The following terms and conditions govern the submission and publication of all user-generated content in The Oniket Bulletin. By submitting material to the Bulletin, all authors and contributors — whether commissioned or otherwise — are deemed to have read, understood, and agreed to the provisions set out herein.
- Editorial Oversight and Scope: The core sections of The Oniket Bulletin publish only those materials approved by the Bulletin Editorial Board, drawn from submissions by commissioned authors and contributors. The Bulletin accepts no liability in respect of any material submitted by commissioned authors and contributors and assumes no responsibility for the content or accuracy thereof. All articles and correspondence published in The Oniket Bulletin are focused exclusively on Bangladesh.
- Views and Opinions: The views expressed in the core sections represent the personal and/or professional opinions of the commissioned experts and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Oniket Bulletin, The Oniket Research Group, or any affiliated organisation, unless explicitly stated to the contrary.
- Letters and Opinions Section: The Oniket Bulletin endeavours to publish a diversity of perspectives from the academic, industry-expert, civil society, and research communities in its letters and opinions section. Contributions to this section must be no fewer than 200 words and no more than 500 words in length.
- Eligibility to Submit: Commissioned authors and contributors to the core sections, as well as non-commissioned authors and contributors to the letters and opinions section, may submit material for publication subject to the terms and conditions set out herein.
- Editorial Discretion: The decision to publish any submitted material rests solely at the discretion of The Oniket Bulletin. The Bulletin reserves the right to make additions to, deletions from, or amendments to the text or accompanying graphics prior to publication, or to decline publication entirely.
- Licence to Publish: By submitting material to The Oniket Bulletin, the author or contributor grants the Bulletin a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to publish and communicate to the public the submitted material in any format, including, without limitation, print and electronic formats. The author or contributor further agrees that the Bulletin may permit third parties to publish and communicate to the public any such submitted material under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence (CCL).
- Originality and Ownership: The author or contributor warrants that any material submitted constitutes their own original work and that they hold the copyright and all other relevant intellectual property rights therein. Where the author or contributor wishes to include material in which copyright is held by a third party, they must inform the Bulletin, accordingly, identifying the rights holder, so that the Bulletin may seek the necessary permission to republish.
- Content Standards: The author or contributor warrants that any submitted material is not obscene, offensive, or otherwise unlawful, and that it does not contain content, language, philosophy, or assertions that are insensitive, partisan, or insufficiently adjusted for inclusivity and accessibility.
- Defamation: The author or contributor shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that any submitted material is not defamatory of any person. Where the author or contributor suspects that material may be, or may potentially be, defamatory, this must be disclosed to the Bulletin at the time of submission.
- Indemnity: The author or contributor acknowledges that any breach of these conditions may give rise to damage or loss to The Oniket Bulletin. The author or contributor agrees to indemnify the Bulletin fully and permanently against any third-party liabilities, claims, costs, losses, or damages incurred as a result of a breach of conditions (1) through (9) above. All dealings with the Bulletin must be conducted honestly and in good faith, and the author or contributor must, where requested, provide reasonable assistance in the settlement, defence, or investigation of any third-party claims arising from the publication of submitted material.
- Suspension of Access: The Oniket Bulletin reserves the right to revoke an author’s or contributor’s access to individual services in their entirety where the Bulletin reasonably determines that such services are being misused or abused.
- Community Standards: All interactions with The Oniket Bulletin’s site are further governed by the Community Standards of Oniket Research, which supplement and expand upon the provisions set out above and are incorporated by reference into these Terms and Conditions. Authors and contributors who choose to post content or comments to the site shall be deemed to have consented to these Community Standards.
General Principles for Authors and Contributors: Disclosure and Peer Review
The following principles apply to all authors and contributors and set out the standards of integrity, transparency, and scholarly rigour expected by The Oniket Bulletin.
- Professional Integrity: The Oniket Bulletin is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct. Authors and contributors bear a duty to ensure that their work upholds the good name of The Oniket Bulletin and of the wider academic and research community.
- Conflict of Interest Disclosure: All authors and contributors are required to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest. A conflict of interest is deemed to exist where an individual’s personal interests diverge from their professional responsibilities to such a degree that an independent and reasonable observer might conclude that the author has been unduly influenced by those interests.
- Funding and Support Transparency: All publications must include clear disclosure of the sources of financial and in-kind support for the research presented. Authors and contributors are further required to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest arising from such support.
- Peer Review: As a general principle, research submitted to The Oniket Bulletin should not be reported or communicated publicly prior to having undergone a recognised process of peer review.
Registration as a User, Reader, or Researcher
Registration with The Oniket Bulletin constitutes registration as a personal user of the publication. Access to registration-restricted areas of the site is facilitated through the user’s designated email address and password. By using the site, the registered user agrees to abide by the Terms and Conditions of The Oniket Bulletin in their entirety.
Access to the registration areas of the site is granted on the basis of the following conditions:
- Personal Credentials: The registered user’s email address and password are strictly personal and may not be shared with, or used by, any other individual to access The Oniket Bulletin.
- Non-Facilitation of Unauthorised Access: The registered user shall not engage in any conduct that would facilitate access to any registration-restricted area of The Oniket Bulletin by a person who is not a registered user.
- Prohibition on Account Misuse: The registered user must not create additional registration accounts for the purpose of abusing the site or its users, nor attempt to impersonate any other registered user.
- Compliance: The registered user must comply with the Terms and Conditions of The Oniket Bulletin in full.
Should The Oniket Bulletin have reasonable grounds to believe that a registered user has failed to comply with any of the foregoing requirements, the Bulletin reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel the user’s access to the registration areas of the site immediately and without prior notice.
Termination of Registration
Where The Oniket Bulletin determines that it is necessary to bring a user’s registration agreement to an end, it will notify the registered user accordingly by means of an email sent to the address provided at the time of registration. Such notification shall confirm that the agreement has been terminated. Upon the dispatch of that notification, the agreement shall be deemed to have terminated with immediate effect, and the registered user’s email address and password shall simultaneously become invalid for the purposes of accessing The Oniket Bulletin.
Complaints and Corrections
The Oniket Bulletin is committed to maintaining the highest editorial standards at all times. The Bulletin recognises, however, that errors may occur on occasion, and actively encourages users to bring any significant inaccuracies to its attention. Where it is necessary to correct or lodge a complaint regarding a published article, the procedures for doing so are set out below.
The Bulletin’s comment and discussion spaces are treated as a curated editorial environment. All users engaging with the site’s comment streams are expected to conduct themselves with respect and courtesy, in a manner consistent with the Bulletin’s commitment to fact-based public discourse. The following standards apply to all forms of comment and user interaction:
- Editorial Curation of Comments: The Oniket Bulletin treats its comment streams as a curated editorial product. The Bulletin reserves the right to publish or remove comments at its discretion in order to maintain the quality and integrity of its platform. Comments are open only on selected articles and are typically available for a period of 96 hours.
- Identity Verification: Users are required to comment under their real names. The Bulletin reserves the right to remove comments submitted under aliases or pseudonyms.
- Relevance: All comments must remain relevant to the article to which they are appended, and all replies must be relevant to the comment to which they respond. The Bulletin reserves the right to remove comments that are deemed off-topic.
- Prohibited Content: The Bulletin reserves the right to remove any comment that includes, without limitation: personal attacks; any form of discrimination; the identification or disclosure of the personal information of any individual, including minors; commercial content or the repeated posting of external links; defamatory statements; content that infringes copyright or exposes the Bulletin to legal liability; deliberate attempts to disseminate misinformation, distort facts, or misrepresent the views of others; threads of replies where the originating comment has been removed; and any other content removed at the editorial discretion of the Bulletin.
- Account Suspension: The Bulletin reserves the right to suspend or lock user accounts, in particular where a user repeatedly fails to comply with the above standards.
Routine moderation decisions are not subject to review. Where a user requires further clarification or wishes to raise a matter of concern, they are invited to contact the Community Manager at: managing-editor@oniket.org.
