Publication Ethics
Pinnacle Science adheres to strict publication ethics and expects authors to abide by the highest standards of research publishing practices. Pinnacle Science upholds the highest integrity and standards throughout the peer-review process and beyond. If an author or reader encounters a problem with regards to the journal, all concerns and inquiries should be directed to editor@researchdirects.com. All concerns are then presented to the editor-in-chief of the journal and are then populated to a selection of associate editors for the journal to review. Each editorial board consists of researchers, clinicians and practitioners in the field. If the problem warrants an article retraction due to plagiarism or breaks the terms of ethical publishing, the Article Retraction Policy will be followed. All other matters would be handled on a case-by-case basis by the editor-in-chief and selected associate editors.
Any manuscript submitted to a Pinnacle Science will be reviewed based on professional and research content without regard for age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, country of origin, or political philosophy of the authors.
Committee on Publication Ethics Website
Guidelines for Human Subjects Research
Authors must state within the manuscript that written informed consent was obtain and the university or institutional review board approved the study. A statement must be included in the manuscript stating “subjects provided informed consent to participate in the study.” Authors are prohibited from providing private and identifiable information of research participants in a manuscript. If a photo is used within a manuscript to illustrate an example of the methods, etc. then the individuals face and other identifiable information must be concealed, blurred or boxed out. All studies, including experimental and non-experimental (surveys, questionnaires, etc.) must ensure complete anonymity for all participants. Any institutional review board exemptions must be explained and identified in the manuscript and information must be included why approval was not required.
Guidelines for Animals in Research
Authors must state within the manuscript the university or institutional review board approved the study for animal use. A statement must be included in the manuscript stating ethical treatment of animals was utilized at all times. Authors must disclose information about animal housing, treatment, and if needed, disposal in the manuscript. Any institutional review board exemptions must be explained and identified in the manuscript and information must be included why approval was not required. If ethical approval is not required due a national law exemption or lack of national law, then a detailed explanation must be provided.
Ownership and Operations
Pinnacle Science is an academic publishing organization developed to enhance open access, peer-reviewed research by reducing the cost barriers for authors and institutions.
Copyright and Licensing
Pinnacle Science journals are open access, peer-reviewed journal whereby all manuscripts are required to undergo the peer review process. Open access content published in Pinnacle Science journals are freely available to authors, readers, and institutions. Any user is allowed to read, copy, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyright is granted to the authors and is published by the journal. Accepted peer-reviewed manuscripts are open access immediately after publication.
Authorship
All authors must significantly contribute to the manuscript, data collection, data analysis, data dissemination and writing. All authors must consent to the final, submitted manuscript.
Archiving
Articles published by Pinnacle Science are stored on the journal’s server, a hard drive, and by a backup, independent network.
Conflict of Interest
Authors are required to acknowledge if any financial benefits were provided to any authors of the study. If authors have no conflict of interest, they must state, “No conflict of interest.”
Clinical Trials
Pinnacle Science requires clinical trials to be registered in an approved public trials registry. The trial registry name and URL and the registration number must be included at the end of the abstract on a manuscript. Authors are encouraged to refer to the guidelines set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Manuscript Preparation
When submitting a manuscript to Pinnacle Science journal, be sure to type and submit the manuscript using the journal’s template and be sure to indicate the manuscript type (Original Research, Direct Original Research, Case Study, Commentary, Review, etc.) on the template. The submitted manuscript must include all tables, figures, and properly formatted references as they will be presented for the final copy of the manuscript. Please refer to the “Author Guidelines” page for each journal for detailed information.
Informed Consent
All manuscripts and authors must provide a statement that informed consent was provided for human subjects. If request, the IRB approval should be provided.
Corrections
If an article has been published, and then found to be in need of a correction or clarification, the authors will be contacted and asked to submit a corrected manuscript. Pinnacle Science is a Crossref member to assign DOI numbers and these corrections can be handled accordingly via the assistance of our partner, Crossref.
Article Retraction Policy
The retraction policy applies to all Pinnacle Science journals. A retraction is utilized to prevent misguided, faulty, biased, and erroneous data from skewing research. A retraction is not the same a withdrawal, which would occur prior to publication and would be initiated by the author or the editor of the journal.
A retraction of an article may occur for the following reasons, but other reasons not stated may also apply.
Unauthorized identical publication
Plagiarism
Misconduct
Unreliable and misguided findings
Prior publication in another journal
Undisclosed conflicts of interest
Disputed authorship
If a retraction has been granted/warranted to an article published with Pinnacle Science, the original article will be altered to state the word “RETRACTED” with a watermark on every page, however, the article will remain available on the journal’s website for reference. The process for initiating a retraction would begin with contacting the editor of the journal and writing a description why the article should be considered for retraction. Then the editorial board of the journal and editor-in-chief would review the article in questions and make a decision regarding the retraction. This decision would then be final.
Advertising
Pinnacle Science and affiliated journals do not solicit nor accept advertisements from other sources or parties and have no conflict of interest.