Journal Statement/Publication Ethics/Malpractice Statement

Publication Ethics Statement
The journal's publication ethics statement used references from the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011) and position statements for editors and authors that were developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010 (Wager & Kleinert, 2011;  Kleinert & Wager, 2011).

Open Access Policy
Penerbit Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris publishes fully open access journals. All articles are freely available to read, share and download. In accordance to publication ethics and best practices of scholarly publishing, authors and journals must be properly credited.

Publication Charges
This journal do not charge Submission Charges or Article Processing Charges.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITOR
Decision on publication
The decision to publish articles submitted to the journal is under the purview of the editor. Evaluation of manuscript disregards author's gender, race, ethnic origin, citizenship or religious belief. Decisions are based on the journal's scope, relevance, originality and clarity.

Confidentiality
The editor, editorial board members and any editorial staff ensure confidentiality of information submitted, except to the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers and publisher.

Disclosure
Submitted papers that are rejected and unpublished are not to be used by the editor for any other purposes without explicit written permission from the author(s).

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Contribution
The editorial board members contribute towards making editorial decisions, and also to:

  • review submitted manuscripts.
  • advise on journal policy and scope.
  • identify topics for special issues, which they may guest edit.
  • attract new authors and submissions.
  • promote the journal to their colleagues and peers.
  • assist the editor in in decision making over issues such as plagiarism claims and submissions where reviewers can’t agree on a decision

Promptness
Reviewers are to return reviewed manuscripts on time. They notify the editor that they wish to withdraw from the review process if they feel unqualified or if they feel that they are unable to meet the review timeline.

Confidentiality
All manuscripts received for review are treated as confidential documents. The manuscripts must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Objectivity
Reviews are conducted objectively. There are no personal criticisms and reviewers’ express their views clearly with supporting statements.

Acknowledgement of sources
Identify instances when published work omitted appropriate citation and references. Any similarity or overlap which reviewers have personal knowledge between manuscript under review or consideration must be made known to the editor.

Disclosure
All information or ideas presented in the manuscript must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should reject the invitation to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest associated with the papers.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
The manuscript
The work is an original research report represented accurately in the paper. The paper includes objective discussion of its significance, and contains sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Knowingly providing inaccurate statements is deemed as unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Data access and retention
Authors could be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the paper for editorial review. Authors should ensure accessibility of such data for at least ten years after publication provided that the confidentiality of the participants (in the research) can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality and acknowledgement of sources
Authors will submit only original works, and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others.

Multiple or concurrent publication
Generally, papers describing the same research published should not be published elsewhere. In addition, submitting the same paper to more than one journal is deemed unethical publishing practice and is unacceptable.

Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be re-submitted to another journal.

The author(s) retains the rights to the published material.

Authorship
The corresponding author ensures that all those who have made significant contributions to the idea, design, implementation or interpretation of the research in the manuscript should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure
All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed (example, financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript).

Errors in published works
When an author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in form of an erratum.

REFERENCES
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011, March 7). Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Retrieved from http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf

Wager E., & Kleinert S. (2011). Responsible research publication: international standards for authors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22-24, 2010. Chapter 50 in: Mayer T. & Steneck N. (eds) Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment. Imperial College Press / World Scientific Publishing, Singapore (pp 309-16). (ISBN 978-981-4340-97-7).

Kleinert S., & Wager E. (2011). Responsible research publication: international standards for editors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22-24, 2010. Chapter 51 in: Mayer T & Steneck N (eds) Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment. Imperial College Press / World Scientific Publishing, Singapore (pp 317-28). (ISBN 978-981-4340-97-7).