COPE

The U7Y Journal (ISSN 3042-4399 | U7Y.com) strictly follows the ethical guidelines set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The following rules apply to everyone involved in our publishing process: authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher.

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1. Authorship and Contributions

Only people who actually did the work should be listed as authors.

• Who is an author? To be listed as an author, a person must have:

  1. Helped design the study, or collected, analyzed, or interpreted the data.

  2. Helped write or critically edit the article.

  3. Approved the final version for publication.

• Corresponding Author: One author must be chosen to communicate with the journal. They are responsible for making sure all authors agree to the submission and any future changes.

• Changing Authors: If you need to add, remove, or change the order of authors, all original authors must agree in writing, and the Editor-in-Chief must approve the change.

• Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI tools (like ChatGPT) cannot be listed as authors. If you use AI to help write or analyze your work, you must state this clearly in the paper. Authors take full responsibility for all content, including anything generated by AI.

• Acknowledgments: People who helped but do not meet the rules for authorship (like technical staff or funders) should be listed in an "Acknowledgments" section.

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2. Originality and Research Integrity

We expect all research to be honest, accurate, and completely original.

• No Plagiarism: You must not copy other people’s work, and you cannot reuse your own previously published work without clear citation. Every source must be credited.

• No Fake Data: You must not make up, change, or leave out data to make your results look better. Data must be accurate and available if we ask to check it.

• One Journal at a Time: You cannot submit your article to U7Y.com and another journal at the same time.

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3. Ethical Approvals and Participant Consent

All research must follow international ethical rules.

• Human Research: If your study involves people, an ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB) must approve it. You must include an "Ethics Approval" statement in your paper with the committee's name and the approval ID. You must also prove you got informed consent from the participants.

• Animal Research: If your study involves animals, you must confirm that you followed national and institutional rules for animal care (such as the ARRIVE guidelines).

• Privacy and Anonymity: Personal information must be kept private. If your paper includes photos, videos, or identifiable details of people, you must have their written permission to publish them.

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4. Funding, Conflicts of Interest, and Open Access

We require complete transparency about money and outside influences.

• Funding Disclosure: You must list who paid for the research, including grant numbers and what role the funder played in the study. If you received no funding, you must state: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

• Conflicts of Interest: Authors, editors, and reviewers must declare any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could bias their work or judgment.

• Open Access: U7Y is a fully Open Access journal. All articles are published under a CC BY 4.0 license. Any Article Processing Charges (APCs) are paid by the author or their institution. Paying a fee never influences editorial decisions.

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5. Data Sharing and Availability

To support transparency, we encourage authors to share the data behind their research.

• Every article must include a Data Availability Statement.

• This statement must explain if the data is openly available online, available by asking the author, or strictly private (with the reason why, such as privacy laws).

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6. The Peer Review Process

Peer reviewers help editors decide if an article should be published. Reviewers must:

• Keep it Secret: Treat all submissions as highly confidential.

• Be Fair: Review the work objectively. Do not personally attack the author.

• Report Issues: Tell the editor if they notice missing citations, suspect plagiarism, or spot fake data.

• Declare Conflicts: Refuse to review a paper if they have a personal or professional relationship with the author.

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7. Editorial Independence and Decisions

Editors decide what gets published based solely on the quality and merit of the research.

• Fairness: Editors will never judge a paper based on the author's race, gender, nationality, or workplace.

• Double-Blind Review: Final decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief after a double-blind peer review process (where the authors and reviewers do not know each other's identities).

• Strict Independence: Decisions are made without any commercial or political influence. Being a member of the VBNN Smart Education Group or any connected institution gives authors no special advantage.

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8. Misconduct, Corrections, and Retractions

U7Y.com will investigate any claims of cheating, plagiarism, or unethical behavior using COPE’s official procedures.

• Corrections (Erratum/Corrigendum): If a published article has a minor mistake that does not change the main results, we will publish a correction notice linked to the original article.

• Retractions: If a published article contains major errors, fake data, or severe plagiarism, we will retract (remove) it. A retraction notice explaining why it was removed will permanently replace the article to protect the academic record.

• Publisher Duties: The publisher promises to support the editors, handle misconduct fairly, and keep digital backups to preserve all journal content forever.