Public Ethics

1. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts represent original scholarly work. Text, concepts, equations, datasets, figures, photographs, illustrations, software, models, maps, and other materials derived from external sources must be properly acknowledged and cited. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable.

Accuracy and Research Integrity: Authors must present research methods, calculations, experiments, simulations, observations, datasets, and findings accurately and honestly. Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation of data, misleading statistical presentation, image manipulation, or misrepresentation of engineering results is prohibited.

Multiple or Concurrent Submission: A manuscript must not be submitted simultaneously to more than one journal. Authors must disclose relevant manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, reports, theses, or previously published material that substantially overlap with the submitted work.

Authorship and Contributorship: Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception, design, methodology, investigation, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the work. Guest, honorary, purchased, gift, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.

Corresponding Author Responsibility: The corresponding author must ensure that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, agreed to its submission, and accepted responsibility for their respective contributions.

Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose financial, professional, institutional, commercial, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably influence or appear to influence the research.

Funding Disclosure: All financial support, research grants, industry sponsorship, equipment support, institutional funding, or other relevant sources of assistance should be transparently acknowledged.

Data Availability: Authors should retain the research data, calculations, numerical models, simulation inputs, experimental records, and supporting materials necessary to verify the reported findings. When appropriate and legally permissible, authors are encouraged to make supporting datasets available through recognized repositories.

Errors after Publication: Authors who identify significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work must promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate in issuing an appropriate correction, clarification, or retraction.

2. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

Editorial Independence: Editorial decisions shall be based on the scholarly quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, ethical integrity, and contribution of the manuscript to the scope of JSTS. Commercial, institutional, political, or personal interests must not improperly influence editorial decisions.

Fair and Impartial Evaluation: Manuscripts shall be evaluated without discrimination based on nationality, gender, ethnicity, institutional affiliation, seniority, geographical origin, personal belief, or other characteristics unrelated to academic merit.

Confidentiality: Editors must protect confidential information contained in submitted manuscripts and must not disclose manuscript information to unauthorized parties.

Conflict of Interest: Editors should withdraw from handling manuscripts when personal, academic, financial, institutional, or professional conflicts could compromise impartial editorial judgment.

Peer-Review Integrity: Editors are responsible for selecting appropriate and independent reviewers and for ensuring that peer review is conducted fairly, professionally, confidentially, and within a reasonable period.

Editorial Decision: Acceptance, revision, or rejection decisions must be supported by scholarly considerations and should take reviewer recommendations into account while remaining the responsibility of the journal's editorial leadership.

3. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review are confidential scholarly documents. Reviewers must not distribute, reproduce, discuss, upload, or disclose manuscript content to unauthorized persons.

Objectivity: Reviews should be based on scientific and scholarly considerations. Reviewer comments should be constructive, specific, respectful, and supported by appropriate academic reasoning.

Appropriate Expertise: Reviewers who believe that a manuscript falls substantially outside their expertise should notify the editor and decline the review when appropriate.

Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must disclose relationships or interests that may influence their assessment and should decline the review where impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Misappropriation of Ideas: Data, concepts, methods, technical designs, models, or unpublished results obtained through peer review must not be used for personal, commercial, or academic advantage before publication.

Citation Ethics: Reviewers must not pressure authors to cite the reviewer's own work, the journal's publications, or unrelated literature solely for the purpose of increasing citation counts.

4. Subsea and Marine Research Ethics

Environmental Responsibility: Field studies, offshore experiments, subsea installations, underwater surveys, sampling activities, and marine technology testing should comply with applicable environmental regulations, permits, and recognized principles for minimizing adverse impacts on marine ecosystems.

Engineering and Operational Safety: Research involving offshore platforms, subsea equipment, pressure systems, underwater vehicles, diving operations, electrical systems, lifting operations, or other potentially hazardous activities must follow relevant safety procedures, engineering standards, and regulatory requirements.

Subsea Data Integrity: Bathymetric data, sonar records, sensor measurements, inspection results, ROV/AUV observations, structural measurements, environmental data, and other engineering datasets must be reported accurately. Selective removal or manipulation of observations that materially changes research conclusions is unacceptable.

Numerical and Simulation Integrity: Authors reporting CFD, FEA, hydrodynamic analysis, structural simulations, digital twins, machine-learning models, optimization, reliability analysis, or other computational research should provide sufficient information about assumptions, boundary conditions, input parameters, validation, verification, uncertainty, and limitations to permit meaningful scholarly evaluation.

Industrial and Confidential Data: Authors using proprietary offshore or subsea industry data are responsible for obtaining appropriate authorization for publication. Confidential, commercially sensitive, security-sensitive, or personally identifiable information must be appropriately protected.

Human and Social Research: Research involving surveys, interviews, professionals, offshore workers, coastal communities, or other human participants must comply with applicable institutional and national ethical requirements. Appropriate informed consent and ethical approval should be obtained where required.

Permits and Regulatory Compliance: Research requiring access to protected areas, offshore facilities, archaeological sites, marine conservation zones, restricted infrastructure, or regulated field locations must obtain the necessary permissions before conducting the research.

5. Research and Publication Misconduct

Plagiarism: The unattributed use of another person's text, concepts, data, equations, figures, photographs, models, software, illustrations, or intellectual contributions is prohibited.

Fabrication: Inventing observations, experiments, measurements, datasets, simulation results, citations, or other research information is considered serious misconduct.

Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, procedures, images, numerical inputs, experimental records, or datasets in a manner that misrepresents the research record is prohibited.

Duplicate and Redundant Publication: Substantially identical research should not be published in multiple journals without transparent disclosure, legitimate justification, and appropriate citation of the original publication.

Citation Manipulation: Authors, reviewers, and editors must not participate in coercive, excessive, fabricated, irrelevant, or coordinated citation practices designed primarily to manipulate citation indicators.

Peer-Review Manipulation: False reviewer identities, fabricated reviews, manipulated contact information, compromised reviewer accounts, or coordinated attempts to improperly influence peer review are serious violations of publication ethics.

Image and Data Manipulation: Adjustments to photographs, microscopy images, sonar imagery, simulation visualizations, graphs, or other research images must not obscure, remove, introduce, or misrepresent scientifically relevant information.

When credible concerns regarding misconduct arise, JSTS may request supporting documentation, raw data, authorship information, ethical approvals, or clarification from relevant parties. Appropriate editorial action will depend on the evidence and the seriousness of the issue.

6. Post-Publication Ethics

Corrections: When an error is identified that affects part of a published article but does not invalidate its principal findings, the journal may issue a correction or other appropriate notice.

Expressions of Concern: An expression of concern may be issued when credible questions arise regarding the integrity of a publication but the available evidence is not yet sufficient for a final determination.

Retractions: An article may be retracted when there is clear evidence that its findings are unreliable because of serious error or misconduct, plagiarism, unethical research, duplicate publication, manipulated peer review, or another major breach of publication ethics.

Transparency of the Scholarly Record: Corrections, retractions, and other post-publication notices should remain clearly linked to the original publication so that readers can understand the status and history of the scholarly record.

Complaints and Appeals: Authors and readers may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial procedures, published content, or ethical issues. Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and independently based on the available evidence and journal policies.

7. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

AI Is Not an Author: Artificial intelligence systems, large language models, chatbots, image generators, and other AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Author Responsibility: Human authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, validity, integrity, citations, interpretations, and conclusions of all submitted content, including material developed with assistance from AI technologies.

Disclosure of AI Use: When generative AI or other AI-assisted tools have made a substantive contribution to manuscript preparation, data processing, analysis, coding, image generation, or other research activities, authors should transparently disclose the tool and describe how it was used.

Language Assistance: AI-assisted spelling, grammar, readability, or language editing may be used provided that the authors carefully review the resulting text and remain responsible for its accuracy and meaning.

AI-Generated Data and References: Authors must verify all AI-assisted outputs. Fabricated, inaccurate, nonexistent, or misleading references, numerical values, engineering specifications, standards, calculations, datasets, or technical claims generated by AI are unacceptable.

Confidentiality in Peer Review: Editors and reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, figures, datasets, reviewer reports, or confidential editorial information into public or third-party AI systems when confidentiality and data protection cannot be assured.

AI-Assisted Peer Review: Reviewers remain personally responsible for the substance, validity, fairness, and accuracy of their review. Any use of AI must comply with the journal's confidentiality and disclosure requirements.

Editorial Oversight: Final decisions concerning manuscript evaluation, peer review, acceptance, rejection, correction, or retraction remain under human editorial responsibility and will not be delegated solely to an automated AI system.