Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality of the journal and the integrity of the evaluation process. Part of this responsibility is to support the authors and reviewers by providing timely and unbiased information about the ongoing review and publication process. Editors are accountable for an effective peer review process and secure manuscript handling. Any information about submitted manuscripts cannot be used by editors for their own research or personal purposes.
All relevant legal and ethical frameworks must be strictly adhered to by working within the guidelines required by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
All articles published in APJCS undergo thorough peer review. This is important to keep the integrity and quality of the journal. As such, peer reviewers have to be carefully guided by the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Every peer reviewer is expected to:
Authors should ensure the originality of submitted manuscripts with proper acknowledgement of sources used according to the publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). They are also to guarantee the originality of their work, ensuring that the manuscript submitted has not yet been published or is under review elsewhere in another journal.
Accuracy in the processes of data collection, analysis and interpretation should be observed. Data should be represented accurately and details presented sufficiently to allow replication of research study.
Plagiarism, in any form, is strictly prohibited. Manuscripts which are confirmed to be plagiarized will automatically be rejected upon going through the process stipulated under COPE’s guidelines. Unethical behavior constituting data fabrication or data manipulation are similarly unacceptable in any of APJCS publications. See our guidelines on Plagiarism and Data Fabrication.
All authors are required to disclose any conflicting or competing interests that may be understood to influence the results of the study. Sources of financial support are to be included in the disclosure statement.
Research which entails the use of human subjects or handling of confidential data must meet the regulations for ethical guidelines for educational research. All authors must comply with these rules to ensure observance of ethics in the research process.
Authors are advised to deposit their research data into a public repository to make it accessible and openly available. These can also be uploaded as supplementary files with the submitted manuscript.
Under exceptional circumstances, articles may need to be retracted, removed, or replaced to keep the integrity and quality of the journal and the literature. This will be determined by the Editor, but may also be initiated by the author should erroneous data or conclusions be found. For more information, kindly read our guideline on Article Retraction.