Publication Ethics

Research Ethics Policy for Authors

The North African Journal of Food and Nutrition Research is dedicated to upholding the highest ethical standards in all research we publish. We expect all authors to conduct their studies with integrity, transparency, and respect for participants, animals, and the environment.

We strongly encourage authors to consult the ethical regulations and norms specific to their discipline and country to ensure full compliance.

Key Ethical Considerations

Informed Consent: For all studies involving human participants, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained prior to data collection.
Institutional Oversight: Authors must confirm that their research received prior ethics approval from an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee.
International Guidelines: All research must comply with relevant international guidelines, such as the Declaration of Helsinki for human research and the ARRIVE guidelines for animal research.
Confidentiality: Authors are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of research participants' data.
Clinical Trial Registration: Clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible registry prior to enrollment of the first participant.

Publishing Ethics

The North African Journal of Food and Nutrition Research is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in research and publication. We recognize the critical importance of addressing allegations of misconduct promptly, fairly, and transparently.

The rules presented below were developed on the basis of the recommendations of COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics).

Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas.

NAJFNR is committed to publishing only original material that has neither been published elsewhere nor is under review elsewhere.

Key Points Before Submitting

Any manuscript you submit should not have been published prior in its current or similar form.
Your work should not have been submitted elsewhere and should not be under consideration by any other publication.
If you have a conflict of interest, you must declare it upon submission.
By submitting your work, you guarantee that it is not in infringement of any existing copyright.

Types of Misconduct

Our journal defines misconduct to include, but not be limited to:

Research Misconduct: Fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research.
Publication Misconduct: Redundant publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, authorship disputes, citation manipulation, and image manipulation.
Reviewer Misconduct: Breaches of confidentiality, unreasonable delays in review, or inappropriate use of privileged information.
Editorial Misconduct: Undisclosed conflicts of interest, biased decision-making, or breaches of confidentiality by editorial staff.

All allegations of misconduct should be directed to our Ethics Officer Dr. Imen Benchikh at ethics@najfnr.com.

Whistleblower Protection: We are committed to protecting the identity of whistleblowers and will handle all allegations with the utmost confidentiality.

Investigation and Management Process

Upon receiving an allegation, our process involves:

Initial Assessment: The Ethics Officer will conduct an initial assessment to determine if the allegation warrants a formal investigation.
Impartial Investigation: If necessary, a formal investigation will be conducted impartially and confidentially.
Institutional Contact: In cases involving author misconduct, we will formally contact the author's institution.
Decision and Action: Based on findings, actions may include corrections, retractions, submission bans, or notifying regulatory authorities.
Appeals: Authors subject to misconduct findings will have a clear process for appealing the decision.

Preprint Policy

Uploading a preprint has become an increasingly common way for researchers to share their research quickly.

When uploading to a preprint server, we recommend you check that:

The server clearly identifies preprints as non-peer reviewed works.
The server asks authors to disclose all relationships that might bias their work.
You fully understand the rights you are giving to the platform.
You have reviewed any copyright or preprint policies at your institution and funder.

The NAJFNR will consider papers posted to a preprint server before journal submission, provided no copyright has been assigned or exclusive licence signed.

Duplicate Submission

Manuscripts found to have been published elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission/publication sanctions. Authors who have used their own previously published work as the basis for a submitted manuscript must cite the previous work and indicate how their submission offers novel contributions.

Citation Manipulation

Submitted manuscripts found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author's work, or to articles published in a particular journal, will incur citation manipulation sanctions.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Submitted manuscripts found to have either fabricated or falsified experimental results, including the manipulation of images, will incur data fabrication and falsification sanctions.

Improper Author Contribution or Attribution

All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.

Redundant or Overlapping Publications

Redundant publication refers to the inappropriate duplication of an article's content, including submitting or publishing a manuscript that overlaps substantially with a work already published or under consideration elsewhere.

We acknowledge that some overlap may be unavoidable. Such cases may be acceptable if the prior work is properly cited.

Utilization of Copyrighted Material

Authors must secure all required permissions to reproduce copyrighted material in their manuscript.

Permission Requirements

Written Permission Required: If your manuscript includes material for which you do not hold copyright, you must obtain written permission from the copyright holder.
Citation Alone Is Insufficient: Proper attribution (citation) does not replace the need for formal permission.

Sanctions

In the event of documented violations of any of the above policies:

Immediate rejection of the infringing manuscript.
Prohibition against all authors for any new submissions for a minimum of 36 months.
Prohibition against all authors from serving on the Editorial Board.

In cases of particularly egregious violations, additional sanctions beyond those described may be imposed.

Utilization of AI-Generated Material

NAJFNR recognizes that generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies, including large language models and chatbots, are increasingly utilized in scientific writing. The journal’s policy is consistent with the recommendations of the ICMJE and COPE.

Authorship: AI tools cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work, approve the final manuscript, or manage conflicts of interest and copyright. Authorship carries accountability that only human beings can assume.
Author responsibility: Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including any material generated or edited with AI assistance. They must verify the accuracy of all statements, data, and citations, and must ensure that the work is free from plagiarism, fabricated or inaccurate references, and bias. The policies on plagiarism, data fabrication and falsification, and citation manipulation (Sections 14.2 to 14.9) apply equally to AI-generated content.
Disclosure: Authors must disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of the manuscript. The disclosure should name the tool (including its version) and describe how it was used, and it should appear in the Methods or Acknowledgments section and in the cover letter. Use of AI solely to improve spelling, grammar, or readability does not require disclosure, but authors remain responsible for the final text. A suggested format is:
During the preparation of this work, the authors used [tool name, version] for [specific purpose]. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.
Data and images: The use of AI to create, alter, or manipulate research data, results, or images (including figures and graphical abstracts) is not permitted, as this constitutes data fabrication or falsification. The only exception is when AI is an integral part of the research design or methodology, in which case its use must be described transparently in the Methods section.
Confidentiality: Authors must not upload patient-identifiable information, as protected under Section 14.1, or unpublished data to publicly accessible AI tools. Editors and reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts, or any part of them, to generative AI tools, as this may breach confidentiality and proprietary rights.
Sanctions: Undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI that results in a violation of the policies above will be handled under Section 14.8.

About Plagiarism

As defined by the ORI (Office of Research Integrity), plagiarism includes "theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work".

Types of Plagiarism

Full Plagiarism: Presenting exact text from a source as one's own without any changes.
Partial Plagiarism: Content constituting a mixture from multiple sources with extensive rephrasing.
Self-Plagiarism: Reutilizing complete or parts of one's own previously published work.

Detection and Action

NAJFNR employs iThenticate as text-matching software. A high similarity score serves as a flag for further investigation. Authors suspected of plagiarism will be contacted for an explanation within two weeks.

Retraction Policy

For published articles found to contain plagiarism:

A prominent "Retraction Note" will be published.
The original article will be watermarked as "Retracted".
All indexing services will be formally notified.
Author sanctions will be applied based on severity.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest represent situations that hold the potential to unduly influence professional judgment. The NAJFNR requires mandatory disclosure of all potential conflicts by all parties involved in the publication process.

Policy Framework

Defining Competing Interests: Clearly outlining financial, professional, personal, or intellectual relationships that could bias judgment.
Mandatory Disclosure: Requiring all parties to disclose the nature, extent, and timeframe of any potential competing interest.
Collection of Information: Specifying how and when conflict of interest information is collected.

Author Disclosure Questions

Did you or your institution receive payment or services from a third party for any aspect of the submitted work?
Do you have financial relationships with entities that could influence what you wrote?
Do you have any patents and copyrights related to the research?
Do you have other relationships that readers could perceive as influencing your work?

Data Policies

To foster greater transparency, enhance replicability, and build trust in scientific findings:

Data Sharing: We strongly encourage the sharing of research data with a Data Availability Statement in all manuscripts.
Data Citation: Clear guidelines are provided on how research data should be formally cited.
Data Repository: Authors are encouraged to share anonymized data to specific online repositories.

Complaint Policy

Complaints should be directly emailed to contact@najfnr.com where they are dealt with confidentially.

For more details please visit our Complaints Policy webpage.

Responding to Ethical Breaches

The NAJFNR has established a framework to ensure all issues are handled promptly, transparently, and fairly:

Ethics Contact: We have designated a contact person to handle all ethics inquiries, complaints, and appeals.
Prompt Action: Our primary focus is on swift and accurate correction of the scholarly literature.
Appeals and Misconduct: We maintain formal processes for authors to appeal editorial decisions.
External Consultation: When necessary, we will contact other journals, institutions, and seek independent legal counsel.