Scientific Publication Ethics of the Saudi Journal of Psychological Counseling
Journal Rights
- The Editorial Board has the right to conduct an initial screening of submitted manuscripts and determine their eligibility for peer review.
- The Editor-in-Chief may provide authors of rejected manuscripts with the reviewers' comments or a summary thereof, without disclosing the reviewers' identities and without being obligated to respond to any objections raised by the author.
- A manuscript will be deemed withdrawn if the author fails to make the required revisions within one month of receiving the journal's response, unless the Editorial Board accepts a compelling justification for the delay.
- If a manuscript is rejected, the journal is not obligated to provide an explanation for the decision.
- Accepted manuscripts are prioritized for publication based on the date of acceptance. The order of manuscripts within each issue is determined according to the journal's production and layout requirements.
- Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication by a scientific journal affiliated with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, it may not be published in another scientific journal.
- The journal reserves the right to republish previously published manuscripts, in print or electronic form, without requiring the author's permission. It may also authorize third parties to include its published content in various databases, whether for a fee or free of charge.
- No entity may use the journal's content for commercial purposes without the written approval of the Editor-in-Chief.
- Upon acceptance for publication, publication rights are transferred from the author to the journal, and copyright is retained by the publisher, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University. The Editorial Board reserves the right to make necessary editorial changes to the manuscript in accordance with the journal's citation and language-editing standards, including modifications to the formatting of tables, figures, images, and text where necessary.
- Manuscripts submitted to the journal will not be returned, regardless of whether they are accepted for publication.
Author Responsibilities and Rights
- Authors will receive confirmation upon submission of their manuscript through the journal's designated online system, together with a manuscript reference number.
- Authors will be notified of the initial screening decision by the Editorial Board member specializing in the relevant field, following an assessment of the manuscript's eligibility for peer review. This notification will be issued within two working weeks of assigning the manuscript reference number.
- Authors will be notified of the peer-review outcome, either by receiving a summary of the reviewers' comments if the manuscript is accepted, or by being informed that the manuscript cannot be published if it does not pass the peer-review stage. This notification will be issued within two working weeks of the journal's receipt of the reviewers' reports.
- Authors will receive an official acceptance-for-publication letter after completing the reviewers' required revisions and obtaining approval from the relevant Editorial Board member.
- The journal will provide the author with an electronic copy of the issue in which their published manuscript appears.
- Authors may not republish a manuscript published in the journal, whether in print or electronic form, through any other publication outlet without the journal's prior written permission.
- Authors may not withdraw their manuscript once the peer-review process has commenced.
- Authors must comply with the manuscript submission guidelines established by the Saudi Journal of Psychological Counseling and with recognized principles and standards of scholarly publication ethics.
- Authors must uphold academic integrity and respect intellectual property rights.
- For co-authored manuscripts, the submitting author must obtain the written consent of all co-authors and clearly indicate each author's contribution to the manuscript.
- Authors must not submit a manuscript that has been published, in whole or in part, in any form or language. They must also not submit the manuscript to another publication outlet while it is under consideration by the journal. Once accepted for publication, the manuscript may not be republished without the journal's prior written permission.
- Authors must implement the revisions specified in the reviewers' reports and provide a justification for any comments or requested revisions that they do not address.
- Authors must submit the revised final version of the manuscript within two weeks of receiving the request for revisions, through the author's online account on the journal's website or via the journal's official email.
- Authors must disclose any potential conflict of interest arising from the research and identify all sources of financial support for the study.
- The views expressed in published manuscripts are those of the authors. Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy and validity of the information, findings, and conclusions presented in their work.
- The final version of the manuscript will be sent to the author for review prior to publication. If the author has any comments or concerns, they should be communicated directly to the Editor-in-Chief.
Reviewer Responsibilities
- Reviewers must respond to the initial invitation to review within three days of receiving it. Upon accepting the invitation, they must complete their review within a maximum of two weeks.
- Reviewers must conduct their evaluations with academic integrity, impartiality, and without bias of any kind.
- Reviewers must decline an invitation to review a manuscript that falls outside their area of expertise or for which they lack sufficient expertise.
- Reviewers must treat manuscripts received for review as confidential documents and must not disclose or discuss their contents with others except as authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.
- Reviewers must not use manuscripts under review in any way to obtain an unjustified personal or third-party benefit.
- Reviewers must provide detailed comments in accordance with the journal's approved review form. Reviews should go beyond a general assessment and focus on the manuscript rather than the author.
- If reviewers identify plagiarism or inappropriate textual borrowing in a manuscript, they must specify the relevant passages and provide supporting evidence.
- Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest before accepting an invitation to review and commencing the review process.
Editorial Board Responsibilities
- The Editorial Board must ensure the quality of manuscripts submitted for publication and assign them to qualified reviewers with relevant expertise in the subject area.
- The Editorial Board must ensure geographical diversity among reviewers and should not assign all manuscripts to reviewers from the same academic institution.
- The Editorial Board must consider an author's request to exclude a particular reviewer before reviewers are assigned, provided that the reasons and justifications are deemed valid. The Board must also require all reviewers to disclose any potential conflict of interest before accepting the review assignment and commencing the review process.
- The Editorial Board must exercise its responsibilities with integrity, objectivity, and fairness and must not discriminate against authors on any improper grounds.
- The Editorial Board must provide authors with a reasonable opportunity to respond to reviewers' comments and address requested revisions.
- The Editorial Board must maintain the confidentiality of information relating to manuscripts and authors throughout the peer-review process.
- The Editor-in-Chief must notify authors of accepted manuscripts of the publication decision and the issue in which their work is scheduled to appear.
Research Ethics Involving Human and Animal Subjects
The Saudi Journal of Psychological Counseling is committed to maintaining high ethical standards in scientific research and requires all authors conducting research involving human participants or animals to comply with relevant national and international ethical guidelines and regulations.
Researchers conducting studies involving human participants or animals must adhere to the following:
Ethical Approval
Researchers must obtain approval from the accredited Research Ethics Committee at their affiliated institution and provide evidence of such approval when submitting the manuscript to the journal.
Informed Consent
Researchers must provide human participants with clear information about the study and obtain their written informed consent before participation. Participants must also be informed of their right to withdraw from the study at any time without consequences.
Confidentiality and Privacy
Researchers must respect participants' privacy and maintain the confidentiality of their data. Personal information that could identify participants must not be published without their explicit consent.
Animal Welfare
Research involving animals must comply with internationally recognized ethical principles and guidelines for the use of animals in scientific research. Pain and suffering must be minimized, and the procedures adopted to ensure animal welfare must be clearly described.
Ethical Disclosure
The methodology section must state that the required ethical approvals were obtained and specify the name of the institution or ethics committee that granted the approval and the approval number. Where ethical approval is not required, the authors must clearly explain the reason.
Rejection of Unethical Research
The journal reserves the right to reject any manuscript that does not comply with the ethical principles outlined above or violates applicable national or international regulations.
