Article 1 (Purpose) This Code provides the basic ethical principles and directions that must be followed the members of the Institute of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing in conducting research activities, thereby intending to maintain the high level of the Journal of Position, Navigation, and Timing and contribute to the development of research on global navigation satellite systems.

Article 2 (Authorship) Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Every author should meet all of these four conditions. After the initial submission of a manuscript, any changes whatsoever in authorship (adding author(s), deleting author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) must be explained by a letter to the editor from the authors concerned. This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. Copyright assignment must also be completed by every author.

Corresponding author and first author: JPNT does not allow multiple corresponding authors for one article. Only one author should correspond with the editorial office and readers for one article. JPNT does accept notice of equal contribution for the first author when the study was clearly performed by co-first authors.

Correction of authorship after publication: JPNT does not correct authorship after publication unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff. Authorship may be changed before publication but after submission when an authorship correction is requested by all of the authors involved with the manuscript.

Article 3 (Originality, plagiarism and duplicate publication) Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival. If plagiarism or duplicate publication is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected, the authors will be announced in the journal, and their institutions will be informed. There will also be penalties for the authors.

A letter of permission is required for any and all material that has been published previously. It is the responsibility of the author to request permission from the publisher for any material that is being reproduced. This requirement applies to text, figures, and tables.

Article 4 (Secondary publication) It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the conditions of secondary publication of the ICMJE Recommendations (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html).

Article 5 (Conflict of interest statement) The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

Article 6 (Statement of human and animal right) Research on humans should be done in accordance with the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013), available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. Studies on humans that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. Human subjects should not be identifiable, such that their names, initials, dates of birth, or other protected information should not be disclosed. For animal subjects, research should be performed based on the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the ethical treatment of all experimental animals should be maintained.

Article 7 (Statement of informed consent and institutional review board approval) Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

Article 8 (Process for managing research and publication misconduct) When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and so on, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board.

Article 9 (Process for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern) Cases that require editorial expressions of concern or retraction shall follow the COPE flowcharts available from: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts. If correction needs, it will follow the ICMJE Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available from: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html as follows:

Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: First, it shall publish a correction notice as soon as possible detailing changes from and citing the original publication on both an electronic and numbered print page that is included in an electronic or a print Table of Contents to ensure proper indexing; Second, it shall post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made; Third, it shall archive all prior versions of the article. This archive can be either directly accessible to readers; and Fourth, previous electronic versions shall prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article.

Article 10 (Editorial responsibilities) The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and excluding plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; avoiding any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promoting publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.

Article 11 (Code of Ethics for Authors) Authors of submitted papers must comply with the following code of ethics in writing and submitting the papers.

1. Authors must secure generality in the respect for human rights, compliance with bioethics and environmental protection in the research process and conduct research on topics of sufficient academic value.
2. Authors must describe the research contents and findings completely, concisely, and accurately in the submitted papers, and must not use the data of other researchers inappropriately (plagiarize) or distort the research findings.
3. Authors, when using open academic data that is closely related to the research contents of their papers, must include it in the references and clearly state the sources.
4. Authors, when citing undisclosed information obtained through personal contact, must use the information after obtaining the consent of the researcher who provided the information.
5. Submitting a paper to this Journal redundantly, even though it is already submitted to or published by another journal or is expected to be submitted, is an unjust behavior and thus not permitted.
6. All researchers that contributed significantly to the research process must be coauthors, and corresponding authors must be responsible for all parts of the papers.
7. For non-academic support such as administrative and financial support or simple academic advice, it is desirable to indicate the relevant details in the “Acknowledgements”.
8. Authors must obtain approval from the relevant parties regarding copyright before submitting the papers when necessary and confirm that no form of dispute may arise later.
9. If errors are found in submitted papers, it is the authors’ duty to revise or withdraw the papers.

Article 12 (Code of Ethics for Reviewers) Reviewers must comply with the following code of ethics in examining the submitted papers.

1. Reviewers must fairly and objectively examine the paper with a consistent standard without prejudice against the author’s gender, age, race, organization or personal connections.
2. Reviewers must avoid examination based on their personal academic beliefs or assumptions that are not perfectly verified.
3. Reviewers must respect the personality of authors as specialized intellectuals, and clarify in detail their judgments, revisions, and supplementations regarding the examined papers.

Article 13 (Code of Ethics for Editors) Editors (Editor-in-Chief, editors) must comply with the following code of ethics in examining and judging the submitted papers.

1. Editors must fairly and objectively judge the examined paper according to the fixed guidelines without prejudice against the author’s gender, age, race, organization or personal connections.
2. Editors must determine whether to publish or reexamine the submitted papers with a consistent standard based on the examination results of the reviewers.
3. Editors must not disclose or misuse information obtained in the process of examination.

Article 14 (Research Ethics Committee) The Research Ethics Committee may be temporarily operated for investigation of unethical behaviors, and investigative and disciplinary measures will be taken against unethical behaviors in the following procedures.

1. If unethical behaviors are exposed or there is an appeal in the examination process of submitted papers, the Editor-in-Chief determines the significance of the matter and organizes the Research Ethics Committee with a few editors and experts in the field when necessary.
2. The Research Ethics Committee performs a prompt, objective and fair investigation of the related matter, and must provide an opportunity for explanation via document within 30 days to the relevant party or organization, and ultimately submit a written report to the Editorial Board.
3. The Editorial Board determines the level of discipline for the relevant party based on the report written by the Research Ethics Committee and submits to the Board of Directors.
4. The Board of Directors reviews the report of the Research Ethics Committee and decisions by the Editorial Board and takes final measures. If it involves a paper that is already published, the publication of the relevant paper may be cancelled.

Article 15 (Others) Matters not included in this Code are decided based on related acts and subordinate statutes as well as social norms.