Publication Ethics

Pinnacle Science and Research Directs adheres to strict publication ethics. Research Directs upholds the highest integrity and standards throughout the peer-review process and beyond. If an author or reader encounters a problem with regards to the journal, all concerns and inquiries should be directed to [email protected]. All concerns are then presented to the editor-in-chief and are then populated to a selection of associate editors for the journal to review. Each editorial board consists of researchers, clinicians and practitioners in the field. If the problem warrants an article retraction due to plagiarism or breaks the terms of ethical publishing, the Article Retraction Policy will be followed. All other matters would be handled on a case-by-case basis by the editor-in-chief and selected associate editors.

Committee on Publication Ethics Website

Guidelines for Human Subjects Research

Authors must state within the manuscript that written informed consent was obtain and the university or institutional review board approved the study. A statement must be included in the manuscript stating “subjects provided informed consent to participate in the study.” Authors are prohibited from providing private and identifiable information of research participants in a manuscript. If a photo is used within a manuscript to illustrate an example of the methods, etc. then the individuals face and other identifiable information must be concealed, blurred or boxed out. All studies, including experimental and non-experimental (surveys, questionnaires, etc.) must ensure complete anonymity for all participants. Any institutional review board exemptions must be explained and identified in the manuscript and information must be included why approval was not required.

Guidelines for Animal Research

Authors must state within the manuscript the university or institutional review board approved the study for animal use. A statement must be included in the manuscript stating ethical treatment of animals was utilized at all times. Authors must disclose information about animal housing, treatment, and if needed, disposal in the manuscript. Any institutional review board exemptions must be explained and identified in the manuscript and information must be included why approval was not required. If ethical approval is not required due a national law exemption or lack of national law, then a detailed explanation must be provided.

Ownership and Operations

Research Directs is owned and operated by Pinnacle Science. Pinnacle Science is a non-profit organization developed to enhance open access, peer-reviewed research at a minimal cost to authors.

Copyright and Licensing

The work published in RDSP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. As stated on all published manuscripts, copyright is granted to the authors upon publication. Any user is allowed to read, copy, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Copyright is granted to the authors and is published by Pinnacle Science and authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions. Accepted peer-reviewed manuscripts are open access immediately after publication.

Authorship

All authors must significantly contribute to the manuscript, data collection, data analysis, data dissemination and writing. All authors must consent to the final, submitted manuscript.

Archiving

Articles published by Pinnacle Science in Research Directs are stored on the publisher’s server, a hard drive, and by a backup, independent server.

Conflict of Interest

Authors are required to acknowledge if any financial benefits were provided to any authors of the study. If authors have no conflict of interest, they must state, “No conflict of interest.”

Clinical Trials

Research Directs requires clinical trials to be registered in an approved public trials registry. The trial registry name and URL and the registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

Manuscript Preparation

When submitting your manuscript to Research Directs, be sure to type and submit the manuscript using the template and be sure to indicate the manuscript type (Original Research, Direct Original Research, Case Study, Commentary, Review) on the template. The submitted manuscript must include all tables, figures, and properly formatted references as they will be presented for the final copy of the manuscript. Please refer to the Author Guidelines page for detailed information.

Corrections

If an article has been published, and then found to be in need of a correction or clarification, the authors will be contacted and asked to submit a corrected manuscript. Research Directs is a Crossref member to assign DOI numbers and these corrections can be handled accordingly via the assistance of our partner, Crossref.

Errors in Published Manuscripts

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obligated to promptly notify the editor. The journal may then take one of the following actions:

Correct the paper: The journal may issue an erratum, which is a brief notice that corrects an error in a published paper.

Retract the paper: The journal may retract the paper, which means that it will be removed from the journal's website and will no longer be considered a valid publication.

Provide evidence of correctness: If the author believes that the paper is correct, they may provide evidence to the journal editors to support their claim.

The author is also obligated to notify the editor if they learned from a third party that their published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy. 

The definition of a "significant error or inaccuracy" typically refers to an error that could mislead readers or have a negative impact on the paper's conclusions. The author should provide as much information as possible about the error, including the nature of the error, the location of the error in the paper, and any supporting evidence. The author should cooperate with the journal's editors or publisher in resolving the issue. This may involve providing additional information, revising the paper, or retracting the paper.

Article Retraction Policy

The retraction policy applies to all Research Directs journals. A retraction is utilized to prevent misguided, faulty, biased, and erroneous data from skewing research. A retraction is not the same a withdrawal, which would occur prior to publication and would be initiated by the author or the editor of the journal.

A retraction of an article may occur for the following reasons, but other reasons not stated may also apply.

• Unauthorized identical publication
• Plagiarism
• Misconduct
• Unreliable and misguided findings
• Prior publication in another journal
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Disputed authorship

If a retraction has been granted/warranted to an article published with Research Directs, the original article will be altered to state the word “RETRACTED” with a watermark on every page, however, the article will remain available on the Research Directs website for reference. The process for initiating a retraction would begin with contacting the editor of the journal and writing a description why the article should be considered for retraction. Then the editorial board of the journal and editor-in-chief would review the article in questions and make a decision regarding the retraction. This decision would then be final.