Journal of Plant Development (JPD) is a double blind peer review international academic journal and stands for meeting the highest standards of publication ethics. It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author/s, the journal editor/s, the reviewer/s and the publisher.
By submitting a manuscript to this journal, each author explicitly confirms that the manuscript meets the highest ethical standards for authors and coauthors. Our ethic and malpractice statements concerning the duties of parties involved in the act of publishing of the Journal of Plant Development are based on COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors:
http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.

For Editors

The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor should be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with the members of the editorial board or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play

An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

Proofs

After acceptance, a proof is sent to the corresponding author, who circulates it to all coauthors and deals with the journal on their behalf. The Journal of Plant Development may not correct errors after publication if they result from errors that were present on a proof that was not shown to co-authors before publication. The corresponding author is a person responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof, in particular that names of co-authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are up to date.

For Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Reviewer assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness

Any selected reviewer who has been invited to review the manuscript but feels unqualified to review or to do so in reasonable time limit, should immediately notify the editor so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews of manuscripts submitted to Journal of Plant Development should be conducted objectively according to scientific standards. Personal criticism of the author is inacceptable. Reviewers should express their views clearly with appropriate supporting arguments. Reviewers should report their comments, suggestions, as well as weak points clearly in a special letter to the Editor.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

For Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication in Journal of Plant Development.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Corresponding Author´s role in the submission

The corresponding author is obliged to check that all authors have significantly contributed to the research reported in a manuscript submitted to Journal of Plant Development.

Corresponding Author´s role in peer review process

The corresponding author is obliged to participate in the peer review process and apply the requirements made by the reviewers in order to have their article published in Journal of Plant Development.

Corresponding Author´s communication with Editor

All communication between corresponding author and Editor is confidential. Authors must also treat communication with the journal as confidential. The author´s correspondence with the journal, reviewers' reports and other confidential material must not be posted on any website or otherwise publicly announced without prior permission from the editors. Authors of published material have a responsibility to inform the Journal of Plant Development Editorial Board promptly if they become aware of any part that requires correcting. Any published correction requires the consent of all coauthors, so time is saved if requests for corrections are accompanied by signed agreement by all authors.