Purpose: This page (often called “Ethics Policy” or “Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement”) declares the journal’s standards for ethical behavior and its procedures for handling violations. It should align with COPE/ICMJE guidelines and be highly visible.
Content and Elements: Cover all aspects of responsible publishing:
- Ethical Oversight: State that CJCAI follows the COPE/ICMJE recommendations. Include references to the COPE Core Practices if desired.
- Originality and Plagiarism: Affirm zero tolerance for plagiarism or duplicate submissions. All manuscripts are screened with plagiarism detection tools, and any finding of substantial overlap leads to rejection. Define plagiarism in brief.
- Data Integrity: Prohibit data fabrication or falsification. Manuscripts suspected of data manipulation trigger a formal investigation, potentially resulting in retraction.
- Authorship: Reinforce ICMJE authorship criteria. Prohibit unethical authorship (gift, ghost). If disputes arise, request a signed author contributions form.
- Consent and Privacy: Require patient consent for identifiable information, per ethical norms.
- Conflict of Interest: As noted, any financial or personal COI affecting research or the review process must be declared.Link to COPE’s guidance if needed.
- Peer Review Ethics: Describe expected conduct for reviewers and editors (e.g. no reviewer coercion, no citation manipulation).
- Complaints and Misconduct Handling: Outline how allegations are handled. E.g.:
- “The Editor-in-Chief will investigate any suspected misconduct (plagiarism, author fraud, reviewer fraud) using COPE flowcharts. If misconduct is confirmed after author query, action will be taken: corrections or retractions will be issued, and relevant institutions or funders may be notified.”
- Corrections/Retractions: State commitment to correct the scholarly record. Provide examples of notices (erratum, retraction), and reference COPE retraction guidelines.
- Appeals: Briefly restate the appeals process: authors may appeal decisions by writing to the editor, and appeals will be considered by an independent editor.
- Transparency: Affirm that ethics policies are linked on the site and that no article is published without ethical compliance. Mention an editorial is responsible for policy updates.
Sample Wording:
“Authorship and Originality: Manuscripts must present original work. Duplicate submission or publication of the same results is prohibited. Authors must meet ICMJE authorship criteria. All contributions should be acknowledged; ghost or gift authorship is not allowed. Plagiarism (of others or self) is considered misconduct and will result in rejection and potential sanctions.
“Conflict of Interest: All authors, editors, and reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Undeclared conflicts may lead to editorial action.”
“Misconduct: Suspected ethical or scientific misconduct (fabrication, falsification, unethical experimentation) will be investigated by the Editor-in-Chief. If serious breaches are confirmed, we will retract the publication and inform relevant parties (e.g. institutions).”
Scopus/WoS Notes: A published, detailed ethics policy is mandatory for trust and indexing. DOAJ and COPE emphasize transparency about plagiarism screening and misconduct handling CJCS & AI’s ethics page directly addresses all required points, demonstrating editorial vigilance.