Research Governance & Scholarly Integrity Framework

Research Ethics & Scholarly Publishing Policy

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1. Preamble, Scope & Ethical Mandate

The academic reputation and global standing of Azal University for Human Development are anchored directly in the credibility, methodological reproducibility, and moral integrity of its published research output. This policy applies uniformly to all faculty members, visiting researchers, postdoctoral fellows, undergraduate capstone candidates, and postgraduate students across the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering & IT, the Faculty of Administrative & Financial Sciences, the Faculty of Special Education, and the Deanship of Postgraduate Studies & Research. All investigators must adhere strictly to international benchmarks of scientific honesty, data protection, conflict-of-interest disclosure, and the humane treatment of human and animal subjects.

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2. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Oversight & Human Trials Ethics

Any research project conducted by AUHD personnel involving human participants, clinical trials, medical record reviews, or vulnerable populations must receive formal protocol approval and tracking clearance from the AUHD Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to initiating data collection:

• Informed Consent & Voluntary Participation: Researchers must guarantee absolute transparency, ensuring participants comprehensively understand the study scope, potential risks, expected benefits, and voluntary nature of participation, supported by signed or digitally verified documentation.
• Data Privacy, Encryption & Confidentiality: Personal health information, clinical records, and sensitive survey data must be securely encrypted, anonymized, and stored in compliance with institutional data governance frameworks.
• Clinical Trial Compliance & GCP Standards: Medical, pharmacological, and therapeutic trials conducted across university-affiliated clinical stations must adhere strictly to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines, regional health regulations, and ethical review protocols.

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3. Plagiarism Screening, Academic Misconduct & Appeals Protocols

AUHD enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, or unauthorized duplication of scholarly work:

• Mandatory Electronic Screening: All master's theses, doctoral dissertations, faculty promotion dossiers, and undergraduate graduation papers must undergo mandatory electronic plagiarism detection screening (utilizing approved software such as Turnitin) administered directly through the Deanship of Postgraduate Studies & Research.
• Similarity Thresholds & Editorial Review: Research manuscripts exceeding established institutional similarity indices are immediately returned for revision or referred to the Academic Council for formal disciplinary review. Authors retain the right to submit an appeal with documented clarifications within designated windows.
• Administrative Sanctions: Proven instances of research fraud, data fabrication, or severe plagiarism result in severe administrative penalties, including thesis rejection, academic probation, revocation of conferred degrees, and formal notification to national accrediting and ministerial bodies.

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4. Open-Access Archiving, Repository Standards & CrossRef DOI Registration

To maximize global research visibility, societal impact, and citation velocity, AUHD mandates standardized open-access archiving across all departments:

• Institutional Repository Deposit: All completed postgraduate theses and peer-reviewed faculty papers must be deposited into the university's centralized digital repository with standardized Dublin Core metadata and bilingual abstracts.
• Persistent Identifiers (CrossRef DOIs): Institutional journals, conference proceedings, and major research outputs partner with international registration agencies to assign unique CrossRef Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), ensuring permanent web discoverability and citation tracking.
• Scholar Profile Standardization: Faculty members and active researchers are required to maintain verified Google Scholar and ORCID profiles linked to official institutional email addresses (@auhd.edu.ye) to prevent citation fragmentation and support regional indices like the Nature Index.

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5. Authorship Attribution, Conflict of Interest & Institutional Affiliation

Authorship credit must be based strictly on substantial contributions to conception, design, data acquisition, or analysis; drafting or critically revising the work; final approval of the version to be published; and accountability for all aspects of the work, aligning with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines. Ghost, guest, or gift authorship is strictly prohibited. To ensure accurate webometric indexing and institutional credit in global rankings (such as EduRank and uniRank), all published works by AUHD personnel must list the primary institutional affiliation in standardized English format: "Azal University for Human Development (AUHD), Sana'a, Yemen". All potential conflicts of interest, financial disclosures, and funding sources must be explicitly declared upon manuscript submission.

Explore Related University Portals

Access our official postgraduate deanship, quality centers, and credential verification portals:

• Deanship of Postgraduate Studies & Research Portal
• Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation Center (QAAC)
• SAR Electronic Certificate Verification System