Publication Ethics

Indonesian Economic Justice Review (IEJR) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and scholarly integrity. The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The journal also considers relevant international standards and best practices concerning authorship, peer review, research integrity, conflicts of interest, copyright, data transparency, corrections, retractions, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. 

This policy applies to all participants in the publication process, including authors, co-authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, and the publisher. The journal is committed to editorial independence, academic freedom, fairness, transparency, confidentiality, and respect for the rights and dignity of all participants.

1. Principles of Publication Ethics

IEJR expects all submitted and published works to meet standards of originality, academic integrity, transparency, and responsible scholarship. Editorial decisions shall be based on the scholarly quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution of a manuscript, without discrimination based on nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, race, religion, political views, or other irrelevant characteristics.

The journal does not tolerate fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, manipulation of citations, duplicate publication, unethical authorship practices, or other forms of research and publication misconduct.

The journal may use appropriate plagiarism-detection and research-integrity tools as part of its editorial screening process.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts represent original and honest scholarly work.

Authors must:

  • Ensure that the manuscript is original and has not been published previously in substantially the same form.
  • Ensure that the manuscript is not simultaneously submitted to another journal while under consideration by IEJR.
  • Accurately report research methods, evidence, analysis, findings, and conclusions.
  • Avoid fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or selective presentation of data or evidence.
  • Properly acknowledge and cite all sources, ideas, quotations, data, and other materials that are not the authors’ own.
  • Obtain permission for the use of copyrighted materials where required.
  • Disclose relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.
  • Disclose all sources of funding and, where relevant, the role of funders in the research.
  • Ensure that all listed authors have made substantive contributions to the work and have approved the final manuscript.
  • Obtain agreement from all authors before submission and before any subsequent change in authorship.
  • Respond appropriately to editorial and peer-review queries and cooperate with investigations of potential misconduct.
  • Correct any significant error or inaccuracy discovered after publication by promptly notifying the journal.

Authors should not manipulate references or add citations solely for the purpose of increasing citation counts or influencing journal metrics.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be based on substantial intellectual contribution to the conception, design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or development of the manuscript, together with meaningful participation in drafting or critically revising the work and approval of the final version.

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged, where their contribution and permission to be acknowledged permit such recognition.

Gift authorship, honorary authorship, ghost authorship, and the exclusion of legitimate contributors are not permitted.

Any request to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be justified and agreed upon by all authors. The journal may request written confirmation from all affected authors before approving an authorship change. This approach is consistent with established authorship and contributorship standards. 

4. Plagiarism and Other Forms of Misconduct

Plagiarism includes presenting another person's ideas, words, data, analysis, structure, or other intellectual work as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment.

IEJR considers the following to constitute potential research or publication misconduct:

  • Fabrication of data or research findings;
  • Falsification or manipulation of data, evidence, sources, or research procedures;
  • Plagiarism and substantial unattributed appropriation of another person's work;
  • Duplicate or redundant publication;
  • Simultaneous submission of substantially the same manuscript to multiple journals;
  • Improper or fraudulent authorship;
  • Manipulation of peer review;
  • Citation manipulation;
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest that materially affect the work;
  • Unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information;
  • Misrepresentation of research findings or sources; and
  • Any other conduct that seriously violates accepted standards of research and publication integrity.

Allegations of misconduct may be raised by authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, or other parties. The journal will assess allegations seriously and may request clarification, supporting documentation, or institutional investigation where appropriate. COPE guidance emphasizes that journals should have clear procedures for allegations of misconduct and should address concerns both before and after publication. 

5. Duplicate, Redundant, and Overlapping Publication

Manuscripts submitted to IEJR must not have been published previously and must not be under simultaneous consideration elsewhere.

Authors must disclose any previously published or submitted material that substantially overlaps with the submitted manuscript. Where overlap exists, authors must clearly identify the relationship between the works and provide relevant references or documentation.

If redundant or duplicate publication is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the seriousness and circumstances of the case.

6. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, and editorial board members must disclose financial and non-financial relationships or activities that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their judgment.

Potential conflicts may include employment, consultancy, funding, financial interests, personal relationships, academic competition, institutional interests, intellectual commitments, or other relevant relationships.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily constitute misconduct. However, relevant conflicts must be transparently disclosed so that editors and readers can appropriately assess potential sources of bias. Established scholarly standards emphasize transparency concerning both financial and non-financial relationships. 

Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves when a conflict of interest could compromise their impartiality.

7. Peer Review Ethics

IEJR uses a double-anonymous peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other to the extent practicable.

Reviewers must:

  • Provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based assessments.
  • Maintain confidentiality concerning manuscripts and their contents.
  • Not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or academic advantage.
  • Identify potential conflicts of interest before accepting an assignment.
  • Decline a review where a conflict may compromise impartiality.
  • Identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited, where applicable.
  • Inform the editor of suspected plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other ethical concerns.
  • Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or notify the editor if an extension is required.

Reviewers should not contact authors directly regarding manuscripts under review unless authorized by the editor.

8. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that editorial decisions are fair, transparent, independent, and based primarily on scholarly merit.

Editors must:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively and without discrimination.
  • Protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts.
  • Select appropriate and independent reviewers.
  • Manage conflicts of interest and recuse themselves where necessary.
  • Ensure that peer-review decisions are based on scholarly quality and relevance.
  • Investigate credible allegations of misconduct.
  • Maintain appropriate records of editorial decisions and ethical investigations.
  • Take appropriate action when significant errors or misconduct are identified after publication.
  • Avoid using unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional benefit.

Editors should not reject manuscripts solely because their findings are unexpected, controversial, or inconsistent with prevailing views, provided that the research meets appropriate scholarly and methodological standards.

9. Editorial Independence

The editorial decision-making process shall remain independent from the journal owner, publisher, sponsors, advertisers, guest editors, and other external interests.

The publisher and journal owner shall respect the editorial independence of the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team. Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by commercial, political, institutional, or personal interests.

10. Confidentiality

All manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and other confidential information obtained through the publication process shall be treated as confidential.

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must not disclose manuscript contents or use unpublished information for purposes unrelated to the legitimate evaluation and publication of the work.

Authors are also expected to respect the confidentiality of peer-review communications.

11. Research Integrity and Ethical Oversight

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research complies with applicable legal, institutional, and ethical requirements.

Where research involves human participants, personal data, sensitive information, vulnerable communities, or other activities requiring ethical oversight, authors should obtain appropriate ethical approval or authorization where applicable and report this transparently in the manuscript.

Authors must protect the privacy, dignity, rights, and safety of research participants and must not disclose personally identifiable information without appropriate justification and consent.

For legal and socio-legal research involving sensitive individuals, communities, or confidential case materials, authors should take reasonable measures to prevent unnecessary identification or harm.

12. Data Availability and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to maintain sufficient research records to support the integrity and, where appropriate, verification of their findings.

Where applicable and ethically permissible, authors are encouraged to make research data, materials, instruments, coding, methodological documentation, or other supporting materials available to readers.

Data should not be shared where doing so would violate privacy, confidentiality, legal obligations, ethical requirements, or the rights of research participants. Authors should clearly explain any restrictions on data access.

13. Funding and Sponsorship

Authors must disclose all financial support directly related to the research or manuscript.

Where applicable, authors should disclose the role of funders or sponsors in research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Funding arrangements must not compromise the authors’ academic independence or the integrity of the research. Transparent disclosure of funding and sponsor involvement is an important component of publication integrity. 

14. Citation and Referencing Ethics

Authors must provide accurate and appropriate citations for ideas, arguments, evidence, data, quotations, and previous research.

The journal prohibits:

  • Deliberate omission of relevant sources;
  • Excessive self-citation intended to manipulate citation metrics;
  • Coordinated citation manipulation;
  • Citation stacking intended primarily to increase citations;
  • Citing sources that have not been consulted; and
  • Misrepresentation of the content or conclusions of cited works.

Reviewers and editors must not require authors to cite particular works solely to increase the citations of the reviewer, editor, journal, or affiliated institution.

15. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist with language improvement, translation, formatting, or other appropriate functions, provided that such use does not compromise the accuracy, originality, confidentiality, or integrity of the manuscript.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because authorship requires human responsibility for the work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and intellectual content of manuscripts, including any material produced or assisted by AI.

Where AI has been used in a manner that materially contributes to the research, analysis, writing, or generation of content, authors should disclose such use transparently in accordance with the journal's applicable author guidelines.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, unpublished data, or other protected material into AI systems where such use could compromise confidentiality or intellectual property.

The journal may update its AI policy as international standards and responsible AI practices develop. Current scholarly guidance increasingly addresses AI use by authors, reviewers, and editors as part of publication ethics. 

16. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record.

If an error is identified after publication, the journal may publish an appropriate correction where the error does not invalidate the principal findings or conclusions.

A retraction may be issued where an article contains serious errors, unreliable findings, fabricated or falsified data, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other circumstances that substantially undermine the integrity or validity of the published work.

An Expression of Concern may be published where there is a credible concern about the integrity of an article but the available evidence is insufficient to justify immediate correction or retraction.

Corrections and retractions shall be clearly linked to the original publication, explain the reason for the action, and preserve an appropriate record of the publication history. Established scholarly guidance recommends transparent correction notices, version control, and appropriate archiving of previous versions. 

17. Post-Publication Discussions

IEJR welcomes responsible scholarly discussion concerning published articles.

Readers may submit substantive comments, concerns, corrections, or other correspondence concerning published works. The journal may investigate credible post-publication concerns and, where appropriate, publish corrections, responses, expressions of concern, or retractions.

Post-publication criticism shall be handled objectively and respectfully and shall not be used to suppress legitimate scholarly disagreement.

18. Complaints and Appeals

Authors may submit an appeal against an editorial decision where they believe that the decision resulted from a significant procedural error, misunderstanding of the manuscript, conflict of interest, or other substantive concern.

Appeals should provide clear reasons and supporting information. Appeals are considered by the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately independent editor. Where necessary, an independent reviewer may be consulted.

Complaints concerning editorial conduct, publication ethics, peer review, authorship, conflicts of interest, or other publication matters may be submitted to the journal. The journal will acknowledge and investigate legitimate complaints in a fair, confidential, and timely manner.

Where a complaint concerns the Editor-in-Chief or another member of the editorial leadership, the matter may be referred to an appropriately independent authority within the journal or publisher.

19. Special Issues and Guest Editors

Special Issues are subject to the same publication ethics, peer-review, authorship, conflict-of-interest, and research-integrity standards as regular issues.

Guest Editors must disclose any conflicts of interest and must not influence editorial decisions for personal, institutional, or academic advantage.

Manuscripts submitted by Guest Editors, members of the Editorial Board, or individuals closely associated with the journal shall be handled through appropriate independent editorial procedures to minimize conflicts of interest.

Special Issue proposals and editorial arrangements must not compromise the journal's editorial independence or peer-review standards.

20. Copyright and Intellectual Property

Copyright remains with the authors without restriction, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License under which the article is published.

Authors retain ownership of their copyright while granting the public broad rights to use, share, adapt, reproduce, and distribute the published work, provided that appropriate attribution is given to the authors and the original source.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others.

21. Editorial Records and Transparency

The journal maintains appropriate editorial and publication records to support transparency, accountability, and the integrity of the scholarly record.

The journal shall make relevant editorial policies publicly available, including policies concerning peer review, authorship, conflicts of interest, research misconduct, complaints and appeals, corrections and retractions, data transparency, ethical oversight, intellectual property, and post-publication discussions. These areas are consistent with the transparency principles recommended for scholarly journals by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME. 

22. Handling Allegations of Misconduct

When an allegation of misconduct is received, the journal will conduct an initial assessment to determine whether the allegation is sufficiently credible and relevant to warrant further investigation.

Depending on the circumstances, the journal may:

  1. Request an explanation or supporting documentation from the authors;
  2. Consult reviewers, editors, or independent experts;
  3. Contact the author's institution or relevant research integrity authority;
  4. Request additional evidence or clarification;
  5. Suspend editorial or publication processes while an investigation is conducted;
  6. Publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction where appropriate; or
  7. Take other actions consistent with COPE guidance and applicable ethical standards.

The journal will seek to protect whistleblowers and other individuals who raise concerns in good faith from retaliation, while also respecting the rights of all parties involved.

23. Sanctions and Editorial Actions

Where misconduct is established, the journal may take proportionate action depending on the nature and severity of the violation. Possible actions include rejection of a manuscript, withdrawal of an accepted manuscript, correction of the published record, publication of an expression of concern, retraction, notification of relevant institutions, or restriction on future submissions where justified.

The journal will ensure that any action taken is proportionate, evidence-based, and consistent with principles of fairness and due process.

24. Commitment to Continuous Improvement

IEJR recognizes that standards of scholarly publishing continue to evolve. The journal will periodically review and update its publication ethics policies to reflect developments in international standards, COPE guidance, open-access publishing, research integrity, responsible AI, and related areas.

The journal is committed to maintaining a transparent, ethical, inclusive, and academically rigorous publication environment for authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.