Progress in Color, Colorants and Coatings

Publication Ethics

Conflict of interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning of the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of 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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Changes to authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts. Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue, requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript. It must be included: (a) the reason(s) for the addition, removal or rearrangement of name(s), (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, and letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement, and (c) confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) after reviewing the request and the reasons, the editor makes the final decision and informs the corresponding author and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed. After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue, any request to change the list of authors will not be accepted.

Ethics and responsibilities for the Editors

Manuscripts submitted to the Progress in Color Colorants and Coatings are processed and published at the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board within the determined scopes. The ultimate responsibility for editorial decisions lies with the Editor-in-Chief and/or respective Subject Editor. In the case of the accepted manuscripts, the name of the subject editor appears inside the published paper. Linguistic or copyediting of the manuscript is not expected from the editors, since they have to focus on its scientific aspect, readability, conceptual contents, and the structure for future applicability. Editors are asked not to explain the information of both reviewers and authors to each other, as well as to others. The same attitude of the editorial board members in evaluating the received manuscript only on the basis of scientific quality, without considering the authors and their organisational affiliation. It is the commitment of the Editor-in-Chief editors to do the review process of all manuscripts within the specified time. They are also responsible for selecting expert reviewers among all relevant scientists who have no conflict of interest with any of the respective authors.

Assessing the novelty and consistency of the contents within each manuscript should be done by the subject editor. All editors have to strictly avoid disclosing the unpublished information before publication. Changing the order of authors or adding/deleting the names of authors by editors is strictly prohibited. Editors have to ensure that the review steps and thorough corrections are made for the refereed manuscripts before the acceptance notice.

After the end of the scientific reviewing, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information, see www.pccc.ac.ir). This step is completed before the final acceptance of the manuscript. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. (Please see Guide for Authors in pccc@icrc.ac.ir).

The Author(s) warrant(s) that:

· The Article(s) original work, has not been published before, either in part or whole, and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere,

· The Article contains no libelous or unlawful statements,

· It in no way infringes the rights of others (including the holders of copyright in material used within the Article),

· That permission has been obtained to reproduce any material or illustration for which they do not hold copyright,

· The Author(s), as the owners of the copyright, is (are) entitled to make the assignment set out in this agreement, and that

·The author warrants that the article contains no plagiarized material and agrees that the article may be checked for plagiarism and other ethical questions (including checks carried out using by automated software package).

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's original work. The idea remains problematic with unclear definitions and unclear rules. Plagiarism is not in itself a crime but can constitute copyright infringement. In academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offence. Plagiarism and copyright infringement may overlap to a considerable extent, but they are not equivalent concepts, and many types of plagiarism do not constitute copyright infringement, which is defined by copyright law and may be adjudicated by courts.

Plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) or other breaches in publication are taken seriously in PCCC. The rights of authors are protected, and claims of plagiarism or misuse of articles published in the journal are investigated. We use iThenticate (advanced Plagiarism-checking software) in processing the submitted manuscripts to ensure their originality.

All types of plagiarism are strictly prohibited. Manuscripts involved in plagiarism will automatically be rejected, and the authors will not have the right to submit any new manuscript temporarily (for a period of six months). The Editors and reviewers are strongly prohibited from further processing of such misconduct.

If an article is found to have plagiarized other work or contained third-party copyright material without authorization or adequate acknowledgements, or where authorship of the article is contested, JIBS reserves the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies; removing the article from the journal; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author’s institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; proscription of the author from publication in the journal or proper legal action under the principles of COPE.

Corrections

If errors are identified in published articles that do not compromise the overall results or interpretations, the journal will publish a correction notice linked to the original article. The correction notice will specify the changes made and the reason.

Retractions

In cases of serious errors, scientific misconduct, or ethical breaches (such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or duplicate publication), the journal may retract the article. A retraction notice will be published, clearly indicating the reason and linked to the original article, which will be marked as retracted.

Policies for using Artificial Intelligence

Authors are solely responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of their manuscript and must ensure that it adheres to all of PCCC' publication ethics policies. This includes accepting full accountability for any content produced by AI tools and any violations of publication ethics that may occur.

Although AI can contribute to the writing process, it cannot be considered an author of the manuscript and cannot fulfill authorship criteria. AI programs cannot handle conflicts of interest or manage copyright and license agreements.

Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used in papers published in PCCC. If technology (AI chatbot ChatGPT and other large language models - LLMs) were used in writing the whole or parts of the manuscript and generating the images or graphical elements, it must be clearly disclosed in the “Materials and Methods” or "Acknowledgements" sections. The authors must provide a detailed explanation about which AI tools were used and how the AI tools were used.

This guideline is in line with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position statement when using AI or AI-based technology in the preparation or generation of the manuscript of a scientific paper.