SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES

Embargo Policies

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES maintains a strict no-embargo policy, which means all published research is made immediately available to readers worldwide from the moment of publication. We do not impose any waiting period or delay in access to our published content.

In practical terms, this means that as soon as an article completes the peer review process and is published online, it becomes instantly accessible to everyone – researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public. This immediate availability applies to the full text of articles as well as any supplementary materials.

Our no-embargo policy aligns with our commitment to Platinum Open Access publishing and the principles of rapid knowledge dissemination. Authors can immediately:

• Share their published work through any channels
• Archive their articles in institutional or subject repositories
• Distribute their findings through academic networks
• Use their research in teaching and presentations
• Share their work on social media and other platforms

This unrestricted and immediate access helps accelerate scientific discovery and ensures that important research findings reach their intended audiences without delay. The absence of an embargo period also supports authors in complying with various funder mandates that require immediate open access to research outputs.

For any questions about our no-embargo policy, please contact the journal editorial office.

Repository Guidelines

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES supports the sharing and long-term preservation of research through approved repositories. To ensure readers access the most accurate and final version of published works, we encourage authors to deposit the final published version (Version of Record) in both institutional and subject-specific repositories.

Article Versions and Timing

While authors may share different versions of their article, we strongly recommend depositing the final published version:

• Final Published Version (recommended): The journal's official PDF/XML version, which includes all corrections, formatting, and metadata. This version should be deposited after publication and represents the authoritative Version of Record.
• Author's accepted manuscript: The peer-reviewed version before final publication may be deposited if required by institutional policies.
• Preprint version: Early versions may be shared in preprint repositories, but we encourage updating these with links to the final published version once available.

The journal automatically deposits the final published version in our partner repositories to ensure proper preservation and access. Authors are encouraged to use this version for any additional repository deposits.

Recommended Repositories

We recommend depositing the final published version in these established repositories:

General Purpose Repositories:

• Zenodo (our preferred general repository due to its long-term preservation guarantees)
• Institutional repositories at universities and research institutes
• figshare (when institutional repositories are not available)

Subject-Specific Repositories:

• Life Sciences: GenBank, PDB
• Physical Sciences: arXiv
• Social Sciences: ICPSR

Repository Requirements

Selected repositories should meet these criteria to ensure proper preservation of the final published version:

• Provide persistent identifiers (such as DOIs) for deposited items
• Maintain clear version control and identify the Version of Record
• Ensure long-term preservation of deposited materials
• Support proper academic citation linking back to the original publication
• Offer free and open access to deposited content

Data Availability

For research data supporting your published article:

• Data should be deposited in appropriate repositories before final publication
• Include clear data availability statements in your final manuscript
• Link data deposits to the final published version of your article
• Follow our citation guidelines for data references

Special Considerations

When sharing sensitive or protected data:

• Human subject data must be anonymized and shared in compliance with ethical approvals
• Proprietary data may have restricted access, but metadata should be publicly available
• Environmental data should include location information unless protected species are involved

The journal's editorial office is available to provide guidance on repository selection and proper version depositing procedures. We strongly encourage authors to maintain consistency across repositories by using the final published version whenever possible.

Funder Compliance Policy

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES is committed to helping authors comply with their funders' requirements for research dissemination and open access. Our Platinum Open Access model and immediate publication policy naturally align with most funder mandates for open science.

How We Support Funder Requirements

Our publishing practices support compliance with major research funders by providing:

• Immediate open access to all articles without any embargo period
• Free publication without article processing charges (APCs)
• Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licensing for maximum reuse rights
• Automatic deposit of published articles in designated repositories
• Support for data sharing and preservation requirements

Common Funder Requirements We Support

Our policies align with requirements from various funding bodies, including:

• Immediate open access to published research
• Long-term preservation of research outputs
• Clear licensing terms allowing broad reuse
• Public access to research data
• Proper acknowledgment of funding sources

Author Responsibilities

To ensure compliance with funder requirements, authors should:

• Clearly acknowledge their funding sources in the manuscript
• Include any relevant grant numbers or project identifiers
• Notify the journal of any specific funder requirements during submission
• Ensure their data sharing approach meets funder requirements
• Retain copies of compliance documentation

Documentation Available

We provide authors with documentation to demonstrate compliance:

• Publication certificates confirming open access status
• License documentation for reuse rights
• Repository deposit confirmations
• Data availability statements

For questions about how our policies align with specific funder requirements, please contact the journal's editorial office. We are committed to helping authors navigate funder compliance while maintaining the highest standards of academic publishing.

Data Sharing Policy

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES supports open science through transparent data sharing practices. This policy outlines our requirements for making research data available to the scientific community. This policy is beeing recomended by the journal in this format since 2025.

Requirements

Authors must make the research data supporting their published articles available unless there are compelling reasons for restrictions. The data sharing statement should be included in the manuscript under section "5.6 Data Availability" of the template. If the data was included in the article, there is no need for this statement. If not, this statement must clearly indicate:

• Where the data can be accessed
• How other researchers can obtain the data
• Any conditions for data reuse

Acceptable Repositories

Research data should be deposited in one of these repository types:

• General-purpose repositories: Zenodo, figshare
• Institutional repositories maintained by universities
• Domain-specific databases appropriate to the research field

Data Formats

To ensure long-term accessibility and reuse, data should be shared in:

• Non-proprietary formats when possible (e.g., CSV instead of Excel)
• Common file formats widely used in the research field
• Formats that include necessary metadata for interpretation

Retention Periods

Authors must ensure that research data remains available for at least five years from the date of publication. We recommend depositing in repositories that guarantee long-term preservation of data.

Exceptions

Data sharing exceptions may be granted for:

• Personal data that cannot be fully anonymized
• Proprietary data with commercial restrictions
• Information about endangered species locations
• Data restricted by legal or ethical requirements

Authors seeking exceptions must explain their reasons in the data availability statement. The journal editors will evaluate exception requests during the review process.

For questions about data sharing requirements or assistance with selecting appropriate repositories, please contact the journal's editorial office.

Preprint Policy

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES focuses exclusively on publishing final, peer-reviewed research articles. We have made a deliberate choice not to engage with preprints as part of our commitment to publishing thoroughly vetted, high-quality scientific work in its final form.

Our publication model centers on the traditional peer review process, where manuscripts undergo careful evaluation before being published. We believe this approach best serves our research community by ensuring that all published content has been thoroughly reviewed and validated through established academic procedures.

For authors considering submitting to our journal:

• Please submit your original manuscript directly to the journal
• Focus on preparing your work for formal peer review
• Follow our standard submission guidelines detailed in the Author Guidelines section

Authorship Policy

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES follows international standards for determining and managing authorship of scholarly publications. This policy ensures proper attribution of scientific work and clarifies responsibilities among contributors.

Authorship Criteria

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:

• Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
• Participate in drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• Approve the final version to be published
• Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensure questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved

Contributors who do not meet all criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section rather than listed as authors.

Author Order

The order of authors should reflect their relative contribution to the work. We recommend that author order be determined collaboratively by all authors early in the project and reconfirmed prior to submission. The journal requires that:

• The first author has made the most significant contribution and typically takes primary responsibility for preparing the manuscript
• Subsequent authors are listed in descending order of contribution
• Any deviation from contribution-based ordering (such as alphabetical listing) must be explained in the contribution statement

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author serves as the primary point of contact and has specific responsibilities:

• Managing all communication with the journal during submission, peer review, and publication
• Ensuring all administrative requirements are completed
• Maintaining communication among all authors
• Responding to inquiries after publication

A manuscript may have only one corresponding author unless justified and approved by the editors.

Changes in Authorship

Any changes to authorship (addition, removal, or reordering) after initial submission must:

• Be requested through the journal's formal authorship change form
• Include written agreement from all authors, including those being added or removed
• Provide a clear justification for the change
• Be approved by the journal's editors before implementation

Changes in authorship are not permitted after acceptance without compelling reasons and may result in manuscript re-review.

Disputes

In case of authorship disputes:

• The journal will follow COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines for resolution
• All authors must engage in good faith efforts to resolve disputes
• The journal may contact authors' institutions if disputes cannot be resolved
• Publication will be halted until disputes are resolved

For questions about authorship or assistance with authorship-related issues, please contact the journal's editorial office. We are committed to ensuring fair attribution of scholarly work while maintaining the integrity of the scientific record.

AI, and Generative AI Policy

The SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES acknowledges that artificial intelligence is fundamentally integrated into modern academic publishing infrastructure. This policy aims to provide practical guidance while recognizing that complete avoidance of AI interaction is neither possible nor practical in today's digital environment.

Understanding AI's Pervasive Role

We recognize that AI is present throughout the academic workflow:

• Email systems use AI for spam filtering, content analysis, and security scanning
• Word processors employ AI for grammar checking, spell checking, and formatting suggestions
• Reference managers utilize AI for citation matching and paper recommendations
• Plagiarism detection tools rely on AI algorithms
• Even postal services use AI for mail routing and security screening

Author Guidelines

Given this reality, we focus on transparency and responsibility rather than attempting to create artificial boundaries:

• Authors should acknowledge, in the section DECLARATIONS, the use of AI tools beyond basic text processing (such as deliberate use of generative AI for content creation or revision)
• When using generative AI tools, authors must verify all outputs, including factual claims and citations
• Authors retain full responsibility for their work's accuracy and integrity, regardless of which tools were used in its creation
• The focus should be on the quality and integrity of the final work rather than the tools used to create it
• AI tools, including large language models and generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors since they cannot fulfill key authorship responsibilities such as taking accountability for the work, providing critical revisions, or giving final approval. The question of AI authorship may be revisited if future AI systems develop verifiable capabilities for independent scientific reasoning, ethical decision-making, and professional responsibility that meet established authorship criteria.

Reviewer and Editor Guidelines

Understanding that complete AI avoidance is impossible, we emphasize:

• The importance of human judgment and expertise in evaluation
• Awareness that all digital communications may interact with AI systems
• Focus on maintaining confidentiality within reasonable modern digital constraints
• Recognition that standard digital tools (email, word processing) inherently involve AI

Image and Data Guidelines

For research outputs:

• Distinguish between incidental AI processing (standard image enhancement tools) and deliberate AI generation or manipulation
• Require disclosure of AI tools used as part of the research methodology
• Maintain focus on research integrity and reproducibility rather than the specific tools used

Practical Implementation

Our approach focuses on:

• Acknowledging that AI interaction occurs at multiple levels in academic publishing
• Emphasizing transparency about significant or deliberate AI use
• Maintaining research integrity while embracing technological advancement
• Supporting clear documentation of methodologies and tools used
• Recognizing that digital workflows inherently involve AI processing

Future Considerations

We commit to:

• Regular policy updates as AI technology evolves
• Maintaining realistic expectations about AI involvement in academic publishing
• Supporting transparent discussion about AI's role in research
• Focusing on research quality and integrity rather than tool selection

Our AI policy acknowledges that while complete AI avoidance is impossible in modern digital workflows, maintaining research integrity, transparency, and human accountability remains vital. We encourage open dialogue about AI's role in academic publishing while focusing on the fundamental principles of scientific rigor and ethical research practices.