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Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
This journal is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The publication process is conducted in accordance with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, fairness, accountability, and respect for all parties involved in the publication process. This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement applies to authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher.
The journal follows internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, including the guidelines and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
A. Publication and Authorship
1. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are subject to an editorial screening and peer-review process by qualified reviewers with relevant expertise in the subject area of the manuscript.
2. The journal applies a peer-review process in which the identities of the reviewers and authors are handled in accordance with the journal's established review policy.
3. Manuscripts are evaluated based on their relevance to the journal's scope, originality, methodological rigor, validity of findings, significance of the contribution, clarity of presentation, and academic quality.
4. Editorial decisions may include acceptance, acceptance with minor revisions, major revisions, or rejection.
5. A request for revision does not guarantee acceptance of the revised manuscript. Revised manuscripts may be subject to further review and editorial evaluation.
6. Manuscripts that have been rejected may not be resubmitted as the same manuscript unless the Editor provides an explicit invitation to do so.
7. Publication decisions are made independently and are based on academic and ethical considerations, without discrimination based on the authors' gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, institutional affiliation, political views, or other personal characteristics.
8. Manuscripts must comply with applicable legal and ethical requirements, including those relating to copyright, plagiarism, research ethics, and intellectual property.
9. Authors must not submit substantially similar manuscripts to more than one journal simultaneously.
10. The journal reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate action if ethical violations or publication misconduct are identified before or after publication.
B. Authors' Responsibilities
1. Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript represents their original work and that all sources used in the research and manuscript preparation are appropriately acknowledged and cited.
2. Authors must ensure that the manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication by another journal.
3. Authors must provide accurate, complete, and reliable information concerning the research, including data, methodology, analysis, and findings.
4. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all data and results reported in the manuscript are genuine and have not been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated improperly.
5. All individuals listed as authors must have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the research and must approve the final version of the manuscript.
6. Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.
7. Authors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, or institutional relationships that could constitute or be perceived as a conflict of interest.
8. Authors must disclose all sources of funding or financial support related to the research, where applicable.
9. Authors must obtain appropriate ethical approval, informed consent, or other required permissions when their research involves human participants, animals, personal data, or other ethically sensitive materials.
10. Authors must participate responsibly in the peer-review and revision process and respond to reviewers' and editors' comments accurately and professionally.
11. Authors must promptly notify the Editor if they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article and cooperate with the journal in issuing a correction, clarification, or retraction when necessary.
12. Authors must not engage in plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, redundant publication, inappropriate citation practices, or any other form of research or publication misconduct.
C. Reviewers' Responsibilities
1. Reviewers must treat all manuscripts received for review as confidential documents and must not disclose or use information contained in a manuscript for personal or professional advantage.
2. Reviewers must conduct their evaluations objectively, fairly, and constructively and must avoid personal criticism of the authors.
3. Reviewers should provide clear, specific, and academically supported comments that can assist the authors in improving the manuscript.
4. Reviewers should assess manuscripts based on their academic quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, clarity, and contribution to the field.
5. Reviewers should identify relevant published works that have not been appropriately cited by the authors.
6. Reviewers should notify the Editor of any substantial similarity, overlap, plagiarism, or other potential ethical concerns identified during the review process.
7. Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of their review.
8. Reviewers should decline an invitation to review a manuscript if they have a personal, professional, financial, collaborative, or competitive relationship with any of the authors or institutions associated with the manuscript that could compromise their impartiality.
9. Reviewers should complete their reviews within the agreed timeframe or inform the Editor promptly if they are unable to do so.
10. Reviewers must not contact authors directly regarding a manuscript under review unless such communication is authorized by the Editor.
D. Editors' Responsibilities
1. Editors are responsible for making fair, transparent, and academically sound decisions regarding the publication of submitted manuscripts.
2. Editorial decisions should be based primarily on the manuscript's originality, significance, methodological quality, clarity, relevance to the journal's scope, and the results of the peer-review process.
3. Editors must evaluate manuscripts without discrimination based on the authors' personal characteristics, institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, religion, political views, or other irrelevant considerations.
4. Editors must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone other than individuals directly involved in the editorial and review process.
5. Editors must ensure that appropriate reviewers with relevant expertise are selected for the peer-review process.
6. Editors must manage actual or potential conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, editorial board members, or other parties involved in the publication process.
7. Editors must not use unpublished information contained in submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal advantage without the authors' explicit permission.
8. Editors must take reasonable and appropriate action when they receive credible allegations or indications of research or publication misconduct, whether the manuscript is under review or has already been published.
9. Editors should follow appropriate procedures when investigating suspected plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, or other forms of publication misconduct.
10. Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the academic record and should publish corrections, retractions, or other appropriate notices when significant errors or ethical concerns are confirmed.
11. Editors should not reverse editorial decisions without a valid and documented reason. Any decision to reconsider a previous decision should be based on substantial new information, procedural error, or other legitimate grounds.
12. Editors should ensure that published articles comply with applicable ethical, legal, and academic standards.
13. Editors should ensure that funding information, ethical approval, conflict-of-interest disclosures, and other relevant declarations are appropriately reported when applicable.
14. Editors must preserve the confidentiality of reviewers' identities when the journal's review policy requires reviewer anonymity.
15. Editors must not allow conflicts of interest to influence editorial decisions and should arrange for another qualified editor to handle a manuscript when necessary.
E. Research and Publication Misconduct
The journal does not tolerate research or publication misconduct. Misconduct may include, but is not limited to:
1. plagiarism or unauthorized use of another person's ideas, words, data, or work;
2. fabrication of data, results, or research information;
3. falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data, research procedures, images, or results;
4. duplicate or redundant publication;
5. simultaneous submission of substantially similar manuscripts to multiple journals;
6. inappropriate authorship, including gift authorship, guest authorship, ghost authorship, or exclusion of individuals who have made substantial contributions;
7. citation manipulation or excessive self-citation intended primarily to influence citation metrics;
8. manipulation or interference with the peer-review process;
9. failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest or sources of research funding;
10. failure to obtain required ethical approval, consent, or research permissions; and
11. any other conduct that violates generally accepted standards of research and publication integrity.
When credible concerns regarding misconduct arise, the Editor may request explanations, supporting documents, raw data, ethical approval documents, or other relevant evidence from the authors. Where necessary, the journal may consult the authors' affiliated institutions or other appropriate authorities and may follow relevant COPE procedures.
F. Conflict of Interest
Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest that could influence the research, review, or editorial decision-making process.
A conflict of interest may arise from financial, professional, personal, institutional, collaborative, or competitive relationships.
The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication or participation in the review process. However, relevant conflicts must be disclosed and appropriately managed to ensure transparency and impartiality.
Editors should assign another qualified editor or reviewer when a conflict of interest could compromise the fairness or independence of the editorial process.
G. Complaints and Appeals
The journal is committed to handling complaints and appeals fairly, transparently, and promptly.
Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that the decision resulted from a significant procedural error, misunderstanding of the manuscript, or other substantial grounds. Appeals must provide a clear explanation and relevant evidence supporting the request for reconsideration.
An appeal does not guarantee that the editorial decision will be changed. The Editor may seek additional assessment from another qualified editor or reviewer when appropriate.
Complaints concerning editorial processes, publication ethics, reviewer conduct, authorship, or other aspects of publication should be submitted to the Editor. Complaints will be handled confidentially and investigated objectively.
H. Corrections, Retractions, and Withdrawal
The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the published academic record.
1. Corrections may be issued when an article contains an error that does not invalidate the main findings or conclusions.
2. Retraction may be considered when there is clear evidence that the published article contains serious errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, or other forms of significant publication misconduct.
3. Retraction decisions will be made based on the available evidence and appropriate ethical considerations.
4. A retraction notice should clearly explain the reason for the retraction and remain linked to the original article to preserve the integrity of the academic record.
5. Withdrawal of a manuscript before publication may be permitted when justified by valid academic, ethical, or legal reasons and in accordance with the journal's withdrawal policy.
I. Ethical Oversight
The journal requires authors to comply with relevant ethical standards for research involving human participants, animals, personal data, or other ethically sensitive research materials.
Where applicable, authors must provide information regarding ethical approval, informed consent, research permits, or other relevant ethical requirements.
The Editor may request supporting documentation when necessary to verify compliance with ethical standards.
J. Publisher's Responsibilities
The publisher supports the journal's editors and editorial team in maintaining academic integrity and publication ethics.
The publisher should provide appropriate support for the investigation and resolution of ethical issues and should ensure that necessary corrections, retractions, or other editorial notices can be published when required.
The publisher does not interfere with editorial decisions concerning the academic evaluation and publication of manuscripts, except where intervention is necessary to address legal, ethical, or serious procedural matters.
K. Post-Publication Matters
The journal welcomes communication regarding published articles, including legitimate concerns about errors, methodology, data integrity, authorship, or ethical issues.
Authors, readers, reviewers, and other members of the academic community may notify the Editor of significant concerns regarding a published article. The journal will assess such concerns objectively and, when appropriate, publish a correction, clarification, expression of concern, or retraction in accordance with the circumstances and applicable publication-ethics principles.
The journal is committed to preserving the transparency, reliability, and integrity of the scholarly record.
L. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-Assisted Technologies
The journal recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies may be used as tools to support academic writing and research. However, their use must be transparent, responsible, and consistent with the principles of research integrity and publication ethics.
1. Authors may use AI-assisted technologies for limited purposes such as language improvement, grammar and spelling correction, translation, formatting, or other forms of editorial assistance. The use of such tools does not transfer responsibility for the manuscript to the AI system.
2. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, and scholarly validity of their manuscripts, including any content produced or modified with the assistance of AI.
3. AI tools and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of a manuscript. Authorship requires human responsibility and accountability for the published work.
4. Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies when such tools have been used substantively in the preparation, generation, analysis, or modification of the manuscript. The disclosure should identify the tool used and explain its purpose and contribution.
5. Authors must carefully verify all AI-assisted content, including factual claims, citations, references, quotations, data, interpretations, and other information, because AI-generated content may contain inaccurate, incomplete, fabricated, or misleading information.
6. AI-assisted technologies must not be used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent research data, results, images, references, or other research materials.
7. Authors remain responsible for ensuring that the use of AI does not result in plagiarism, copyright infringement, unauthorized disclosure of personal or confidential information, or violation of the rights of others.
8. Authors should not upload confidential, unpublished manuscripts, personal data, research data, or other sensitive materials to publicly accessible AI systems when doing so may compromise confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, or research integrity.
9. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts under review and should not upload or submit unpublished manuscripts or any part thereof to generative AI systems or other external tools that may compromise the confidentiality of the peer-review process.
10. Editors and editorial board members must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and should exercise appropriate caution when using AI-assisted technologies in editorial activities.
11. AI-assisted technologies must not be used as a substitute for human judgment in making final editorial or peer-review decisions. Responsibility for editorial and peer-review decisions remains with the designated editor or reviewer.
12. The journal reserves the right to request clarification regarding the use of AI or AI-assisted technologies when necessary to assess compliance with publication ethics and research integrity.
13. Failure to appropriately disclose substantive use of AI, or the use of AI to generate or manipulate research content in a misleading manner, may be considered a form of publication or research misconduct and may be investigated in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policy.
