COPE Membership Number: *JM13652*

Publication and Authorship
1. All research papers are subject to editorial review, blind peer-review process by three scientific experts (reviewers) selected by Editor-in-Chief.
2.Manuscripts are evaluated in review based on the originality, Technical Quality, Clarity of Presentation and Importance to Field and the style of Persian & English writing.
3. Manuscripts are accepted, revised or rejected based on the reviewer’s evaluation and decision of editorial board.
4. Revised manuscripts are presented to the evaluation and decisions are made based on the final reviewer’s decision.
5. Rejected articles are archived in the journal database.
6. The paper will be accepted and published online after verification of legal requirements, author’s agreement regarding liability, copyright and plagiarism.
7. Plagiarism is strictly followed by the team of researchers in the university and cross-reference checked before acceptance.

Authors:
1.Certification by authors regarding originality of their manuscript should be done while submitting manuscript electronically. It should also be certify that submitted manuscript is nowhere under publication or consideration for publication.
2. Corrections of mistakes and revisions following the reviewer’s comments should be forwarded to the managing editor of journal within 30 days of notification.
3. Acknowledgement and affiliation of all authors should be given in manuscript and it should be declared if there is any conflict of interest among authors or organizations.
4. Reporting errors in published work is highly appreciated as it helps to improve the quality of papers.
5. The authors have no right to withdraw their articles when the review process has been completed.

Reviewers:
1. Privacy and secrecy of manuscript should be maintain at all costs. As all the submitted manuscripts to reviewers are blind work but still their originality should be preserved and focused as a top priority.
2. Peer-review process should be completed as soon as possible and the comments on the originality of paper should be forwarded to editor in chief irrespective of your suggestion regarding revision, acceptance and rejection.
3. Suggestions by the reviewers identifying relevant published work should be given to the authors and editors in authors and editor’s comments section of reviewers form.
4. Plagiarism including overlap of manuscript with other published paper should be reported so that editorial board can make a solid decision regarding manuscripts acceptance or rejection.
5. Reviewers should not review manuscripts which don’t have conflict of interests statement in manuscript.

Editorial Board:
1. Editor in Chief and Editorial Board have full authority to reject/accept any article and they are responsible for the overall quality of the publication.
2. Editor in Chief should always implement strategies to improve the quality of publication.
3. Quality and integrity of author’s academic record should be considered before considering any article.
4. Originality and quality of paper, clarity of presentation and relevance to publication's scope should be the only sole characteristics for accepting or rejecting any manuscript.
5. Finalized decisions should not be overturned without any serious reason.
6. Anonymity of reviewers and authors should be preserved until a decision has not been made regarding the manuscript.
7. Editors should find out a solution for ethical issues and problems including conflict of authors regarding their published or unpublished papers.
8. Rejections should not be made based on suspicions.
9. Conflicts of interests among editorial members, authors and reviewers should be resolved properly according to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)* guidelines.

Publication Plagiarism Statements:
1. All rules defined by COPE should be followed by editorial members, reviewers and authors.
2. An article can be withdrawn from its first phase (Editorial review process) but when it is in review process, the penalty should be discussed and paid to the editorial management committee before requesting withdrawn of respective article.
3. Any major change can be done in the accepted article after presenting a solid reason.
4. All editorial members and authors must will to publish any kind of corrections honestly and completely.

5. The publication office will investigate plagiarism in articles through with iThenticate from Megapaper system and PLAGIARISM CHECKER system.

6. Publication ethics should be followed in manuscript. A huge plagiarism, or presentation of fraudulent data may enlist authors as violators of COPE rules and their black listed names will be forwarded to COPE after when decision has been made by editorial board.

* Note: Journal of Research & Rural Planning is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and we are committed to following the standards and guidelines set out by COPE.