To ensure that the operations of the Journal of Education, Khon Kaen University are conducted through procedures and processes that are consistent with international standards for academic publishing, the editorial board has established clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all parties involved in the publication process. These roles serve as ethical guidelines for the publication of scholarly articles and are aligned with the standard publication ethics recommendations of ELSEVIER. The details are presented as follows:

Duties of Editors

1) The editor is solely responsible for decision making which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be published, regarding the ่journal policy and conditions, the academic strength of the work, and its importance to researchers and readers. 

2) The editor shall ensure that the peer-review process is fair, unbiased, and timely, and shall select potential reviewers who have suitable expertise in education and the relevant field.

3) For a fair play, the editor should evaluate all submitted manuscripts, via the journal’s standard electronic submission system, for their intellectual content without regard to other factors (i.e. race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors).

4) The editor must not attempt to influence the journal’s ranking by artificially increasing any journal metric, e.g. requiring specific references, products, or services to be included.

5) The editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and all communications with reviewers.

6)  To declare the competing interests, the editor must not be involved in decisions about manuscripts which s/he has written him/herself or have been written by family members or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. 

7) The editor should work to safeguard the integrity of the published record by reviewing and assessing reported or suspected misconduct (research, publication, reviewer and editorial), in conjunction with the publisher (or society)

 

Duties of Reviewers

1) Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

2) Reviewers must not share the review or information about the paper with anyone or contact the authors directly without permission from the editor. In addition, privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

3) A reviewer should be alert to potential ethical issues in the paper and should bring these to the attention of the editor, i.e. any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which the reviewer has personal knowledge.

4) Reviewers should avoid any personal bias they may have and take this into account when reviewing a paper and should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

 

Duties of Authors

1) Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.

2) The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

3) Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data.

4) An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal of primary publication, and concurrently submit the same manuscript to more than one journal. 

5) Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given.

6) All submissions must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest.

7) When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

8) Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.

9) Statements of compliance are required if the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, or if it involves the use of animal or human subjects.

10) Authors should not introduce a specific feature within an original image and should comply with any specific policy for graphical images applied by the relevant journal, e.g. providing the original images as supplementary material with the article.

Ethics in Human Research

The Journal of Education, Khon Kaen University (EDKKUJ) upholds internationally recognized ethical principles for research involving human participants. Studies that involve human subjects must obtain prior approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an equivalent ethics committee and must be conducted in accordance with relevant ethical frameworks, including the Declaration of Helsinki.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all research procedures involving participants or volunteers comply with applicable laws, institutional regulations, and ethical guidelines. 

Publication Ethics and Plagiarism Policy

EDKKUJ places strong emphasis on maintaining academic integrity and strictly prohibits all forms of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. Any use of others’ work or an author’s previously published material must be appropriately acknowledged and clearly differentiated from original content through proper citation and formatting.

The journal applies the following measures when plagiarism is identified:

• During initial screening:
  Manuscripts are screened for textual similarity prior to peer review. If the similarity index reaches 20%, the editor will inform the author and return the manuscript for clarification and revision. Submissions with a similarity index exceeding 20% will be rejected without entering the peer-review process.

• During the review or editorial process:
  If plagiarism or unethical conduct is detected at this stage and the similarity index exceeds 20%, the editor will request an explanation from the author(s). The editorial board will then review the case in accordance with the journal’s ethical policies. Confirmed cases of plagiarism or ethical violations will result in withdrawal of the manuscript from consideration.

• After publication:
  When plagiarism or academic misconduct is identified after an article has been published, the editorial team will conduct an investigation. If the similarity index exceeds 20%, the article will be formally retracted while remaining accessible on the journal’s website. A retraction notice will be issued, clearly stating that the responsibility for the misconduct rests solely with the author(s).

Self-Plagiarism

EDKKUJ recognizes that self-plagiarism may occur in certain circumstances and evaluates such cases with careful consideration. Authors may submit manuscripts derived from conference papers; however, the submitted work must demonstrate substantial differences in title, content, and analysis from the original publication. If previously published material is reused, it must be properly cited and clearly acknowledged.

Publication Ethics on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

Authors are fully accountable for the originality, accuracy, and ethical integrity of all content submitted to EDKKUJ. While generative AI tools may be used to support academic writing, authors must ensure that such tools do not compromise scholarly standards or authorship integrity.

Any use of AI-assisted tools must be transparently disclosed in the manuscript, with appropriate acknowledgment provided in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing, verifying, and validating AI-generated content to ensure its accuracy, relevance, and compliance with ethical publishing practices.