Publication Ethics

Every submitted manuscript is screened with industry-standard similarity-detection software (currently iThenticate / Turnitin) before peer review. Submissions returning an overall similarity index above 20%, or any single-source match above 5% (excluding references and standard methods), are returned to authors for revision or desk-rejected at the editor's discretion.

Self-plagiarism — including text recycling from the authors' own prior publications without proper attribution — is treated with the same seriousness as third-party plagiarism. Substantial reuse must be cited and quoted explicitly.

Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed. Fabrication (inventing data) and falsification (manipulating images, figures, or results to misrepresent findings) constitute serious research misconduct.

Aperture Papers may request raw data, source files, and instrument outputs at any stage of the review or post-publication process. Image-integrity checks (including splice and duplication screening) are performed on all figures. Substantiated cases are handled following COPE flowcharts and may result in retraction, notification of the authors' institution, and a publication ban.

All authors must disclose any financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the work. This includes funding sources, employment, consultancies, equity, patents, and personal relationships with editors or reviewers.

Reviewers and editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a real or perceived conflict exists. Editors handling a paper authored by a close collaborator, recent co-author, or colleague at the same institution will be replaced for that submission.

Authorship is reserved for those who meet all four ICMJE criteria: substantial contribution to conception or design; drafting or critical revision; final approval; and accountability for the work. Contributions that do not meet the threshold should be acknowledged, not credited as authorship. Changes to the author list after submission require written agreement from all authors and approval from the editor.

Concerns about research integrity, ethics breaches, or editorial misconduct can be reported in confidence to ethics@aperturepapers.com. All complaints are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief following the COPE flowcharts; outcomes may include correction, expression of concern, or retraction.