Ethics and Policies
Duties of Authors
1. The author has to assure that his/her paper has not been previously published in nor simultaneously submitted to other journals.
2. The author shall not commit any degree of plagiarism in his/her paper.
3. The author shall produce his/her manuscript format in accordance with the ‘guideline to authors’ stated in the journal.
4. The author whose name listed in the paper shall contribute to paper production or research-related procedure.
5. All pictures, figures, or tables appearing in the paper must be cited properly with their source(s) accurately identified. The author(s) shall be solely liable to any legal suit, if any.
6. The author shall verify the accuracy of content and format in both in-text citations and bibliography, no citation(s) shall be made for unread references, and the proper number of citations is preferable.
7. The author is required to correct or rework on their paper in due time as assessed and advised by reviewers and the editorial board.
8. The author shall identify the source(s) of research fund (if any) as well as any applicable conflict of interest.
9. Findings must be presented in accordance with the acquired data. No exploitation (false summary, or distortion or biased selection of data/finding) shall be committed.
10. No reference shall be made to any revoked article unless the cited statement refers to that in the revocation procedures. A statement must be additionally provided in the said reference as ‘the revoked article’.
Duties of Editors
1. The editor will assess the paper quality for publication and select only those passing through the reviewing process, in which the clarity of and congruence with the journal policy must be prioritized. The selected paper must contain a body of knowledge that reflects valuable perception, and a theoretical framework derived from experiences or textual/research synthesis. A grounded theory or a conceptual model contributing to further research must be preferably included.
2. No information regarding the paper’s author(s) or reviewers shall be revealed to irrelevant parties during the paper reviewing process.
3. The paper published formerly elsewhere must not be accepted by the editor for publication. Plagiarism must be scrutinized seriously by using a credible detecting software. The paper detected as bearing plagiarism must be frozen for further evaluation, the author(s) be contacted, and related explanation be demanded to support the editor’s decision to accept or reject the said paper.
4. The editor must bear no conflict of interest with the author(s) nor the reviewer(s).
5. The editor must not claim a partial or all of the submitted paper as his/her own.
6. The editor must consider for publication only the paper conducted with valid methodology and yielding accurate findings, and the quality of which serves as the main indicator for publication.
7. In case the editor detects plagiarism or false data in the submitted paper and hence deciding for revocation with which the author(s) refuse(s) to comply, the editor has thus full rights and responsibility to proceed with the revocation process without the author(s)’s prior consent.
Duties of Reviewers
1. The reviewer must keep confidential of the submitted paper and avoid revealing a partial or all of the information of the said paper to irrelevant parties during the paper reviewing process.
2. Perceiving as having a conflict of interest with the paper’s author(s) that may inhibit his/her freedom of expression, the reviewer should notify the editor at once and deny to take part in the reviewing process of the said paper.
3. The reviewer should evaluate the paper that fits with their area of expertise, by assessing the paper’s contribution to the discipline, quality of analysis, and intensity of literature review related to the topic of study. Advices should also be provided regarding the literature failed to be included by the author(s), and personal judgement without supportive evidence should not be used as a criterion for paper evaluation.
4. The reviewer must not claim a partial or all of the submitted paper as his/her own.
5. In case the plagiarism is detected, the reviewer must notify the editor at once.