Research Ethics Guidelines of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers

[Enacted on August 30, 2002]
[Amended on June 05, 2004]
[Amended on January 19, 2019]
[Amended on March 15, 2019]
[Amended on March 19, 2020]
[Amended on May 24, 2024]

Chapter 1 The General

Article 1 (Purpose)
(1) The Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers aims to contribute to developing the production system from the perspective of manufacturing technology, science, and production engineering.
(2) All manuscripts must be accurate and true. The journal's publishing process involves various authors, editors (the Editor-in-Chief and associate editors), reviewers, and editorial staff of the Society (publisher), all of whom must adhere to the Society's ethical standards throughout their respective roles.

Article 2 (Scope of Misconduct)
The below acts in academic activities, manuscripts, and presentations related to our Society are considered misconduct.
(1) Counterfeiting: Refers to the act of falsely creating non-existent data or research results.
(2) Modulation: Refers to the act of distorting the content or results of research by artificially manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or arbitrarily modifying or deleting data.
(3) Plagiarism: Refers to the act of stealing other people's ideas, research contents, or results without proper approval or citation.
(4) Unethical authorship: Not granting the authorship to a person who has contributed scientifically or technically to the research content or results without justifiable grounds, or granting authorship to a person who has not contributed scientifically or technically, on the grounds of appreciation or respect.
(5) Duplicate publication: Refers to the practice of publishing identical content in two or more academic journals.
(6) Intentionally interfering with the alleged misconduct of oneself or another person or causing harm to the informant.
(7) Acts that are seriously beyond the scope permissible in science and engineering.
(8) In addition to other misconduct prescribed above, acts that our Society deems it necessary to investigate or prevent.

Chapter 2 The Authors

Article 3 (Author Qualifications)
(1) The “author” refers to a person who has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the research of the published paper. In other words, the person must have important academic, social, and financial connections, participate sufficiently in research, and have credible public responsibility for a certain part of the content. The author shall be differentiated from other contributors.
(2) The author must be eligible for the following roles.
A. The author must participate in the entirety or a part of the establishment of basic concepts, collection of literature surveys or data, theoretical or experimental studies, analysis of results, and interpretation of results.
B. The author must draft or revise the manuscript to incorporate the reviewer's feedback.
C. The author must participate in the final examination of the final edition of the manuscript before publication. (3) The publication of a manuscript in this journal is decided through peer evaluation, and the author must participate in the peer evaluation process.
(4) The author shall regard misconduct, such as plagiarism in research, as a serious criminal act and strive to prevent such illegal acts from occurring.
(5) If the research results of the manuscript are likely to be interpreted in favor of the funding agency, the author must write an acknowledgment to the agency in the manuscript.
(6) The author can request the publisher to correct errors, provide supporting details, withdraw, and apologize regarding the manuscript at any time, if necessary, at ksmpe@ksmpe.or.kr.

Article 4 (Liability of the Author)
(1) The author must ensure universality such as compliance with bioethics, respect for human rights, and environmental protection, and obtain prior approval from the IRB if the manuscript pertains to bioethics and safety.
(2) The experimental results in the manuscript must be genuinely obtained and not falsified (e.g., artificial addition, deletion, or modification) in the processing of data.
(3) All publications referenced in the manuscript, including the author’s own work, must be properly cited in the reference section. Plagiarism, which involves using other's ideas without permission or acknowledgement, must be avoided.
(4) All authors shall contribute substantially to the research, acknowledge any support received in the manuscript, and avoid granting unethical authorship.
(5) The author must not publish more than one manuscript of the identical content.

Chapter 3 Reviewers and Editors

Article 5 (Liability of Reviewers)
(1) Reviewers shall not have conflicts of interest with the research, researchers, and research funding applicants.
(2) The review results must be objective.
(3) Reviewers must not disclose the content of a manuscript under review or a withdrawn manuscript.
(4) Reviewers shall point out unreferenced publications relevant to the manuscript.
(5) If unethical behavior is found, reviewers must present the editor with sufficient information and evidence to determine the undertaking of an investigation.

Article 6 (Liability of Editors)
(1) Editors bear full responsibility and obligation to accept or reject the publication of a manuscript.
(2) Editors must maintain independence and impartiality in their decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript.
(3) Editors shall accept a manuscript only if the content and performance of the manuscript are indisputable.
(4) Editors must induce correction or withdrawal of a manuscript when errors are found.
(5) Editors must guarantee the anonymity of reviewers.
(6) The editors must treat all allegations of research misconduct seriously until a judgment and appropriate penalty are determined. Research misconduct must be handled under relevant regulations.

Chapter 4 Research Misconduct

Article 7 (General Principles in the Handling of Research Misconduct)
(1) A manuscript submitted to the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers or a previously published paper found to have breached research ethics shall be handled following the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines.
(2) In the judgment and penalty of research misconduct, the Society must prevent unfair decisions from occurring and make judgments based on evidence.
(3) While the Society is not responsible for making judgments or imposing penalties, it must comply with the defendant's reasonable request for reinvestigation and judgment.
(4) Misconduct or unethical behavior includes, but is not limited to, ethical standards set forth by the Society.

Article 8 (Ethics Committee)
(1) Our Society has an Ethics Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “committee”) to investigate research misconduct and impose penalties.
(2) The Ethics Committee comprises a chairman and several members. The editor-in-chief serves as the chairman, and the members include associate editors and editorial staff.
(3) The term of the chairman and the committee members is one year, from January 1 to December 31, and the term may be renewed.

Article 9 (Convocation and Resolution of the Ethics Committee)
(1) The Ethics Committee is convened by the chairman as needed, with a quorum present, and decisions are made with the approval of two-thirds or more of the members.
(2) For minor violations, the committee chairman shall consult with the responsible committee member to decide on the penalty. For serious violations, the chairman shall convene the committee to decide on the penalty.
(3) The decision shall be communicated to the accused, who must provide a written explanation within 15 days.
(4) The chairman shall make a final decision after reviewing the explanatory materials received from the accused or hearing their opinions if needed.
(5) The decision shall be finalized after reporting the decision to the board of directors.

Article 10 (Reporting Research Misconduct)
(1) Anyone can report research misconduct or unethical behavior at any time by providing sufficient information and evidence to initiate an investigation.
(2) The committee member responsible for editing the accused manuscript acts as the investigator and decides whether to conduct the investigation based on the provided information and evidence.

Article 11 (Investigation of Research Misconduct)
(1) After investigating research misconducts, the investigator shall consult with the committee chairman to determine whether the violation is minor or serious.
(2) If needed, the investigator shall consult publishers for advice.
(3) Evidence shall be collected while maintaining confidentiality, except for those who have an essential need to know.

Article 12 (Minor Violation)
(1) Minor misconduct shall not be disclosed to a large number of individuals to avoid disproportionate penalties.
(2) The author shall be given an opportunity to clarify the case and the accusation.
(3) The investigator shall consult with the committee chairman to determine the level of penalty.

Article 13 (Serious Violation)
(1) In case of a serious violation, the employer of the accused may be notified of the accusation, and if necessary, a joint investigation may be conducted.
(2) The investigator may obtain and examine available evidence that can be collected through consultation with the publisher or the Society.
(3) The investigator may form a small committee of experts to conduct the investigation or in-depth consultation.
(4) The committee chairman shall present the investigation results to the committee and determine the level of penalty.

Article 14 (Judgement and Penalty)
Penalties are as follows. Penalties vary based on the severity of the violation, and they can be imposed individually or in combination.
(1) Minor errors or misunderstandings of ethical standards by the author or reviewer shall be notified and corrected.
(2) If the author or reviewer's error or misconduct is acknowledged, a strongly worded e-mail shall be sent to specify the type of misconduct and prevent future occurrences.
(3) A formal notification shall be published in the journal about the occurrence and handling of the unethical behavior.
(4) An official letter must be sent to inform the department chair, head of the department, or head of the research funding agency supporting the paper of the incident and its resolution.
(5) An official letter shall be sent to the head of the institution to which the individual involved in misconduct belongs, informing them of the incident and its resolution, and requesting appropriate disciplinary action.
(6) The official retraction of the publication shall be communicated to its readers, as well as to abstract and indexing databases.
(7) The wrongdoer shall be prohibited for three years of publication of a manuscript.
(8) The misconduct of the author shall be disclosed and documented on the website and in the journal.

Article 15 (Others)
(1) The editors continuously observe, modify, and supplement the regulations for publication ethics.
(2) The editors monitor and eliminate the risk of any business which may raise doubts about intellectual property and ethical standards regarding the Society or the Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers.
(3) The editors shall always communicate ethical standards and the procedures for addressing unethical behavior simultaneously.
(4) Upon receiving requests for correction of error, supplementary explanations, withdrawals and apologies concerning a manuscript, the publisher or editor-in-chief shall review the validity and officially publish them in the Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers.
(5) If misconduct or unethical behavior is suspected, anyone may file a complaint with the editor during the manuscript review process or with the editor-in-chief (ksmpe@ksmpe.or.kr) after publication. Complaints shall include adequate information and evidence to prompt an investigation. Cases involving accusations are handled according to guidelines for handling unethical behavior.
(6) Any changes made to publications, including modifications and withdrawals, must be communicated and monitored to maintain the integrity of the record across all databases.

Chapter 5 Handling Complaints

Article 16 (Policies and Procedures)
(1) The outcomes of manuscript reviews, delays or issues in manuscript processing, and complaints regarding publication ethics are handled by the editor-in-chief or the editor responsible for the manuscript.
(2) The author shall submit the complaint to the editor-in-chief via email (ksmpe@ksmpe.or.kr ).

Article 17 (Complaints Regarding Scientific Content, Such as Publication Rejection)
(1) The editor-in-chief or the associate editor shall take into account the author's arguments and instruct the reviewer to make a decision on the following and report back. - Decision to reject publication is valid
- Another independent opinion is needed
- The complaint needs to be considered (2) The decision shall be notified to the author, with an explanation if necessary. The decision on the complaint is final.

Article 18 (Complaints Regarding the Procedure, Such as Review Period)
(1) The editor-in-chief or the associate editor shall investigate the complaint and notify the author of the result. If necessary, feedback shall be provided to relevant stakeholders to improve the procedure.

Article 19 (Complaints Regarding Publication Ethics)
(1) The editor-in-chief or the associate editor shall handle complaints about publication ethics pursuant to the Society’s regulations on research ethics.
(2) The editor-in-chief or the associate editor shall provide feedback to the author after deciding on the measures against the complaint.
(3) If the author is not satisfied with the outcome, the complaint may be submitted to the Ethics Committee.

Chapter 6 Conflict of Interest

Article 20 (Policies on Conflict of Interest)
(1) The author shall be responsible for disclosing financial matters or relationships that may affect the research. The author must announce the contributors and funding organizations in the "Notice of Conflict of Interest". In addition, the area in which the financial applicant participated during research (e.g., research planning, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript writing, and publication) shall be notified.
(2) The editor-in-chief and the associate editor must clarify whether there is a conflict of interest. If a manuscript is likely to have a conflict of interest, the editor-in-chief or the associate editor must be excluded from the review process. The editor-in-chief or the associate editor may not use the information obtained during the manuscript review process for other purposes. They shall exclude reviewers who may have a conflict of interest.
(3) The reviewers must notify any possibility of a conflict of interest and must not use unpublished manuscript materials for any other purpose.

Chapter 7 Discussion, Revision, and Withdrawal after Publication

Article 21 (Discussion after Publication)
(1) Opinions on the published paper may be presented to the editor-in-chief via email (ksmpe@ksmpe.or.kr ).

Article 22 (Revision and Withdrawal)
(1) When errors or ethical issues arise in the paper after publication, they shall be handled in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) Errors discovered after publication shall be corrected and published in a separate paper.
(3) When an ethical problem arises with a paper after publication, publication may be withdrawn at the request of the author or canceled by the decision of the research ethics committee.

Chapter 8 Data Sharing

Article 23 (Policies on Data Sharing)
(1) The Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers shall encourage authors to share data. Authors are encouraged to store data in accessible repositories whenever feasible, facilitating the sharing of research data.
(2) The journal encourages the inclusion of DAS (data availability statements) in all published papers.
(3) If required, data within the papers shall be appropriately cited.