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NBR Publication Guidelines and Ethics

NBR is committed to upholding best practices in all stages of the publication process. Expectations for and responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers are based on the standards established as core practices by the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE).[1] Asia Policy, a quarterly journal, accepts as submissions original articles and essays containing policy-relevant academic research on political, economic, security, and energy and environmental issues related to the Asia-Pacific. Asia Policy roundtable essays, special essays, series essays, and book reviews are solicited by invitation. Other NBR publications are also by invitation and include the Strategic Asia series, monographs, NBR Special Report, and online commentaries, essays, roundtables, podcasts, and interviews. The following guidelines apply to all NBR publications unless specifically stated otherwise.

Responsibilities of Authors

• Reporting Standards: Authors should accurately present their work and the underlying data and offer an objective discussion of its significance. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are not accepted. Authors should promptly notify the editors or publisher if a significant error in their work is identified and cooperate with the editor and publisher to rectify the error, publish an online erratum or addendum, or retract the paper if deemed necessary. External submissions to Asia Policy should follow the requirements of the journal as outlined in the Asia Policy Guidelines for Submission. Submissions commissioned for Asia Policy or other NBR publications should follow the requirements outlined at the initiation of the project with the author.
• Authorship of the Paper: All authors named on the submitted manuscript are responsible for the content of a submitted manuscript. The corresponding author must ensure all named co-authors consent to publication and to be credited as co-authors. All persons who have made significant authorship contributions to the work should be named as co-authors.
• Data Access and Retention: Authors may be asked to provide copies of the data associated with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
• Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Authors must disclose the background of the manuscript upon submission of the first draft, including if the paper or any component parts have been presented at any conferences or have appeared online in any form. Authors must warrant that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere in full or in part and is not under consideration by any other organization while it is being considered by Asia Policy or NBR.
• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written and submitted original manuscripts, and that they have correctly cited or quoted their own works and the works of other authors. Authors must be able to guarantee their work cannot be construed as libelous or as infringing on a preexisting copyright. NBR may submit content to internal or external plagiarism-check services.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: All prior use of data and arguments in the manuscript—whether in English or any other language—must be properly cited at the time of submission.
• Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools: Any use of AI-generated text or images must be specified, reviewed, and approved in advance with NBR’s editorial team. NBR does not generally permit the use of AI-generated text in its publications unless it is the subject of the content. Authors assume all responsibility for the arguments made in the work and the accuracy of statements therein.

Responsibilities of Editors

• Publication Process and Decisions (for Asia Policy): The managing editor, in consultation as needed with the editors and editorial advisory committee, shall prescreen all submissions to establish that they meet the submission guidelines and represent original work. Submitted research article and essay manuscripts that pass the prescreen stage will undergo peer review by subject matter experts. Asia Policy roundtable essays, special essays, series essays, and book reviews are by the invitation of the journal and not subject to the peer-review process. The managing editor shall request or accept changes to the manuscript based on the peer-review process as well as on advice from the editors, editorial advisory committee, and editorial board. Guided by the editors and the review process, the managing editor and publisher shall be responsible for deciding which manuscripts should be published and for conveying publication decisions to authors. For accepted submissions, the managing editor will continue to work with the author through the publication process.
• Publication Process and Decisions (for other NBR publications): The NBR project and editorial team will review manuscripts to establish that they meet the project guidelines and represent original work. These manuscripts are commissioned by NBR projects and may be but are not necessarily subject to peer review. NBR’s project and editorial staff will work with the author through the publication process.
• Review of Articles (for Asia Policy): Manuscripts that pass the prescreen stage shall be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process. Reviewers shall provide substantive comments on the manuscript and make one of the following decisions: publish, publish with revision, revise and resubmit, or reject. Reviewer identities shall be kept confidential. The journal shall endeavor to conduct the prescreen and review processes in a timely way.
• Fair Play: The editorial team and the publisher shall ensure that all manuscripts received are reviewed on their intellectual merit and without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• Confidentiality: The editorial team must ensure that information in submissions is kept confidential, and shared only with the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editorial team members must not use unpublished materials under consideration in their own research or in a submitted article without author consent. Editors must also disclose any potential conflicts of interest before beginning the review process and should not agree to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with authors or institutions connected to the papers.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Confidentiality: Information in manuscripts must be treated as confidential. Manuscripts should not be shown to or discussed with others without the approval of NBR’s editorial team. Reviewers shall not use any submitted material under consideration in their own research.
• Review Process (for Asia Policy): Reviewers shall provide substantive comments on the manuscript, evaluating it for originality, use of arguments and evidence, clarity of presentation, and policy relevance. They shall offer one of the following decisions: publish, publish with revision, revise and resubmit, or reject. Reviewer identities shall be kept confidential. Review guidelines are available.
• Standards of Objectivity: All reviews should be objective, constructive, and appropriately substantial. Reviewers should support their views with clear arguments and evidence from the manuscript.
• Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must give unbiased consideration to each manuscript. Reviewers should not be aware of the article author’s identity and should not have already read or commented on the article. Reviewers should not agree to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with authors or institutions connected to the papers.
• Unqualified to Review or Promptness: Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review the assigned manuscript or is unable to provide a prompt review by the specified date should notify the managing editor or project lead and excuse himself/herself from the review process.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should call to the attention of NBR’s editorial team any significant similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any other publications or submitted manuscripts of which they are aware.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

• Copyright: Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, copyright in all content published by NBR is vested with NBR as the publisher.
• Corrections and Revisions after Publication: Should the need for an error correction, retraction, or revision be brought to the attention of the editors or publisher, the publisher is responsible for correcting the record quickly and in a visible manner online.
• Dispute or Misconduct Settlement: The publisher will consider complaints against NBR editorial staff or the Asia Policy editorial board, as well as any allegations of misconduct by authors, editors, or reviewers either pre-or post- publication, and work to resolve these in a timely manner.

Endnotes

[1] The organization of these guidelines draws on the Policies and Guidelines published by Elsevier, and they are informed by the core practices of COPE. NBR and Asia Policy are not directly affiliated with Elsevier or COPE.

Statement revised June 2024.