Publication Ethics

Research Review Journal of Social Science (RRJSS) is committed to upholding consistent ethical standards at all stages of the publication process to advance and disseminate knowledge.

Publication Ethics for Journal Authors

Authors submitting works to this journal warrant the following:

  1. Submitted manuscripts, articles and cases are original.
  2. Submitted manuscripts cite content from other sources appropriately to avoid plagiarism.
  3. Contributions do not infringe any copyright or other intellectual property rights or any other rights of any third party. Permission must be cleared for any third party material included.
  4. The listing of authors and order of authorship should accurately reflect who carried out the research and wrote the article or case.
  5. The work has not been submitted, under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.
  6. Any potential conflicts of interest relating to a specific article have to be declared.
  7. The editor must be informed by authors if there is a significant error in their published piece, to collaboratively work on an erratum, addendum or retraction where necessary.
  8. Submitted articles must not include libelous, defamatory or unlawful statements.
  9. All contributing authors are accurately listed; “ghost authorship” is strictly prohibited.
  10. All permissions have been obtained for all images, graphics, and supplementary materials prior to publication.

Publication Ethics for Editors and Reviewers

The main responsibilities of the editor, associate editors, editorial board members, and reviewers are:

  1. To review manuscripts with care, consideration and objectivity, in a fairly and timely manner. All decisions about papers should be made based on research relevance, importance, and quality standards.
  2. To assist in improving the quality of submitted articles
  3. To prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred
  4. To inform the journal editor of any published or submitted content that is similar to the material under review, or any suspected plagiarism.
  5. To make known any potential conflicts of interest relating to a specific article or author.
  6. To respect the confidentiality of any submitted manuscript, information or material supplied during the review process.
  7. To comply with current data protection regulations.
  8. To not distribute the electronic manuscript file for any purpose other than blinded peer review.
  9. To communicate with honesty and professionalism at all times.

Procedures for addressing ethical issues

Common Ethical Issues

  • Plagiarism: All research submitted to RRJSS must be original. Manuscripts submitted to the journal may be checked for originality using anti-plagiarism software. If a reviewer suspects for any reason that an author may have submitted the paper in the same or similar form to another publication or suspects that plagiarism or duplicate publication has occurred, then this should be brought to the attention of the journal editor.
  • Redundant/dual publication: Authors are expected to submit unpublished content to the journal. Redundant/dual publication must be identified and brought to the attention of the editor at any time.
  • Text recycling/self-plagiarism: If past research results are repeated, leading to different conclusions or compared with new data, previous work must be properly referenced.
  • Authorship issues: All authors that have made a significant contribution to the paper must be listed. If all authors agree to a change to authorship on a paper, this will be presented as a corrigendum and requested by all authors.
  • Conflict of interest: All conflicts of interest should be declared by the author, editor or reviewer, including financial or personal interests and undisclosed financial support for or against the research outcomes by an interested third party. Conflict of interest must be reported to the editor.

Procedure

  1. Any identified or potential ethical issue has to be brought to the attention of the editor, including appropriate evidence.
  2. Ethical issues may include, but are not limited to, violations of any of unethical behaviours outlined above.
  3. An investigation will be conducted by the editor in a timely manner
  4. Minor ethical breaches will be dealt with without wider consultation and active author participation.
  5. Serious ethical breaches may be notified to the employer of the accused. The editor, in consultation with the editorial board, will make a decision regarding the next steps that may include, but are not limited to the following:
  6. A written warning to the author or reviewer;
  7. Publishing an editorial or erratum outlining the breach;
  8. Undertaking a formal retraction or withdrawal of the work; or,
  9. Reporting the misconduct to a regulatory association.

Cases not covered by RRJSS ethical regulations will be assessed following the Committee on Publication Ethics |C|O|P|E| best practices and guidelines.