International Journal of Education and Digital Learning (IJEDL)

To ensure the highest standards of integrity, validity, fairness, and transparency in scientific publishing, International Journal of Education and Digital Learning (IJEDL) formulates its publication ethics based on various sources, including: COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, Responsible research publication: international standards for authors, and Elsevier publishing-ethics.

JISEBI tailors its publication ethics to align with the specific characteristics of the subject area (computer science and information systems) and the stakeholders involved, including readers, authors, reviewers, and editors.

Publication Ethics for Authors

Reporting Standards and Data Access
• Authors are responsible to report their research result accurately and objectively.
• Authors must ensure the accurate representation of data in their work.
• Authors must make sure that the manuscript contain sufficient detail and references for future replication and improvement purposes.
• Editors may request additional research data if necessary for Review needs.

Originality, Acknowledgement of Source and Confidentiality
• The manuscript must be original and avoid any forms of plagiarism.
• Authors must cite all publications that influence the authors report to properly acknowledge the work of others.
• Authors must ensure that confidential information including conversations, correspondences, or discussions with third parties are within their consent and should be reported in the manuscript.

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication
• Publishing the same research work in more than one journal is prohibited.
• Authors are prohibited from submitting published work except in the forms of a thesis, lecture material, or electronic preprint.

Authorship of the paper
• Authors should be limited to those who have significant contribution to the manuscript. Authors are required to declare their contributions using CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).
• The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have been included in the paper and manuscript submitted has been approved by co-authors. The work is considered to be the collective responsibility of the authors.
• Any parties that participate in certain aspect of the manuscript should be recognized in the acknowledgements section.

Hazards and Human/Animal Subjects
• Any involvement of chemicals, procedures, or equipment that have an unusual degree of danger should be clarified and identified in the manuscript by the authors.
• Displaying case details or personal information should require the authors to obtain a written consent from the source or the authorities.
• If requested, authors must provide editors with all necessary permissions.

Competing interests
• The authors are required to disclose any known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have potentially influenced the reported work, or state if they have none.

Fundamental errors in published works
• Any significant errors or inaccuracies in published works shall be notified to Editors for correction or retraction.
• If Editors find about the error from a third party, the authors are obligated to work together with the editors to rectify the situation by either improving, clarifying, or retracting the manuscript.

Image integrity
• Changing the image to improve clarity is acceptable.
• Image manipulation that changes the meaning of the image or other purposes is prohibited.

Publication Ethics for Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions
• Peer review, which is a vital aspect of formal scholarly communication, occupies a central position within the scientific method. The process of peer review aids editors in making editorial decisions and, through the subsequent communication with authors, can also assist them in enhancing the quality of the paper.
• Reviewers are generally expected to treat authors and their work with the same respect and consideration they would desire for their own work, while adhering to the principles of good reviewing etiquette.
• If reviewer feels unqualified or impossible to review a manuscript, they should notify the editor and decline the review process invitation.

Confidentiality
• All manuscripts received for review is considered confidential and must not be shared with anyone including the authors without Editors permission.
• Reviewers should first discuss with Editors if co-reviewing or discussion with colleagues are to be held in order to ensure the confidentiality and suitable credit for all parties.
• Reviewers must not utilize any unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research unless they obtain explicit written consent from the author. Any privileged information or ideas obtained during the peer review process should be kept confidential and must not be exploited for personal gain.

Alertness for Ethical Issues
• Reviewers should be alert to potential ethical issues in the paper and notify Editors.

Standards of Objectivity and Competing Interests
• Reviews should be conducted objectively.
• Reviewers should acknowledge and consider any personal biases they may have when reviewing a paper.
• Criticism towards the authors on a personal level is inappropriate.
• Potential conflicts of interest from Reviewers resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers should be addressed with Editors before review process is agreed.
• If a reviewer suggests adding citations to their own work or the work of their associates, it should be solely based on legitimate scientific reasons and not with the intention of increasing citation counts or promoting their own visibility.

 

Publication Ethics for Editors

Publications Decisions
• The responsibility of determining which submitted articles should be published lies solely and independently with the editors. Such decisions must always be supported by the validation of the work in question and its significance to researchers and readers.
• Editors are expected to adhere to the policy set by the editorial board and comply with legal requirements related to matters such as libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Peer Review
• Editors shall ensure that the preview process is fair, unbiased, and timely.
• Research article must be reviewed by at least two reviewers. Editors may seek additional opinions or reviewers if necessary.
• Editors shall select suitable reviewers in terms of expertise and avoid fraudulent peer reviewers.
• The editor is responsible for thoroughly examining all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and reviewer suggestions for self-citation to assess the presence of any potential bias.

Fair Play
• The editor should assess manuscripts based on their intellectual content, disregarding the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• The journal's editorial policies should promote transparency and the practice of providing comprehensive and honest reporting. Editors have the responsibility to ensure that both peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.
• Editors shall to utilize the journal's designated electronic submission system for all journal communications.

Journal Metrics
• Editors are prohibited from influencing the journal's ranking by artificially inflating any journal metric in an unethical manner. Specifically, the editor should not mandate the inclusion of references to articles from their journal or any other journal unless there are valid scholarly justifications.

Confidentiality
• The editor is obligated to safeguard the confidentiality of all materials submitted to the journal, as well as maintain the confidentiality of all communications with reviewers, unless otherwise agreed upon with the respective authors and reviewers. When it is absolutely necessary to investigate allegations of unethical behavior in research, Editors may, under certain circumstances, discuss limited information with the editors of other journals.
• Editors must protect reviewers’ identities
• Editors must not use unpublished materials disclosed in submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent from the authors. Privileged ideas and information obtained during peer review must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantages.

Declaration of competing interests
• Editors are not allowed to participate in decision-making regarding papers that they wrote themselves, papers that have been written by members of their family, or papers that pertain to products or services in which they have a financial interest.
• Moreover, any such submission must adhere to the regular procedures of the journal, ensuring that peer review is conducted independently of the relevant author/editor.

Vigilance over the published record
• Editors should investigate and evaluate any cases of reported or suspected unethical behavior in the areas of research, publication, reviewer, and editorial work together with the publisher or society to make sure that the published records maintain high level of credibility.
• In addition to this, the editor is responsible for making appropriate use of the publisher's systems in order to detect unethical behavior such as plagiarism.
• When editors are presented with compelling evidence of misconduct, they should coordinate with the publisher (and/or society) to arrange for the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other type of correction to the record, depending on the circumstances.