Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Indonesian Sports Justice Review is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal follows internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing, including 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 considers publication ethics to be a shared responsibility among authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to uphold academic integrity, transparency, fairness, confidentiality, and respect for intellectual property.

Where allegations or concerns regarding publication misconduct arise, the journal will investigate them fairly and confidentially and, where appropriate, follow relevant COPE guidelines and procedures.

1. Editorial Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial team are responsible for maintaining the academic quality and integrity of the journal.

Editorial decisions shall be based primarily on the manuscript's academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution to the field. Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by the author's nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, political beliefs, institutional affiliation, or other personal characteristics.

Editors shall:

ensure that manuscripts are evaluated fairly and objectively;
maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
select appropriate and independent peer reviewers;
manage conflicts of interest appropriately;
protect the integrity and independence of the editorial decision-making process;
investigate suspected publication misconduct;
provide mechanisms for complaints and appeals;
issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions when necessary; and
take appropriate action to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Editors shall not use unpublished information contained in submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal advantage without the authors' explicit permission.

2. Authors' Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts submitted to Indonesian Sports Justice Review represent their original work and accurately report their research.

Authors shall:

ensure that the submitted manuscript is original;
provide accurate and complete information about the research;
appropriately acknowledge all sources and contributions;
ensure that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria;
disclose relevant conflicts of interest;
obtain appropriate ethical approval where required;
ensure that research data and supporting materials are accurately represented;
avoid simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal;
avoid duplicate, redundant, or overlapping publication;
cooperate with the editorial team in responding to questions concerning the integrity of their manuscript; and
promptly notify the journal if a significant error is discovered in a published article.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their work and may be asked to provide supporting information or documentation when reasonably required for the evaluation of a manuscript.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research and who have participated sufficiently in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approved the final version.

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.

The journal does not permit:

guest or honorary authorship, where individuals are listed as authors without substantial contribution;
ghost authorship, where individuals who made substantial contributions are omitted;
inappropriate addition or removal of authors without a legitimate reason and appropriate agreement; or
misrepresentation of individual contributions.

Any authorship dispute should first be addressed among the authors. Where a dispute cannot be resolved, the journal may request clarification from the relevant institution or research organization.

Changes to authorship after submission require a legitimate reason and written agreement from all affected authors. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to request supporting documentation before approving any authorship change.

4. Plagiarism and Similarity

Indonesian Sports Justice Review does not tolerate plagiarism in any form.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

copying text, ideas, data, images, or other intellectual material without appropriate attribution;
substantial reproduction of another author's work without permission or citation;
presenting another person's work as one's own;
inappropriate paraphrasing that fails to acknowledge the original source; and
self-plagiarism or substantial reuse of an author's previously published material without appropriate disclosure.

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate plagiarism or similarity-detection tools.

A high similarity result does not automatically constitute plagiarism; editorial assessment will consider the context, source material, quotations, references, and the nature of the overlap.

Where plagiarism is suspected, the journal may investigate the matter and take appropriate action in accordance with COPE guidance.

5. Fabrication, Falsification, and Research Misconduct

The journal considers the following to constitute serious forms of research or publication misconduct:

fabrication of research data or results;
falsification or manipulation of data, methods, images, or research findings;
manipulation of citations;
deceptive or fraudulent reporting of research;
unauthorized alteration or concealment of research information;
unethical research practices;
plagiarism;
duplicate or redundant publication;
inappropriate authorship practices; and
other conduct that compromises the integrity of the scholarly record.

When credible concerns are raised, the journal will conduct an appropriate preliminary assessment. Where necessary, the matter may be referred to the author's institution, employer, research ethics committee, or other appropriate authority for formal investigation.

The journal's primary responsibility is to protect the integrity of the scholarly record rather than to impose disciplinary sanctions on individuals.

6. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not have been published previously in substantially the same form and must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time.

Authors must disclose any closely related publications, manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, working papers, or other publicly available versions that may overlap substantially with the submitted manuscript.

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

7. Citation Manipulation

Authors, reviewers, and editors must not manipulate citations for the purpose of artificially increasing citation counts, journal metrics, author metrics, or the apparent scholarly impact of an article.

Citation manipulation includes, but is not limited to:

requiring authors to cite irrelevant articles;
excessive citation of articles from the same journal without scholarly justification;
coordinated citation practices intended to inflate citation metrics; and
adding irrelevant references solely to increase citation counts.

References should be selected based on their genuine scholarly relevance to the manuscript.

8. Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest may arise when personal, professional, financial, institutional, or other relationships could reasonably influence—or appear to influence—the objectivity of an author, reviewer, editor, or other person involved in the publication process.

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest.

Potential conflicts may include:

financial relationships;
employment or consultancy;
institutional relationships;
personal relationships;
academic competition;
funding relationships;
intellectual property interests; or
other circumstances that could affect editorial or scholarly judgment.

Editors will take appropriate measures to manage disclosed conflicts, including assigning manuscripts to alternative editors or reviewers when necessary.

9. Peer Review Ethics

Indonesian Sports Justice Review uses a double-blind peer-review process, unless otherwise stated for a particular article type.

Reviewers are expected to:

provide objective, constructive, and scholarly assessments;
maintain confidentiality concerning the manuscript;
identify relevant published work that has not been cited where appropriate;
disclose any potential conflict of interest;
decline review assignments where they lack sufficient expertise or have a conflict of interest;
avoid using unpublished information for personal or professional advantage; and
report suspected plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other ethical concerns to the editor.

Reviewers must not contact authors directly regarding a manuscript under review unless authorized by the editorial team.

The journal does not guarantee acceptance or publication based solely on submission or peer-review completion. Editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the journal's authorized editors.

10. Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and related information.

Information about a submitted manuscript must not be disclosed to anyone other than individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process, except where disclosure is required for legitimate ethical or legal reasons.

Authors' personal information and unpublished research materials shall be handled responsibly and only for legitimate editorial purposes.

11. Ethical Oversight and Research Involving Human Participants

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research involving human participants, personal data, vulnerable populations, or other ethically sensitive subjects complies with applicable ethical standards and institutional requirements.

Where applicable, manuscripts should provide information regarding:

ethical approval;
the responsible ethics committee or institutional review board;
informed consent;
consent for publication where necessary; and
measures taken to protect participant confidentiality and personal data.

Research involving athletes, coaches, officials, minors, or other vulnerable groups should receive appropriate ethical consideration.

The journal may request evidence of ethical approval or informed consent when appropriate.

12. Data Availability and Research Transparency

Authors are encouraged to provide sufficient methodological information to enable readers to understand and, where appropriate, reproduce or evaluate the research.

Where relevant and ethically permissible, authors should provide information regarding the availability of research data, materials, instruments, analytical procedures, or other supporting resources.

Data involving confidential, personal, sensitive, or legally protected information must not be disclosed in violation of applicable ethical, legal, or institutional requirements.

13. Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors must ensure that all submitted materials respect applicable copyright and intellectual property rights.

Permission must be obtained for copyrighted material reproduced in the manuscript where such permission is required.

Authors must properly acknowledge the sources of third-party materials, including text, figures, tables, photographs, datasets, instruments, and other intellectual property.

The journal's copyright and licensing policies shall be clearly communicated to authors and readers.

14. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools for legitimate purposes such as language improvement, grammar checking, translation, formatting, or other forms of editorial assistance, provided that such use does not compromise the originality, accuracy, confidentiality, or integrity of the manuscript.

AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot take responsibility for the content of a scholarly publication.

Where AI tools have been used substantially in generating or analyzing scholarly content, authors should disclose the nature and extent of such use in accordance with the journal's author guidelines.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

the accuracy of the submitted manuscript;
verification of AI-generated information;
proper attribution and citation;
avoidance of plagiarism;
protection of confidential information; and
compliance with research ethics.

Editors and reviewers should also use AI tools responsibly and must not upload confidential or unpublished manuscript content into AI systems that could compromise confidentiality.

15. Complaints and Appeals

The journal provides a mechanism for authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders to raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial decisions, publication practices, ethical issues, or possible misconduct.

Complaints should be submitted to the editorial office with sufficient information and supporting evidence where available.

Appeals against editorial decisions should explain the specific grounds for the appeal and provide relevant scholarly or procedural justification.

Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and independently. The journal will not tolerate harassment, threats, discrimination, or abusive conduct directed toward editors, reviewers, authors, or editorial staff.

16. Corrections and Retractions

The journal recognizes its responsibility to maintain an accurate and reliable scholarly record.

When an error is identified after publication, the journal may publish an appropriate:

Correction – when a published article contains an error that does not invalidate the overall findings or conclusions;
Expression of Concern – when there are serious unresolved concerns regarding the integrity or reliability of an article while an investigation is ongoing; or
Retraction – when an article is found to contain serious errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, or other forms of misconduct that substantially undermine the integrity of the publication.

Corrections and retractions will be clearly linked to the original article and will provide sufficient information to explain the reason for the post-publication action.

The journal will not remove a published article from the scholarly record except in exceptional circumstances where removal is required by legal or ethical considerations.

17. Post-Publication Discussion

The journal supports responsible post-publication scholarly discussion.

Readers and researchers may communicate substantive concerns regarding published articles to the editorial office. Where appropriate, the journal may invite authors to respond and may publish corrections, clarifications, letters, expressions of concern, or other appropriate post-publication notices.

All post-publication concerns will be evaluated based on evidence and scholarly relevance.

18. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial, financial, political, institutional, or personal interests.

The publisher and other stakeholders must not interfere with editorial decisions concerning the acceptance, rejection, revision, or publication of manuscripts.

Editorial decisions shall be based on scholarly merit, relevance, methodological quality, originality, and compliance with the journal's ethical and publication standards.

19. Special Issues

Special issues are subject to the same standards of publication ethics, peer review, authorship, conflicts of interest, and editorial integrity as regular issues.

Guest editors, where appointed, must comply with the journal's publication ethics policies and disclose any relevant conflicts of interest.

All manuscripts submitted to special issues are subject to appropriate editorial assessment and independent peer review. Participation in a special issue does not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Final editorial responsibility for special issues remains with the Editor-in-Chief or another editor formally authorized by the journal.

20. Editorial and Reviewer Misconduct

Editors and reviewers are expected to maintain professional and ethical standards.

Misconduct may include:

misuse of confidential manuscript information;
inappropriate influence over editorial decisions;
undisclosed conflicts of interest;
discrimination or harassment;
manipulation of peer review;
coercive citation practices;
inappropriate use of unpublished research; and
other conduct that compromises the integrity or independence of the publication process.

Allegations involving editors or reviewers will be assessed fairly and may be referred to the publisher, editorial board, institution, or other appropriate authority where necessary.

21. Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Allegations of publication or research misconduct may be raised before or after publication.

The journal will:

acknowledge and assess credible allegations;
maintain confidentiality as appropriate;
gather relevant information and documentation;
provide the concerned parties with an opportunity to respond where appropriate;
consult relevant experts or institutions when necessary;
follow applicable COPE guidance;
take proportionate action based on the available evidence; and
correct, retract, or otherwise amend the scholarly record when necessary.

The journal will not automatically assume misconduct based solely on an allegation. Decisions will be made following a fair and evidence-based assessment.

22. Publisher's Responsibilities

The publisher supports the editorial team in maintaining ethical and professional publishing standards.

The publisher shall provide appropriate infrastructure for:

secure manuscript handling;
preservation of published content;
transparent publication policies;
correction and retraction mechanisms;
protection of editorial independence; and
compliance with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

The publisher and journal will take reasonable steps to prevent fraudulent or unethical publication practices.

23. Commitment to International Publication Standards

Indonesian Sports Justice Review is committed to continuously improving its publication practices in accordance with internationally recognized standards of scholarly publishing.

The journal will periodically review and update this policy to reflect developments in publication ethics, research integrity, peer review, open-access publishing, data transparency, and responsible use of emerging technologies.

Where an ethical issue is not explicitly addressed in this statement, the journal may refer to relevant COPE Core Practices, COPE flowcharts and guidance, DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and other internationally recognized standards of research and publication ethics.

The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for ensuring that the journal's publication practices uphold academic integrity and protect the reliability of the scholarly record.