moral norms and academic value of the submissions. If necessary, the Editorial Office will contact the granting committee for the authenticity. Authors are resquired to explain the reasons for missing identifiers if without any ethics approval information.
Manuscripts involved populations need to submitted with the Informed Consent Statement during the submitting section, e.g. “Informed Consent has been obtained from all the subjects in this research”. For vulnerable populations, it is necessary to obtain the written Informed Content Statement from their parent, guardian, or kin relatives. Humankind subjects have the right of privacy, and the manuscript should hide the identifying information about personal identify. VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL will supervise and ensure that the submitted information is not leaked to the third parties, and all the information is only for normal publishing needs other than business marketing practice.
Units of Measure
The International System of Units (SI) should be used, and they should be kept consistently throughout the article.
Data and Reproducibility
VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL complies with the ' data and reproducibility ' | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics of COPE, encourages the use of discipline’s standard practice and guidelines. For clinical trials, they should register in corresponding approval institute or repository. EnPress encourages authors to reposit the raw dataset in community repository if the dataset is not available as the supplementary material. Authors having reported a data repository, are encouraged to add a statement of data availability in their manuscript, which may involve the availability of the research data and potential limitations, such as human privacy or biosecurity. All the data is crucial for the replicability, transparency, and credibility of scientific findings.
Data sharing
Authors are encouraged to follow the The FAIR Data Principles – FORCE11, which guides that all the (meta)data should be assigned a unique persistent identifier. Journal office has the right to ensure and review the credibility of the dataset, and the possibility of collaborative investigations with institutions exists to ensure the scientific credibility of this scientific research practice. VIRTUAL COMPANY OF PHYSICS SRL strict adheres to the 'unpublished data' | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics and 'published data' | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics data guidelines of COPE, and the corresponding author must response each inquiry. If there is major issue on dataset, a manuscript may be rejected.
Data citation
Dataset should be cited in the manuscript/article to give creators’ credit. The original source should be listed in the reference section, such as the author(s), publishing year, repository/archive name, dataset’s DOI.
Data repository
Authors are encouraged to share your dataset in the discipline repository, and authors could find an appropriate subject dataset repository with a registered DOI from FAIRsharing and Home | re3data.org.
Authors also could deposit the datasets in a general dataset repository, such as those provided by a university, sponsor of institution. Below are some examples of generalized dataset repositories:
AIGC Policy
This publisher imposes restrictions on the use of AI content-generation tools, and we follow 'AI' | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics to comprehensively address article cases involving AIGC.
Authors are permitted to use AIGC for obtaining initial research background material, recommendations for chart types, inserting literature, generating automatic sorting and formatting, and creating other non-human creative content. However, it is not permitted to draw diagrams instead of the author. Authors must thoroughly review all textual content to ensure it is accurate, scientific, and reliable. Authors are solely responsible for the content of their articles.
Reviewers involved in the review process can use AIGC tools for checking and research comparison, but they must take responsibility for the review opinions provided. They are not allowed to directly use the content evaluation analysis generated by AIGC. This policy is in place to encourage reviewers to play an active role in the progress of scientific research.
Authors and editors may use AIGC for embellishment, but they must ensure the coherence of language and the accuracy of statement expression. However, the excessive use of AIGC tools for language embellishment in writing the entire text is discouraged.
According to the journal policy, authorship must be attributed to individuals who have made significant contributions to the design, implementation, analysis, and writing of the article, rather than to the AIGC tool or any ghost identity. Any content using an AIGC tool should be openly and transparently acknowledged in the Materials and Methods, Acknowledgements. This should include the reason for using the AIGC tool, the name and version number of the tool, and the generated textual content.
It is also mandatory that the AIGC tool used is stable and publicly accessible.