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Editorial Policy

Editorial Policy for authors, reviewers, and editors at TC follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and Guidelines for Research Conduct developed by Utah State University's Office of Research. Please note that TCis not a member of COPE.

Research Ethics for Authors

In accordance with Utah State University's Office of Research's Guidelines for Research Conduct, TC defines research misconduct for authors as the fabrication of data and/or results, falsification of data and/or results, and plagiarism by intent or non-attribution. TC editors will act in the event of research misconduct by

  • conducting an inquiry into the incident under the guidance of the Editor-in-Chief,
  • communicating with author(s) and providing author(s) with the opportunity to respond to concerns about research misconduct,
  • and rejecting submissions or retracting publications that are found to violate the journal's standards for research ethics.

Retractions and Corrections

TC editors issue retractions and corrections following COPE Retraction Guidelines. TC will publish a notice in the event of a retraction or correction.

Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers agree to follow the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers with the understanding that TC uses an open peer review model wherein reviewer names are disclosed in the final published work. TC does not publish reviews or any other materials produced during the review process. Reviewers and authors may opt for mutual early disclosure during the review process provided that journal criteria for this process are met. For more information on the early disclosure process, please see TC's Open Peer Review Procedures page.

TC is committed to anti-racist practices in peer reviewing and editing (Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices, 2021). We use bias-free and inclusive language standards according to the American Psychological Association's guidance in the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition (2020) and Inclusive Language Guidelines (2021).

Conflicts of Interest

Following COPE Core Practices, TC recognizes that conflicts of interest (or competing interests) are a source of potential bias in the editorial process. As an ethical standard, TC editors, authors, and reviewers will disclose conflicts of interest before publication as outlined:

  • Associate Editors will disclose conflicts of interest to the Editor-in-Chief in a formal statement during screening and before the review process begins.
  • Authors will disclose conflicts of interest and sources of funding in a formal statement during the online submission process.
  • Reviewers will disclose conflicts of interest to the Editor-in-Chief in a formal statement when they receive a manuscript or multimedia submission to review.

In the event that an author's undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during the review process, TC editors will follow COPE's ethical guidelines and flowchart for Undisclosed Conflict of Interest in a Submitted Article. In the event that any undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, TC editors will follow COPE's ethical guidelines and flowchart for Undisclosed Conflict of Interest in a Published Article.

Intellectual Property

Author rights are outlined in the Copyright and Licensing Terms and Open Access Policy below.

Reporting Misconduct & Grievance Process

Please contact the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Jayme Walters, at if you have any concerns about misconduct involving authors, peer reviewers, and/or editors at TC.

References

Anti-racist scholarly reviewing practices: A heuristic for editors, reviewers, and authors. (2021). https://tinyurl.com/reviewheuristic.

COPE Council. (2017). COPE core practices. https://publicationethics.org/core-practices.

COPE Council. (2017). COPE ethical guidelines for peer reviewers - English. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.9.

COPE Council. (2019). COPE retraction guidelines - English. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.4.

COPE Council. (2019). COPE flowcharts and infographics. Undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript - English. https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/undisclosed-conflict-interest-submitted-manuscript.

COPE Council. (2019). COPE flowcharts and infographics. Undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article - English. https://publicationethics.org/node/34591.

Office of Research, Utah State University. (n.d.). Research conduct. https://research.usu.edu/ur/guidebook/research-conduct.