Reasearch Ethics & Article Declarations

The Journal of Advanced Food Technology, Cultivation, and Innovation (JAFTCI) is committed to maintaining high standards of research ethics, scientific integrity, transparent reporting, and responsible scholarly publication. All research submitted to the journal must comply with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and disciplinary requirements relevant to the study design, research materials, participants, and experimental procedures.

JAFTCI requires authors to provide accurate and transparent statements concerning research ethics, institutional approvals, informed consent, author contributions, research funding, conflicts of interest, artificial intelligence use, and the availability of supporting research data.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all required article declarations are complete, accurate, consistent with the reported research, and approved by the contributing authors. Ethical approvals, consent procedures, institutional authorizations, and supporting declarations must reflect actual circumstances and must not be fabricated, misrepresented, or retrospectively invented.

⚖️ 01. Research Ethics and Institutional Approval

Authors must conduct research in accordance with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, scientific standards, and relevant national or international regulations. The nature of ethical approval and research authorization depends on the research methodology, study population, research materials, and activities performed.

Research requiring approval from an institutional research ethics committee, ethics review board, or other authorized body must obtain the necessary approval before the relevant research activities begin.

Ethical Approval Requirements

  1. Identify the responsible institutional ethics committee or authorized review body where ethical approval is required.
  2. Provide the official ethical approval identification or reference number, where issued.
  3. State the approval date or year when relevant and permitted for disclosure.
  4. Confirm that research procedures were conducted within the scope of the approval obtained.
  5. Disclose relevant amendments, additional approvals, or authorization requirements when applicable.
  6. Provide supporting approval documentation to the editorial office when legitimately requested.
  7. Explain the grounds for ethical exemption or non-applicability when formal approval was not required, without claiming an exemption that was never granted.

Important Ethical Requirement: A statement of ethical compliance must not be used to replace an institutional ethics approval that was required for the research. Authors must not invent approval numbers, retrospectively claim authorization, or describe research as exempt without a valid basis.

👥 02. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants must respect individual autonomy, voluntary participation, privacy, confidentiality, and the protection of participants against unnecessary risks or harm.

These requirements may apply to food sensory evaluation, consumer preference studies, food acceptance experiments, nutritional or dietary research, questionnaires, interviews, usability testing, and other research activities involving identifiable or directly participating individuals.

📝 Informed Consent

Authors must obtain appropriate informed consent when required. Participants should receive understandable information about the research purpose, procedures, potential risks, expected involvement, voluntary participation, and applicable withdrawal arrangements.

🔐 Privacy and Confidentiality

Personal information and research records must be managed responsibly. Appropriate anonymization, restricted access, secure storage, and lawful processing arrangements must be applied where necessary.

🛡️ Vulnerable Participants

Research involving children, individuals with limited capacity to consent, or other vulnerable participants must apply appropriate additional safeguards, legally required permissions, and ethical review procedures.

📸 Consent for Publication

Separate permission may be necessary before publishing identifiable photographs, personal details, individual quotations, or other materials that could reveal a participant's identity. Consent to participate does not automatically constitute consent for publication.

Authors must describe applicable participant protection procedures in the Methods section and provide a clear ethics or informed consent statement when relevant. Where ethical approval or informed consent was legitimately waived, the basis for that waiver must be explained accurately.

🐟 03. Animal Research, Aquaculture, and Welfare

Research involving live animals, including fish and other aquatic organisms where applicable, must comply with relevant animal welfare requirements, institutional standards, research permits, and applicable legal or regulatory obligations.

JAFTCI expects authors to justify animal use scientifically, minimize unnecessary distress or harm, and adopt humane experimental procedures appropriate to the species, study design, and research objectives.

Animal Research and Aquaculture Requirements

  • Obtain institutional animal ethics approval where required.
  • Identify the animal species, experimental setting, and relevant research procedures.
  • Justify the number of animals and experimental groups when applicable.
  • Describe relevant housing, feeding, water quality, handling, and husbandry conditions.
  • Implement suitable safeguards to minimize unnecessary pain, distress, or suffering.
  • Describe humane endpoints, anesthesia, or euthanasia procedures when applicable.
  • Identify applicable collection, transport, biosecurity, or experimental research permits.
  • Report compliance with relevant institutional, national, and disciplinary standards.

For research not requiring formal animal ethics approval under applicable rules, authors should describe the relevant legal or institutional basis and confirm that appropriate welfare and research safeguards were maintained. Such statements must accurately reflect the nature of the study.

🧪 04. Laboratory Safety, Biotechnology, and Environmental Responsibility

Research involving laboratory experiments, biological materials, microorganisms, genetic technologies, agricultural inputs, chemical substances, or experimental cultivation systems must comply with relevant safety, biosafety, environmental, and institutional requirements.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that experiments are conducted by appropriately qualified personnel under suitable technical and institutional supervision, with necessary authorizations obtained before the relevant activities take place.

🔬 Laboratory and Food Safety

Research involving food products, food samples, pathogens, chemical substances, or laboratory equipment must follow appropriate laboratory safety, contamination prevention, waste management, and risk control procedures.

🧬 Biotechnology and Biological Materials

Research involving genetic modification, microbial cultures, biological agents, or regulated biological resources must observe applicable biosafety, institutional authorization, and scientific reporting requirements.

🌱 Agricultural and Cultivation Research

Field experiments, crop cultivation trials, agricultural interventions, and related research must respect applicable land-use permissions, biological resource regulations, experimental safety requirements, and institutional responsibilities.

🌍 Environmental Responsibility

Research affecting soil, water, coastal ecosystems, biodiversity, natural habitats, or biological resources must observe applicable environmental safeguards and research authorization requirements.

Research involving protected species, restricted biological materials, genetic resources, or potentially hazardous procedures must identify relevant permits or regulatory authorizations when required. Publication of research findings does not exempt authors from compliance with applicable laws and institutional requirements.

📚 05. Secondary Data, Research Originality, and Scientific Integrity

Research relying on existing publications, public datasets, institutional documents, laboratory records, databases, or previously collected information must comply with the applicable conditions governing access, attribution, confidentiality, intellectual property, and lawful data reuse.

Authors must accurately describe the origin of their research data and distinguish independently generated findings from information obtained through external sources.

Research Integrity Requirements

  • Report research methods, experimental procedures, and analytical techniques accurately.
  • Present genuine research observations, measurements, and scientific findings.
  • Avoid fabrication, falsification, misleading image manipulation, and inappropriate data alteration.
  • Acknowledge data sources, published works, and other intellectual contributions appropriately.
  • Disclose relevant previous dissemination and avoid redundant scholarly publication.
  • Respect permissions governing the use of third-party datasets, photographs, tables, figures, and research materials.
  • Ensure that the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Studies that do not involve human participants, live animals, identifiable personal information, or other regulated activities should describe this accurately. Authors must not claim approval or a formal ethics exemption that was not obtained.

📑 06. Mandatory Article Declarations

Every manuscript submitted to JAFTCI must include four mandatory article declarations: Author Contributions, Funding, Conflicts of Interest, and Generative AI Use. Each statement must be completed truthfully, even when the appropriate declaration confirms the absence of specific funding, competing interests, or generative AI use.

👥 A. Author Contributions

Authors must identify the actual scholarly contributions of every listed author. Contributions may include conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, software, validation, visualization, supervision, and manuscript preparation.

JAFTCI encourages transparent contributor reporting using the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT), where appropriate.

Administrative assistance, general institutional support, or funding acquisition alone does not automatically establish authorship. All authors must approve the manuscript and accept responsibility for their contributions.

💰 B. Funding

Authors must disclose all direct research funding, grants, financial sponsorship, and other relevant support provided for the reported study.

Where applicable, the declaration must identify the funding organization, grant number, and relevant role of the funder in research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions.

When no specific financial support was received, this must be explicitly declared. Authors must not invent funding sources or acknowledge grants unrelated to the reported research.

⚖️ C. Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose relevant financial, personal, professional, institutional, commercial, or other interests that could reasonably influence, or be perceived as influencing, the conduct, analysis, interpretation, or publication of their research.

Such interests may include relevant employment, consultancy arrangements, sponsorship, financial holdings, patents, professional relationships, and institutional responsibilities.

Authors serving as JAFTCI editors or reviewers must disclose those roles. The journal must ensure independent editorial handling when a relevant conflict exists. The absence of conflicts must also be explicitly declared.

🤖 D. Generative AI Use Declaration

Authors must declare whether generative artificial intelligence tools were used during manuscript preparation or in substantive research activities.

Where AI was used, authors must identify the tool, model or version where available, purpose, extent of assistance, and relevant verification procedures. AI-assisted research methodology must also be described in the Methods section.

Generative AI systems cannot be designated as authors. Human contributors remain fully responsible for scientific accuracy, research integrity, references, and the final manuscript. Non-use must be declared accurately.

Mandatory Declaration Requirement

All four declarations must be completed for every article. Authors must not leave required declarations blank, provide misleading negative statements, or substitute generic declarations for the actual circumstances of their research.

🗂️ 07. Data Availability and Research Transparency

JAFTCI encourages transparent reporting of research data, analytical procedures, experimental documentation, and supporting materials necessary to evaluate the reliability and reproducibility of published scientific findings.

Authors of original research articles must provide an appropriate Data Availability Statement identifying how the supporting research data may be accessed or explaining justified restrictions.

Data Availability Requirements

  • Identify publicly accessible research repositories or data locations where applicable.
  • Provide persistent dataset identifiers or repository links when available.
  • Explain restrictions involving confidentiality, informed consent, intellectual property, institutional agreements, or legal obligations.
  • Clarify whether data are available upon reasonable request and whether the authors have authority to share them.
  • Distinguish original datasets from data obtained through external institutions or publicly available sources.
  • Ensure that the Data Availability Statement accurately reflects the actual accessibility and conditions of the underlying research materials.

Data Protection: A commitment to research transparency does not require authors to disclose confidential participant information, legally restricted datasets, protected biological resource information, or other materials that cannot be lawfully or ethically shared.

✍️ 08. Recommended Article Declaration Statements

The following examples provide standardized wording for preparing article declarations. Authors must select and adapt the statements according to their actual research circumstances. These examples must not be used to create false or unsupported declarations.

A. Ethics Approval Statement

When approval was obtained:

"This study was reviewed and approved by [name of ethics committee or authorized institution], under approval number [reference number], dated [approval date]. The research was conducted in accordance with the applicable ethical requirements."

When approval was not required:

"Formal ethics approval was not required for this study because [state the accurate study characteristics and applicable ethical or institutional basis]. The research complied with the relevant requirements governing the activities undertaken."

B. Informed Consent Statement

"Informed consent was obtained from the research participants before participation in the study. Participants were informed of the research objectives, procedures, voluntary participation arrangements, and applicable confidentiality safeguards."

When informed consent does not apply, the manuscript should state the reason accurately instead of using the above declaration.

C. Author Contributions

"[Author 1]: Conceptualization, methodology, and writing – original draft. [Author 2]: Investigation, data collection, and formal analysis. [Author 3]: Validation, supervision, and writing – review and editing. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript and accept responsibility for their respective contributions."

D. Funding Statement

When research funding was received:

"This research was supported by [funding organization] under grant number [grant identification]. The funder's role in the study was [describe involvement or state that the funder had no role in the relevant scientific and publication decisions]."

When no specific funding was received:

"This research received no specific financial support from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agency."

E. Conflicts of Interest Declaration

When no conflict exists:

"The authors declare that they have no relevant financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflicts of interest that could reasonably influence the research or its interpretation."

When a conflict exists:

"The authors disclose the following potential conflicts of interest: [describe the relevant relationship, interest, or affiliation]. These interests have been disclosed to the JAFTCI editorial office."

F. Generative AI Use Declaration

When generative AI was used:

"During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [AI tool, provider, and version where available] for [specific purpose and extent of use]. All AI-assisted outputs were independently reviewed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and scientific integrity of the manuscript."

When generative AI was not used:

"The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence tools were used in the preparation or substantive development of this manuscript."

G. Data Availability Statement

When data are publicly available:

"The datasets supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository or institutional source] at [persistent link or dataset identifier]."

When data are available upon request:

"The data supporting the findings of this study may be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable ethical, institutional, and legal requirements."

When access is restricted:

"The supporting research data are not publicly available because [state the specific confidentiality, consent, legal, or institutional restriction]. Access may be considered only where authorized by the responsible data holder."

Declaration Accuracy: The statements above are examples only. Authors must replace all placeholders and remove any wording that does not reflect the actual research. Declarations must not claim funding, ethical approval, consent, data access, or AI non-use without a factual basis.

📄 09. Placement of Article Declarations in the Manuscript

Authors should present the required declarations in a clearly identified section of the manuscript, preferably entitled ARTICLE DECLARATIONS, placed after the Acknowledgement section and before References.

Ethical approval, informed consent, animal welfare arrangements, and technical research safeguards must also be described in the Methods section where necessary for an accurate understanding and evaluation of the research design.

Recommended Manuscript Declaration Structure

ARTICLE DECLARATIONS

1. Ethics Approval and Informed Consent (where applicable)

2. Author Contributions

3. Funding

4. Conflicts of Interest

5. Generative AI Use Declaration

6. Data Availability (for original research and where applicable)

The corresponding author must ensure consistency between the declarations submitted through OJS, the manuscript's Methods and Acknowledgement sections, and the final published article.

🔍 10. Editorial Verification and Ethical Compliance

JAFTCI reserves the right to request supporting documentation or clarification when necessary to verify the ethical and scientific integrity of submitted manuscripts. Such requests must be proportionate, relevant to the manuscript, and handled in accordance with appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

Supporting Documentation May Include

  • Ethics committee approvals or institutional review documents.
  • Relevant research permits and regulatory authorizations.
  • Appropriate evidence of informed consent or consent procedures.
  • Animal welfare or experimental authorization records where required.
  • Funding agreements or grant information.
  • Author contribution and authorship clarification statements.
  • Relevant conflict-of-interest disclosures.
  • Research data or methodological information necessary for legitimate verification.
  • Information clarifying the use of AI-assisted technologies in research or manuscript preparation.

Incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent, or misleading declarations may result in requests for revision, further editorial assessment, suspension of manuscript processing, or other proportionate action under the journal's publication ethics procedures.

Authors must promptly notify the editorial office if significant errors, omissions, or previously undisclosed ethical matters are identified during manuscript evaluation or after publication. Post-publication concerns may require correction, an expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate action.

📚 11. Research Ethics and Declaration Guidelines

This policy reflects recognized principles of scholarly research integrity, transparent reporting, ethical oversight, responsible authorship, and accountability. The following resources provide additional guidance relevant to research ethics and article declarations.

1. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

🔗 COPE — Publication Ethics Guidance ↗

2. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

🔗 ICMJE — Recommendations for Scholarly Publishing ↗

3. CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy

🔗 CRediT — Contributor Role Taxonomy ↗

4. World Medical Association — Declaration of Helsinki

🔗 Declaration of Helsinki — Ethical Principles for Research Involving Human Participants ↗

📨 12. Official Research Ethics and Declarations Information

Authors seeking clarification about ethical approvals, institutional research authorization, article declarations, data availability, or related research integrity requirements should communicate with the JAFTCI editorial office through the official journal website.

Journal of Advanced Food Technology, Cultivation, and Innovation

Research Ethics Approval: Required Where Applicable

Human Participant Consent: Required Where Applicable

Animal Welfare Compliance: Required Where Applicable

Author Contributions: Mandatory

Funding Declaration: Mandatory

Conflicts of Interest Declaration: Mandatory

Generative AI Use Declaration: Mandatory

Data Availability Statement: Required for Original Research

Ethics Documentation: Subject to Editorial Verification

Author Publication Fees: IDR 0,- (Free of Charge)

Official Journal Website: https://journal.austrodemika.org/index.php/jaftci

Editorial Contact: Contact the JAFTCI Editorial Office ↗