Publication Fee
The Palawan Scientist does NOT charge any processing/publication fees.
Authorship and Contributorship
For articles with two or more authors, it is required to indicate the contributions of each author which may include but not limited to the following: conceptualization, fund sourcing, conduct of experiment, data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing. Any change (deletion or addition) to authorship should be made before the publication of the article. To request such change, the corresponding author must have received permission from all co-authors before emailing the editor citing the reasons for changes. A confirmation from the added or deleted authors must be also received by the editor.
Complaints, Appeals, and Allegations
Any complaints, appeals, and allegations of scientific research misconduct shall be sent to the EIC to explain their concern. The identity of the complainants shall not be disclosed. Parties involved shall be contacted for further inquisition.
Conflicting Interest
Authors must declare any conflicting interest. If any conflicting interest is present, it must be briefly stated. If there’s none, the statement “The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interests to any authors”.
Data Sharing and Reproducibility
To fully assess the process of a research article, all data related to the submitted articles in The Palawan Scientist should be available for future use. Authors are encouraged to deposit detailed descriptions of their method used in the study to any repositories. However, the authors may provide supporting information to display all necessary data when uploading data to repositories is not possible.
Repository Policy
The Palawan Scientist allows authors to deposit different versions of their articles in an institutional or other repository of their choice, including submitted, accepted, and published versions without any embargo.
Ethical consideration
Studies involving human subjects must have followed the institutional and national guidelines set by the ethics board. A consent statement form is secured for studies involving minors or children below 18 years old. Moreover, names and other information of the subjects must be kept confidential and will be excluded from the manuscript. Other relevant documents should be ready upon the request of The Palawan Scientist. Additionally, research studies involving the use of animals must have also followed all institutional and national ethical guidelines for the care and use of test/experimental animals.
Use of AI-Assisted Technologies in Manuscript Preparation
The Palawan Scientist adheres to the guidelines set by the Council of Science Editors to uphold the integrity of both text and images in its published articles, as well as to Elsevier’s policies regarding the use of generative AI.
Authors who utilize AI-assisted technologies in their research or manuscript preparation are expected to be fully transparent about such use. This information must be disclosed in the cover letter upon initial submission to The Palawan Scientist (TPS). In addition, authors should include a clear and detailed explanation in a separate section of the paper titled “Generative AI Statement”, specifying how generative AI was used, including the structure and syntax of queries, providing technical details of the AI tool employed, such as its name, version, and model, and clearly distinguishing between AI-assisted content and the author’s original contributions. AI tools should not be listed as authors or co-authors, and works created with their assistance should not be cited as if authored by them. Since AI is not human, it cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or originality of the content—qualities that are essential for authorship (Da Veiga 2025).
While AI can support research and writing processes, authors remain entirely responsible for the integrity of their work, which include ensuring accuracy, avoiding plagiarism, properly citing all sources, and thoroughly reviewing the manuscript to address any potential biases introduced by AI (Khalifa and Albadawy 2024). Transparency and accountability in the use of AI tools are essential to maintain the highest standards of scholarly work.
Moreover, AI-generated images are not permitted in The Palawan Scientist unless explicitly approved by the Editor. Exceptions may be granted for manuscripts focused on AI or machine learning; such cases will be evaluated individually and must be disclosed at the time of submission. To uphold the journal’s standards for relevance, originality, and quality, the Editorial Board will carefully review all submissions. Decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection will be based on a comprehensive assessment of each manuscript’s scholarly merit and adherence to these guidelines.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is copying the author’s (self-plagiarism) or someone else’s ideas, works, and words without proper acknowledgement, credit or permission of the original author and source. The Palawan Scientist uses a plagiarism checker to evaluate the originality of the submitted manuscript. Authors should strictly refrain from plagiarism and follow the ethical standard of the research community.
All manuscripts submitted to The Palawan Scientist shall undergo plagiarism check, if plagiarism is detected, authors will be advised to rewrite/rephrase the plagiarized portion before the publication process begins.
Authors found to have committed academic misconduct—such as submitting a cloned or recycled manuscript (i.e. resubmitting a published paper from another journal as a new submission), engaging in double submission, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, or unethical authorship practices—will be blacklisted from submitting any future papers to the journal.
Endogeny Policy
To maintain the objectivity, integrity, and independence of The Palawan Scientist, an authorship endogeny policy is hereby established. In each issue, no more than 20% of the total articles can be authored or co-authored by members of the editorial board, including both lead authors and co-authors. Papers submitted by the Editorial Board are treated similar to those of other authors, ensuring the same review processes.
If the number of articles exceeds this limit—for example, if editorial board members author 30% of the articles in the first issue—an adjustment will be made in the second issue, accommodating only 10% of the total articles authored by board members. This policy ensures that, across the years, no more than four articles per year are published by editorial board members. Given that only a maximum of 10 to 12 articles are published per issue (or 20 to 24 articles annually), this policy maintains a balanced representation of research from contributors outside the editorial board, helps prevent conflicts of interest, and promotes diversity of perspectives.
If the editorial board authors four articles but less than 20 articles are published in a year, further adjustments will be made in the succeeding year. These adjustments will limit the editorial board’s contribution to ensure that, on average, no more than 20% are published annually, while maintaining the overall balance of contributions. Editorial board members are required to adhere to this policy when submitting articles for consideration.
Data fabrication and falsification
Fabrication concerns on making up research findings, while falsification is manipulating reports of scientific research results or data with an intention of giving false information about the status of submitted articles. Authors caught reporting any scientific research misconduct will no longer be allowed to submit their manuscript in the journal, and published articles which were later discovered to have such concern may be retracted upon the recommendation of the Technical Advisers.
Retractions
In some cases, the paper published in The Palawan Scientist may be retracted due to scientific fraud, such as unethical authorship, repeated submissions, false claims of authorship, unethical use of data, or plagiarism. Before a paper may be retracted, the complainant or the author must send a signed communication to the Editor-In-Chief (EIC). The editor reserves the right to retract the article as maybe suggested by the Technical Advisers.
Corrections/Errata
Authors are obliged to report errors in their articles that are relevant to the accuracy of published data. The journal shall carry out an investigation, and if, after the investigation, the concern is valid, the author shall be contacted through their email and given the opportunity to address the issue. Corrections and addendum will be included in the “Errata” section of the journal’s succeeding issue.
Removal
The manuscript may be removed from the journal’s website when The Palawan Scientist has been informed that the content brings defamatory or infringes other’s legal rights or is otherwise unlawful, if acted upon, the content would pose immediate and serious health risk. In this case, the whole text will be placed with a statement explaining that it’s been removed due to legal reasons.
Withdrawal
It is strongly discouraged to withdraw a manuscript after submission to The Palawan Scientist especially when it has undergone peer-review process. However, a valid reason for withdrawal may be acknowledged by the EIC if all authors signed a letter request clearly stating the purpose of manuscript withdrawal.
Transparency
The Palawan Scientist journal adheres to the COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and we urge our editors and submitting authors to adhere to these standards as well.
Disclaimer
The Editorial Board of The Palawan Scientist does not provide warranties as to the completeness and veracity of the content. Moreover, the opinion and ideas expressed in this publication are by the authors and not necessarily of the publisher. The Western Philippines University cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability arising from plagiarism and other errors.
Funding Source
The operation of The Palawan Scientist is fully funded by the Research, Innovation, Development and Extension Office (RIDE) of the Western Philippines University, San Juan, Aborlan, Palawan, 5302 Philippines; Email: pres.office@wpu.edu.ph.
Copyright Transfer Agreement
All authors are required to provide consent to the terms mentioned in The Palawan Scientist Copyright Transfer Agreement. The agreement shall be accomplished electronically and must be submitted together with the manuscript.
Open Access Agreement
All authors are required to provide consent to the terms mentioned in The Palawan Scientist Open Access Agreement. The agreement shall be accomplished electronically and must be submitted together with the manuscript.
References:
Da Veiga A. 2025. Ethical guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence-assisted tools in scholarly publishing: A thematic analysis. Science Editing. 12(1):28–34. https://doi.org/10.6087/kcse.352
Khalifa M, Albadawy M. 2024. Using artificial intelligence in academic writing and research: An essential productivity tool. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine Update. 5:100145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpbup.2024.100145