PLANTECH Journal Policies

1. Competing Interests / Conflict of Interest Statement

PLANTECH requires all authors to disclose any competing interests (also known as conflicts of interest) related to their submitted work. Each manuscript must include a clear competing interests statement. If an author has any financial, professional, personal, or non-financial competing interest, it must be declared within the manuscript. Editors may request additional information if necessary.

Competing interests may arise from personal or institutional relationships, funding sources, consultancies, employment, or any circumstances that could potentially influence the authors’ interpretation of data. Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial conflicts, including those that may lead to embarrassment if revealed after publication.

PLANTECH also requires reviewers and editors to declare potential competing interests. Reviewers and editors must immediately inform the journal if they feel unable to provide an unbiased assessment due to any conflict. Depending on the situation, the editorial office may assign a different reviewer or editor.

2. Human and Animal Rights

Research involving human participants, human biological material, or human data must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and must receive approval from an appropriate institutional ethics committee. The name of the ethics committee and approval/ reference number must be included in the manuscript.

Experimental studies on vertebrates or regulated invertebrates must follow institutional, national, or international guidelines. Ethical principles outlined in the Basel Declaration and guidance from the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) should be followed. Ethical approval details must be presented in the manuscript.

3. Informed Consent

For research involving human participants, informed consent must be obtained from each participant or their guardian (for minors under 16). A statement confirming that informed consent was obtained must be included in the manuscript.

4. Acknowledgements

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples include individuals who provided technical assistance, writing help, or institutional support but did not contribute intellectually to qualify for authorship.

5. Changes in Authorship

PLANTECH follows COPE guidelines for authorship changes. Any modifications in the authorship list (addition, removal, or order change) require written consent from all listed authors, sent individually via email. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors agree with changes.

If authorship disputes arise and cannot be resolved internally among authors, the matter must be referred to the authors’ respective institutions. Editors will not intervene in authorship conflicts. For published articles, authorship changes can only be made through an official Erratum.

6. Data and Material Availability

Submission to PLANTECH implies that authors agree to make all reproducible materials and relevant raw data publicly available for non-commercial scientific use while protecting participant confidentiality. Genetic sequences (DNA, RNA, proteins) should be deposited in appropriate databases (GenBank, EMBL, DDBJ, UniProt), with accession numbers included in the article.

If sequences cannot be deposited due to lack of validation, they must be provided as supplementary materials.

7. Algal, Fungal, and Botanical Names

Electronic publication of algal, fungal, and botanical names is acceptable. Manuscripts involving new taxonomic names must follow the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN).

Authors describing new fungal taxa must register names with recognized repositories (e.g., MycoBank) and include the unique identifier in the article.

8. Corrections and Retractions

PLANTECH publishes corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern in accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidelines. Corrections or retractions are issued as separate articles with a clear link to the original paper. The original article remains available in the public domain except in rare cases of legal or ethical violations where removal is required.

9. Appeals or Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions if the appeal is based on scientific grounds and not on procedural concerns. Appeals should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief via email. The Editor-in-Chief’s decision after evaluation of the appeal is final.

For complaints regarding the journal’s operations, editorial process, or publication ethics, authors may contact the journal office directly through the official email or WhatsApp support.