Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

In adhering towards the integrity of the scholarly work, the Journal of Public Administration, Public Affairs, and Management (JPAPM) upholds the necessary publication ethics, ensuring the highest research quality, sustaining public trust in the research findings, and accrediting authentic authors for their original articles. It is imperative that the JPAPM prohibits the following infractions of plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, manipulated citations, improper author contributions, submission of already published articles, and submission of articles submitted elsewhere or amidst revision (multiple submissions). The essential consensus for the guidelines of publication ethics must be established. Henceforth, the JPAPM declares the following responsibilities for authors, reviewers, and journal editors. 

 

Authors

 

Plagiarism

It is imperative that authors must ensure the originality of their submitted articles, with appropriate citations and quotations (requiring permission if necessary) for the use of others’ works. Authors should provide an appropriate acknowledgement and citation for others’ works which have influenced their original manuscript. In order to prevent plagiarism, the JPAPM reserves the right to utilize plagiarism-detecting software to monitor submitted articles. Upon the detection of plagiarism, in all its aspects (such as data fabrication/falsification and/or citation manipulation), represents the violation of the publication ethics, constituting the termination of the submission. 

 

Originality

Authors should not submit previously published research articles, and/or the same research article to other journals, representing unethical behavior, resulting in the termination of the submission.

 

Confidentiality

Authors must not utilize information obtained in private conversations, correspondence, discussion, or communications with third parties that do not have explicit written permission from the source. Information retrieved from confidential services, such as medical records and individual contracts, must also not be utilized without explicit written permission from the involved authors and organizations involved in these services.

 

Authorship

All authors must declare their consent to the action of submitting their original manuscript, agreeing to the provided list and ranking of authors, in which the corresponding author must have the consent of all authors throughout the editorial review and publication process. All authors must also consent and agree to the actions taken by the corresponding author, acting on their behalf throughout the editorial review and publication process.  The corresponding author must ensure that all authors have seen and approved the final version of the original manuscript for the purpose of publication.  

 

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must state all funding sources and any conflicts of interest in the acknowledgements section. It is imperative that the authors must further disclose any relationships that could be seen as a potential conflict of interest.

 

Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to dutifully peer-review research article submissions, providing authors with valuable feedback and reviewing etiquette, similar to the standards reviewers would treat themselves with. Reviewers are meticulously selected with their expertise in mind. Any selected reviewer, unavailable to conduct their duties to the best of their abilities, should inform the editor and decline the request to participate in the peer review process.

 

Confidentiality

Reviewers should view research article submissions as confidential documents, refraining from sharing the contents of the research article to other individuals, nor should reviewers attempt to contact the author. This is highly important, as the JPAPAM conducts their peer-review process with the double-blinded review methodology, in which the identities of the authors and reviewers are kept concealed from each other. Reviewers may not utilize unpublished research articles for their personal benefit, without the explicit written consent from the authors, extending the confidential privileges towards information and ideas retrieved from the research article submissions.

 

Standards of Objectivity

Reviewers should conduct peer-review in an objective manner that refrains from personal biases and/or personal criticism, with reviewers expressing their evaluation of the research article submissions with constructive feedback, supported by sufficient evidence. Reviewers may suggest citations of their personal or colleagues’ research, for the purposes of increasing the research quality, abstaining from deliberately recommending personal or affiliated research for the citation count and/or inflating the exposure of their personal or affiliated research.

 

Conflict of Interest

Before accepting the meticulous duty of reviewership, reviewers should inform the editor of any conflicts of interest, potentially stemming from any relationships or connections with any authors, institutions, and organizations affiliated with the original manuscript submission.

 

Citations

In regards to the research article submissions, reviewers should inform editors of any identified overlapping research articles under consideration or published to other journals, and/or published research articles with substantial similarity. Such alerts should be accompanied with the relevant citation. Reviewers should provide additional citations of relevant research, critical to the subject of the research article submission, which remains uncited by the authors.

 

Journal Editors

 

Publication Decisions

The Journal editor is solely responsible for the decision of accepting the publication of the submitted research articles, working in cohesion with relevant individuals. The editor should establish their decision based upon the contents of the research, refraining from inappropriate and discriminative factors (such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, political affiliation, religious beliefs, and any reasons that infringes upon categories of people). The editor should provide a transparent and honest process of appeal against editorial decisions that authors may disagree upon. All parties should have a clear understanding of their role and participation in processes of the Journal, from submission to publication.

 

Confidentiality

The editor must ensure the confidentiality of all processes in the Journal, including any communication with reviewers or authors, protecting the identities of reviewers and authors. Unpublished research articles must not be utilized in the editor’s personal research, unless the author has provided an explicit written agreement for such utilization, with such confidentiality extended towards privileged ideas and information retrieved from the peer review process, refraining from utilizing such information for personal advantage.

 

Conflict of Interest

All affiliated parties must ensure that all conflicts of interest are stated in the submission of the research article, including any relationships that the editor maintains with the authors and reviewers. The process of peer review must be conducted independently from the influence of the editor towards reviewers, with the editor ensuring the appropriate assignment of 3 reviewers to the peer-review process, abiding by the constraints of the double-blind review methodology. The editor must also ensure that the corresponding author has the explicit consent of all authors to publish the final version of the research article submission, and attain full access to all data utilized in the research article submission. 

 

Violation of Guidelines

Editors should ensure that all submissions of research articles must not contain copyright infringement, libel, data falsification/fabrication, and any instances of plagiarism. The editor has the responsibility to proceed in the investigation of such violations, in which the editor reserves the right to utilize plagiarism-seeking software to analyze each article submission. Furthermore, the editor should conduct appropriate investigation into research article submissions that are suspected to already be published and/or under consideration by other journals.