GGSR expects authors, editors, and reviewers to maintain honesty, transparency, fairness, and accountability throughout research and publication. Ethical assessment concerns both how the research was conducted and how it is represented in the manuscript. These expectations apply across article types and publication formats.

Responsibilities of authors

Submit original work, acknowledge sources, represent evidence accurately, and disclose related publications and competing interests. The author list must reflect substantive contribution and accountability. All authors must approve the submission and its declarations. Obtain the permissions required for reused material and do not misrepresent access to data, ethics approval, consent, or research assistance.

Studies involving people, personal data, interviews, or sensitive institutions must follow applicable ethics-review, consent, confidentiality, and data-protection requirements. Report the relevant approval or exemption and explain any justified departure from ordinary consent procedures. Public availability of information does not automatically remove risks to individuals when it is combined, quoted, or analyzed.

Responsibilities in assessment

Editors and reviewers must assess fairly, protect confidential material, disclose interests, and avoid using unpublished work for personal advantage. Editorial decisions must remain separate from author payments or commercial considerations. Citation recommendations should have a scholarly reason, and evaluation must not be delegated to an unauthorized automated service.

Raising and assessing a concern

Report a concern to [email protected] with the manuscript or article identifier, a precise explanation, and the supporting source or record. Identify the passages, data, declarations, or procedural events at issue. Distinguish documented facts from inference; a disagreement over interpretation is not sufficient evidence of misconduct.

The journal assesses the concern, requests explanations and records where appropriate, and gives relevant parties an opportunity to respond. Independent advice or an institutional investigation may be needed when the journal cannot establish the facts. Confidentiality is protected as far as practicable while allowing a fair enquiry.

Responses and the published record

Action depends on the evidence, seriousness, and publication stage. It may include clarification, revision, rejection, a correction, an expression of concern, or retraction. Honest error and misconduct are assessed differently, but either may require an update when the record is inaccurate or unreliable.

Detailed procedures appear in Research Integrity, Corrections, and the other policies linked from Policies & Ethics.