This journal follows the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and requests authors to familiarize themselves with these guidelines at: http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.

Publication and Authorship

1. All submitted manuscripts to the WVSU Research Journal are subject to a peer- review process by at least two external members of the Editorial Board that are experts in the field of education, nursing, arts and sciences, agriculture, forestry, communication, hospitality services, information technology and medical sciences.
2. Contribution to the field, technical quality, clarity of presentation and depth of research are the factors that are taken into account.
3. The possible decisions include acceptance and recommended for publication, acceptance with minor revisions, acceptance with major revisions and rejection.
4. The accepted manuscripts will undergo a double-blind review.
5. Rejected manuscripts will be suggested to publish on local journal (college-based journal).
6. The manuscript acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
7. No research can be included in more than one publication.

Duties of Reviewers

1. Peer review assists editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts.
2. Reviewers evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit and its relevance to the journal’s scope.
3. Reviewers and editorial staff will not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
4. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
5. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
6. Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the paper

Duties of Editors

1. Editors have complete responsibility and authority to accept/ reject an article.
2. Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication.
3. Editors should base their decisions solely one the papers’ importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication’s scope.
4. Editors will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper.
5. The editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer- review by at least two reviewers who are expert in the field.

Authors’ Responsibilities

1. Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work.
2. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
3. Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
4. Authors must participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ request for clarifications and copyright permissions.
5. 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.
6. Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the editors.

Originality, Plagiarism and Acknowledgement of Sources

1. All articles published by WVSU Research Journal are committed to publishing only original material, i.e., material that has neither been published elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere. 
2. All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism and similarity using the Turnitin software before starting the review process.
3. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
4. Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will incur plagiarism sanctions.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in form of an erratum.

Publisher’s Confirmation

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in close collaboration with the Editor-in-Chief, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, the complete retraction of the affected work.