Mikbatz Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Mikbatz Journal follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and its Core Practices. A selection of key points is included below, but one should refer to these documents for additional information.

Duties of Editors

Fair play and editorial independence

Mikbatz Journal has one or two Chief Editors and an Editorial Board. In the case of two Chief Editors, they will have a mutually agreed division of responsibilities. Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively based on their academic merit (importance, originality, study’s validity, clarity) and their relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. Decisions to edit and publish are not determined by the policies of governments or any other agencies outside of the journal itself. The Chief Editor(s) have full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content. 

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Editors and editorial board members will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors from handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. Editors will exclude themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers. Instead, they will ask another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript.

Publication decisions

The editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer review by at least two reviewers who are experts in the field. The Chief Editor(s) are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The Chief Editor(s) may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations

Mikbatz editors, in conjunction with its publisher, the Israel Association of Group Psychotherapy, will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior will be looked into, even if discovered years after publication. The Israel Association for Group Psychotherapy will follow the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspected misconduct. If, on investigation, the ethical concern is well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note as may be relevant will be published in the journal.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Peer review is essential to formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of the scientific endeavor. Mikbatz Journal shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to the scientific process must do a fair share of reviewing.

Promptness

Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review so that they can contact alternative reviewers.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Chief Editor(s), who would only do so under exceptional and specific circumstances. This also applies to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them to improve the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.

Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. Any statement that is an observation, derivation, or argument reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also notify the editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published or unpublished manuscript they have personal knowledge of.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Any invited referee who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the Chief Editor(s) to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review.

Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This also applies to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Review instructions

Detailed instructions for reviewers are sent to reviewers (in Hebrew), together with the manuscript to be reviewed.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors are expected to submit their manuscripts according to the editorial guidelines published on the website of the Israel Association of Group Psychotherapy. Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. Original research articles should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Review articles should be accurate, objective, and comprehensive, while perspective pieces should be clearly identified as such. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data center), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality and plagiarism

Authors should ensure that they have written and submitted only entirely original works, and if they have used the work or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant, or concurrent submission/publication

Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript already published in another journal. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behavior and unacceptable.

Publishing some kinds of articles (such as clinical guidelines and translations) in multiple journals is sometimes justifiable, provided that certain conditions are met. The authors and journal editors concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

Authorship of the manuscript

Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content: (i) made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and (ii) drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication. 

All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, and general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author. Instead, they should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section after their written permission to be named has been obtained. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Authors should—at the earliest stage possible, disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation of the manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial ones such as honoraria, educational grants or other funding, participation in speakers’ bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements, as well as non-financial ones such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed (including the grant number or other reference number, if any).

Acknowledgment of sources

Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others and should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately (from the conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit written permission from the source. Authors should not use information obtained while providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

Hazards and human or animal subjects

If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript. If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants. The privacy rights of human participants must always be observed.

Peer review

Authors must participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, proof of ethics approval, patient consent, and copyright permissions. In the case of a first decision of "revisions necessary", authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically, point by point, and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal by the provided deadline.

Fundamental errors in published works

When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, they must promptly notify the journal’s Chief Editor(s) or publisher and cooperate with them to correct the paper in the form of an erratum or retract it. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then the authors must promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper. 

Submission form

On submission of a manuscript to the journal, authors are asked to fill out a form (in Hebrew) that includes statements on authorship, ethical conduct, conflicts of interest, acknowledgment of sources, transfer of copyrights, and more. The form can be found on the website of the Israel Association of Group Psychotherapy.

Submission fees

Submission of any kind of manuscript to Mikbatz Journal is presently free, and authors will not be charged any publication fees.

Duties of the Publisher

Handling of unethical publishing behavior

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work. The publisher and the Chief Editor(s) shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred and under no circumstances encourage or knowingly allow such misconduct to occur.

Access to journal content

The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining its own digital archive. Article abstracts are publicly available on the website of the Israel Association of Group Psychotherapy. Recent full articles are available for a fee, but paying members of the Israel Association of Group Psychotherapy have free access. Full articles are made public one year after publication.

Copyright

Mikbatz Journal is licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 4.0.

Acknowledgment

The Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement of Mikbatz Journal was adapted from a similar statement in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation and Technology.