A

  • Abstract A concise summary of a research article, thesis, review, or other long report, highlighting the major points covered, concise description of the content, and key findings.

  • Acknowledgements A section of a research article where the authors express recognition of the people, institutions, and funding bodies that contributed to the research.

  • Article Processing Charge (APC) A fee that covers the costs associated with the review, editing, and online publication of an article in an open access journal.

  • Authorship Attribution of a research work to individuals who have made significant academic contributions to the study and are accountable for the results.

B

  • Blind Review A method of peer review where the identity of the authors is not disclosed to the reviewers (single-blind) or where both the identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential (double-blind).

C

  • Citation A reference to a published or unpublished source, providing credit to the original work or idea.

  • Conflict of Interest A situation in which a person or organization may be perceived to have two interests that are incompatible with each other, leading to potential bias.

  • Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) A public copyright license that enables the free distribution of a copyrighted work, with the stipulation that the original author is credited.

E

  • Editorial Board A team of experts, usually from the same field of study, who review and approve articles that are submitted to a journal for publication.

  • Ethics Approval Permission or approval granted by an ethics review board for research involving human or animal subjects, after examination of the research proposal for compliance with ethical standards.

I

  • Impact Factor A measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular period. It is often used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field.

  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) A formally designated group that reviews and monitors research involving human subjects to ensure that it is ethical and protects the rights and welfare of the participants.

K

  • Keywords Words or phrases that describe the main topics of a paper. They provide a quick summary of the article and are useful for indexing purposes.

M

  • Manuscript The author's original version of a paper submitted to a journal for consideration for publication.

  • Metadata Information providing description and context for data such as a journal article or dataset, allowing it to be discovered and managed over time.

O

  • Open Access A publishing model that provides immediate, worldwide, barrier-free access to the full text of research articles without requiring a subscription to the journal in which these articles are published.

P

  • Peer Review The process of subjecting an author's work to the scrutiny of other experts in the same field to check its validity and evaluate its suitability for publication.

  • Plagiarism The practice of using someone else's work or ideas without giving them proper credit, leading to the false perception that the plagiarist is the original author.

  • Post-publication Review The practice of allowing readers to comment on an article after it has been published.

  • Preprint A version of a scientific paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a scientific journal.

  • Pre-publication The stage of development in which a manuscript undergoes peer review, revision, and acceptance before it is formally published.

  • Proofs The final version of a manuscript that is ready for publication. Authors review proofs to check for any errors before the article is published online.

R

  • Reproducibility The extent to which a study can be independently repeated with the same methods and produce the same (or similar) results.

  • Research Integrity Adherence to ethical standards and professional codes of conduct in the performance and reporting of research.

  • Retraction The removal of a published paper from a journal, typically due to major errors or ethical issues.

  • Revision Modifications made to a manuscript based on feedback received during the peer review process.

S

  • Screening An initial review to assess a manuscript for basic standards and suitability for a journal.

  • Submission The process of sending a manuscript to a journal to be considered for publication.

  • Supplemental Material Additional data or files that support the content of a journal article but are not included in the main document, often made available for download.

V

  • Violation of Publication Ethics Actions that breach the ethical guidelines of a journal, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, and duplicate publication.