China Tea

Publication Ethics for China Tea

To standardize the processes of manuscript preparation, editing, and publishing, combat academic misconduct, and enhance the professional ethics of authors, peer reviewers, and editors in scientific writing, submission, peer review, and editing, China Tea formulates these Publication Ethics guidelines based on the Copyright Law of China, relevant domestic and international publishing ethics clauses, and the journal's specific circumstances.

I. Author Ethics

1. The manuscript should report original research work (or review content). Experimental materials, data, photographs, images, etc., must be authentic and reliable. Fabrication or falsification of data or facts is prohibited. Authors are responsible for the authenticity of the manuscript and are obligated to provide, upon the editorial department's request, supporting materials such as original images, raw data, project grant documentation, and project names.

2. The manuscript shall not involve state secrets, intellectual property disputes, or any infringing acts. All authors must have participated in the research work, be aware of the manuscript's content and submission status, agree to the authorship list, and oppose inappropriate authorship. Funding sources, projects, tasks, etc., related to the manuscript must be accurately acknowledged.

3. Experimental materials, samples, etc., used in the research must be obtained through legal and compliant channels. Research involving animal subjects must comply with experimental animal ethics regulations.

4. The manuscript must not be submitted to multiple journals simultaneously. It must not have been published wholly or partially in any language in other journals or media, nor be accepted or under preparation for publication elsewhere. Duplicate publication of data should be avoided. During the journal's handling of the manuscript according to its regulations, or before receiving a formal acceptance notice from the editorial department, authors shall not submit the manuscript to another journal.

5. Respect prior work. All cited literature, data, etc., must be clearly attributed, with sources listed in the references section. When citing others' work, do not misrepresent the original viewpoints. Permission must be obtained from the original copyright holder for the use of figures, tables, etc., and the source must be indicated. Plagiarism in any form is prohibited.

6. Authors should respect the opinions of peer reviewers. In case of disagreement, authors may submit a written appeal to the editorial department, providing detailed explanations and responses to each review comment.

II. Peer Reviewer Ethics

1. Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts based on the principles of fairness, impartiality, confidentiality, and timeliness. Comments should be responsible, scientific, and accurate. Discourteous, derogatory, or personally offensive language is prohibited. Reviewers must not disclose the author's research content or misuse the author's research findings.

2. When a reviewer has competitive, collaborative, or any other associative relationship with the author that constitutes a conflict of interest, they must promptly declare this conflict to the editorial department and recuse themselves from reviewing the manuscript to ensure impartiality.

3. Reviewers shall not suppress or belittle the author's work by exploiting their position, especially when their own research is similar to that of the author.

4. Reviewers should review manuscripts promptly according to the agreed timeline and provide specific comments. If unable to complete the review on time, they should promptly inform the editorial department, decline the review, and may suggest alternative reviewers. Without the editorial department's consent, reviewers shall not delegate the review to others.

5. If a reviewer encounters a manuscript they have previously reviewed for another journal, they have an obligation to inform the editorial department of this circumstance.

III. Editor Ethics

1. Editors shall abide by relevant national laws and regulations, adhere to academic publishing ethics and moral standards, uphold professional ethics, and comply with the editorial department's rules and systems.

2. Editors should promptly register manuscripts, arrange for peer review, and manage the editing and publishing process. They must ensure fair and impartial handling of every manuscript. Decisions to accept or reject should be based on the manuscript's importance, originality, scientific rigor, readability, the authenticity of the research, and its relevance to the journal's scope.

3. Editors must maintain confidentiality regarding reviewer identities. They must keep the author's research content confidential and shall not misuse the author's research results.

4. When selecting peer reviewers, editors should, where possible, avoid experts from the same institution as the author(s) and must not select any of the manuscript's authors as reviewers. If an author requests the exclusion of a specific reviewer with reasonable justification, the editor should respect this request.

5. Editors should provide authors with detailed revision suggestions or clear reasons for rejection. Appeals from authors should be treated seriously, involving collective discussion or re-review by the original or new reviewers as appropriate.

6. For manuscripts already accepted for publication, if academic misconduct is subsequently identified, the journal reserves the right to retract the acceptance. For already published articles where academic misconduct is found, the journal will issue a retraction.

IV. Implementation

These guidelines take effect from the date of their publication.

China Tea Editorial Office