Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The ethical policy of IIJAS adheres to the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and aligns with the codes of conduct established by the IIJAS Editorial Board. Anyone who engages with IIJAS, including readers, authors, reviewers, and editors, is expected to comply with these ethical policies. Moreover, IIJAS is responsible for determining which research papers or articles meet the ethical and academic standards required for publication in the journal. For more information on our publishing and ethical guidelines, please visit http://publicationethics.org.

Editors' responsibilities:

Publication decisions

The responsibility of selecting papers for publication in the journal lies with the editor. In making this decision, the editor will evaluate each manuscript based solely on its importance, originality, clarity, validity, and relevance to the journal's scope. The editor will not discriminate against authors based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. Furthermore, the editor will ensure that all manuscripts meet the current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Confidentiality

To maintain the confidentiality of the review process, the editor and any editorial staff involved will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

The editor and members of the editorial board will not use any unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper for their own research purposes without obtaining explicit written consent from the author.

Reviewers' responsibilities:

Contribution to editorial decisions:

The review process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions, and it may also help the author improve their paper.

Promptness:

If a selected referee feels unqualified to review the manuscript or knows that prompt review is impossible, they should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality:

All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents and should not be disclosed or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of objectivity:

Reviews should be conducted objectively, and personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly and provide supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of sources:

Reviewers should identify cases where relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should also point out whether observations or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the respective source. Reviewers should notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge of.

Disclosure and conflict of interest:

Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer-review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers.

Authors' responsibilities:

Reporting standards

Regarding reporting standards, it is the responsibility of authors of original research reports to provide an accurate account of their work and an unbiased discussion of its significance. They should ensure that the underlying data is accurately represented in the paper and that there is enough detail and references to enable others to replicate the work. It is considered unethical and unacceptable to make fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements.

Data access and retention

Data access and retention are important responsibilities of authors. They may be asked to provide the raw data of their study along with the paper for editorial review, and they should be willing to make the data publicly accessible if possible. Authors should ensure the availability of the data to other professionals for at least ten years after publication, preferably through a data repository, while maintaining the confidentiality of the participants and protecting any legal rights related to proprietary data.

Originality, plagiarism, and acknowledgement of sources

Authors are expected to submit only original works and properly acknowledge and reference the work and words of others. Any publications that have played a significant role in shaping the research reported in the paper should also be cited.

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication

It is considered unethical to publish papers that describe essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to multiple journals is not acceptable. Manuscripts that have been published elsewhere as copyrighted material cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be resubmitted to copyrighted publications. However, by submitting a manuscript, authors retain the rights to the published material. In case of publication, they allow the use of their work under a CC-BY license, which permits others to copy, distribute, and adapt the work, as well as to make commercial use of it.

[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]

 Authorship of the paper

The criteria for authorship require individuals to have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research being reported. Co-authors should be listed for all those who have made substantial contributions. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have agreed to the final version of the manuscript and its submission for publication, and that no uninvolved individuals are included in the author list.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Authors are required to disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest that could potentially affect the interpretation of their manuscript. This includes sources of financial support for the research project. The disclosure statement should be included by all authors.

Fundamental errors in published works

If an author discovers a substantial error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is their responsibility to inform the journal editor or publisher promptly and work with them to retract or correct the paper.

 PUBLISHER responsibilities

Handling of Unethical Publishing Behavior:

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work.  The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

 Access to Journal Content

The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining our own digital archive.