Publication Ethics Policy

The Journal of Contemporary Social Sciences is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, fairness, and accountability in scholarly publishing.

The journal’s publication ethics practices are guided by recognized standards, including the principles and guidance issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics. Reference to COPE guidance does not by itself mean that TJCSS is a COPE member.

This policy applies to authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and all persons involved in the publication process.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must:

  • Submit original work
  • Report research honestly and accurately
  • Describe research methods clearly
  • Present data without fabrication or falsification
  • Cite all relevant sources
  • Obtain necessary ethical approvals
  • Obtain informed consent where required
  • Protect participant privacy and confidentiality
  • Disclose funding and conflicts of interest
  • Identify all qualifying authors
  • Obtain approval from every listed author
  • Correct significant errors when identified
  • Cooperate with journal investigations

Submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time is not permitted.

Originality and Plagiarism

Submitted manuscripts must be the authors’ original work.

TJCSS does not accept:

  • Direct plagiarism
  • Mosaic plagiarism
  • Improper paraphrasing
  • Self plagiarism
  • Duplicate publication
  • Fabricated references
  • Unauthorized translation
  • Uncredited use of tables, figures, data, or ideas
  • Citation manipulation

Submitted manuscripts may be examined using plagiarism detection software. A similarity report will be interpreted by the editorial team rather than judged only by a numerical percentage.

Where plagiarism is suspected, the journal may request an explanation, reject the manuscript, contact the relevant institution, correct the published record, or retract the article, depending on the seriousness of the matter.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Authors must not invent, alter, omit, or manipulate data, images, interviews, survey responses, statistical results, or other research materials in a way that misrepresents the research.

Authors may be asked to provide original data, research instruments, ethical approval documents, consent records, or other supporting material where an integrity concern arises.

Failure to provide reasonable supporting information may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or notification to the relevant institution.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who made a substantial contribution to:

  • The conception or design of the study
  • Collection, analysis, or interpretation of data
  • Drafting or critical revision of the manuscript
  • Approval of the final version
  • Responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work

All listed authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission.

Guest authorship, gift authorship, honorary authorship, and the exclusion of qualifying contributors are not permitted.

Persons who provided administrative, language, technical, financial, or general support but do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged with their permission.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors must include a valid explanation and written agreement from all affected authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose financial, personal, professional, institutional, academic, or other interests that could influence, or appear to influence, their judgment.

Authors must include a conflict of interest statement in the manuscript.

If no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Editors and reviewers with a relevant conflict must withdraw from handling or evaluating the manuscript.

Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all sources of financial or material support for the research.

The funding statement should include the funder’s name and grant number, where applicable. The role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, and the decision to publish should also be explained where relevant.

If no external funding was received, authors should state:

This research received no external funding.

Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants, personal data, interviews, surveys, experiments, children, vulnerable groups, or sensitive information must follow appropriate ethical standards.

Where applicable, authors must provide:

  • Name of the approving ethics committee
  • Approval or reference number
  • Date of approval
  • Informed consent statement
  • Explanation of privacy protections
  • Permission for publication of identifiable material

Research involving animals must follow applicable institutional and national ethical requirements.

If formal ethical approval was not required, authors should explain why.

Informed Consent and Privacy

Authors must obtain informed consent where required by the nature of the research.

Identifiable personal information, photographs, case histories, recordings, or quotations must not be published without appropriate permission.

Editors and reviewers must protect confidential information obtained during manuscript assessment.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Authors should retain accurate records of their research data and methods.

Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to make supporting data available through a trusted repository or upon reasonable request.

The article should include a data availability statement explaining whether the data are:

  • Publicly available
  • Available upon reasonable request
  • Restricted for ethical, legal, or privacy reasons
  • Not applicable to the study

The journal will not require authors to disclose confidential participant information or data whose release would violate legal or ethical obligations.

Multiple and Redundant Publication

Authors must not publish substantially the same research in more than one journal without proper disclosure and justification.

If a manuscript uses data, arguments, or material from the authors’ previous work, the earlier publication must be cited and the new contribution must be clearly explained.

Translation of a previously published article is not considered original publication unless the editors of both journals agree, the original source is acknowledged, and the secondary publication is clearly identified.

Citation Practices

Authors must cite sources accurately and fairly.

Authors must not:

  • Add irrelevant citations to increase citation counts
  • Cite sources they have not consulted
  • Misrepresent the content of a source
  • Agree to inappropriate citation requests
  • Manipulate citations for personal, institutional, reviewer, editor, or journal benefit

Editors and reviewers must not require citations merely to increase citations to themselves or TJCSS.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors.

Authors must disclose significant use of artificial intelligence tools in manuscript writing, translation, data analysis, image creation, or other parts of the research and publication process.

Authors remain responsible for:

  • Accuracy of the manuscript
  • Originality of the content
  • Accuracy of references
  • Protection of confidential data
  • Absence of fabricated information
  • Compliance with copyright and ethical requirements

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts to unauthorized artificial intelligence tools.

Basic spelling and grammar correction normally does not require disclosure.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must:

  • Make decisions based on academic merit
  • Apply journal policies consistently
  • Protect author and reviewer confidentiality
  • Avoid discrimination
  • Declare and manage conflicts of interest
  • Select qualified and independent reviewers
  • Investigate credible allegations of misconduct
  • Maintain the accuracy of the published record
  • Avoid using unpublished material for personal benefit
  • Provide authors with a reasonable opportunity to respond to concerns

Editors must not guarantee acceptance or allow financial, personal, or institutional interests to influence decisions.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must:

  • Provide objective and constructive reports
  • Maintain confidentiality
  • Declare conflicts of interest
  • Review within the agreed period or inform the editor
  • Identify relevant uncited work where appropriate
  • Report suspected plagiarism or misconduct
  • Avoid personal or insulting comments
  • Base recommendations on academic grounds
  • Avoid using confidential information for personal advantage

Reviewers should decline manuscripts outside their area of competence.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested persons may submit complaints concerning:

  • Editorial conduct
  • Peer review
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Ethical concerns
  • Published content
  • Discrimination
  • Procedural irregularities
  • Suspected research misconduct

Complaints should include sufficient details and supporting evidence. They will be handled confidentially and fairly.

Where possible, a complaint or appeal will be reviewed by a person who was not directly involved in the matter. The complainant will be informed of the outcome after the review is completed.

Allegations of Misconduct

The journal will assess credible allegations without automatically assuming guilt.

The person against whom an allegation is made will normally be given an opportunity to respond. The journal may seek advice from reviewers, editorial board members, institutions, ethics committees, or other appropriate bodies.

Depending on the findings, the journal may:

  • Reject the manuscript
  • Request correction or clarification
  • Publish a correction
  • Publish an expression of concern
  • Retract the article
  • Contact the author’s institution
  • Inform affected parties
  • Take other appropriate action

The journal will follow relevant COPE guidance when investigating suspected misconduct.

Corrections

The journal may publish a correction when an error affects the article or publication record but does not invalidate the main findings.

The correction will:

  • Be clearly identified
  • Explain the error and correction
  • Link to the original article
  • Remain permanently available
  • Be included in the article metadata where possible

Minor spelling or formatting errors that do not affect meaning may be corrected without a formal correction notice.

Retractions

An article may be retracted where there is reliable evidence of:

  • Fabricated or falsified data
  • Plagiarism
  • Duplicate publication
  • Unethical research
  • Serious methodological or analytical error
  • Manipulated peer review
  • Unauthorized publication
  • Findings that are no longer reliable

A retraction notice will explain the reason for the retraction and identify who requested or approved it.

The original article will normally remain accessible for the integrity of the scholarly record, but it will be clearly marked as retracted on every version.

Expressions of Concern

The journal may publish an expression of concern where serious questions exist but an investigation is incomplete, disputed, or unable to reach a reliable conclusion.

An expression of concern does not itself establish misconduct. It alerts readers that the reliability or integrity of the article is under examination.

Post Publication Discussion

TJCSS welcomes evidence based concerns about published articles.

Readers may contact the journal through its official email address. Where appropriate, the journal may invite the authors to respond and may publish a correction, response, expression of concern, or retraction.

Personal attacks, unsupported allegations, and abusive communications will not be accepted.

Record Preservation

The journal will maintain a clear and permanent record of corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and other post publication notices. These notices will be linked to the affected article and made freely accessible.

Policy Review

TJCSS may review and update its publication ethics policy to reflect changes in scholarly publishing standards. Material changes will be clearly stated on the journal website with the date of revision.