Code of Ethics

The QUEST: Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development publishes peer-reviewed articles. The following statements describe the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article.

Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Decision on the Publication of Articles
The Editors of The QUEST are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The Editors are guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and subjected to legal requirements regarding copyright and plagiarism. The Editor in Chief may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this final decision.

Fair play
Manuscripts shall be evaluated solely on their intellectual merit without regard to the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, or citizenship.

Confidentiality
The Editor in Chief and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by anyone who has a view of the manuscript (while handling it) in his or her own research without the express written consent of the author.

Code of Ethics for Editorial Team

All communication among the editorial team and between editors and peer reviewers and authors will take place in a clear, respectful, timely and transparent manner.
Managing Editors and Associate Editors are the primary contacts between the author and the editorial team. If copyeditors, proofreaders, or layout editors have questions for the author during the production of an article, these should be directed to the Managing Editors or Associate Editors. This minimizes confusion and miscommunication with the author.
Members of the editorial team who wish to submit a paper to the journal will submit it directly to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief will anonymize the paper and direct it through the publication process. Peer reviewers will determine whether or not to accept the paper.
The Editor-in-Chief will remain neutral and treat all possible breaches of this Code confidentially. The Editor-in-Chief will take action against any individual(s) who do not adhere to the Code of Ethics. This may result in declining a manuscript or dismissing a peer reviewer or editor of their duties.
In the event of a dispute involving the Editor-in-Chief, the matter will be directed to the Administrative Council of Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology.
These rules of governance are applicable to any individual involved in the production of the journal. These include, but are not limited to: editors, peer-reviewers, authors, etc.

Code of Ethics for Authors

Authors will conduct their research in line with the best practices and regulations of their professional bodies and home institutions. Authors will adhere to the author guidelines, privacy, and this code of ethics. The paper complies with the ethical requirements of Informed Consent and any conflict of interest has been declared. Authors will declare any conflicts of interest.
All authors must be named on the manuscript, and in the order in which they would like to be acknowledged, at the point of submission.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
The author retains the copyright of their work. The author will acknowledge the Partnership as the first place of publication in subsequent use, such as placement in an Institutional Repository and other third-party indexing systems.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
The author has obtained the permission of the copyright holder for the inclusion of any third-party material, including images, in the text.
There has been no falsification or fabrication of data findings.
The paper includes no instances of plagiarism, such as verbatim copying of another’s work and submitting it as one’s own, or changing words and phrases while retaining the essential content of another’s work.
The publication has been approved by all co-authors and responsible authorities at the organization where the work has been carried out.

Code of Ethics for Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers will agree to review manuscripts only for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess in a timely manner.
They will respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process, beyond those that are released by the journal.
They will not use information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage, or to disadvantage or discredit others.
They will declare all potential conflicting interests, seeking advice from the journal if they are unsure whether something constitutes a relevant interest. A peer reviewer shall declare knowledge of the author if he or she detects this in the manuscript.
They will not allow their reviews to be influenced by the origins of a manuscript, by the nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, or by commercial considerations.
They will be objective and constructive in their reviews, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory and from making libelous or derogatory personal comments.
They will decline to review if they feel unable to provide a fair and unbiased review.
Peer reviewers will take into consideration the ethical standards required of authors when submitting their papers. They will assess whether the paper may be plagiarized, if informed consent ought to have been obtained, if authors have declared competing interests, and whether there is any indication the data has been fabricated or inappropriately manipulated.

Disclaimer

The opinions of our authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial team or the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST). The authors are solely responsible for the content of their submitted material.
The editorial team and peer-review process will typically identify and reject submitted material with serious ethical, legal, and academic issues. However, it must be recognized that like any other process, mistakes can be made. Therefore we state:

By submitting written material to the QUEST Journal, the author hereby agrees to assume full legal responsibility in any matter that may arise due to the publication of their submission(s). This can include but is not limited to, issues of data falsification, libel/slander, moral misconduct, academic misconduct, and plagiarism.