December 2017
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Guidelines for Proper Publication of Research Outcomes
The researchers of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, in addition to observing the Ritsumeikan Asia
Pacific University Research Ethics Guidelines, should fully understand and observe the below
guidelines and publish their research outcomes appropriately. These guidelines address double
submission, divided publication, and inappropriate authorship. They describe how these issues are
judged and why it is necessary to avoid them.
1. Research Activities
Research activities consist of creating new knowledge and constructing new knowledge systems, basedon one's own reflections, inspiration and ideas. Researchers build on the achievements of theirpredecessors. They use facts and data resulting from observation and experimentation.
2. Publication of Research Outcomes
Publication of research outcomes means to publish achievements in order to disseminate them to thescientific community. Publication includes the presentation of objective and verifiable data and materials.
Research outcomes are subjected to review, scrutiny, and critique by peers and other scholars to ensure
integrity and soundness of new findings and knowledge. Publication makes this system of checks
possible.
3. Double Submission(1) Definition
Double submission (double publication) is the act of submitting a research paper essentially the same as
one already published or already submitted to an academic journal, either in print or online. This act
violates the principle of originality. Double submission involves submission of articles with researchsubjects, methodology, results, or interpretations that are identical or similar to those of a previously
published article. Double submission also includes use of figures or data from previously publishedarticles. In addition, a paper that reproduces the same content as a previously published article while
making only a few changes qualifies as a double submission.
(2) Notes
Academic publication values originality. Many academic journals prohibit double submission because
it destroys the credibility of academic publication. Double submission may have negative consequences
for both authors and the academic journals. Violating academic submission guidelines may placeconstraints on the researcher’s future activities. It also causes waste of human, time, and material
resources due to unnecessary editing and review. It likewise leads researchers to unjustly inflate theirresearch achievements. Finally, it may raise issues related to copyright ownership for the article.
1The copyright for a submitted paper commonly belongs to the academic society or publisher, rather than
to the author. Because the academic society or publisher, a third party, holds the copyright for the article,
an author cannot incorporate content from the article in another of their articles without proper citation.
To do so is a violation of copyright law.
(3) Criteria for Judgment
Most academic societies clearly define and prohibit double submission. Double submission isuniversally a fundamental breach of academic society rules but those rules vary depending on theacademic society. To ensure proper and clear understanding of this problem among all researchers at theuniversity, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University sets forth the following criteria for judgment of doublesubmission.
① The newly submitted paper must clearly describe its differences with previously publishedarticles.
② The newly submitted paper must clearly state the source of text and figures taken frompreviously published articles.
③ The author of a previously published or submitted article must not submit a paper with content
identical or extremely similar to that of the first article.
④ Researchers must not translate published articles into another language and submit them inviolation of academic journal submission guidelines or academic society rules and customs.
On the assumption that there is no violation of copyright law, some academic societies accept secondary
submission of the following, ① - ⑥. However, these academic societies specifically state such cases intheir submission guidelines. Researchers must respect these guidelines.
① Patent publication announcement② University bachelor's thesis, master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, technical report, etc.
③ Preliminary report or proceedings from another academic society's meeting, seminar orinternational conference④ Company technical report⑤ Newspaper article⑥ Preprint open to the public
Concerning ③, in the past, researchers would frequently turn material from conference proceedings into
journal articles by supplementing and improving the data and content. However, in recent years, there
has been a growing trend to treat conference proceedings in the same way as journal articles in regardto originality. Because of this, academic journals whose submission guidelines require originality havebegun to consider submitting content from a conference proceedings as a journal article a case of doublesubmission. If an academic journal allows a researcher to submit such an article, the researcher may
need to appropriately cite the relevant conference proceedings in the text of the article. However, thehandling of conference proceedings differs greatly by research field. Researchers should verify andadhere to the handling and submission guidelines in their research fields.
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4. Divided Publication(1) Definition
Divided publication, also known as salami publication, refers to the act of intentionally dividing researchoutcomes one could report in a single research paper into multiple research papers. When more than one
article uses the same statistical population/data set, methods, or research questions, those articles arecollectively considered salami articles.
(2) Notes
Dividing publications allows researchers to accumulate an excessive number of articles and thereby
overstate the actual research output. This causes career misrepresentation and may lead to researchers
unduly receiving more grants than they should from within and outside the university. Furthermore,
readers who are only able to access one of the salami articles may misinterpret the research results.
Divided publication is an act that violates research ethics and is inappropriate behavior for researchers.
5. Inappropriate Authorship(1) Definition
Inappropriate authorship is the act of listing someone as a co-author on an article despite the person notdirectly contributing to the article. This has been a practice of some in positions of authority, such as
faculty supervisors. It is the act of a person in such a position of authority exercising their dominantstatus to inappropriately insert their own name in the list of authors. Inappropriate authorship also
includes the act of an author of an article listing the name of someone who did not contribute to thearticle with the expectation they will gain something from doing so.
(2) Notes
Types of authorship include "first author," "corresponding author," and "last author (senior author)."Because different research fields and academic journals often treat authorship differently, researchers
should confirm the practice in their research field and adhere to the submission guidelines of eachacademic journal. As a matter of university policy, when a faculty supervisor and student have jointly
written an article, they must agree who will be the first author prior to publication based on theirrespective actual contributions to the article. Moreover, the faculty supervisor should obtain the writtenconsent of the co-authoring student before submitting the article to an academic journal. When the article
is based on a student thesis or consists of components of a student thesis, the first authorship in principle
goes to the student.
(3) Criteria for Judgment
As indicated above, different research fields handle authorship differently. For example, in the naturalsciences, collaborative research is a widespread practice. In the humanities and social sciences, single
authorship remains the standard in some fields, while in other fields collaborative research is becoming
the norm. Nevertheless, in general, university policy requires that those who receive authorship must
fulfill all of the following three conditions.

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① Contributing substantially to the conception or design of the research or to the acquisition,analysis, or interpretation of data for the research② Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content③ Giving final approval of the version to be publishedThose who only contributed through acquisition of funding, supervision of research activities, relatively
minor experimental assistance, or administrative support do not qualify for authorship. Similarly, those
who do not meet any one of the conditions above do not qualify for authorship. However, those who
contributed to the research in some form should be properly mentioned in the acknowledgement.

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