Publication Ethics

Last updated: 26 June 2026

WASTE is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. Our practices follow the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Because WASTE specifically publishes negative and null results, integrity and transparency are central to our mission.

Authorship

All listed authors must have made a substantial contribution to the work and must approve the submitted version. Anyone who meets the criteria for authorship must be included; contributors who do not meet the criteria should be acknowledged. Author identity is verified via ORCID.

Research integrity

• Submissions must report work honestly, with methods and data described accurately.
• Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism are grounds for rejection or retraction.
• Claims about other researchers' work must be verifiable and made in good faith.
• Human-subjects research requires appropriate ethics / IRB approval; animal research requires an ethics statement. Identifiable personal data must not be included.

Conflicts of interest and funding

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial conflicts of interest and acknowledge funding sources. Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves from handling submissions in which they have a competing interest. Payment, where it eventually applies, is firewalled from editorial decisions.

Peer review

Peer review evaluates methodological rigor and the completeness of documentation, not the novelty or positivity of outcomes. AI tools may assist with initial desk checks, but publication decisions are always made by human editors.

Corrections, retractions, and complaints

Errors that affect the record will be addressed through corrections or, where warranted, retractions. To raise a concern about publication ethics or research integrity, contact ethics@wastejournal.org. Complaints are handled confidentially and in line with COPE guidance.