The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) > Publications > IAFOR Journal of Education > Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

IAFOR Publications on January 9, 2017

Ethics Statement

IAFOR aims to ensure that best practice and ethical standards are maintained by journal editors, authors and reviewers. IAFOR editors and reviewers are required to assess manuscripts fairly and maintain confidentiality. Authors must ensure that research submitted to IAFOR journals is their own original work and is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.

Conflicts of Interest Disclosure

Editors and editorial board members/reviewers will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. Editors will recuse themselves from considering 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 connected to the papers. In the event that this kind of conflict arises, they will ask another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript.

Authors too must disclose any conflicts of interest that could be considered as influencing the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. This information should be provided on submission.

Editorial Board Conflict of Interest

The Committee on Publication Ethics [COPE] states that there must be a clear statement regarding conflict of interest, including submission of papers to a journal. On its website there is a discussion regarding editors submitting to their own journal. It states:

“Provided every effort is made to minimise any bias in the review process by having another associate editor handle the peer review procedure independently of the editor (recognising that it would be impossible to remove bias completely), and the process is absolutely transparent, then this would be the most appropriate route to take. … As an extra precaution, if and when the article in question is published, the editor might like to publish an accompanying commentary showing how transparent the reviewing process had been” (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/case/editor-author-own-journal).

The IAFOR Journal of Education adopts the following policy regarding submission of papers by members of the Editorial Board to any of its issues.

  1. The Editor-in-Chief may not submit a paper for review to any issue of the journal.
  2. The Editor and Associate Editors may not submit a paper for review to their own issue of the journal.
  3. The Editor and Associate Editors may submit a paper for review to an issue other than their own issue, but all due care and diligence will be taken to ensure the paper is anonymised, the reviewers are not aware of the author(s)’ identity(ies), and that a statement is made in that issue regarding the process to prevent the perception of cronyism.
  4. Members of the Editorial Board may choose to submit a paper for review to a special issue of the journal, but they must make this clear before submissions commence and they will then not be permitted an editorial or reviewing role for that special issue.
  5. An Editor, either alone or with his/her Associate Editors, may write an editorial/introduction for their issue of the journal with a statement that this is the views of the author(s) and has not been subject to peer review.
  6. The Editor-in-Chief may write a foreword for any issue of the journal with a statement that this is the views of the author(s) and has not been subject to peer review.

IAFOR Journal of Education: Policy on Preprints

If a portion of your manuscript has been previously published, your manuscript will not be acceptable for publication in the IAFOR Journal of Education. However, the journal generally supports the early dissemination of research (the pre-peer review version of the paper, also referenced as a “working paper”) through non-commercial preprint platforms and scholarly collaboration networks such as Sage Publications’ preprint server Advance (primarily for Humanities and Social Sciences), SocRxiV, bioRxiV, preprints.org, ResearchGate and Academia.edu.

You should include a description of any prior distribution of any part of your paper when submitting to the journal and also make such a declaration at the end of the submitted paper, prior to the references. The declaration in the submitted paper will allow reviewers to know that a preprint exists and avoid claims of plagiarism. Please include the DOI for the preprint in your communications.

Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version.

Please note:

  1. Our journal uses a double-blind peer review process and by posting your paper on a preprint server or on a scholarly collaboration network such as ResearchGate, your article and its author list may be discovered by reviewers. You need to be comfortable with this and also be aware that some reviewers may recuse themselves from reviewing if they know you, thus shrinking the pool of available reviewers.
  2. Favourable comments from readers of a preprint in no way reflects the likelihood of acceptance. All papers will undergo the usual rigorous peer review process.

Plagiarism

Manuscript submissions are checked with iThenticate plagiarism detection for intellectual property protection and document-versus-document(s) analysis to satisfy the Editor that the submitted manuscript has not been plagiarised. However, when authors submit their manuscripts for consideration in the Journal, they declare that their work is not plagiarised. While the Editor makes reasonable efforts to determine the academic integrity of papers published in the Journal, ultimate responsibility for the originality of submitted manuscripts thus lies with the author.

Plagiarism takes place when one author deliberately uses another’s work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. Authors must always remember that crediting the work of others (including your advisor’s or your own previous work) is paramount. Authors should always place their work in the context of the advancement of the field, and acknowledge the findings of others on which you have built your research.

Publication Malpractice Statement

Concerned with the increase of plagiarism, fraud and misconduct in academic publishing, the Editor, Associate Editors and the Editorial Board of the journal officially endorse the position statements for editors and authors developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010 (Kleinert & Wager, 2011), notably the following statements:

  • Editors are accountable and should take responsibility for everything they publish
  • Editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process
  • Editors should adopt editorial policies that encourage maximum transparency and complete, honest reporting
  • Editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct
  • Editors should pursue reviewer and editorial misconduct.

As to authors:

  • The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation
  • Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation
  • Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others
  • Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere
  • Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work
  • The manuscript must contain nothing that is abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.

Editors and reviewers will ensure that articles submitted to the journal are original studies which have not been submitted anywhere else. Manuscripts will be fairly and objectively reviewed; authors will receive corrections and suggestions relatively quickly depending on the availability and expertise of reviewers.

References

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). Retrieved October 10, 2016 from http://www.riha-journal.org/international-standards-editors.