Zeal Institute of Management and Computer Application (ZIMCA) aims to be the main channel of data communication, sharing of ideas and information to the commerce, management and social researching community and also to the society at large. It is mandatory to follow a certain code of ethics and it is advised to adhere strictly to the following code of ethics which will enhance the quality of the published works. This currently written code of ethics is focusing to provide guidance on the proper behavior of editors, reviewers, and authors in the process of publication by ZIMCA.

Responsibilities of the Institute

• Institute has a responsibility to respect the autonomy of the researchers and ethical guidelines set by the Institute for research.
• Institute creates and maintains an environment with adequate support to enable the researcher to follow ethical guidelines (SOP- Research Facility)
• Institute has a responsibility to take appropriate and adequate steps for protection against pressures inimical to the observance of ethical guidelines for research.

Following are ethical codes followed by the Institute As a researcher –

• Integrity: Researchers are expected to maintain the highest standards of honesty and integrity at all times.
• Respect: Researchers must operate according to civilized norms and ethically acceptable standards and must have respect for themselves, their colleagues, the professional and academic community, human research subjects, the environment, and the society.
• Beneficence and no maleficence: Researchers have an obligation first towards no harm (no maleficence) and then to ensure that their research aims at some overall good, more in particular Society, Industry, and Body of knowledge.
• Responsibility: Researchers must be prepared to take responsibility and be held accountable for all aspects and consequences of their research activities. Researchers are accountable to society, their professions, the Institute and affiliating University, the staff and the students who are involved, and to the sponsor who funds the research.
• Scientific validity and Peer review: Researchers must follow the scientific validity and peer review process of the Institute for their research work.
• Justice: Researchers ensures the fair distribution of both the burdens and benefits of research and is of particular relevance when research involves human participants.

Academic freedom and dissemination of research results

• Plagiarism Policy
• Teaching & Research is a noble profession based on extremely high moral values. Ethics and honesty are the two most important components of the academic activities be it teaching or research. There cannot be any room for claiming the credit for the work he/she has not undertaken. Many times it is observed that some of the “academicians” knowingly or unknowingly publish or present other’s work as their own. Ideas too are borrowed without acknowledging the persons who have first conceived the idea. Such acts affect the healthy academic atmosphere in the institute which will also harm the reputation of the institute as well as the individual. For the purpose of creating awareness about plagiarism, the faculties, researchers of ZIMCA are being informed to take notice of.
• Definition of Plagiarism:
• Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others’ published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications to submission under “new” authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing, or publication: it applies to print and electronic versions.
• Detecting Plagiarism:
• The detection of plagiarism is a judgment to be made by a person who understands the subject and who is also aware of the definition of plagiarism. Such a person should also be aware of the tools available to detect plagiarism. Therefore, it is important for an academic institute like ours to have in place a policy on plagiarism to avoid such type of acts. The ZIMCA uses the Turnitin software for detecting plagiarism.
• All researchers are required to submit a signed copyright form that they are aware of the plagiarism policy of the Institute and no part of their research work is copied in any form and it is their own creation.
• The author has given due credit to the earlier authors whose work has been referred to. For establishing the originality of the submitted manuscripts, the online plagiarism software is used to know the originality of the manuscript/article/ research report, etc.
• In the case of plagiarism or un-originality is detected or suspected, action on account of misconduct will be taken against the plagiarizing authors. This may include approaching the third parties including their affiliating institutions and other research organizations for verification and authenticity, of the matter presented.
• The submitted plagiarized documents may also be shared with the original authors or third parties for high-lighting the misconduct by plagiarizing authors.
• In sever/repeated incidences the author/faculty member/student will be blacklisted or may ever be subject to explosion if deemed fit.