Publication Ethics and Scientific Integrity

The Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas is committed to maintaining the scientific integrity of the work it publishes.

Authors are expected to submit articles in good faith: reporting accurate results and conclusions supported by their data and analyses, adhering to scientific standards and ethical practices, citing and crediting others properly for contributing ideas and data, and disclosing possible conflicts of interest. They must assert that their submissions satisfy the conditions set in the Author Guidelines before the manuscripts are sent through the review process. 

Editors are expected to secure the confidentiality of the review process, and to make impartial decisions by carefully evaluating author revisions and responses against reviewer criticism, and act as an unbiased intermediary between authors and reviewers. We allow our Topical Editors to also provide their expert opinion within the review process, but they must make an independent editorial decision based on all available scientific correspondence. Should a conflict of interest arise regarding their assignment to a particular manuscript during the review process, editors are tasked to consult another member of the Editorial Board to arrange a manuscript transfer.

Reviewers are expected to provide objective and expert feedback on the manuscripts assigned to them and uphold the confidentiality of their assignments. They are expected to disclose to the handling editor any possible conflict of interest or expertise mismatch that may affect the objectivity and content of their report.

Concerns on publication integrity and scientific malpractice
Expressions of concern regarding the integrity of a published article or an editorial decision may be sent to the Editorial Board through the Editor-in-Chief. Communications that are clear, specific, and substantiated will be forwarded to an Editorial Committee of at least three disinterested Topical Editors to investigate and recommend actions for the Editorial Board. The Board's final resolution of the expression of concern will be guided by the Core Practices developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Research data involving human or animal participants
Authors whose manuscripts contain data collected from human or animal subjects must upload along with their initial submission a statement with institutional letterhead that contains the following declarations:

• That the data was gathered in a manner consistent with the authors' institutional policy on data collection from human or animal subjects,
• That the manner of data collection from human subjects and archiving conforms with the authors' institutional policy on data privacy and protection, and/or
• That data collected from human subjects that are presented in the submission appears only in aggregate form and that no personally-identifiable information will be presented at the SPP Physics Conference.

Use of artificial intelligence AI tools
The authors must declare and describe their use of artificial intelligence AI tools for scientific idea and content generation at the end of their article, if any were used in this submission.