Ethical Guidelines to Publication in Smart Agriculture
[Version 8th December 2025]
To further strengthen the ethical and academic integrity in publishing, standardize journal publication processes, and combat academic misconduct, Smart Agriculture strictly adheres to the transparency and best practice guidelines for academic publications jointly issued by four academic organizations: the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), DOAJ, the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
Complete guide link:
https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing
Here provide a set of ethical guidelines for all parties engaged in the publishing process, especially for authors, peer reviewers, editors and editorial staff.
1 Author's Publishing Ethics
1.1 All named authors must be substantive contributors to the paper, and no arbitrary additions or deletions of authors are permitted. Submissions to this journal are only accepted when all authors agree to the order of names and acknowledge the final version of the manuscript.
1.2 Authors must ensure the following: the content is original, all data and images are authentic and reliable with no tampering or falsification, the work possesses independent intellectual property rights, has not been publicly published worldwide, and is free from plagiarism, fabrication, or multiple submissions. The work must not involve confidentiality breaches or copyright infringement. Any use of others' works or texts must be cited as references. The editorial office will screen all submissions using the CNKI Academic Integrity Detection System or Wanfang Detection-Academic Pre-review Version, with a text duplication ratio not exceeding 10%.
1.3 When submitting manuscripts to journals, authors should disclose all potential economic or non-economic conflicts of interest that may influence their research outcomes and paper writing.
1.4 The author is obligated to cooperate with the editorial department in the review of the manuscript, such as providing original data, informed consent forms, or original literature.
1.5 When studying living vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates, authors must ensure that animal experiments strictly comply with national laws, regulations, and standards related to laboratory animals, including but not limited to the "Regulations on Laboratory Animals" (revised version of March 1, 2017) and the "Laboratory animal-Guideline for ethical review of animal welfare" (GB/T 35892—2018). Additionally, we recommend that experiments adhere to the guidelines and consensus of international biomedical journals regarding the reporting of animal experiment studies (e.g., ARIVE 2.0, IGP 2012, IAVE Guidelines 2010, etc.). For human subjects, authors must provide a statement indicating that the study samples were obtained through informed consent from human subjects (or explain the reasons for not obtaining consent, such as data being analyzed anonymously).
1.6 Respect the revision suggestions of peer reviewers and editors. If there are any objections, a statement may be submitted. When the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in the published paper, it is obligated to promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate with the editorial office to retract the paper or issue an appropriate "correction" statement.
1.7 The author agrees to grant the copyright and related property rights of the paper to the Editorial Department of Smart Agriculture.
2 Publication Ethics of Reviewers
2.1 Upon receiving an invitation to review a manuscript, one should first understand the journal's positioning and review requirements, and assess whether one's professional expertise and research focus align with the manuscript under review. If not, the editor should be promptly and clearly informed.
2.2 Manuscripts shall be evaluated impartially, objectively, scientifically, and accurately based on the principles of upholding academic integrity and respecting academic freedom, with timely and constructive review comments provided. Evaluations of academic merit shall not be influenced by factors such as religion, ethnicity, political beliefs, gender, region, or institutional affiliation, and shall avoid being driven by commercial interests.
2.3 Manuscripts shall be reviewed within the stipulated timeframe with specific feedback provided. Should the review process be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, prompt communication is required.
2.4 Respect the research achievements of the authors and strictly maintain confidentiality regarding the content of the reviewed manuscripts. When transferring the paper to others (colleagues, students, etc.) for review, permission must be obtained from the journal editorial board.
2.5 When there is a conflict of interest with the author, the editor should be informed promptly and the manuscript should be voluntarily declined for review.
2.6 The system should only recommend adding relevant references to the research content, and must not suggest authors cite unrelated references to boost citation counts or visibility.
2.7 After submitting review comments, if the reviewers obtain information that could affect the initial feedback or suggestions, or if any issues not identified during the review process or potential conflicts of interest are discovered after publication, they should promptly contact the editorial office.
2.8 If a reviewer is found to exploit the peer-review process for personal gain or even plagiarize the content of the manuscript under review, the journal may impose disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to lifetime disqualification from peer-review, or even public disclosure, depending on the severity of the case.
3 Editing and Publishing Ethics of Editorial Staff
3.1 Strictly comply with all publishing regulations issued by the National Press and Publication Administration, ensuring that publishing standards conform to domestic and international practices.
3.2 Timely and impartial processing of each manuscript. Decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection shall be based solely on the scientific validity, originality, readability, and other intrinsic content of the paper, as well as its alignment with the journal's acceptance criteria; no bias shall be introduced regarding the author's affiliation, gender, professional title, or academic honors.
3.3 Respect the research achievements and intellectual independence of the authors. Maintain confidentiality regarding the manuscript content, authors, and peer reviewers.
3.4 When selecting peer reviewers, conflicts of interest (e.g., project team members, colleagues, classmates, or relatives) should be avoided.
3.5 Editors who have conflicts of interest with authors (e.g., involvement in manuscript writing, research projects, or familial/academic relationships) must recuse themselves from handling the manuscript.
3.6 Do not interfere with the peer review process of external reviewers to ensure independent evaluation recommendations.
3.7 For accepted manuscripts, the editorial board reserves the right to reject submissions if academic misconduct is identified, and will notify the author's institution accordingly.
3.8 Protect the integrity of published records by issuing "corrections" and retraction when necessary, and by investigating suspected misconduct or improper conduct in research and publication.
4 Advertising Policy
4.1 All advertisements must be approved by the publisher (Editorial Office of Smart Agriculture at the Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China), which reserves the right to reject or cancel any advertisement at any time.
4.2 Advertisements must comply with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China. Only smart agriculture research achievements or academic activities related advertisements will be considered. Advertisements will be displayed in a fixed position on the inside page of the journal.
4.3 Advertisements are kept separate from the published content and should not influence editorial decisions.
4.4 Advertisements must be clearly labeled as advertisements and distinctly separated from academic content. The journal will not publish advertisements in the form of academic content.
For details, please contact: smartag@caas.cn.
5 Publicity and Solicitation
The publicity of the journal and solicitation of manuscripts should be appropriate, clear, well targeted, and unobtrusive.
