Complaints and Appeals: Examples and Frauds from India

Fraud Detection and Security management

1. :
EXAMPLES AND FRAUD FROM INDIA
AND ABROAD
Dr.RuchiKawatra

2. What is Complaints?
•The complaint is a statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable.
•It may be any type of unhappiness or dissatisfaction regarding the publication and
policies of the journal.
•The complaint may arise from a lengthy publishing delay or responses involving the
author.
•It might have been raised because of decision of editorial board or due to chief editor
regarding the manuscripts of the author.
Dr.RuchiKawatra

3. What is Appeals?
•An appeal is a suggestion that tries to influence somebody’s feelings or thoughts so that
he/she will do what you want.
•Its is the right of an author
•The author may appeal to the editor after the rejection of the paper.
•The author have the right to appeal on the editor’s decision.
•All appeals goes to the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, who assess the article and the
details of the peer review process before giving he final decision.
Dr.RuchiKawatra

4. Types of Complaints
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Plagiarism is more than what is set as benchmark by the Journal.
•Author might have submitted the paper in many conferences.
•There might be conflict of interest between the author.
•Confidentiality of personal information.
•Confidentiality of data.
•Violation of research ethics.

5. What kind of complaints will be considered..
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Acomplaintorrequestrelatedtopublication’sresearchintegritysuchas
anydelayinprocessoranimproperlyappliedretractionnotice,itshould
betakenintoaccountandlookedinto.
•Complaintsmightalsobeconnectedtodishonestyofauthororreviewer.
•Anyonecanfileacomplaint,includingauthors,reviewersandreaders.
•Allgrievancesmustbeinrelationtothejournal'spolicies,procedures,or
content.

6. How to make a complaint?
•Complaint should always be sent via email. The author must include the title of the
manuscript, and manuscript ID number if it is unpublished.
•If you are not getting any response in stipulated time then you must use social media
handlers like Twitter or through websites such as PubPeer.
•When complaints are raised, evidence should be provided to support the complaints.
•The complaints must be related to the contents, policies and processes of the Journal.
•If the complaint has not been properly addressed or the author feels neglected then it can
be further taken to the
AMEE
COPE
Dr.RuchiKawatra

7. Dealing with complaints
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•The complaint is a statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable.
•It may be any type of unhappiness or dissatisfaction regarding the publication and
policies of the journal.
•The complaint may arise from a lengthy publishing delay or responses involving the
author.
•It might have been raised because of decision of editorial board or due to chief editor
regarding the manuscripts of the author.

8. How to handle complaints?
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Complaintsaretakentotheresearchethicscommitteewhichthenforwardtheir
decisionstotheEditor.
•Editors maintains direct channel of communication with the person raising the issue. This
mode ensures that editor can seek any clarifications from the person and notify the
correspondent of the outcome of the case.
•Journals should have policies in place regarding how/whether they will respond to issues
that are not raised to them directly but either via social media or website.

9. How should complaints be responded to?
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Allcomplaints/requestsshouldbeconsidered,andinvestigatediftheyhavecredibility
andareaboutresearchintegrityinapublication.
•Theresponsesentmustincludetheactiondone.Itmustbeobjectiveandfactual.
•Legalcounselorotherappropriateauthoritiesshouldbecontactedwithcomplaintsof
harassing,offensive,threatening,ordefamatorylanguage,andthejournalshould
informthecomplainantthatallegationsmadeinsuchlanguagewillnotbelooked
into.
•Thecorrespondent'srighttoprivacymustberespected,andwithouttheirexpress
consent,theiridentityshouldnotberevealedtothepartymakingtheaccusations.

10. Case Study
Dr.RuchiKawatra
DU Photocopy Case: What Happened and Why It's Important
•“Alicensingsystemthatpresentsphotocopyingasaninfringementofcopyrights,is
detrimentaltotheinterestofbothauthorsandstudents."

11. Appeals
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•TheappealsagainstEditor’sdecisionareconsideredonlyunderhighlyspecific
circumstancesandusuallyonlywhereaclearbreachofpolicycanbedemonstrated.

12. Rejected Manuscripts
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Generallythemanuscriptsarerejectedwhenthecontentofthearticledoesnotlie
withinthescopeofthejournal.
•ItmayalsoberejectedifthearticleisnotwritteninclearandintelligibleEnglish.
•Authorhasnotsubmittedthedatasetorhasn’tcompletedtherelevantdeclarations
relatingtoEthicsandFunding's.
•Articleisnotinaccordancetothe“GuidelinesforAuthors”intermsofcontent,style
and/orformatting.

13. Revision of Articles
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Thearticlesendforrevisioncanbesubmittedinthedefinedtimeframeandbesent
forthepublication.
•Author needs to check that the article sent after revision conform to the guidelines for
revised versions.
•If a revised article is rejected due to the fact that it does not meet the requirements
then it will not be considered in the appeal too. The Editors decision will be treated as
final.
•Authors whose articles have been rejected for any other reason can go for appeal
process.

14. Retracted Articles
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•Editorsgenerallydonottakethedecisiontoretractarticleslightly,ittakesplaceonly
afterextensiveinvestigation.Theappealsagainstretractionaretakenonlyif
substantialevidencearetheretoprovethatthedecisionwasbiasedorunjust.

15. Appeal Process
Dr.RuchiKawatra
•AnyappealsagainstEditor’sdecisionmustbesentviaemailwithintwoweeksofthe
decision.Theauthorneedstoprovideadetailedexplanationofwhyhe/shedisagrees
withthedecisionalongwithallthesupportingdocumentsandproofs.
•TheappealisacknowledgedandsenttotheEditorforconsideration.Thehandling
Editorwillmakethedecisionastorejecttheappeal,requestfurtherinformationor
upholdtheappeal.