Publication Ethics
ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
IJCSM is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal. This statement clarifies the ethical conduct expected of all participants in the process of manuscript publication in this journal, including the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, authors, peer reviewers, and the publisher (College of Education, Al-Iraqia University, Iraq). The current COPE Core Practices serve as the basis for this statement.
Ethical Guideline for Journal Publication
The creation of a comprehensive and reputable network of knowledge depends on the publishing of an article in peer-reviewed journals, such as IJCSM. It is a clear indication of the caliber of the authors’ work and the organizations that support them. The scientific method is supported and embodied in the peer-reviewed literature; therefore, a set of criteria of acceptable ethical conduct for all parties engaged in publication, including the journal editor, author, publisher, and peer reviewer, must be established.
- Editor and Publisher Duties
The Editors and publisher of the IJCSM, College of Education, Al-Iraqia University, Iraq, recognizes its ethical and other responsibilities and takes its guardianship over all publishing stages very seriously. We are dedicated to making sure that editorial judgments are neither impacted nor influenced by advertising, reprint, or other commercial revenue. Additionally, if helpful and required, then the Editorial Board and College of Education at Al-Iraqia University in Iraq will participate in communications with other journals and/or publishers.
Decision Regarding Publishing: The selection of the articles to be published in IJCSM shall be the duty of the journal editor(s). Such decisions must always be guided by the validity of the submitted work and its significance to scholars and readers. The editorial board’s policies and the laws that will then be in effect regarding libel, plagiarism, and copyright infringement may serve as the editors’ guides and limitations during this decision. Editors, when making this decision, may consult with other editors or reviewers.
“Fair Play” Principle: The evaluation of the submitted article by the editor at any moment shall be done solely based on the intellectual relevance of the article without recourse to the writers’ race, gender, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, or political philosophies.
Confidentiality: The editorial advisers, the publisher, the authors (corresponding author), and the peer reviewers, where appropriate, are the only parties to whom the editor and any editorial staff may discuss a manuscript that has been submitted.
Conflicts of Interest: Editors must obtain the author’s express written authorization before using any unpublished materials provided in a paper submission for their study.
- Reviewers’ Duties
Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer review helps the editor make decisions about content, and through editorial interactions with authors, it may also help the authors of papers to improve their work.
Promptness: Referees that have been selected to examine an article may opt out if they feel that they are not qualified to examine the research provided in a manuscript or realizes that it will be impossible to complete the review promptly; such decisions will be communicated to the editor to facilitate a withdrawal process.
Maintaining confidentiality: Requires that all submissions received for evaluation be handled with care. Such submissions cannot be displayed to or discussed with other people without the editor’s permission.
Objectivity standards: Reviews must be conducted with objectivity; it is improper to criticize the author personally, hence, referees must clearly state their positions and provide evidence to back them up.
Source Citations: Reviewers should draw attention to relevant publications that the writers failed to cite. Any assertion that a certain observation, conclusion, or explanation has already been documented should be backed up with the relevant citation. Reviewers should alert editors to any substantial similarities or overlaps between the submitted article and any other published works they are personally familiar with.
Conflicts of Interest Disclosure: Confidential information or ideas gained through peer review must be kept that way and must not be utilized for one’s gain. Reviewers shall not take into account submissions when they have relationships or links with any of the authors, organizations, or businesses associated with the papers that are competitive, cooperative, or involve other relationships or connections.
- Authors’ Duties
Authorship of the Paper: Authorship status should be granted to only those who made a major contribution to the realization of the submitted article in terms of its conception, design, execution, or reporting. Everyone who made a major contribution should be listed as a co-author, and when appropriate, other individuals who made important contributions to the research project should be acknowledged or listed as collaborators. The lead author is in charge of ensuring that the article has all relevant contributors/co-authors and that the approval of all the contributors in terms of publishing the final version of the article must be secured.
Reporting standards: Authors of original research reports ought to give a truthful summary of the work done and an unbiased analysis of its relevance. The paper should appropriately depict the underlying data. A paper should have enough information and citations to let someone else duplicate the work. False or deliberately inaccurate statements are inappropriate and represent unethical behavior.
Data Access and Retention: Editors may request the authors to submit the raw data related to a paper for editorial review. If possible, they should be ready to make the data accessible to the public and, in any case, should be ready to keep the data for a given period post-publication (following the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases).
Originality and Plagiarism: It is recommended that the authors of submitted manuscripts ensure that their works are fully original and that if they do utilize someone else’s words or work, they have properly cited or quoted them.
Concurrent/redundant publication: In general, authors should not submit articles that effectively describe the same research to multiple journals or principal publications. It is unacceptable to simultaneously submit the same paper to multiple journals as it is considered unethical publishing behavior.
Source Citations: The labor of others must always be properly acknowledged. Citations for works that had a significant impact on understanding the nature of the reported work are required.
Conflicts of Interest Disclosure: Any financial or other significant conflicts of interest that could be taken to have an impact on the findings or interpretation of an article must be disclosed by all authors in the publication. Disclosure of all funding sources for the project is also required.
Errors in published works: Authors shall be responsible for swiftly informing the journal editor or publisher when they find a serious error or inaccuracy in their published work; they should also work with the related editor to have the manuscript retracted or corrected.
