Publication Ethics

Indonesian Journal of Socio-Cultural Learning (IJSL) is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, and academic independence throughout the scholarly publishing process. This Publication Ethics policy establishes the general ethical principles governing manuscripts submitted to and published by IJSL and applies to authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and the publisher, CV Aksara Sarana Utama, Indonesia.

IJSL regards publication ethics as an integral component of scholarly quality. Research published in the journal must be conducted, reported, reviewed, and disseminated responsibly. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal's scope, methodological and theoretical quality, originality, and compliance with applicable ethical standards.

The journal's ethical framework is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

General Principles of Research Integrity

Manuscripts submitted to IJSL must present scholarly work honestly, accurately, and transparently. Research methods, sources, evidence, analytical procedures, and findings must not be deliberately misrepresented.

The journal does not tolerate practices that compromise the integrity of the scholarly record, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate duplication, manipulated peer review, fraudulent authorship, citation manipulation, misrepresentation of ethical approval, or other forms of research and publication misconduct.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and reliability of their submitted and published work. The use of technological tools, research assistants, professional editing services, or artificial intelligence does not transfer this responsibility to another party.

Detailed requirements concerning textual originality and similarity screening are provided in the journal's Plagiarism and Similarity Policy.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are expected to conduct and report research in accordance with relevant academic, ethical, legal, and professional standards. A manuscript should provide a truthful representation of the research undertaken and should contain sufficient information to allow its scholarly contribution to be evaluated.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

• the submitted manuscript represents legitimate and original scholarly work;

• data, evidence, quotations, references, and other research materials are accurately represented;

• relevant sources and intellectual contributions are appropriately acknowledged;

• ethical requirements applicable to the research have been fulfilled;

• all individuals identified as authors have legitimate scholarly contributions to the work;

• relevant competing interests and sources of research funding are disclosed; and

• the manuscript is not simultaneously submitted to another journal.

Detailed criteria concerning authorship, contributorship, author order, acknowledgment, and changes in authorship are governed by the Authorship and Contributorship Policy.

Ethical Oversight of Research

Research involving human participants must respect human dignity, autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, welfare, and voluntary participation. Where applicable, authors are expected to obtain approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional authority and to secure informed consent in accordance with relevant ethical requirements.

Particular care is required when research involves children, students, vulnerable populations, marginalized communities, identifiable personal information, or circumstances involving unequal relationships of authority or dependency.

Because IJSL publishes research concerning education, communities, culture, identity, heritage, and social practices, ethical responsibility may extend beyond conventional requirements for individual participants. Researchers should consider the possible implications of collecting, interpreting, representing, and disseminating knowledge belonging to or associated with particular communities.

Socio-cultural, ethnographic, community-based, arts-based, and indigenous research should demonstrate appropriate sensitivity to local values, cultural protocols, collective interests, intellectual traditions, and restrictions governing culturally sensitive knowledge. Researchers should avoid extractive practices that disregard the rights, dignity, agency, or legitimate interests of the communities whose knowledge and experiences form part of the research.

Where relevant to the study, manuscripts should provide sufficient information concerning ethical approval, consent, confidentiality, community engagement, or other safeguards to enable readers and editors to assess the ethical integrity of the research.

Data and Evidence Integrity

Research data and supporting evidence must be collected, processed, analyzed, interpreted, and reported honestly. Authors must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, selectively omit, or otherwise distort data or evidence in ways that materially misrepresent the research.

The same principle applies to qualitative materials, including interview statements, ethnographic observations, field notes, photographs, audiovisual documentation, cultural narratives, archival materials, and other forms of evidence commonly used in socio-cultural and educational research.

Where legitimate questions arise concerning the reliability of reported findings, the journal may request relevant supporting documentation or clarification, subject to applicable ethical, confidentiality, legal, and data-protection requirements.

Where IJSL establishes a separate policy governing research data, reproducibility, and data availability, more detailed requirements will be specified in the Research Data and Data Availability Policy.

Competing Interests

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relationships or interests that could reasonably influence, or appear to influence, their scholarly judgment.

Competing interests may arise from financial, professional, institutional, academic, intellectual, or personal relationships. The existence of a competing interest does not automatically prevent publication or participation in the editorial process; however, relevant interests must be disclosed so that they can be appropriately evaluated and managed.

Editors and reviewers must withdraw from handling manuscripts where a significant competing interest prevents independent and impartial assessment.

Detailed disclosure and management procedures are governed by the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers contribute to the integrity of IJSL by providing independent, competent, constructive, and impartial scholarly evaluation. Reviewer assessments must focus on the academic content of manuscripts and must be conducted professionally and confidentially.

Reviewers must not exploit information obtained through peer review, interfere improperly with the editorial process, impose irrelevant citations, or use their position to obtain personal or professional advantage.

The procedures governing reviewer selection, confidentiality, competing interests, reviewer recommendations, revisions, and editorial decisions are described in the journal's Peer Review Process.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for safeguarding the integrity and independence of the editorial process. Manuscripts must be evaluated according to their scholarly merit and relevance without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, academic status, political belief, or other characteristics unrelated to scholarly evaluation.

Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, manage competing interests appropriately, select qualified reviewers, consider peer-review reports critically, and ensure that editorial decisions are made fairly and independently.

Editors must not use unpublished information obtained through manuscript submission or peer review for personal scholarly, commercial, or professional advantage.

Where editors or Editorial Board members submit manuscripts to IJSL, they must not participate in the handling, reviewer selection, evaluation, or final decision concerning their own work. Such submissions must be managed independently.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions concerning individual manuscripts are the responsibility of the journal's authorized editors and must remain independent of inappropriate commercial, institutional, personal, or political influence.

The publisher, CV Aksara Sarana Utama, Indonesia, supports the editorial infrastructure of IJSL but does not determine whether individual manuscripts are accepted or rejected on the basis of commercial considerations.

Any publication charges that may apply to the journal must be administratively separate from editorial evaluation and must not influence peer-review outcomes or publication decisions.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

IJSL recognizes that artificial intelligence technologies are increasingly used in research and scholarly communication. Their use must preserve transparency, scholarly responsibility, confidentiality, and meaningful human accountability.

Detailed provisions concerning acceptable AI use, disclosure, authorship, verification of AI-assisted content, confidentiality, and the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and editors are governed exclusively by the journal's Generative AI Policy.

Allegations of Misconduct

IJSL takes credible allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously regardless of whether they arise before or after publication.

Concerns may be raised by authors, reviewers, readers, research participants, institutions, or other parties. The journal will evaluate allegations fairly, confidentially, and proportionately on the basis of available evidence.

Where clarification can reasonably be provided by the authors, the journal may request explanations, supporting documentation, data, ethical records, or other relevant materials. Where allegations require formal investigation beyond the journal's authority, the matter may be referred to the relevant institution, ethics committee, funder, employer, or other competent authority.

IJSL distinguishes between investigating institutional misconduct and protecting the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal does not ordinarily substitute itself for institutions responsible for formal misconduct investigations but may take editorial action when available evidence demonstrates that the reliability or integrity of a manuscript or publication has been compromised.

No finding of misconduct will be based solely on speculation, personal disagreement, automated detection, or unsupported allegations.

Confidentiality and Procedural Fairness

Ethical concerns will be handled with appropriate confidentiality. Information concerning allegations will be shared only with parties whose involvement is reasonably necessary for assessment, investigation, or resolution.

Individuals whose work or conduct is questioned should normally be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to substantive allegations before consequential editorial action is taken, except where legal, safety, or other exceptional considerations prevent this.

The journal will seek to distinguish honest error, legitimate scholarly disagreement, questionable research practice, and deliberate misconduct when determining appropriate editorial responses.

Post-Publication Integrity

Responsibility for scholarly integrity continues after publication. IJSL will consider credible concerns regarding published work and will take appropriate action when correction of the scholarly record is necessary.

Procedures concerning Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Article Removal are governed by the journal's Retraction and Correction Policy and are therefore not repeated in this policy.

Scholarly criticism or disagreement with the interpretation of an article does not, by itself, constitute research misconduct. IJSL supports evidence-based post-publication discussion when conducted professionally and in good faith.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may raise legitimate complaints concerning editorial procedures, ethical matters, or journal practices. Authors may also appeal editorial decisions where there are substantive grounds to believe that a material factual or procedural error affected the outcome.

The mechanisms, scope, and procedures for such requests are specified separately in the Complaints and Appeals Policy.

Intellectual Property and Open Scholarship

IJSL respects intellectual property rights and requires appropriate attribution of scholarly and creative works. Detailed provisions concerning copyright ownership, licensing, reuse, third-party materials, and author rights are provided in the journal's Copyright Notice.

Access to and lawful reuse of published material are governed by the journal's Open Access Policy. These matters are maintained as separate policies to ensure that publication ethics, intellectual property, and open-access rights remain transparent and clearly distinguishable.

Ethical Action and Proportionality

When ethical concerns are substantiated, IJSL will take action proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the issue. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve requesting clarification or correction, suspending editorial consideration, rejecting a manuscript, referring a matter to an appropriate institution, or initiating post-publication action under the relevant journal policy.

Editorial action is intended primarily to protect research participants, authors, reviewers, readers, communities, the journal, and the integrity of the scholarly record. Ethical policies will not be used to suppress legitimate academic disagreement or criticism.

Commitment to Ethical Scholarly Publishing

Indonesian Journal of Socio-Cultural Learning (IJSL) is committed to fostering a publishing environment in which scholarly quality and ethical integrity are mutually reinforcing. Authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and the publisher share responsibility for maintaining trustworthy scholarly communication.

This Publication Ethics policy should therefore be read together with IJSL's specific editorial policies, including the Peer Review Process, Generative AI Policy, Retraction and Correction Policy, Plagiarism and Similarity Policy, Authorship and Contributorship Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, Complaints and Appeals Policy, Copyright Notice, and Open Access Policy.

Where an ethical situation is not explicitly addressed by an IJSL policy, the journal will consider the relevant guidance and principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other internationally recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing.