Widyakara Journal is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta through the Department of Administration Education, Faculty of Economics and Business, in partnership with the Asosiasi Sarjana dan Praktisi Administrasi Perkantoran Indonesia (ASPAPI). The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher all follow the standards below.

This statement is read together with the journal's detailed policies: Author Guidelines, Peer Review Process, Generative AI Policy, Plagiarism Policy, Authorship Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, Research Misconduct, Correction and Retraction, and Post-Publication Discussions.

Our commitments. Integrity · Fairness and non-discrimination · Confidentiality · Transparency · Accountability · Respect for research participants, organisations, and communities.

1. Duties of Authors

1.1 Originality and plagiarism

• Authors submit original work and cite or quote the work and words of others properly.
• Plagiarism in any form is not accepted, including verbatim copying, uncited paraphrasing, translation plagiarism, and substantial reuse of the authors' own published text.
• Every manuscript is checked with Turnitin. Similarity must not exceed 20% overall and 1% from any single source, excluding the reference list (Plagiarism Policy).

1.2 Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication

• A manuscript must not have been published before and must not be under consideration by another journal.
• Earlier conference presentations, preprints, theses, or reports based on the same study are disclosed at submission.

1.3 Authorship

• Authorship is limited to people who made a substantial contribution, drafted or critically revised the manuscript, approved the final version, and accept accountability for the work.
• Each author's contribution is stated using the CRediT roles.
• Gift, guest, and ghost authorship are not permitted (Authorship Policy).

1.4 Data, accuracy, and reporting

• Authors report their work accurately. Data must not be fabricated, falsified, or selectively omitted.
• Authors follow reporting standards appropriate to the design, for example PRISMA 2020 for systematic reviews.
• Authors keep their raw data, such as questionnaires, interview transcripts, and datasets, and provide them when the editor asks (Data Availability Policy).

1.5 Research with human participants

• Research involving people, such as surveys of employees or students, interviews, observations in offices, schools, or events, must follow accepted ethical principles.
• Informed consent is obtained from participants, and from parents or guardians for minors.
• The article states the number and year of the ethics approval, or that the study complied with research ethics and that informed consent was obtained.
• The identities of participants, and of organisations that asked not to be named, are protected.

1.6 Conflicts of interest and funding

• All authors disclose any financial or non-financial interest that could be seen to influence the work (Conflict of Interest Policy).
• All sources of funding, with grant numbers, are declared, or the authors state that the research received no external funding.

1.7 Use of generative AI

AI tools cannot be authors. Any use of generative AI is disclosed, and AI must not be used to generate data, results, or references (Generative AI Policy).

1.8 Errors in published work

Authors who find a significant error in their published article notify the editor promptly and cooperate in correcting or retracting it (Correction and Retraction).

2. Duties of Editors

2.1 Publication decisions

The Editor-in-Chief decides which manuscripts are published, based on originality, rigour, significance, fit with the journal's scope, and the reviewers' advice. Decisions are made within the timelines set out in the Peer Review Process.

2.2 Fairness and non-discrimination

Manuscripts are evaluated only on their scholarly merit. The authors' gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political views, institution, or seniority are not taken into account.

2.3 Confidentiality

Editors share information about a manuscript only with the authors, reviewers, and editorial advisers as needed, and protect the anonymity of authors and reviewers. Unpublished material is not used in an editor's own research without written consent and is never uploaded to generative AI tools.

2.4 Conflicts of interest

• Editors withdraw from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.
• Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, or reviewers of the journal are handled by another editor with no conflict, and the editor-author has no access to the review records. This is documented in OJS.

2.5 Handling of ethical concerns

Editors act promptly on ethical concerns about submitted or published work, following the COPE flowcharts and the Research Misconduct policy.

3. Duties of Reviewers

• Contribution: reviewers help editors decide and help authors improve their work.
• Promptness: reviewers who are not qualified, or who cannot finish within 21 days, decline promptly.
• Confidentiality: manuscripts are confidential. They are not shared, discussed, or uploaded to generative AI tools.
• Objectivity: reviews are specific, evidence-based, and courteous. Reviewers do not ask authors to cite the reviewer's own work without a genuine scholarly reason.
• Sources and misconduct: reviewers point out relevant uncited work and tell the editor about substantial similarity or suspected misconduct.
• Conflicts of interest: reviewers decline manuscripts in which they have a conflict and do not try to identify the authors.

4. Duties of the Publisher

• Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta and its partner ASPAPI support the editorial independence of the journal and do not interfere in editorial decisions.
• The publisher provides the resources for similarity checking, DOI registration, long-term preservation, and the integrity of the published record.
• The publisher works with the editors on ethical concerns, corrections, and retractions, following COPE guidance.

5. Policies on Specific Issues

COPE core practice	How Widyakara applies it
Allegations of misconduct	Handled confidentially and fairly (Research Misconduct).
Authorship and contributorship	CRediT roles; disputes referred to the authors' institutions (Authorship Policy).
Complaints and appeals	Appeals go to the Editor-in-Chief within 30 days and are decided by an editor not involved in the original decision (Peer Review Process).
Conflicts of interest	Disclosed by authors, reviewers, and editors (Conflict of Interest Policy).
Data and reproducibility	A Data Availability Statement in every article (Data Availability Policy).
Ethical oversight	Ethics approval or an ethics compliance statement, and informed consent, for research with people.
Intellectual property	Authors keep copyright; articles are published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Open Access Policy).
Journal management	Governance and financing are described in Ownership and Management.
Peer review processes	Double-blind review by at least two reviewers per manuscript (Peer Review Process).
Post-publication discussions and corrections	Post-Publication Discussions and Correction and Retraction.

6. Reporting Ethical Concerns

Concerns about a manuscript or a published article can be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at journal_widyakara@uny.ac.id. Please give the article title or submission ID, a description of the concern, and any supporting evidence. Concerns are handled confidentially, and the person raising them is protected from retaliation.

Sources: COPE (2017) Core practices; COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, & WAME (2022) Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing (Version 4); COPE Council (2017) Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers (Version 2); ICMJE (2024) Recommendations.