PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

The Journal of AI-Driven Intelligent Systems (JADINS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, research ethics, editorial independence, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication.

JADINS adopts principles consistent with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, covering allegations of misconduct, authorship and contributorship, complaints and appeals, conflicts of interest, data and reproducibility, ethical oversight, intellectual property, journal management, peer review, and post-publication corrections.

All parties involved in the publication process—including authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher—are expected to comply with the ethical principles stated below.

1. Editorial Independence and Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief and designated editors are responsible for deciding which manuscripts submitted to JADINS are suitable for publication.

Editorial decisions must be based exclusively on:

  • scientific quality;
  • originality and novelty;
  • methodological rigor;
  • relevance to the aims and scope of JADINS;
  • clarity and validity of the findings;
  • ethical compliance; and
  • significance of the contribution to the field.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors' nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, political views, personal relationships, or other irrelevant characteristics.

The publisher shall not interfere with editorial decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

2. Fair and Objective Editorial Evaluation

Editors must evaluate manuscripts objectively and fairly.

Manuscripts shall be assessed according to their scientific and intellectual merit rather than the identity or institutional reputation of the authors.

Editors must take reasonable measures to prevent:

  • editorial bias;
  • favoritism;
  • discriminatory decisions;
  • citation coercion;
  • manipulation of the peer-review process; and
  • inappropriate influence from commercial, institutional, or personal interests.

3. Peer Review Ethics

JADINS applies an independent scholarly peer-review process to manuscripts that pass initial editorial screening.

Research manuscripts should normally be evaluated by at least two qualified independent reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the subject of the manuscript.

Reviewers are expected to evaluate:

  • originality;
  • scientific contribution;
  • methodological quality;
  • validity of analysis;
  • reproducibility;
  • clarity of presentation;
  • adequacy of references;
  • ethical compliance; and
  • relevance to JADINS.

The peer-review process must be fair, constructive, confidential, and free from inappropriate influence. COPE identifies transparent and well-managed peer review as a core publication-ethics practice.

4. Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents.

Information concerning a manuscript must not be disclosed to individuals other than those directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process.

Unpublished materials contained in a submitted manuscript must not be:

  • used for personal research;
  • disclosed to unauthorized parties;
  • commercially exploited; or
  • used to disadvantage the authors.

Reviewers must not share manuscripts with other persons without prior permission from the editor.

5. Duties and Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to JADINS must ensure that their work is:

  • original;
  • scientifically valid;
  • accurately reported;
  • ethically conducted;
  • appropriately referenced;
  • free from fabrication and falsification; and
  • not simultaneously submitted to another journal.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and authenticity of all data, analyses, figures, tables, references, and conclusions contained in their manuscripts.

Submission of a manuscript indicates that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and agree to its submission to JADINS.

6. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts represent original scholarly work.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • copying text without proper attribution;
  • copying ideas, data, figures, or tables without acknowledgment;
  • inappropriate paraphrasing;
  • unattributed translation;
  • self-plagiarism or substantial recycling of previously published material;
  • presenting another person's work as one's own.

JADINS may use similarity-detection software as part of editorial screening.

A similarity report must be interpreted editorially and contextually; similarity percentage alone is not treated as automatic proof of misconduct.

Where plagiarism is confirmed, the manuscript may be rejected or, if already published, subject to correction, retraction, or other appropriate action.

7. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

A manuscript must not substantially duplicate previously published work unless the relationship with the earlier publication is clearly disclosed and scientifically justified.

Authors must inform the editor about:

  • closely related manuscripts;
  • previous conference versions;
  • preprints;
  • earlier reports;
  • datasets or analyses that substantially overlap with the submitted work.

Redundant or duplicate publication may result in rejection or post-publication action.

8. Data Fabrication and Falsification

Fabrication and falsification are serious violations of publication ethics.

Authors must not:

  • invent data;
  • manipulate experimental observations;
  • fabricate participants or samples;
  • alter images to misrepresent results;
  • selectively remove observations for deceptive purposes;
  • modify statistical results to create false significance;
  • misrepresent the performance of AI or machine-learning models.

If data fabrication or falsification is suspected, the editorial team may request original data, source files, code, logs, or other supporting documentation.

9. Research Data and Reproducibility

JADINS promotes transparency, reproducibility, and responsible data management.

All manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement, as required by the JADINS manuscript template.

Authors should make data, code, experimental configurations, and supporting materials available whenever legally, ethically, and technically possible.

For AI and machine-learning studies, authors should retain sufficient documentation regarding:

  • dataset provenance;
  • preprocessing;
  • train/validation/test splitting;
  • random seeds where relevant;
  • model configurations;
  • hyperparameters;
  • evaluation procedures;
  • source code or scripts where appropriate.

Editors may request supporting data or documentation when needed to verify the reliability of reported findings.

10. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must reflect genuine intellectual contribution to the research and manuscript.

JADINS uses the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy in its manuscript template for documenting author contributions.

Individuals should not be listed as authors solely because of:

  • administrative authority;
  • institutional position;
  • funding supervision;
  • personal relationships; or
  • honorary status.

The following practices are prohibited:

  • ghost authorship;
  • guest authorship;
  • honorary authorship;
  • purchased authorship; and
  • unauthorized addition or removal of authors.

Changes in authorship after submission must be justified and approved by all affected authors and the editorial office.

11. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  • ensuring that all authors approve the submitted version;
  • ensuring that author information is accurate;
  • communicating editorial correspondence to co-authors;
  • obtaining approval for revisions;
  • disclosing funding and competing interests;
  • ensuring appropriate data and ethics statements are provided;
  • responding to post-publication questions where necessary.

The corresponding author must not make substantial manuscript changes without the knowledge of the co-authors.

12. Conflict of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any relationship or interest that could reasonably be perceived to influence their judgment.

Conflicts may include:

  • financial interests;
  • employment relationships;
  • consultancy;
  • patents;
  • institutional relationships;
  • personal relationships;
  • academic competition;
  • professional conflicts;
  • intellectual commitments.

All manuscripts must include a Conflict of Interest Statement, consistent with the JADINS template.

Where no conflict exists, authors may state:

Conflict of Interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

Editors and reviewers with significant conflicts should recuse themselves from handling the manuscript.

13. Funding Disclosure

All manuscripts must include a Funding Information statement.

Authors must disclose:

  • funding agency;
  • grant number, where applicable;
  • financial support related to the research.

The JADINS template explicitly identifies Funding Information as mandatory.

The role of a funder should be disclosed if it materially influenced:

  • research design;
  • data collection;
  • analysis;
  • manuscript preparation; or
  • publication decisions.

14. Human Subjects Research

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable national laws, institutional policies, and recognized ethical principles.

Where applicable, authors must provide:

  • ethics committee or institutional review board information;
  • approval number;
  • approval date where required;
  • informed-consent information.

Research involving human participants should be conducted in accordance with applicable principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

The JADINS template requires disclosure of ethical approval and informed consent where applicable.

15. Animal Research

Studies involving animals must comply with applicable institutional and national regulations governing animal welfare and research.

Authors must identify the relevant approval authority where required.

The welfare of research animals must not be compromised solely for publication purposes.

16. Privacy and Informed Consent

Authors must protect the confidentiality and privacy of participants.

Identifiable personal information, photographs, medical information, or other sensitive materials must not be published without appropriate authorization or informed consent.

Consent documentation must be retained by the authors according to applicable institutional and legal requirements.

17. Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Because JADINS specializes in artificial intelligence and intelligent systems, the journal places particular emphasis on responsible AI use in both research and scholarly publishing.

Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must not be listed as authors because such systems cannot assume responsibility or accountability for published work.

Authors remain fully responsible for all AI-assisted content.

Where Generative AI materially contributes to:

  • manuscript drafting;
  • code generation;
  • data analysis;
  • image generation;
  • visualization;
  • statistical interpretation; or
  • other substantive scholarly activity,

its use must be transparently disclosed in accordance with the JADINS AI policy.

AI must never be used to fabricate:

  • data;
  • references;
  • experimental results;
  • participant records;
  • reviewer identities;
  • images presented as genuine scientific evidence.

Editors and reviewers must also comply with JADINS confidentiality requirements when using AI-assisted tools. Confidential manuscripts or unpublished data should not be uploaded into third-party AI systems where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

18. Citation Ethics

Authors must cite relevant scholarly work accurately and responsibly.

The following practices are prohibited:

  • citation manipulation;
  • citation cartels;
  • fabricated references;
  • irrelevant citation padding;
  • excessive self-citation without scholarly justification;
  • coercive citation requests.

Editors and reviewers must not require citations primarily for the purpose of increasing citation counts of themselves, the journal, or associated institutions.

19. Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers should:

  • accept assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise;
  • complete reviews within the agreed time;
  • provide constructive and evidence-based comments;
  • maintain confidentiality;
  • declare conflicts of interest;
  • identify significant methodological weaknesses;
  • identify relevant uncited work when appropriate;
  • alert editors to suspected misconduct;
  • avoid personal criticism;
  • refrain from using unpublished information for personal advantage.

Reviews must be objective. Personal attacks or discriminatory comments are unacceptable.

20. Reviewer Confidentiality and Misuse of Manuscripts

Reviewers must not:

  • disclose manuscript contents;
  • distribute submitted files;
  • contact authors directly regarding the manuscript;
  • use unpublished ideas without permission;
  • delay review for competitive advantage;
  • use manuscript information to support their own research before publication.

Breaches of reviewer confidentiality may result in removal from the reviewer database and other appropriate actions.

21. Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the editorial process.

Editors must:

  • evaluate manuscripts fairly;
  • select competent and independent reviewers;
  • protect reviewer and author confidentiality;
  • manage competing interests;
  • investigate ethical concerns;
  • avoid citation manipulation;
  • respect editorial independence;
  • ensure decisions are evidence-based;
  • take appropriate action when misconduct is suspected.

Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for personal research without explicit permission.

22. Duties of the Publisher

Universitas Lamappapoleonro, as publisher of JADINS, supports the editorial team in maintaining high standards of publication ethics and editorial independence.

The publisher shall:

  • respect editorial independence;
  • support investigation of publication misconduct;
  • maintain the journal's digital infrastructure;
  • support preservation of the scholarly record;
  • promote transparency of publication policies;
  • facilitate corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern when necessary;
  • avoid inappropriate commercial influence over editorial decisions.

23. Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct

JADINS takes allegations of misconduct seriously, whether they arise:

  • before publication;
  • during peer review; or
  • after publication.

Possible misconduct includes:

  • plagiarism;
  • data fabrication;
  • data falsification;
  • image manipulation;
  • duplicate publication;
  • authorship manipulation;
  • reviewer manipulation;
  • citation manipulation;
  • undeclared conflicts of interest;
  • fraudulent identities;
  • peer-review rings;
  • systematic manipulation of the publication process.

COPE identifies clearly described procedures for allegations of misconduct as a core journal responsibility.

The journal may contact authors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, or other relevant parties when necessary to investigate concerns.

24. Peer Review Manipulation

Any attempt to manipulate peer review is prohibited.

Examples include:

  • fabricated reviewer accounts;
  • false reviewer identities;
  • author-controlled reviewer email addresses;
  • coordinated review rings;
  • unauthorized access to editorial systems;
  • deliberate interference with editorial decisions.

Confirmed manipulation may result in immediate rejection and further investigation.

25. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may submit legitimate complaints regarding:

  • editorial procedures;
  • reviewer conduct;
  • publication decisions;
  • ethical concerns;
  • journal policies.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that a significant scientific or procedural error has occurred.

Appeals must:

  • be submitted professionally;
  • provide specific reasons;
  • identify the alleged error;
  • provide scientific evidence where relevant.

An appeal does not automatically guarantee reconsideration or acceptance.

COPE regards clear complaints and appeals processes as an essential publication-ethics practice.

26. Corrections

JADINS is committed to maintaining an accurate scholarly record.

A correction may be issued when a published article contains an error that:

  • does not invalidate the main findings;
  • could mislead readers if left uncorrected;
  • affects author details, data, tables, figures, or interpretations.

Corrections will be linked transparently to the original article.

27. Retractions

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

  • fabricated or falsified data;
  • plagiarism;
  • duplicate publication;
  • serious methodological unreliability;
  • unethical research;
  • fraudulent peer review;
  • unauthorized publication;
  • major errors that invalidate the findings.

Retraction decisions will follow appropriate ethical procedures, with due consideration of COPE guidance.

The original publication record should remain identifiable, while the retraction notice clearly explains the reason for the retraction where legally and ethically possible.

28. Expressions of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when serious questions exist regarding the integrity of an article but an investigation has not yet reached a definitive conclusion.

This mechanism protects readers while respecting procedural fairness to authors.

29. Post-Publication Discussion

JADINS supports responsible scholarly discussion after publication.

Readers may report:

  • suspected errors;
  • methodological concerns;
  • undisclosed conflicts;
  • ethical concerns;
  • data problems.

Editors will assess post-publication concerns objectively.

COPE includes mechanisms for post-publication discussion, correction, and retraction among its Core Practices.

30. Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors must respect copyright and intellectual-property rights.

Third-party copyrighted material may only be reproduced with:

  • appropriate authorization;
  • proper attribution;
  • compliance with the applicable license.

Authors are responsible for securing necessary permissions.

The journal's copyright and open-access licensing terms must be clearly displayed on the journal website and within published articles.

31. Preprints and Prior Dissemination

Where permitted by journal policy, posting a manuscript as a legitimate preprint does not necessarily constitute duplicate publication.

Authors must disclose relevant preprints or earlier versions during submission.

Substantially published material must not be republished as an original JADINS article without clear justification and editorial approval.

32. Editorial Board Conduct

Members of the Editorial Board are expected to:

  • uphold scientific integrity;
  • maintain confidentiality;
  • avoid conflicts of interest;
  • support fair peer review;
  • promote journal quality;
  • avoid using their positions for personal citation advantage.

Editorial Board membership must not guarantee publication of a member's manuscript.

Manuscripts submitted by editors or board members must be handled independently to avoid inappropriate influence.

33. Sanctions for Publication Misconduct

Depending on the seriousness of misconduct, JADINS may take one or more actions, including:

  • rejection of the manuscript;
  • suspension of editorial processing;
  • publication of a correction;
  • publication of an Expression of Concern;
  • retraction;
  • prohibition from reviewing;
  • removal from editorial responsibilities;
  • notification of relevant institutions;
  • other actions consistent with publication-ethics guidance.

Sanctions must be proportionate and based on reasonable evidence.

34. Record Keeping and Transparency

JADINS seeks to maintain transparent and accurate records of:

  • submissions;
  • peer review;
  • editorial decisions;
  • revisions;
  • publication;
  • corrections;
  • ethical investigations.

Editorial documentation shall be retained in accordance with applicable institutional and journal policies.

35. Commitment to Research Integrity

JADINS recognizes that responsible publishing requires collaboration among authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, and the publisher.

The journal is committed to:

  • scientific integrity;
  • editorial independence;
  • transparency;
  • reproducibility;
  • responsible AI;
  • ethical research;
  • fair peer review;
  • correction of the scholarly record.