Ethics & Compliance Requirements

1. Purpose of Ethics & Compliance Requirements

SIARE maintains an ethics and compliance framework to protect the integrity of the scholarly record, support fair editorial processes, and ensure that published proceedings content is prepared and disseminated responsibly.

Compliance is required not only at the point of submission, but throughout peer review, editorial handling, production, publication, and post-publication record management.

2. Scope of Application

These requirements apply to all parties involved in the SIARE proceedings ecosystem, including:

• Authors and corresponding authors
• Conference organizers and scientific committees
• Reviewers and editorial board members
• Handling editors, guest editors, and publication coordinators
• Institutions and collaboration partners involved in proceedings publication

3. Originality and Scholarly Integrity

All submitted work must be original and prepared in accordance with accepted scholarly standards. Manuscripts must not contain plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated content, falsified data, manipulated review practices, or misleading scholarly claims.

• Submissions must represent original scholarly work
• Duplicate or redundant publication is not permitted
• Data, figures, and results must be honestly presented
• Citations and references must be accurate and appropriate

4. Authorship and Contribution Compliance

Authorship must accurately reflect scholarly contribution. All listed authors should have contributed meaningfully to the work and approved the final submitted version.

• Authors must be listed accurately and in agreed order
• Gift, guest, or honorary authorship is not acceptable
• Omission of eligible contributors is not acceptable
• Changes in authorship after submission may require justification and approval

5. Conflict of Interest Disclosure

All relevant competing interests must be disclosed so that editorial decisions and reader interpretation are not affected by hidden influence.

• Authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts where relevant
• Reviewers must decline or disclose conflicts affecting impartiality
• Editors must recuse themselves where independent handling is needed
• Conference editorial teams should identify and manage conflicts transparently

6. Ethical Approval and Consent Requirements

Research involving human participants, animals, clinical material, personal information, or other sensitive subjects must comply with appropriate ethical and legal requirements.

• Institutional or ethics committee approval must be obtained where required
• Informed consent must be secured where applicable
• Confidentiality and privacy obligations must be respected
• Authors may be asked to provide ethics documentation or approval details

7. Data, Reporting, and Reproducibility Compliance

Manuscripts must report methods, results, and supporting information honestly and clearly enough for scholarly assessment. Where applicable, authors should provide appropriate disclosures relating to data availability, reproducibility, and supporting materials.

• Methods and procedures should be described accurately
• Results must not be selectively distorted or misrepresented
• Data availability statements should be provided where relevant
• Supporting materials should be handled responsibly and transparently

8. Permissions and Third-Party Content

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party material included in a submission is used lawfully and with the necessary permissions where required.

• Figures, tables, images, and extracts must be properly credited
• Copyright-protected material may require formal permission
• All reused content must be clearly identified and lawfully included
• Misuse of third-party content may delay or prevent publication

9. AI and Technology-Assisted Content Compliance

Any use of AI-assisted or automated tools in manuscript preparation or editorial support must remain consistent with SIARE’s transparency, originality, and accountability requirements.

• Authors remain fully responsible for submitted content regardless of tool use
• Material AI use should be disclosed where required by policy
• Fabricated citations, false claims, or misleading generated content are not acceptable
• Confidential editorial or review material must not be mishandled through unauthorized tools

10. Peer Review and Editorial Compliance

Conference scientific committees, reviewers, and editors must conduct evaluation and publication decisions in accordance with SIARE’s review and governance requirements.

• Peer review must be academically credible and appropriately documented
• Reviewer comments should support editorial decisions
• Editorial decisions must be independent and properly recorded
• Publication approval must not bypass SIARE editorial governance

11. Conference and Proceedings-Level Compliance

Because SIARE operates a conference-linked proceedings model, ethics and compliance obligations also apply at the event and collection level.

• Conference organizers must maintain a credible review and selection process
• Scientific committees should retain records of review and recommendation
• Submission and acceptance workflows must remain transparent and traceable
• Final publication sets may be reviewed for compliance before approval

12. Metadata, Record Accuracy, and Publication Compliance

Ethical compliance also includes the accuracy of the publication record. Authors and editors must ensure that published metadata, declarations, author details, funding information, and bibliographic records are correct.

• Article metadata must match the approved final manuscript
• Declarations and disclosures must be complete
• Author details and affiliations must be accurate
• Corrections may be required where material errors are identified

13. Non-Compliance and Editorial Action

Where non-compliance is identified, SIARE may take action proportionate to the seriousness of the issue and the stage of publication involved.

• Request clarification, correction, or additional documentation
• Return or pause the submission pending compliance review
• Reject the manuscript
• Suspend a proceedings set or individual paper from publication approval
• Issue correction, expression of concern, withdrawal, or retraction where necessary

14. Documentation and Record Retention

Organizers, editors, and publication coordinators should maintain sufficient documentation to support ethics and compliance review where necessary.

• Review records and decision history
• Ethics declarations and disclosures
• Permissions and supporting files
• Revision and acceptance documentation
• Final approved paper lists for proceedings publication

15. Related Policies

This page should be read together with the following policies and guidance pages:

• Publication Ethics
• Plagiarism & AI Policy
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• Data & Reproducibility Policy
• Peer Review Policy
• Corrections & Retractions Policy