Journal Policies

Ethics, Plagiarism and Malpractice Statement

The Journal of Bhartiya Paramparika Gyan is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This policy outlines the duties and expectations for authors, editors, and reviewers.

1. Editorial Responsibilities

• Fair Review: Editors evaluate manuscripts objectively based solely on their academic merit, relevance to traditional knowledge, and contribution to the field, without regard to the author's race, gender, citizenship, or beliefs.
• Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and publishers.
• Conflict of Interest: Editors will recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors.

2. Reviewer Responsibilities

• Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editors in making editorial decisions and helps authors improve their papers.
• Promptness: Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified or unable to provide a timely review must notify the editor immediately and decline the review.
• Confidentiality and Objectivity: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviews should be conducted objectively with supporting arguments and no personal criticism.

3. Author Responsibilities and Publication Ethics

• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original. If the work or words of others are used, they must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms, including self-plagiarism, uncredited paraphrasing, or copying text without attribution, constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is strictly unacceptable.
• Traditional Knowledge Attribution: Given the journal's focus on traditional knowledge, authors must accurately attribute traditional sources, texts, oral traditions, and community knowledge, ensuring ethical sourcing and respect for cultural property.
• Data Integrity: Authors must present an accurate account of original research or fieldwork. Fraudulent statements constitute unethical behavior.
• Multiple or Concurrent Publication: Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.
• Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study.

4. Dealing with Malpractice and Misconduct

• Identification of Misconduct: The editorial board will take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred.
• Investigation: If a claim of plagiarism, data fabrication, or ethical malpractice is raised, the journal will follow Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to investigate the matter thoroughly.
• Action Following Proven Misconduct: If misconduct is proven, the journal reserves the right to reject the manuscript, issue a formal retraction, or bar the author from future submissions.

Copyright Ownership and Author Rights

• Retention of Rights: Authors retain full, unrestricted copyright and publishing rights for their work.
• License Grant: Authors grant the journal a non-exclusive right to format, publish, and distribute the article in print and digital formats.
• Self-Archiving — Green Open Access: Authors are encouraged to post their work online, including in institutional repositories or personal websites. This applies to the preprint, accepted manuscript, or published version (Version of Record) to facilitate broader distribution.

Open Access Licensing

To maximize academic exchange while preventing commercial exploitation of cultural heritage, the journal applies the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license to all published materials.

Permitted Uses

• Share: Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, subject to the license conditions below.
• Adapt: Remix, transform, and build upon the material for educational, research, and non-commercial purposes, subject to the license conditions below.

Conditions

• Attribution: Proper credit must be given to the original authors and the journal. A link to the license must be provided, and any changes made must be clearly indicated.
• Non-Commercial: Third parties cannot use the material for commercial purposes or financial gain without explicit written permission from the copyright holders.

Traditional Knowledge Protection Guidelines

The Journal of Bhartiya Paramparika Gyan is deeply committed to safeguarding, respecting, and promoting traditional knowledge. Authors submitting research that documents, analyzes, or references traditional knowledge, practices, or folklore must adhere to the following ethical guidelines to prevent biopiracy and the misappropriation of community wisdom.

1. Prior Informed Consent

• Requirement: Authors must obtain explicit, documented Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from the community, elders, or traditional practitioners who hold the knowledge before conducting research or submitting the manuscript. This includes submissions documenting localized, tribal, or community-held traditional knowledge.
• Proof: The journal reserves the right to request proof of consent, community approval, or institutional ethics clearance.

2. Benefit Sharing and Acknowledgement

• Attribution: Communities and traditional knowledge holders must be acknowledged as co-creators or primary sources of the knowledge, rather than mere subjects of study.
• Equitable Sharing: Research should align with international and national frameworks, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol, ensuring that benefits arising from the utilization of traditional knowledge are shared fairly with the communities involved.

3. Prevention of Biopiracy and Misappropriation

• Defensive Protection: Articles must not commercialize, patent, or claim exclusive intellectual property over public or community-held traditional knowledge without authorization.
• TKDL Alignment: The journal cooperates with defensive documentation efforts, such as the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), to prevent the erroneous granting of patents on Indian traditional knowledge.

4. Respect for Sacred and Restricted Knowledge

• Sensitivity: Knowledge that is considered sacred, secret, ritualistic, or strictly confidential by a community must not be disclosed or published without express, written permission from authorized community representatives.
• Cultural Context: Authors must present traditional practices with utmost cultural sensitivity, avoiding distortion or derogatory interpretations.