Ethics Statement

ETHICAL RESEARCH CONDUCT POLICIES

Research ethics and legal aspects

All research submitted to MAFIS for consideration must have followed the guidelines on study ethics. In accordance with COPE guidelines, MAFIS reserves the right to reject any manuscript that editors consider does not uphold high ethical standards, even if authors have obtained ethical approval or if ethical approval is not necessary. This journal encourages authors to follow ARRIVE guidelines for designing, analyzing, and reporting of scientific research.

The journal publishes only original work that makes a clear and strong contribution of new information in its field. When authors submit a manuscript they legally imply that they followed all pertinent legislation and ethical principles (including informed consent and proper treatment of nature according to UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Helsinki Ethical Norms; that all coauthors participated in the main aspects of research and agree to publication; and that the study is original, scientifically valid, has not been published before, and was not sent simultaneously to another journal. Board and staff members can publish in the journal but are excluded from all decisions regarding their manuscripts.

Authors, reviewers, board members and staff must report conflicts of interest as soon as they arise. Any cases of error, citation manipulation, piracy, plagiarism, duplicate submission, republication, fabrication or falsification of data, and financial conflict, must be informed to the Editorial Committee, which will investigate them even if the report is from anonymous sources. Articles found in fault can be rejected, retracted or be added errata.

The COPE guidelines on policies on retractions, corrections, and publishing malpractices do apply to a broader range of post-publication matters, beyond just fundamental errors or fraud. These mechanisms are intended to protect the integrity of the scholarly record and ensure transparency. The following areas are covered under the umbrella of post-publication amendments:

  • Expressions of Concern (EEoC): Used when there is inconclusive evidence of research misconduct, ongoing investigations, or potential problems that are not yet finalized.
  • Authorship Disputes: Changes to the author list, including adding, removing, or changing the order of authors, require formal post-publication amendments.
  • Conflicts of Interest: Failure to disclose significant financial or personal conflicts that could influence the study's interpretation.
  • Ethical Violations: Studies that did not receive ethical approval or used unauthorized human/animal data.
  • Redundant/Duplicate Publication: Publication of the same data in multiple journals without cross-referencing.
  • Data/Image Manipulation: Even if it doesn't entirely invalidate the paper, inappropriate manipulation warrants a correction or retraction.
  • Legal/Security Concerns: Issues regarding confidentiality or potential hazards.
  • Author Name Changes: Formal changes to author names, including those based on gender identity, are now handled sensitively post-publication.

Studies in animals

All animal experiments should comply with ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with institutional, national and international guidelines concerning the use of animals in research abd/or the sampling of endangered species. Authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. Authors are expected to provide details on the housing, husbandry and pain management of animals in their manuscript, along with steps taken to minimize suffering.

When doing research on free-living animals, scientist should make every effort to reduce the influence of their work on populations and ecosystems under investigation. Every field of study needs the proper licenses and permits, which should be detailed in the manuscript´s Material and Methods section.

Authorship

It is very important to make clear people who have made substantial intellectual contributed to a paper, are given credit as authors. And also that people who are recognized as authors, understand their responsibility and accountability for what is being published. Criteria typically require meeting four standards: substantial contributions to conception/design or data acquisition/analysis; drafting or critically revising the work; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. 

The corresponding author is the principal point of contact with the journal throughout the paper submission, peer-review, and publication process. The corresponding author is typically responsible for ensuring that all of the journal's administrative requirements, such as authorship details, ethics committee approval, and disclosures of relationships and activities, are completed and reported correctly, though these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. The corresponding author should be available during the submission and peer-review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely manner, as well as after publication to respond to work critiques and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information if questions about the paper arise after publication. 

This journal encourages collaboration with colleagues in the locations where the research is conducted, and expect their inclusion as co-authors when they fulfil all authorship criteria described above. Contributors who do not meet all criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgements section. The authors should decide the order of authorship together.

MAFIS implemented CRediT taxonomy at the end of articles. You can use Table 1 from Allen et al. (2019) to check and select credits for authors.

Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Grants or other funding permitting the realization of the research must be stated. Please use the Acknowledgment section to do that.

Submission declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form or in any other language without the written consent of the copyright-holder.