Policies

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts are reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers. The reviewers are experts in their area of science. We ask all reviewers to read and provide feedback on a manuscript within 3 weeks of agreeing to review a manuscript.

While our reviewers tend to come from Ohio, this is not a requirement to be a reviewer for OJS.

Publication Frequency

The Ohio Journal of Science is published continuously online. The Ohio Academy of Science produces two issues annually: peer-reviewed April Program Abstracts (Issue No. 1) and peer-reviewed full papers in December (Issue No. 2). The Ohio State University Libraries publishes Open Access online OJS program abstracts and articles accepted throughout the year. The Academy distributes a print version of the April Program Abstracts at the annual meeting.

Open Access Policy

Journals published by The Ohio State University Libraries provide immediate open access to their content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

In order to publish in the journal, the lead author must be a member of The Ohio Academy of Science. All faculty and students at The Ohio State University may join at no cost.

(Updated April 14, 2022)

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose conflicts of interest at the earliest possible opportunity - for example, when a manuscript is submitted or a review assignment is accepted. Conflict of interest is defined as any competing personal, professional, or financial interest that may introduce bias into the publishing process of the journal.

Example conflicts of interest:

• financial support from commercial enterprises that have a vested interest in the results
• personal relationships that would compromise objectivity during review or publication
• professional competition that would prevent objective evaluation of a submitted manuscript

Disclosure of a conflict of interest by an author does not necessarily mean that a manuscript will be denied acceptance to the journal. If an author is found to have a conflict of interest that was not disclosed during the submission and review process, the editor will identify an appropriate remedy, which may include a published correction or a retraction.

(Updated August 9, 2016)

Plagiarism Policy

Journals published by The Ohio State University Libraries' Publishing Program do not accept manuscripts with plagiarized material. For the purposes of this policy, plagiarism is defined as the use of previously authored works - including text, data, and images - of others or self without proper attribution.

Journal editors will respond to plagiarism at their discretion. Actions taken will be based on the severity of the plagiarism attempt, but can include corrections to or retractions of the published article, the author being banned from publishing in the journal, and/or the editor notifying the author's institution or funding agencies. 

(Updated August 9, 2016)

Retraction Policy

When errors are discovered in published content, our policy is to follow the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The following language is a brief summary of relevant portions of the guidelines for the benefit of our editors, authors, and readers. The full guidelines should be consulted if questions arise or action is being considered.

If the editor becomes aware of major errors in, or misconduct related to published work, the editor may issue a retraction, statement of concern, or correction. These actions are meant to maintain the scholarly record and are not meant to be a form of punishment. An author who determines that his or her published article may contain errors should contact the editor promptly so that the journal can determine a path forward. Readers are also invited to contact the editor with concerns about published content.

Retraction

A retraction is defined as a public disavowal, not an erasure or removal. Retractions will occur if the editors and editorial board find that the main conclusion of the work is undermined or if subsequent information about the work comes to light of which the authors or the editors were not aware at the time of publication.

Statement of Concern

A statement of concern will be issued if there is inconclusive evidence of research misconduct / ethical wrongdoing or there is an ongoing investigation and results are pending.

Correction

A correction will be published if the scholarly record is seriously affected (e.g., if accuracy / intended meaning, scientific reproducibility, author reputation, or journal reputation is judged to be compromised). Corrections such as misspellings or grammatical errors will not be published. Published corrections will be added to the original article whenever possible. When that is not possible, the correction will link to and from the original work.

Removal

Removal of published content may occur if an article is determined to be defamatory by a court of law, if it infringes on legal rights, or if there is a reasonable expectation that it will be subject to a court order for any reason. The bibliographic information about the work will be retained online, but the work will no longer be available through the journal. A note will be added to indicate that the item was removed for legal reasons.

(Updated October 27, 2016)

Copyright Policy

Authors retain all rights to work published by The Ohio State University Libraries' Publishing Program. The specific terms of our author agreements may vary slightly from journal to journal, but they all constitute nonexclusive licenses covering the rights required to publish, index, abstract, and preserve the content. Authors are free to reuse their work and to enter into other agreements as long as they credit the relevant journal as the site of first publication and provide a link to the journal website. 

The Ohio Journal of Science is published under a Creative Commons Attribution license. While you will retain copyright ownership of your work, this Creative Commons license will allow readers to print, share, re-post, and republish your article, without asking for permission, as long as the work is properly attributed to you. Read more about the license here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ or view the full legal text here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

(Updated July 17, 2017)

Preservation Policy

This journal participates in the Public Knowledge Project's Private LOCKSS Network to preserve its contents. https://pkp.sfu.ca/pkp-lockss/

(Updated November 21, 2017)

Authorship Policy

All authors shall have made (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data and (2) drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content. Additionally, first authors and corresponding authors—who may be the same person—shall (3) have authority for final approval of the version to be published and (4) agree to be accountable publicly for the accuracy and integrity of the article. Modified from: ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Updated 2016. (Accessed 28 Nov 2017 http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf)

(Updated January 4, 2018)