Publication Ethics

Ethical Principles of the "Iranian Urban Design Studies"

 

Open Access Policy

Open Access journal.

"Iranian Urban Design Studies" (IUDS) is an open-access journal, ensuring that all articles are freely available to readers without any subscription or payment.
Author Rights & Licensing:
Authors retain the copyright of their work.
Published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This license allows others to share and redistribute the work, provided proper credit is given to the original author(s).
The journal does not impose any subscription fees or usage restrictions on published content.


For more details on this license, visit:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ethical Policy

The "Iranian Urban Design Studies" voluntarily adheres to the Code of Ethics for Publications of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is committed to upholding professional ethical values. All authors, reviewers, scientific editors, and the editor-in-chief are required to comply with these ethical standards in their interactions with the journal.

Ministry of Science, Research and Technology Publications Research Ethics Charter (view).

Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief and Academic Editors:

  • Upon the commitment by authors not to submit their article to another journal for evaluation, the journal commits to making a decision on the article within four months and notifying the authors of the outcome.
  • The editor-in-chief makes publication decisions based on the evaluations of reviewers and the editorial board.
  • The editor-in-chief is responsible for deciding whether submitted articles should be published.
  • Reviewing articles for alignment with the journal’s editorial policies is a duty of the editor-in-chief.
  • The editor-in-chief reviews articles based solely on content, without regard to the race, gender, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors.
  • The editor-in-chief does not consider a matter closed by merely rejecting accused articles or those proven to have violated publication ethics; instead, such issues are pursued to the last stage per the regulations of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology. However, accused authors will be given an appropriate opportunity to respond to allegations of “unethical publishing and research behavior.”
  • The editor-in-chief promptly retracts published articles proven to involve “unethical publishing and research behavior,” making this transparent to readers and indexing authorities.
  • The editor-in-chief and the editorial board are responsible for selecting competent reviewers based on their expertise, experience, professional conduct, and commitment to ethics.
  • The editor-in-chief investigates and addresses allegations of unethical publishing and research behavior reported by reviewers or by any other means, acting decisively if necessary.
  • Academic editors of this journal maintain complete confidentiality regarding discussions about authors’ articles.
  • Academic editors preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
  • Academic editors prevent conflicts of interest.
  • Academic editors are obligated to uphold scientific integrity and strive to meet the scholarly needs of their readership.
  • Academic editors identify plagiarism, fraud, and potential misconduct, and, when necessary, offer corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies.
  • The academic editors and editor-in-chief do not disclose information about articles to anyone outside the editorial board.
  • Unpublished manuscripts are not used by academic editors or other members for personal purposes.
  • The peer-review process is double-blind, meaning neither the reviewer knows the author’s identity, nor the author knows the reviewer’s. Additionally, each article is sent to two independent reviewers for scientific evaluation.
  • If possible, the journal respects justified requests from authors regarding the exclusion of specific reviewers.

Responsibilities of Reviewers:

  • Selected reviewers are asked to collaborate with the academic editors to evaluate the quality of submitted articles within the specified timeframe.
  • Reviewers are expected to avoid rewriting or modifying a well-written article based on personal taste or preference and to remember that the journal seeks their scientific expertise, not their editorial services.
  • Reviewers are expected to be responsible, responsive, punctual, truth-seeking, enthusiastic, and committed to professional ethics and respecting others’ rights.
  • Reviewers should base their assessments on evidence, fairness, respect, impartiality, and clarity, and make recommendations about the suitability of the article for publication with clear explanations and avoidance of personal preferences.
  • Reviewers must notify the editor of any similarity or overlap between the article under review and any other published article they are aware of.
  • Reviewers’ opinions should be technical and specialized, with judgments made based on sufficient scientific evidence, clear reasons for decisions, and avoidance of subjective or personal opinions.
  • Reviewers are responsible for scrutinizing sources used in the article; all research, topics, and quotations must be fully referenced.
  • Reviewers are obliged to maintain confidentiality regarding submitted articles and refrain from using their content for personal purposes.
  • Reviewers are prohibited from directly contacting authors about reviewed articles. All communications with authors are handled exclusively through the journal office.
  • Reviewers must refrain from reviewing articles where there is a conflict of interest with any author, company, or institution.
  • Reviewers should disclose conflicts of interest and consult with the journal’s editor-in-chief if necessary.
  • Reviewers must keep confidential any specific information or ideas obtained during the review process and not use them for personal gain.
  • If a reviewer feels unqualified to evaluate a submission or anticipates delays due to time constraints or lack of access to necessary resources, they should withdraw from the review process.
  • A selected reviewer must inform the editor of their decision to accept or decline the review promptly after reviewing the article’s abstract and, if they decline, assist in identifying a suitable replacement.
  • A reviewer may not delegate the review of an article to another individual, such as a colleague or graduate student, without the editor-in-chief’s permission. Any contributors to the review process must be identified in the review report to the editor and recorded by the journal.

Responsibilities of the Publisher:

  • The publisher is committed to maintaining the academic and research record.
  • The publisher oversees adherence to ethical principles by the editor-in-chief, academic editors, editorial board, and reviewers.
  • The publisher continuously assesses articles for plagiarism, fraud, and potential misconduct using software tools.
  • The publisher will make necessary corrections, explanations, retractions, and apologies according to established regulations.
  • The publisher addresses proven misconduct when necessary.

  • Long-term Archiving and Preservation Policy:

    The journal’s content is preserved by Shiraz University Press through the Sinaweb publishing platform. All articles are permanently stored on secure institutional servers and are subject to regular back-up procedures to ensure long-term digital preservation, integrity, and accessibility. In addition, the publisher maintains institutional responsibility for safeguarding the continuity of access to the journal’s content.

Responsibilities of Authors:

  • Before submitting an article, authors must familiarize themselves with the publication policies of the "Iranian Urban Design Studies".
  • Archive: The journal allows authors to deposit all versions of their work (submitted version, accepted version, and published version) in institutional or subject repositories of their choice, as well as on personal websites.
  • After final approval of the article, it will not be possible to change the order, number, corresponding author, or institutional affiliations (such as department/faculty and university) of the authors for publication.
  • Authors must submit a scientifically valid manuscript of their research findings written in accordance with the journal’s style guide.
  • Authors must grant the journal’s editorial team the right to edit the manuscript for improved readability.
  • Authors or the corresponding author on their behalf must sign the ethical commitment form.
  • Since plagiarism is a serious and unethical error, all authors should be aware that articles submitted to this journal will be checked for plagiarism using specialized software.
  • The corresponding author must ensure that all contributing authors are named, and no inappropriate names are added, such as “honorary authorship” or omitting genuine contributors.
  • The corresponding author must obtain the consent of other co-authors.
  • As per the research misconduct policy, in articles derived from a thesis/dissertation, the order of authors should follow the student, supervisor(s), and advisor(s).
  • All those who made a significant contribution to the study should be credited as co-authors or acknowledged as collaborators.
  • The primary author must ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the article and have agreed to its submission for publication.
  • Submitting an article to multiple journals simultaneously or submitting previously published or accepted articles in other journals is prohibited.
  • Articles should not be published or under review elsewhere, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a speech, review article, or dissertation.
  • Authors are expected to acknowledge financial support for conducting and preparing the research in brief.
  • In open-access journals, authors retain the copyright of their articles but also allow individuals to download, print, and distribute their work.
  • If an author identifies a significant error in their work, they must immediately inform the journal’s academic editor for correction.
  • Articles submitted by authors must be their original work, and any use of others' research must be appropriately cited.
  • Authors are obliged to obtain explicit written permission for any needed use of third-party material and reference all sources accurately. Direct quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks (“ ”).
  • Articles should be sufficiently detailed and referenced to allow replication, and false or fabricated statements are considered unethical and unacceptable.
  • Upon request, authors must provide raw data, interview transcripts, questionnaires, and relevant materials used in the article.

Examples of Ethical Violations:

  • Plagiarism: The intentional use of others’ articles or ideas under one’s name. Even using a single sentence from someone else or from one's previous works without citing is considered plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using specialized software.
  • Distortion: Occurs when the author changes or interprets another’s research results from a personal perspective.
  • Data Fabrication: Occurs when a researcher presents data and conclusions without actually conducting a study.
  • Simultaneous Submission: Occurs when a manuscript is submitted to two journals simultaneously.
  • Duplicate Submission: When two or more articles have identical hypotheses, data, and results.
  • Redundant Submission: Dividing a study into multiple articles and submitting them separately.
  • Incorrect Attribution of Co-authorship: All listed authors must have contributed to the article.
  • Citation Manipulation: Listing multiple references at the end of an article without mentioning them in the text.
  • Resubmission of Rejected Articles: Articles previously rejected based on reviewer feedback cannot be resubmitted to the Journal of Iranian Urban Design Studies.
  • Research Outsourcing: When authors hire someone else to conduct the research and later publish it as their own with minimal modification.
  • Fictitious Attribution: Assigning credit to an institution, center, or research group that was not involved in the research.