The Korean Society on Water Environment (hereinafter, "the Society") is an academic organization that pursues academic development and technology advancement in water environment-related fields such as water preservation and water supply & sewage and promotes friendship between the members.
The Research Ethics Regulations (hereinafter, "Ethical Regulations") define the principles and standards for research ethics to be observed by the members of the Society (hereinafter, "the Members"). The Members can recognize each other's research values and share the results by abiding by the Ethical Regulations when conducting academic researches or presenting research papers, which is a perquisite for a genuine academic development in the water environment field.
Therefore, a periodic publication of an academic journal by selecting and placing papers containing valuable research outcomes in the water environment field through a fair and strict evaluation is one of the most important projects to accomplish the goals of the establishment of the Society.
In order to contribute to academic development in the water environment field through the publication of a high-class academic journal, it is necessary to establish the ethical regulations that shall be observed by the authors, the members of the Editorial Committee, and the reviewers.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors.

• (1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• (2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• (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 resolve

The authors shall not present any parts of other researchers' ideas, information and results of researches in which they were not involved as their own papers or books. With the indication of quotation of other researchers' study findings, they can be cited several times, but it constitutes an act of plagiarism to present others' research results as if they were the authors' own research findings or arguments.

• (1) The authors shall take responsibility to only those researches which they conducted by themselves or made a substantial contribution to, and only those researches shall be recognized as their research achievement.
• (2) The notation order of the authors of the paper shall accurately reflect the degrees of their different contributions to the paper. Any small contribution to a paper and book can be appreciated by the acknowledgements.

The authors shall not contribute their research findings which have already been published in other scientific journals as a new research.

When citing published articles, the authors shall make efforts to accurately describe them. Unless it belongs to common sense knowledge, the authors shall state the source of every citation.

The Authors shall make efforts to reflect in the paper as possible the opinions and recommendations of reviewers and the members of the Editorial Committee. If the authors do not agree on the opinions, they shall inform the Editorial Committee of the grounds and reasons in detail.

The members of the Editorial Committee shall be responsible for determining whether to publish the submitted papers. The Members of the Editorial Committee must respect the author's personality and independence as a scholar.

The members of the Editorial Committee shall equally evaluate the submitted papers based on the submission regulations regardless of the authors' gender, age, affiliation, and without any prejudices and irrespective of personal acquaintance.

The members of the Editorial Committee shall commission the evaluation of submitted papers to reviewers with expertise and fair judgment in their fields. It is advisable that the Members of the Editorial Committee avoid assigning the papers to reviewers who are too intimate or hostile to the authors to ensure an objective evaluation as much as possible.

The members of the Editorial Committee shall commission the evaluation of submitted papers to reviewers with expertise and fair judgment in their fields. It is advisable that the Members of the Editorial Committee avoid assigning the papers to reviewers who are too intimate or hostile to the authors to ensure an objective evaluation as much as possible.

The Reviewers faithfully evaluate the papers assigned by the Editorial Committee of the Journal within a period prescribed by the regulations and must notify the results of the evaluation to the editorial board. If they determine themselves not to be the right person to evaluate the papers, they shall inform the Editorial Committee without any delay.

The Reviewers shall evaluate the papers fairly based on objective criteria, regardless of their personal academic beliefs or personal friendship with the author(s). Reviewers shall not evaluate the paper without reading them carefully.

The reviewers shall reveal their judgments on the paper in the letter of review opinion and explain the reasons why parts need to be complemented in detail. The reviewer shall use polite and soft expressions whenever possible and refrain from using reproaching or insulting expressions.

The Reviewers shall keep the secrets of the papers to be examined. Unless you seek advice for the evaluation of the paper, it is not desirable show the paper to another person or to discuss it with others. Also, any contents of the paper shall not be cited without the authors' consent before it is published in the journal.

A new member of the Society shall sign the Agreement on Ethical Regulations. The existing members are regarded as having signed to agree to abide by the ethical regulations upon the effectuation of the Ethical Regulations.

If a member is observed to violate any ethical regulations by other members, the member will be reminded of the Ethical Regulations to rectify the case. However, if the violation remains to be unresolved, or if it turns out to be a major violation of the Ethical Regulations, the case can be reported to the Ethics Committee of the Society (hereinafter, "the Ethics Committee"). The Ethics Committee shall report the breach to the Society but shall not disclose the identity of the member to the outside.

The Ethics committee is composed of more than five members, who are appointed by the chairperson on the recommendation of the board of directors.

The Ethics committee shall conduct a broad investigation on the reported violation case through informers, examinees, witnesses, testifiers and evidence materials, and if it is found to be a breach of any ethical regulation, the committee may recommend appropriate sanctions to the chairperson.

If a member of the Society is reported to violate any ethical regulations, he or she shall cooperate with the Ethics committee for investigation. Failure to cooperate itself constitutes a violation of the Ethical Regulations.

If a member of the Society is reported to violate any ethical regulations, he or she shall be given enough opportunity to explain the case.

Until the final decision on disciplinary action is made, the members of the Ethics committee shall not reveal the identity of examinees' identities.

If a proposal for a disciplinary action is received by the Ethics committee, the chairperson will convene a board meeting to make a final decision whether to take a disciplinary action or to determine the scope. If a member is judged to violate the Ethical Regulations, the Ethics committees will take disciplinary measures including warnings, restriction on contribution, and suspension or cancellation of membership.

The revision of the Ethical Regulations shall be processed in accordance with the Society's regulation revision procedure