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I am writing a paper for a Elsevier journal in optimization field. I was curious to ask, Do the reviewers ask the authors to send their Matlab or,.. codes of paper to proof their validness or honesty?
And If yes under what conditions this decision is usually made?

Masan
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    Never in engineering CFD papers in my experience. – Bill Barth Mar 02 '15 at 17:25
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    well, my field is electrical engineering. I've published a IEEE transactions already and they didn't want me the code. Now I am writing a paper for Elsevier and I think it is better to exaggerate on results if reviewers don't ask for actual code. I know it is not good, but I am just asking. @BillBarth – Masan Mar 02 '15 at 17:36
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    ...."I think it is better to exaggerate on results". What? Are you going to lie on your paper? – Alexandros Mar 02 '15 at 17:57
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    @Jamaisavenir Exaggeration is never a good idea if you want to keep your good reputation. – jakebeal Mar 02 '15 at 17:58
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    I don't want to lie. I just want to exaggerate the performance of the method if they doth want me the code. The results are better than my pervious method with was published in IEEE journal. My prof says they need to be better if you want it to be published in Elsevier journal. So, I was thinking to exaggerate a bit on the run time and results of my new method. But this question is general. I want to know do they check my code and how often ? @Alexandros – Masan Mar 02 '15 at 18:03
  • please see my comment above @jakebeal – Masan Mar 02 '15 at 18:03
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    "I just want to exaggerate the performance of the method". This is still lying. Does your advisor know your intentions, or you lied to him as well, about the "improvements" of your "new" method? – Alexandros Mar 02 '15 at 18:09
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it asks about unethical behavior. – Alexandros Mar 02 '15 at 18:10
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    My advisor doesn't know yet. I didn't decide to exaggerate the result for sure yet. But please back to my question, do they want the code and when? Imagine I claim the run time is 1 min with a computer with configuration of W, So, I can say the run time is 30 sec with a better computer. It is not lie, it can be true. @Alexandros – Masan Mar 02 '15 at 18:22
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    it seems to me this student is confused and need help. He hasn't decide yet as he mentioned. I think we should back to his question directly. To answer ur question: I am not not sure, maybe they want. But it never happened to me with IEEE transaction,Elsevier and Taylor& fransicais. I think if the mathematical concepts of your method is proofed to be better than your previous approach, they believe you without your codes. @Jamaisavenir – SAH Mar 02 '15 at 18:27
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    @Alexandros The question in itself has nothing unethical. – Federico Poloni Mar 02 '15 at 18:34
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    @FedericoPoloni We have a student who will write a a paper about some "minor" improvements and wants to present it as a major breakthrough (good enough to publish in a good journal) and he has not even informed his advisor that he is going to cook up his results. It is bad enough that he is thinking of such unethical (to borderline stupid) behavior on the beginning of his research career, but he will also drag his advisor into this. Sorry, but giving an answer like "They will not ask you for the code, so you can say whatever you want" is not what this SE forum is all about. – Alexandros Mar 02 '15 at 18:40
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    I do not encourage this student to make up results. But we are not in charge for his decision. I gave him my experience and I hope he doesn't disparage his future career by a bad decision. again I am saying to the student that the reviewers usually (99%) study the math of ur paper and if they convinced your method is better they accept it. @Alexandros – SAH Mar 02 '15 at 18:48
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    @Alexandros If the answer is "no one checks", silencing those who ask the question won't solve the problem. You are promoting security through obscurity. We have to explain the student that if the performance seems too good people will try the method and check their results, with or without their code; that you can fool two referees sometimes, but you cannot fool a whole community; that they will get caught, and that faking results is a major stain in an academic career, even at the phd level. Answering "Sssh, don't tell anyone" is a horrible approach. – Federico Poloni Mar 02 '15 at 18:49

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