Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Indonesian Journal of Policing and Security Studies, published by COLLEGIUM JUSTICIA INDONESIA, is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial independence, and responsible scholarly communication.

The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher to uphold principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and respect for intellectual property throughout the publication process.

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement applies to all manuscripts submitted to and published by the journal, including articles published in regular issues and Special Issues.

1. General Principles

The journal is committed to:

  • Maintaining the integrity and reliability of the scholarly record;

  • Applying fair, objective, and consistent editorial and peer-review procedures;

  • Protecting the confidentiality of manuscripts and personal information;

  • Preventing plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and other forms of research misconduct;

  • Ensuring appropriate attribution of authorship and contributions;

  • Managing conflicts of interest transparently;

  • Correcting or retracting publications when necessary; and

  • Maintaining editorial independence from commercial, institutional, political, or other external interests.

Editorial decisions are based on academic and ethical considerations and are not influenced by the ability or willingness of authors to pay publication charges.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts meet the journal's standards of research and publication integrity.

Authors must:

  • Submit original work that has not been published elsewhere, except where appropriate disclosure and permission have been obtained;

  • Ensure that all significant sources and prior research are properly acknowledged and cited;

  • Report research findings accurately and honestly;

  • Avoid fabrication, falsification, manipulation, and selective misrepresentation of research;

  • Ensure that the manuscript falls within the journal's Focus and Scope;

  • Ensure that all listed authors have made substantial contributions to the work;

  • Obtain consent from all co-authors before submission;

  • Disclose relevant conflicts of interest;

  • Comply with applicable research-ethics requirements;

  • Obtain appropriate permissions for copyrighted or third-party material;

  • Cooperate with reasonable requests for clarification, supporting information, or research materials; and

  • Notify the journal promptly if a significant error is identified after publication.

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

3. Originality and Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts submitted to ITJR must be original.

Authors must not:

  • Submit substantially the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously;

  • Republish previously published work without appropriate justification and disclosure;

  • Present previously published material as new research;

  • Split a single study into multiple publications in a manner that improperly inflates the scholarly record; or

  • Reuse substantial portions of their own previously published work without appropriate acknowledgment.

Where substantial overlap with a previous publication exists, authors must disclose it to the editor and clearly identify the relevant publication.

4. Plagiarism

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism in any form.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • Copying text without appropriate attribution;

  • Presenting another person's ideas, arguments, data, findings, or intellectual work as one's own;

  • Unattributed translation of another work;

  • Excessive verbatim reuse without appropriate quotation and citation; and

  • Self-plagiarism or inappropriate reuse of an author's previously published material.

The journal may use plagiarism or similarity-detection software as part of its editorial screening process.

A similarity report is not automatically considered evidence of plagiarism. The editorial team will evaluate the nature, extent, location, and context of identified similarities.

Manuscripts found to involve serious plagiarism may be rejected, and published articles may be corrected or retracted where appropriate.

5. Research Misconduct

The journal considers the following serious forms of research misconduct:

  • Fabrication — making up data, evidence, participants, results, or other research information;

  • Falsification — manipulating research materials, data, processes, images, or results in a way that misrepresents the research;

  • Plagiarism — unauthorized use or representation of another person's intellectual work;

  • Manipulation of citations — inappropriate or systematic citation practices intended to artificially increase citations or influence scholarly metrics;

  • Peer-review manipulation — interference with or fraudulent manipulation of the peer-review process;

  • Authorship misconduct — including guest, honorary, gift, or ghost authorship;

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest that materially affect the integrity of the research or publication process; and

  • Other conduct that seriously compromises the reliability or integrity of scholarly research.

Allegations of misconduct will be assessed fairly and confidentially.

6. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript.

All listed authors should:

  • Make a meaningful contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research;

  • Participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript;

  • Approve the final version;

  • Agree to the submission; and

  • Accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who provide only administrative, technical, language-editing, funding, or general supervision should not automatically be listed as authors unless they satisfy the journal's authorship requirements.

The journal does not accept:

  • Guest or honorary authorship;

  • Gift authorship; or

  • Ghost authorship.

Any change to the author list after submission requires a clear justification and the agreement of all affected authors, subject to editorial approval.

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest that could influence the research or publication process.

Conflicts may include:

  • Financial interests;

  • Employment or institutional relationships;

  • Personal relationships;

  • Professional competition;

  • Recent collaboration;

  • Funding relationships; or

  • Other circumstances that could reasonably affect objectivity.

Editors may take appropriate measures to manage disclosed conflicts, including assigning alternative editors or reviewers.

8. Research Ethics and Human Participants

Authors conducting research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where required, authors should obtain approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review body before conducting the research.

Research involving human participants should appropriately address:

  • Informed consent;

  • Privacy;

  • Confidentiality;

  • Protection of personal data;

  • Risks to participants; and

  • Applicable legal and ethical requirements.

Where relevant, authors should provide appropriate information concerning ethical approval in the manuscript.

9. Protection of Personal and Sensitive Information

Authors must not disclose identifiable personal information about research participants without appropriate consent or lawful justification.

Research involving policing, law enforcement, crime, security, intelligence, or vulnerable populations may involve particularly sensitive information.

Authors are responsible for appropriately anonymizing or protecting personal and confidential information before submission.

The publication of information that could expose individuals to unnecessary risks should be avoided unless ethically and legally justified and appropriately authorized.

10. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are handled fairly, objectively, and confidentially.

Editors must:

  • Evaluate manuscripts based on scholarly merit and relevance;

  • Maintain editorial independence;

  • Protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;

  • Select appropriate and independent reviewers;

  • Manage conflicts of interest;

  • Prevent discrimination or inappropriate bias in editorial decisions;

  • Ensure that peer-review procedures are appropriately followed;

  • Investigate credible allegations of publication misconduct; and

  • Take appropriate corrective action when errors or misconduct are identified.

Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal advantage.

11. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently from the publisher's commercial, financial, institutional, or other interests.

COLLEGIUM JUSTICIA INDONESIA respects the editorial independence of the journal and does not determine the academic outcome of individual manuscripts.

Payment of the Article Processing Charge does not influence acceptance, rejection, reviewer selection, or editorial decisions.

12. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers contribute to maintaining the academic quality of the journal and must conduct reviews fairly, objectively, and confidentially.

Reviewers must:

  • Provide constructive and evidence-based assessments;

  • Identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited where necessary;

  • Disclose conflicts of interest;

  • Maintain confidentiality;

  • Avoid personal or discriminatory comments;

  • Not use unpublished information for personal benefit;

  • Not contact authors directly concerning the manuscript without authorization; and

  • Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or notify the editor if they cannot do so.

Reviewers should not recommend citations solely to increase their own citation counts or those of colleagues, journals, or institutions.

13. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

ITJR recognizes that generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may be used in academic research and manuscript preparation.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for appropriate purposes such as language improvement, translation, or other limited editorial assistance, provided that the use does not compromise academic integrity.

Material use of generative AI in manuscript preparation, analysis, or generation must be appropriately disclosed in accordance with the journal's Generative AI Policy.

Generative AI must not be used to fabricate or falsify research data, generate fictitious citations, manipulate research findings, conceal plagiarism, or otherwise mislead readers.

Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts or unpublished research materials into generative AI systems without appropriate authorization.

14. Citation Ethics

Authors must cite sources accurately and appropriately.

The journal does not permit citation practices intended primarily to manipulate citation metrics.

Authors should cite sources because they are substantively relevant to the research, not merely to increase citation counts.

Editors and reviewers must not require authors to add citations solely for the purpose of increasing the citations of the editor, reviewer, journal, institution, or other parties.

15. Peer-Review Integrity

ITJR uses a double-anonymous peer-review process.

The identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential to the extent reasonably possible.

The journal does not tolerate:

  • Fabricated reviewer identities;

  • Fake reviewer accounts;

  • Manipulated reviewer recommendations;

  • Unauthorized disclosure of reviewer identities;

  • Undue influence on reviewers;

  • Submission of fraudulent review reports; or

  • Other attempts to interfere with the peer-review process.

Suspected peer-review manipulation may result in rejection of the manuscript or other appropriate action.

16. Complaints and Allegations of Misconduct

Complaints concerning publication ethics or research misconduct may be submitted to the journal through its official communication channels.

Complaints may concern, among other matters:

  • Plagiarism;

  • Fabrication or falsification;

  • Duplicate publication;

  • Authorship disputes;

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest;

  • Peer-review manipulation;

  • Ethical violations involving research participants; or

  • Other forms of publication misconduct.

Complaints will be assessed fairly and, where appropriate, confidentially.

The journal may request supporting evidence or clarification from the authors, reviewers, editors, institutions, or other relevant parties.

17. Investigation Procedure

When a credible allegation of misconduct is received, the journal may conduct a preliminary assessment to determine whether further investigation is warranted.

Where appropriate, the journal may:

  1. Request an explanation from the relevant author(s);

  2. Request supporting documentation or research materials;

  3. Consult reviewers, editors, or subject experts;

  4. Contact the relevant institution or research organization;

  5. Seek additional evidence;

  6. Correct the published record; or

  7. Take other appropriate action.

The journal will seek to ensure that investigations are conducted fairly and without prejudging the outcome.

18. Corrections

If a published article contains an error that does not invalidate the overall findings or scholarly contribution, the journal may publish a correction.

Corrections will be clearly identified and linked to the original article.

The original publication will normally remain accessible to preserve the transparency and continuity of the scholarly record.

19. Retractions

The journal may retract a published article where there is clear evidence that:

  • The findings are unreliable due to major errors, fabrication, or falsification;

  • The article contains substantial plagiarism;

  • The article has been published elsewhere without appropriate justification;

  • There has been serious research or publication misconduct;

  • The peer-review process was materially compromised; or

  • Other circumstances substantially undermine the integrity of the published record.

A retraction notice will clearly identify the reason for retraction and will be linked to the original article.

The original article will normally remain accessible with a clear retraction notice to preserve the scholarly record.

20. Expressions of Concern

Where there are serious concerns about the reliability or integrity of a published article but an investigation has not yet reached a definitive conclusion, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern.

An Expression of Concern is intended to alert readers to a significant unresolved issue while the matter is being investigated.

The journal may subsequently publish a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice depending on the outcome of the investigation.

21. Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions where they believe that a significant factual, procedural, or ethical issue affected the decision.

Appeals should provide a clear and reasoned explanation and should address the specific basis of the original editorial decision.

Appeals will be considered by the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately designated editor.

An appeal does not guarantee reversal of the original decision.

22. Special Issues

Articles published as part of Special Issues are subject to the same publication-ethics standards as articles published in regular issues.

Guest Editors must comply with the journal's requirements concerning:

  • Conflict of interest;

  • Confidentiality;

  • Peer-review integrity;

  • Editorial independence;

  • Authorship;

  • Research integrity; and

  • Ethical publication practices.

The Editor-in-Chief retains overall responsibility for the editorial integrity of Special Issues.

23. Publisher Responsibilities

The publisher, COLLEGIUM JUSTICIA INDONESIA, supports the journal in maintaining ethical and responsible publishing practices.

The publisher is expected to:

  • Support editorial independence;

  • Provide appropriate resources for maintaining publication integrity;

  • Support investigations of credible publication-ethics concerns;

  • Maintain the accessibility and integrity of the published record; and

  • Cooperate with appropriate corrective actions where misconduct or serious errors are identified.

The publisher does not determine the scholarly outcome of individual manuscripts.

24. Transparency and Accountability

ITJR is committed to transparency in its editorial and publication practices.

The journal will make relevant policies publicly available, including its:

  • Focus and Scope;

  • Peer Review Policy;

  • Publication Ethics Policy;

  • Plagiarism Prevention Policy;

  • Generative AI Policy;

  • Copyright and Licensing Policy;

  • Open Access Policy;

  • Article Processing Charge Policy; and

  • Archiving and Deposit Policy.

These policies are intended to provide authors, reviewers, editors, and readers with clear information concerning the journal's publication practices.

25. Policy Review

ITJR periodically reviews this Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement to ensure continued alignment with developments in research integrity, scholarly publishing, digital technologies, and international publication-ethics practices.

Any substantive changes to this policy will be communicated transparently through the journal's official website.

26. Commitment to Research Integrity

Indonesian Journal of Policing and Security Studies is committed to maintaining a trustworthy scholarly record and fostering a publication environment based on integrity, fairness, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and respect for academic and intellectual contributions.

All participants in the publication process share responsibility for maintaining these standards and supporting the reliability and credibility of published research.