Confidentiality and Ethics

Trends in Computer Science and Information Technology (TCSIT) is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in scholarly publishing. Confidentiality and ethical integrity are crucial in ensuring trust, fairness, and credibility in the peer review and publication processes. This policy outlines the ethical responsibilities of editors, reviewers, and authors regarding confidentiality, data protection, and responsible research practices.

▪ Confidentiality in Peer Review

TCSIT follows a double-blind peer review process, ensuring anonymity and confidentiality for both authors and reviewers. The key principles of confidentiality in peer review include:

• Reviewer Anonymity: Authors do not know the identity of reviewers.
• Author Anonymity: Reviewers do not have access to author identities.
• Manuscript Confidentiality: Editors, reviewers, and staff must not disclose, discuss, or distribute any details about a manuscript under review.
• Secure Handling of Data: Submitted materials should only be accessed by authorized individuals involved in the review and editorial process.

▪ Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

Editors play a critical role in maintaining the ethical integrity of the journal. They must:

• Ensure Fair and Unbiased Decision-Making: Editorial decisions should be based solely on scholarly merit and research quality.
• Maintain Editorial Confidentiality: Manuscripts should not be shared, copied, or discussed with unauthorized individuals.
• Prevent Conflicts of Interest: Editors must disclose and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a personal or professional conflict.
• Address Ethical Concerns: If a manuscript raises ethical questions (e.g., plagiarism, fabricated data), editors must conduct a formal investigation and take appropriate action.

▪ Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are essential to ensuring the credibility and fairness of the peer review process. They must:

• Maintain Manuscript Confidentiality: Reviewers must not discuss, distribute, or use any information from an assigned manuscript.
• Ensure Fair and Objective Evaluations: Reviews should be based on the manuscript’s scientific merit and relevance, without personal or institutional bias.
• Identify Ethical Issues: If a reviewer suspects plagiarism, falsified data, or ethical misconduct, they must report it to the editorial board.
• Decline Reviews When Conflicted: If a reviewer has a personal, financial, or professional relationship with the authors, they should decline the assignment.

▪ Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must adhere to ethical research and publishing practices. This includes:

• Ensuring Originality: Submissions must be original, unpublished work that has not been submitted elsewhere.
• Avoiding Plagiarism: Proper citation of sources is required. Any form of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or duplicate submission is prohibited.
• Data Integrity: Authors must ensure that all reported data is accurate, complete, and not manipulated.
• Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Authors should disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that may influence their research.
• Respecting Privacy and Consent: Research involving human participants must follow ethical guidelines, including obtaining informed consent and institutional approval.

▪ Ethical Compliance Checklist

To ensure full compliance with ethical and confidentiality standards, all participants in the publication process (editors, reviewers, and authors) should adhere to the following checklist:

Checklist Item	Required Action
Ensure manuscript confidentiality is maintained.	Editors, reviewers, and staff must not disclose manuscript details.
Use double-blind review to anonymize authors and reviewers.	Ensure that neither the reviewers nor authors know each other's identities.
Check for plagiarism using iThenticate or similar tools.	All manuscripts should be screened before peer review.
Verify originality and avoid duplicate submissions.	Manuscripts should not be under review at another journal.
Confirm no conflicts of interest exist before handling a manuscript.	Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves from conflicting papers.

Confidentiality and ethics are fundamental to maintaining the integrity of scholarly publishing. By adhering to these guidelines, editors, reviewers, and authors ensure a responsible, transparent, and high-quality research publication process in TCSIT.