Publishing standards
To ensure the quality, integrity, transparency, and international credibility of its publications, the Vietnam Journal of Agricultural Sciences adopts the following publication standards.
Publication Standards
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH INTEGRITY AND DATA MANAGEMENT
Article 17. Principles of Research Integrity
1. Commitment to Honesty and Objectivity
a) The Vietnam Journal of Agricultural Sciences is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics in accordance with the laws of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and internationally recognized principles of research integrity throughout the editorial, peer-review, and publication processes.
b) All manuscripts submitted for publication must accurately and honestly present the research findings. Authors shall not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or selectively omit data, nor misrepresent scientific evidence or conclusions.
c) Authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the Editorial Board shall uphold the principles of honesty, objectivity, transparency, accountability, respect, fairness, and independence in all publication activities and shall avoid any form of bias or conflict of interest.
d) The Journal adopts and fully complies with the COPE Core Practices, the COPE Guidelines on Publication Ethics, and all applicable laws and regulations governing scholarly publishing.
2. Prohibited Conduct
The following practices are strictly prohibited:
a) Plagiarism, including copying, reproducing, translating, or reusing another person's work, in whole or in part, without proper attribution or authorization.
b) Duplicate or redundant publication, including submitting or publishing substantially the same manuscript in more than one journal or submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals.
c) Data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, or any deliberate alteration of research results that misrepresents the scientific record.
d) Inappropriate authorship practices, including honorary, gift, or ghost authorship, or the omission of individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions.
e) The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate fabricated data, images, references, or other misleading research content.
f) Any unauthorized interference with the peer-review process, unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, or misuse of reviewer privileges for personal or professional benefit.
g) Other forms of publication misconduct, including citation manipulation, reviewer identity fraud, manipulation of the peer-review process, paper brokerage or paper mills, unauthorized use of data, images, maps, or copyrighted materials, and failure to disclose funding sources or conflicts of interest.
h) Depending on the nature and severity of the misconduct, the Journal may impose one or more of the following measures: rejection of the manuscript, suspension of editorial processing, request for clarification, notification of the author's affiliated institution or funding agency, publication of corrections, article retraction, or other actions consistent with applicable laws and the Journal's editorial policies.
Article 18. Plagiarism Screening and the Use of Artificial Intelligence
1. Plagiarism Screening Policy
a) All submitted manuscripts shall undergo plagiarism screening prior to peer review using recognized similarity-detection software, such as iThenticate, Turnitin, or Crossref Similarity Check.
b) As a general guideline, the overall similarity index should not exceed 20%, after excluding references, properly quoted material, commonly used terminology, and standard methodological descriptions.
c) Manuscripts exceeding the acceptable similarity threshold or suspected of plagiarism shall be reported to the Editor-in-Chief, and editorial processing shall be suspended pending investigation.
d) Plagiarism screening shall be conducted by the Managing Editorial Office. Screening reports shall be retained in the manuscript's electronic editorial record and shall constitute part of the official documentation supporting editorial decisions.
e) If plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct are identified after publication, the Editorial Board reserves the right to issue a correction or retract the published article in accordance with the Journal's post-publication policy.
2. Use of Artificial Intelligence in Writing and Editing
a) Authors shall not use AI tools to generate research data, images, figures, analytical results, citations, or any fabricated scientific content.
b) AI-assisted tools may be used solely to improve language quality, grammar, writing style, or sentence structure, provided that such use is appropriately disclosed by the authors.
c) Artificial intelligence systems shall not be recognized as authors or contributors and shall not hold any intellectual property rights relating to a manuscript.
d) AI shall neither replace the authors' scholarly responsibility nor be used to generate or manipulate research data, results, images, citations, or any misleading scientific content.
e) The Editorial Board and reviewers may employ appropriate technical tools to identify undisclosed AI-generated content. The results of such assessments shall serve only as supporting evidence and shall always be evaluated in conjunction with expert editorial judgment.
f) Any undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI that results in misleading content, scientific inaccuracies, or academic misconduct shall be treated as a violation of the Journal's publication ethics and research integrity policies and may result in appropriate editorial action, including manuscript rejection or article retraction.
Article 19. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest (COI) and Author Contributions (CRediT)
1. Conflict of Interest Disclosure
a) A conflict of interest (COI) refers to any situation in which the personal, financial, professional, or academic interests of an author, reviewer, or editor may influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the objectivity, independence, or integrity of the research, peer-review, editorial, or publication process.
b) Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose fully and accurately all relationships or interests that may give rise to a conflict of interest, including, but not limited to, research funding, grants, consultancy agreements, honoraria, employment, family relationships, scientific collaborations, institutional affiliations, academic competition, or any other financial or non-financial interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the objectivity of research, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication.
c) Authors shall submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form together with the manuscript. Reviewers and editors shall assess and declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting editorial or review assignments.
d) Where relevant to the published research, authors' conflict of interest disclosures shall be published in the Conflict of Interest section or at the end of the article.
e) If an undisclosed conflict of interest or a false declaration is identified, the Editorial Board may suspend manuscript processing, invalidate the peer-review process, issue corrections, or retract the published article in accordance with the Journal's publication ethics policy.
f) Editors or Editorial Board members who have a conflict of interest relating to a manuscript shall decline responsibility for handling that manuscript and promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief, who shall assign another editor to oversee the editorial process.
2. Author Contributions (CRediT)
a) The Journal adopts the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to ensure transparency regarding each author's contribution to the published work.
b) Each author shall specify his or her contribution according to the fourteen CRediT roles:
- Conceptualization
- Methodology
- Software
- Validation
- Formal Analysis
- Investigation
- Resources
- Data Curation
- Writing – Original Draft
- Writing – Review & Editing
- Visualization
- Supervision
- Project Administration
- Funding Acquisition
c) Author contribution statements shall be published in the Author Contributions section of each article and included in the article's online metadata.
d) Any changes to authorship or author contributions after peer review shall require the written consent of all co-authors and the approval of the Editorial Board.
e) The Journal reserves the right to request documentary evidence supporting individual author contributions whenever authorship disputes, complaints, or suspected academic misconduct arise.
Article 20. Research Data Management, Sharing, and Protection
1. Open Research Data Policy
a) The Journal supports and encourages Open Research Data practices to enhance the transparency, reproducibility, verification, and reuse of scientific research.
b) Authors are encouraged to make available the research data underlying their published findings, including datasets, source code, images, tables, figures, models, or other supporting materials, to facilitate independent verification and legitimate scientific reuse.
c) At the time of manuscript submission, authors should either submit the supporting research data or provide a Data Availability Statement indicating where the data are stored and how they may be accessed.
d) Authors are encouraged to manage and share research data in accordance with the FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and under appropriate licensing arrangements, except where data sharing is restricted by confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rights, personal data protection requirements, research ethics, contractual agreements, or funding conditions.
e) The Journal reserves the right to request access to the original research data during peer review or after publication to verify the validity of the reported findings. Where research data cannot be made publicly available because of copyright restrictions, national security requirements, confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rights, personal data protection, research ethics, or funding agreements, authors shall provide a clear justification together with appropriate methodological descriptions, metadata, or alternative supporting information that does not compromise legal or ethical obligations.
2. Personal Data Protection
a) Any personal data, identifiable information, or sensitive information (including, but not limited to, names, addresses, telephone numbers, photographs, biological specimens, and health information) used in research shall be collected, stored, processed, and disclosed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations governing personal data protection.
b) Authors shall obtain the written informed consent of research participants or authorization from the relevant data-controlling authority before publishing any personal data.
c) For studies involving human participants, animals, biological specimens, personal data, or other sensitive information, authors shall clearly identify the approval granted by the relevant ethics committee or competent authority, including the approval number, date of approval, and scope of the approval.
d) The Journal is committed to protecting personal data and shall not publish identifiable personal information in any form. Only anonymized or aggregated data may be published.
e) Any datasets, photographs, figures, or supplementary materials containing personally identifiable information shall be anonymized or appropriately encrypted before submission.
f) Manuscripts containing identifiable images, personal information, or individual-level data shall be accompanied by documented publication consent or another appropriate legal basis for publication, unless the information has been fully anonymized in accordance with applicable regulations.
g) Any violation of personal data protection requirements may result in suspension of editorial processing, rejection of the manuscript, or retraction of the published article, as appropriate under the Journal's publication policies and applicable law.
CHAPTER V. OPEN ACCESS POLICY AND ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
Article 21. Open Access Policy
1. Open Access Model and Licensing (CC BY 4.0)
a) The Journal publishes all content under an Open Access model, allowing readers to freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, cite, and link to the full text of published articles without prior permission, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original source of publication.
b) All published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, users are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; and
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial and non-commercial use,
provided that appropriate attribution is given to the author(s), the Journal, and the article's DOI, and any modifications made are clearly indicated.
c) Authors retain the copyright to their published articles in accordance with applicable copyright laws. The Journal retains the right of first publication and the non-exclusive rights to publish, archive, distribute, and disseminate the articles through its official publishing platforms under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 License.
d) The Journal encourages universities, research institutions, libraries, and other organizations to cite, disseminate, archive, and integrate its published articles into open-access repositories and scholarly information systems to promote the international visibility and impact of Vietnamese scientific research.
2. Citation Requirements for Reuse
a) Any individual or organization reusing, citing, reproducing, or republishing content from the Journal shall provide a complete bibliographic citation, including the author(s), year of publication, article title, journal title, volume, issue, page numbers, and DOI.
b) Any reuse, adaptation, or derivative work based on a published article shall not misrepresent the original meaning, data, or conclusions of the authors, and any modifications shall be clearly identified in accordance with the terms of the CC BY 4.0 License.
c) Where Journal content is reused in commercial publications or products, users shall fully comply with the requirements of the CC BY 4.0 License and shall not falsely imply endorsement by or affiliation with the Journal.
d) Any misuse, improper citation, unauthorized modification, or misrepresentation of published content shall constitute a violation of the CC BY 4.0 License, copyright law, related rights, and accepted scholarly citation practices, and may be subject to legal action or sanctions under the Journal's editorial policies.
Article 22. Electronic Publishing System
1. Official Journal Website
a) The Journal maintains its official website at https://vjas.vn, which serves as the primary platform for publishing, managing, and providing full-text access to the Journal's scholarly publications.
b) The website operates on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform and supports internationally recognized standards for online scholarly publishing, including user registration, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, publication, and electronic archiving.
c) The website incorporates comprehensive technical features, including a bilingual interface (Vietnamese and English), article searching by keyword, author, DOI, and publication year, as well as automatic citation generation.
d) Each published article includes standardized Crossref metadata, displays its CC BY 4.0 license, manuscript history (received, accepted, and published dates), and complete citation information.
e) All article files, including PDFs, images, supplementary materials, and metadata, are regularly backed up and securely protected in accordance with applicable information security regulations.
2. Integration with International Information Systems (OAI-PMH, Crossref, DOAJ, Scopus)
a) The Journal ensures interoperability with international publishing platforms and indexing services through the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), enabling automatic harvesting of article metadata.
b) The Journal continuously standardizes its metadata, editorial workflow, and technical infrastructure to satisfy the requirements of internationally recognized indexing and abstracting databases, including DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, and other scholarly indexing services as eligibility requirements are met.
c) The Journal will progressively implement APIs or other appropriate data exchange solutions to facilitate metadata sharing, usage statistics, real-time monitoring of article access, downloads, and citation metrics.
d) The Journal periodically reviews, upgrades, and tests its electronic publishing system to ensure operational stability, cybersecurity, performance, and compatibility with international scholarly publishing standards.
Article 23. Electronic Legal Deposit and Information Security
1. Legal Deposit of Print and Electronic Publications
a) The Journal fulfills its legal deposit obligations in accordance with the Law on the Press of Viet Nam, including the submission of both print and electronic versions of each published issue.
b) Each issue of the Journal shall be deposited with the Press Authority under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, while copies shall also be archived by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture and securely preserved within the Journal's digital archiving system.
c) The electronic version of each published article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and registered with Crossref, ensuring persistent identification, long-term accessibility, and reliable citation.
d) Subject to technical, financial, and legal feasibility, the Journal shall progressively implement or participate in recognized digital preservation services, including the PKP Preservation Network (PN), LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, or equivalent preservation systems, to ensure secure long-term preservation through distributed archival copies.
e) Printed issues, electronic publications, and all editorial records shall be retained in accordance with legal deposit requirements, institutional archival regulations, and applicable laws to support regulatory compliance, scholarly verification, and long-term preservation.
2. Information Security and Data Preservation
a) All manuscripts, peer-review reports, editorial correspondence, images, supplementary files, and personal information relating to authors, reviewers, and editors shall be securely stored within the Journal's Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform and treated as strictly confidential.
b) The publishing system shall be protected through secure user authentication, SSL/TLS encryption, regular data backups, and firewall protection, in compliance with applicable personal data protection regulations and the information security policies of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.
c) Access to confidential editorial data shall be restricted exclusively to authorized personnel through authenticated user accounts and role-based access controls.
d) Backup copies shall be securely maintained on both the University's internal servers and protected cloud storage, with automated integrity verification to ensure data reliability and recoverability.
e) The Journal shall conduct regular cybersecurity assessments, software updates, security patching, and staff training to minimize the risk of data loss, unauthorized access, or information leakage.
f) Any breach of information security, unauthorized system access, or cyber intrusion shall be addressed in accordance with the laws of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the internal regulations of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.
