The Code of Ethics for the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering and the International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
Introduction
The Code of Ethics was established to present ethical standards for individuals involved in publishing papers to the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering and the International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration, including authors, reviewers, and editors (hereafter encompassing the editor-in-chief, the editors, and the associate editors). All members of the Society of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineers of Korea are required to comply with the Code of Ethics throughout the course of the review and publication processes of the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering and the International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration in order to secure justice and research ethics in science and technology research.
The Code of Ethics for the Author
An author who submits a manuscript is required to comply with the following Code of Ethics in writing and submitting a paper:
1) The author must secure universality with respect to human rights, adherence to bioethics, and protection of the environment.
2) The author must precisely elaborate on the research content and its importance, and should not distort the research results.
3) The manuscript must comprehensively include results that are considered to be sufficiently valuable in academia and arguments supporting such results. If the assertion of the manuscript is similar to a preexisting research paper, the paper must have a new argument with significant academic value.
4) Submission of a manuscript (1) for commercial purposes such as an advertisement or promotion of a specific company, or (2) for adoption as evidence for a legal dispute is not allowed.
5) Separation of similar research content into several papers and contributions degrades the value of the thesis and therefore should be avoided, if possible.
6) If the author refers to publicly released research data in the manuscript, the author must clarify its source. If the source is an unreleased research paper, an unreleased research plan, or data obtained by personal contact, the author must quote the data only after getting consent from respective researchers.
7) All documents related to the research content or that may contribute to its context must be included in the reference list. It is also recommended to cite the work of other researchers who may contradict the author.
8) The author may criticize the work of other researchers, however, personal condemnation is not allowed.
9) Using the work of other researchers in whole or in part in the manuscript, without citing respective papers as references, pertains to plagiarism and therefore is not allowed. In general, the extraction of more than two successive sentences from other researchers without citation is regarded as plagiarism. This is applicable to the case of different languages. However, no citation is permissible if the research results have been openly published in textbooks and so on, and therefore considered as common knowledge.
10) Submission of a manuscript that (1) has been published before or (2) is under consideration for publication elsewhere is illegal and therefore not allowed. However, submission of papers that have been presented at the conferences or the seminars organized by SAREK is encouraged. In this case, the manuscript must include comments and discussion from the presentation. Also, if a paper presented at a conference organized by other than SAREK has not been reviewed, and the copyright of the paper belongs to the authors, submission of such a paper is allowed. Cross publication in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering and the International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration or publication for totally different readers with citation of the original paper is not considered as a duplicate publication. <Amended on 17th June 2010>
11) All researchers listed for a paper must have made a significant contribution to its content and meet all of the following items :
- Substantial contributions to the conception or research design, data collection, analysis, etc.
- Drafting the work or revising it critically
- Agreement on the entire content of the final manuscript
- Joint responsibility for the entire research content.
All who have made such a contribution must be offered the opportunity to be listed as a co-author, and the main author must obtain consent from all co-authors for the list of authors. An “Acknowledgement” of people, grants, funds, etc. is recommended. <Amended on 19th March 2020>
12) To list individuals who have not contributed substantially to the research as a co-author, for nonacademic reasons, is immoral and weakens the scholastic authority of the paper.
13) The order in which the authors are listed, as a general rule, is decided through discussion with other co-authors, and it is recommended to place the researchers who have made the most outstanding contributions at the beginning of the list. In principle, author affiliations should be listed as the institute at which the work was carried out.
14) Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain prior permission from the copyright owner. Authors must include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their research papers and confirm that their publication will neither affect contracts nor result in ownership disputes.
15) The author must comply with the regulations of the Society of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineers of Korea and international best practice while the paper is under review. Additionally, the author should do his/her best to accommodate the comments of the reviewers and the editors with hospitable manners. If the author disagrees with the suggestions, the author must elaborate on his/her grounds and reasons and notify the editor in charge.
16) If the editor rejects the paper, the author may challenge the editor’s final decision by submitting an appeal on a clear and logical basis. However, it is undesirable to submitting an emotional appeal using baseless or pregnable arguments.
17) If an error was detected in the research paper after publication, the author must revise it. If it is a serious error, the author must withdraw the research paper from the publication.
The Code of Ethics for the Reviewers
The reviewers are required to comply with the following Code of Ethics while the paper is under review for publication:
1) The reviewers must review the manuscript on a consistent, fair, and objective basis regardless of the author’s gender, age, affiliation, personal acquaintances, etc. The reviewers must refrain from allowing unscientific personal beliefs or assumptions to influence their review of the manuscript.
2) The reviewers must keep the information acquired during the review process confidential. The reviewers should neither release the information to others nor misuse it. Before the journal is published, the reviewers are not allowed to quote the contents of the paper without permission from the author.
3) The reviewers must respect the author as a professional intellectual. The reviewers must refrain from making subjective valuations or using offensive expressions, and make an effort to write objective review responses in a scholastically humble attitude. The reviewers must write their evaluations as gentle as possible and elaborate on which part and why the paper needs to be supplemented.
4) The reviewers are not recommended to ask the author for further data or elucidation for personal reasons.
5) If a paper raises specific issues within the context of a previously published research paper without its citation, the reviewers must inform the editor.
6) If a reviewer judges that his/her manuscript review may be biased by interest, or that the paper is not in his/her area of expertise, the reviewer must immediately report this to the editor in charge so that a different reviewer can be assigned. Also, if the reviewers cannot meet the deadline for any reason, it is recommended that the reviewers inform the editor.
The Code of Ethics for the Editor
The editor is required to comply with the following Code of Ethics in the review and judgement of the research paper for publication:
1) The editor must give a fair and objective judgment regardless of the author’s gender, age, affiliation, personal acquaintances, etc.
2) Based on the evaluations from the reviewers, the editor must apply consistent standards in the decision of which research paper to reexamine or publish.
3) If the editor lacks knowledge about the particular field of research and has a difficult time judging the evaluations, he/she may consult an expert in the field.
4) The editor is not allowed to release or misuse the information acquired during the review process. Without the agreement of the author, the editor is not allowed to quote the content of the paper before the journal is published.
5) The editor has the responsibility to monitor reviewer behavior. If unethical behavior it detected, is should be immediately reported to the editor-in-chief for an investigation and appropriate punishment as necessary.
6) If the review may be biased by interest, the editor must report it to another editor or the editor-in-chief in order to assign a different member.
7) If the editorial board member cannot handle the assigned task promptly for any reason, it is recommended to report this to the executive office of the Society of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineers of Korea, the editor in charge, or the editor-in-chief.
Research Ethics Committee
1) If a manuscript submission or the manuscript review process was determined to be unethical in nature, or if petitions to this effect have sprung up, the Editor-in-Chief will have discretion to judge the importance of the matter, and if necessary, the Editor-in-Chief can decide the disciplinary action for the relevant authors, by consulting with a research ethics committee (hereafter, the Ethics Committee). If these unethical issues are related to an already published research paper, the publication can be cancelled retroactively.
2) The Ethics Committee is considered a part of the editorial board, and is organized to contain at least five (5) members. The President of the Society of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineers of Korea appoints the members through recommendations of the Editor-in-Chief. The Chairman of the committee is elected by a mutual vote
3) The Ethics Committee can propose proper sanctions to the President about a violation of the Code of Ethics, if the violation is confirmed after a comprehensive investigation which includes witnesses, testimony, and a review of evidence.
4) A member who is submitted to the ethics committee for review is bound to cooperate with the investigations of Ethics Committee. Noncooperative in these matters will, in itself, be considered a violation of the Code of Ethics.
5) The Ethics Committee must pursue due process to allow members under investigation ample opportunity to present their case and pursue vindication.
6) Until the society takes final disciplinary action for a violation of the Code of Ethics, the Ethics Committee must keep the identities of the involved members and the Committee actions anonymous.
7) In the case that the Ethics Committee recommends disciplinary action, the President will convene the Board of Directors to decide whether disciplinary actions are appropriate, and if so, the extent of those actions. Such disciplinary actions may include a warning, a suspension of the qualification of membership, or disqualification of membership, and these actions can then be made known to other organizations or persons.
8) The accompanying action can be taken to the related manuscript and members, based on Article 9 of Journal Administrative Guidelines of National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).
9) Amendments to the Code of Ethics can be made following the existing amendment procedure of the regulations of the Society. If the Code of Ethics is amended, the existing members are considered to follow the new Code without an additional pledge.
10) Issues which are not specified in the current Code of Ethics will follow the related regulations of the Society, or if they are outside of existing regulations, will be determined by the Ethics Committee and Board of Directors
* Refer to the Code of Ethics of Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers, Korean Chemical Society, and the Material Research Society of Korea, and the Guidelines for Authors of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Enacted on the 12th June 2008
Amended on the 17th June 2010
Amended on the 13th October 2016
Amended on the 19th March, 2020
Checklist for Authors
Before submitting any papers to the journal’s editor, please make sure that you have included all the necessary details. For any further details, please refer to the journal’s ‘Information for Authors’.