Publication Ethics

Edanz policies and practices

Good ethical awareness and practice is essential for everyone involved in academic research, manuscript production and publishing. The ethical standards set out by groups such as ICMJE, COPE, and EASE are the standards against which journals and your fellow researchers will hold your work. 

As an associate member of COPE, Edanz seeks to be at the forefront of the author services industry in upholding the highest standards for transparency and ethical practice.

How Edanz supports ethical publication practices:

We are the only major author services provider with a policy of full transparency, meaning that we always make available the full names and profiles of all freelance editors and expert reviewers who have worked on your manuscript.

• Participate in COPE activities as an associate member

• Have staff who are members of COPE Council, CSE, WAME, APAME, and ISTC

• Work with EASE to translate author guidelines into Japanese and Chinese

• Advise authors on the appropriate course of action when an ethical issue arises with their manuscript

• Advise on authorship and conflict of interest issues

• Conduct regular author workshops, of which publication ethics are a part

• Ensure authors make all decisions regarding the content of their manuscripts

As an ethical service provider, we will never:

• Knowingly edit or rewrite plagiarized text

• Knowingly facilitate any malpractice, including:

  • Inappropriate authorship

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest

  • Duplicate publication

  • Concurrent submission to multiple journals

  • Data fabrication or manipulation

  • Peer review fraud

Plagiarism

Our policies on plagiarism

Plagiarism is a major ethical offense in publishing and Edanz strives to ensure that all of our dealings with authors are ethically responsible and also to encourage and educate authors to be ethically responsible. Knowingly modifying plagiarized text still counts as plagiarism; therefore, Edanz has set out strict policies on any plagiarism found in a manuscript submitted to us.

• If plagiarized text is found during editing, the text will be highlighted and left unedited. Authors will be advised about the issue and guidance offered if needed on how to resolve the situation.
• Any text that has been directly copied and pasted from another source and submitted to us for rewriting/editing will be returned to the author without revision so that the author can replace it with original text prior to editing.
• Articles or portions of articles that have previously been published cannot be rewritten or used without attribution. These will be returned to the author with guidance on proper publication and citation practice.

Please note, although we will identify any text to the author that has been found to be plagiarized, we do not screen for plagiarism. The final content of all manuscripts handled by Edanz is always the responsibility of the author.

Acknowledgments

International publishing guidelines (e.g., of COPE, ICMJE, and EASE) require full transparency in manuscripts, which includes acknowledging individuals who provided writing or editorial assistance to authors during the preparation of their manuscript. A declaration of professional English-language assistance can also reassure editors and reviewers that they can concentrate on evaluating the scientific merit of a manuscript.

Edanz always lets authors know who edited or reviewed their manuscript. We also actively encourage authors to acknowledge the assistance that they received to improve their manuscript, by suggesting wording when they order our services.

Please email global@edanz.com if you have any queries about acknowledgments and transparency in publishing--for example, if:

• You need help drafting an appropriate acknowledgment for assistance provided by Edanz, especially if it involved more than one person or more than one service.

• Your target journal asks for a PDF copy of a signed letter granting permission from the named people to be acknowledged.

• Your target journal has its own form to obtain permission from the named people to be acknowledged.

What You Can Do: Best Practices for Publication Ethics