Publication Ethics

Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This publication ethics statement refers to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is intended to guide editors, reviewers, authors, and publishers in ensuring responsible, transparent, fair, and ethical scholarly publishing.

This journal does not tolerate plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, authorship misconduct, conflict of interest abuse, or any other form of unethical publication practice. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to uphold academic honesty, objectivity, transparency, and accountability.

1. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and fairness of the editorial process. Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts based on their academic merit, relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, originality, methodological quality, clarity of presentation, and contribution to inclusive and innovative educational technology.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the author’s gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, institutional affiliation, political belief, or personal background. Editors must handle manuscripts objectively, confidentially, and transparently.

Editors are responsible for:

Conducting initial screening of submitted manuscripts.
Ensuring that manuscripts fit the journal’s aims and scope.
Assigning manuscripts to qualified and independent reviewers.
Maintaining the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts.
Avoiding any conflict of interest in editorial decision-making.
Ensuring that peer review is conducted fairly and ethically.
Making editorial decisions based on reviewers’ comments, academic quality, and journal standards.
Taking appropriate action when ethical violations are suspected or identified.
Ensuring that corrections, clarifications, retractions, or expressions of concern are issued when necessary.

Editors must not use unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts for personal research or other purposes without written permission from the author(s).

2. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers play an important role in maintaining the quality and integrity of scholarly publications. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, honest, and timely evaluations of manuscripts.

Reviewers are responsible for:

Reviewing manuscripts based on academic quality, originality, relevance, methodology, clarity, and contribution to the field.
Providing constructive feedback to help authors improve their manuscripts.
Maintaining the confidentiality of manuscripts received for review.
Declining the review invitation if they do not have relevant expertise or cannot complete the review within the given time.
Informing the editor if they identify plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, citation manipulation, or ethical concerns.
Declaring any conflict of interest that may affect the objectivity of the review.
Avoiding personal criticism of authors.

Reviewers must not use any unpublished data, arguments, or ideas from the manuscript for personal benefit. Reviewers must also not share the manuscript with others without permission from the editor.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submitted manuscripts are original, accurate, ethical, and not under consideration by another journal. Authors must present their research honestly and provide sufficient details so that the study can be understood, evaluated, and, where appropriate, replicated.

Authors are responsible for:

Submitting only original manuscripts that have not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Ensuring that all sources are properly cited and included in the reference list.
Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, and redundant publication.
Presenting data, findings, and analysis accurately and honestly.
Avoiding data fabrication, data falsification, and manipulation of research results.
Ensuring that all listed authors have made significant contributions to the manuscript.
Avoiding gift authorship, ghost authorship, and inappropriate authorship order.
Declaring all potential conflicts of interest.
Disclosing research funding or institutional support when applicable.
Obtaining ethical approval or informed consent when the research involves human participants.
Responding to reviewers’ and editors’ comments professionally and transparently.

Authors must ensure that the manuscript does not violate the copyright, privacy rights, or intellectual property rights of other parties. If copyrighted materials such as figures, tables, images, instruments, or long quotations are used, authors must obtain permission when required and provide proper acknowledgment.

4. Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher of Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology is responsible for supporting the integrity, independence, and sustainability of the journal. The publisher must ensure that editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial, institutional, political, or personal interests.

The publisher is responsible for:

Supporting ethical editorial and peer review practices.
Ensuring that journal policies are clearly displayed on the journal website.
Protecting editorial independence.
Supporting the long-term accessibility and preservation of published articles.
Taking appropriate action when publication misconduct is reported.
Ensuring that published content remains available, discoverable, and openly accessible in accordance with the journal’s open access policy.

The publisher works together with the editorial team to handle complaints, appeals, corrections, retractions, and allegations of publication misconduct in a fair and transparent manner.

5. Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest occurs when personal, financial, academic, institutional, or professional relationships may influence or appear to influence the objectivity of the publication process.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers must disclose any potential conflict of interest. Examples of conflicts of interest include financial relationships, research funding, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, academic competition, or previous collaboration that may affect judgment.

Editors and reviewers must decline involvement in the handling or review of manuscripts if they have a conflict of interest with the author(s), institution, research topic, or funding source. If a conflict of interest is identified after submission or publication, the editorial team will take appropriate action according to the seriousness of the case.

6. Plagiarism Policy

Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, data, images, tables, or research findings from other sources without proper acknowledgment.

All submitted manuscripts may be checked using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts with significant similarity, unattributed copying, or unethical reuse of previous work may be rejected before peer review or during the editorial process.

Forms of plagiarism include:

Copying text from another source without citation.
Paraphrasing another author’s work without acknowledgment.
Using images, tables, or figures without permission or proper citation.
Submitting another person’s work as one’s own.
Reusing substantial parts of the author’s own previously published work without proper citation.

If plagiarism is detected after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the severity of the violation.

7. Citation Manipulation Policy

Citation manipulation is an unethical practice that aims to artificially increase citation counts or manipulate the academic impact of an author, article, journal, or institution.

The journal does not permit:

Excessive self-citation without scholarly justification.
Coercive citation requested by editors, reviewers, or authors.
Citation stacking or citation cartels.
Adding irrelevant references only to increase citation metrics.
Manipulating references to misrepresent the state of knowledge.

References must be relevant, accurate, and directly related to the manuscript. Editors and reviewers may recommend additional references only when they are academically necessary and relevant to the manuscript.

8. Data Fabrication and Data Falsification

Data fabrication and data falsification are serious forms of research misconduct. Data fabrication refers to making up data or research findings that were never obtained. Data falsification refers to manipulating research data, instruments, processes, images, or results so that the research record does not accurately represent the actual findings.

Authors must present research data honestly and accurately. Authors must not alter, omit, manipulate, or misrepresent data to support a desired conclusion. When necessary, the editorial team may request raw data, research instruments, ethical approval documents, or other supporting materials to verify the integrity of the manuscript.

If data fabrication or falsification is suspected, the journal will investigate the case and may contact the author’s institution or relevant authority. If misconduct is confirmed, the manuscript may be rejected or, if already published, retracted.

9. Duplicate Publication and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Authors must also not publish the same research findings in multiple publications without proper justification, citation, and editorial approval.

Manuscripts that substantially overlap with previously published work must clearly acknowledge the earlier publication. Duplicate or redundant publication may result in rejection, correction, or retraction.

10. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, implementation, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or revision of the manuscript.

All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for the content of the article. Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section.

The journal does not permit ghost authorship, gift authorship, honorary authorship, or changes in authorship without valid reason and approval from all authors.

11. Handling Ethical Violations

If an ethical violation is suspected, the editorial team will examine the case carefully and fairly. The journal may request clarification, supporting documents, raw data, or institutional confirmation from the author(s).

Possible actions include:

Requesting correction or clarification from the author(s).
Rejecting the manuscript.
Issuing a correction or expression of concern.
Retracting the published article.
Informing the author’s institution or relevant authority.
Temporarily or permanently restricting future submissions from authors involved in serious misconduct.

All ethical cases will be handled based on the seriousness of the violation, available evidence, and principles of fairness and transparency.

12. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal may issue a correction when an article contains errors that do not invalidate the overall findings. A retraction may be issued when the findings are unreliable due to misconduct, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, or serious ethical violations.

An expression of concern may be issued when there is a serious concern about the integrity of a published article but the investigation has not yet been completed.

13. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, or other parties may submit complaints or appeals related to editorial decisions, review processes, publication ethics, or published content. Complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing to the editorial office.

The editorial team will review complaints and appeals objectively and transparently. If necessary, the Editor-in-Chief may consult additional editors, reviewers, or external experts before making a final decision.

14. Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants, students, teachers, vulnerable groups, or personal data must follow appropriate ethical standards. Authors must explain informed consent, confidentiality, voluntary participation, and data protection procedures when applicable.

For research involving children, students with disabilities, or other vulnerable participants, authors must ensure that additional ethical safeguards are applied.

Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology is committed to promoting ethical, transparent, inclusive, and responsible scholarly publishing. All editors, reviewers, authors, and publishers are expected to follow this publication ethics policy to maintain the quality, credibility, and integrity of the academic record.

Related Links/Menus

Author Guidelines