About Ethiopian Journal of Science and Sustainable Development (EJSSD)

Scope: The Ethiopian Journal of Science and Sustainable Development (EJSSD) is a double-blind reviewed journal published twice a year by Adama Science & Technology University (ASTU). The EJSSD is cross-disciplinary in nature and publishes original research findings, review articles, and short/brief communications. The Journal is the place for the exchange of information and research results that describe significant advances in the field of Engineering, Science, Technology, Business, Education, Humanities and Law, Agriculture, Health and sustainable development. Papers from researchers working in different public and private sector, academic institutions, industries, companies, etc., having national/international interest are accepted for publication.

Editorial Policy

Conflict of Intrest Policy: Conflict of Interest is any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications or opinions stated – including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition.

For a transparent nature of publishing process, all parties involved in the article should reveal any possible association which poses a conflict of interest in connection with the manuscript. EJSSD requires the declaration of any Conflict of Interest to be included in the ‘author declaration form’ upon submission. This information will be available to the editors. EJSSD also asks all referees and editors to declare any conflicting or competing interests relating to a given article.

Ethical Policy: EJSSD strongly believes that research misconduct is harmful for knowledge and it could mislead other researchers. Thus, it advices authors to be honest in presenting their results and conclusions of their research. Authors are expected to be aware of, and comply with, best practice in publication ethics specifically with regard to authorship, duplicate submission, plagiarism, research results (fabrication, falsification, manipulation of figures or selective reporting of data), competing interests, and compliance with policies on research ethics (human and animal rights). 

In the declaration form submitted with the manuscript to EJSSD, authors are asked to confirm that their submission is original work that has not been previously published and is not under review by another publication, and that authors have obtained written permission to use any third-party materials such as images. Authorship should be based on the degree to which an author has contributed to the submitted work. All those who have made a significant contribution should be given chance to be cited as authors. Other individuals who have contributed to the work should be acknowledged. Articles should include a full list of the current institutional affiliations of all authors, both academic and corporate. Moreover, simultaneous submissions of the same manuscript to EJSSD and another journal will not be tolerated. If found so, the submission will be removed without consideration and future submissions by the author will not be considered by EJSSD. Reviewers and editors are also required to treat manuscripts fairly and in confidence.

Plagiarism policy:  Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, 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 behavior and is unacceptable by EJSSD. This also includes self-plagiarism. Manuscripts containing plagiarized material are against the standards of quality, research and innovation. Hence, all authors submitting articles to EJSSD are expected to abide ethical standards and abstain from plagiarism, in any form. EJSSD uses the following policies that state-specific actions if plagiarism is identified in a manuscript submitted for publication and a manuscript already published in the journal.

Authors should ensure that they submit only entirely original works. If they have used the work and/or statements of others, this must be appropriately cited or referenced. Manuscripts that are a compilation of previously published materials of other authors (without their own creative and authoring interpretation) are not accepted for publication. Materials protected by copyright (for example, tables, figures or large quotations) should only be reproduced with the permission of their owner.

Authors are suggested to use plagiarism detection software to do the similarity checking. All manuscripts submitted for publication to EJSSD are cross-checked for plagiarism using the licensed Turnitin software at the screening stage. A similarity score below 20 % (excluding references) is acceptable by EJSSD, unless a significant proportion of the text has come from a single or very limited number of sources. Moreover, abstract, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions, and recommendations should always be plagiarism free. Thus, every instance of similarity will be examined with scrutiny by the EJSSD. If proof of plagiarism is found, the manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the editor-in-chief will communicate with the corresponding author to demand an explanation and the amendment of the plagiarized content. If the author does not respond within a reasonable length of time or does not make the necessary adjustments, the manuscript will be declined from further steps.

In case a manuscript is found to be plagiarized after publication in EJSSD, the Editor-in-Chief will conduct preliminary investigation. EJSSD takes all allegations seriously and the case will undergo a robust investigation. Those making an allegation must provide clear evidence and information to allow the journal to investigate the case. A committee consisting of the Editor-in-Chief, the section editor and one more member will consider the allegations raised and the author will be given a chance to respond to the issue.

Upon having established that the manuscript is plagiarized from some previously published work, EJSSD shall support the original author and manuscript and may take any or all of the following immediate actions or follow the additional course of actions as recommended by the committee:

  • The published manuscript shall be completely removed from EJSSD website and other third party websites where the paper is listed and indexed. Where appropriate, the paper containing the plagiarism will also be marked on each page of the PDF.
  • The concerned author(s) will be black listed and all other manuscripts submitted by the author(s) in question will be rejected.
  • EJSSD office shall report the issue to the concerned authorities, including the authors' institution and/or funding organizations, to take strict action against the concerned author(s).

Retraction Policy: The object of retraction is to preserving the integrity of science and not for the purpose of punishing the author. Occasionally, circumstances may arise where a published manuscript will later require retraction. If any manuscripts are published, having certain assigned information of volume/ issue /page number, and it is found that there are breaches of professional ethical codes in their content. EJSSD will issue retractions if:

  • There are clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error);
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication);
  • It constitutes plagiarism;
  • It reports unethical research.

Copyright Policy: Copyright belongs to the journal. By signing and submitting ‘Author Declaration and Copyright Authorization Form’, authors confirm that they have read, understood and agreed to the submission guidelines, policies and submission declaration of the journal, and transfer the copyright of the manuscript to EJSSD.

Open Access Policy and Creative Commons Licensing: EJSSD provides open access to its contents based on the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) recommendations. It works on the principle that research be made available freely to the scientific community and public, and EJSSD strongly supports the global exchange of knowledge. The articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given.

Article Processing Charge (APC): EJSSD publishes all articles free of cost. It will not charge any processing fee in any form.