Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

Statement

The Journal of Aceh Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, and academic transparency. This policy governs all contributors authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers alike. The journal operates in full alignment with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and the Regulation of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia No. 39 of 2021 on Academic Integrity, ensuring rigorous, fair, and trustworthy scientific publishing.

Academic Integrity Principles

The Journal of Aceh Studies promotes academic integrity as the essential foundation of scholarly communication. In accordance with national regulations and international ethical standards, all participants involved in the publication process, authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers are expected to uphold the following core values:

Honesty: Maintaining truthfulness in data representation, authorship, and research findings without fabrication or falsification.
Trust: Fostering mutual reliance and transparency across all stage-by-stage peer review and editorial workflows.
Fairness: Ensuring impartial, unbiased, and objective evaluation of every submitted manuscript.
Respect: Valuing diverse academic perspectives, honoring intellectual property rights, and engaging in constructive communication.
Responsibility: Exercising accountability for the rigor, ethics, and accuracy of published scientific work.
Courage: Taking a firm stance against research misconduct, plagiarism, and ethical breaches.

These fundamental principles guide all editorial decision-making and support the development of a responsible academic culture within regional and global research communities.

Research Integrity and Publication Misconduct

The Journal of Aceh Studies is committed to safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record. In accordance with national regulations and COPE international publication ethics standards, publication misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

Data Fabrication & Falsification: Creating fake research data or manipulating research processes, methods, and findings.
Plagiarism & Duplicate Submission: Presenting others' work as one's own, self-plagiarism, or submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals.
Authorship Misconduct: Improper author attribution, ghost authorship, or gift authorship practices.
Review & Citation Manipulation: Manipulating the peer-review process or inappropriately inflating citations.
Data & Image Distortion: Altering images, figures, or visual data to misrepresent research outcomes.
Ethical & Disclosure Violations: Undisclosed conflicts of interest or misrepresentation of ethical review approvals.

Handling Misconduct & Journal Actions All suspected cases of misconduct are evaluated fairly, confidentially, and transparently in accordance with COPE guidelines and national governance frameworks. Depending on the severity of the violation, the journal reserves the right to take the following actions:

Requesting formal clarification and written explanation from the authors.
Direct rejection of the manuscript under evaluation.
Issuing a formal Correction Notice or Editorial Expression of Concern.
Executing an official Retraction of the published article.
Notifying the authors' affiliated institutions, funding agencies, or regulatory authorities.

For detailed information regarding similarity limits and screening procedures, please refer to our Plagiarism Policy.

Complaints and Appeals

The Journal of Aceh Studies provides a formal mechanism for handling complaints and appeals from authors, reviewers, or readers. This policy covers issues related to:Editorial Decisions: Appeals against manuscript rejection or requested revisions.

Peer-Review Processes: Concerns regarding the fairness, quality, or timeliness of the review process.
Publication Timelines: Inquiries or complaints regarding publication delays.
Integrity & Misconduct: Allegations of conflicts of interest, citation manipulation, or publication misconduct.
Professional Conduct: Complaints regarding the ethical behavior of handling editors or reviewers.

Handling Procedure All complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief. Every submission will be investigated fairly, confidentially, transparently, and in strict accordance with COPE guidelines to ensure an impartial resolution.

Ethical Oversight

Authors are fully responsible for ensuring that their research complies with all applicable ethical, legal, and professional standards. Where applicable, authors must be prepared to provide verifiable evidence of the following:

Human Participants & Ethical Approval: Official clearance from an institutional ethics committee (IRB/Ethics Board) for research involving human subjects.
Informed Consent: Documented informed consent obtained from all research participants prior to data collection.
Animal Welfare Compliance: Adherence to national and international regulations regarding animal care and ethical use in research.
Copyright & Third-Party Permissions: Formal permission to reuse copyrighted text, tables, figures, images, or proprietary datasets.
Data Privacy & Confidentiality: Proper management and anonymization of sensitive, personal, or confidential research data.

Note: The editorial team reserves the right to request official supporting documentation or ethical approval letters at any stage of the editorial process.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Authors submitting to the Journal of Aceh Studies are encouraged to retain and responsibly archive the research data supporting their publication. The journal reserves the right to request access to raw data during editorial review or ethical inquiries. Data should be made available through recognized repositories whenever possible, respecting all applicable legal, ethical, and confidentiality limitations.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship credit must reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the research. The Journal of Aceh Studies adheres strictly to international COPE standards regarding authorship criteria and ethical attribution.

1. Qualification Criteria for Authorship

To be listed as an author, individuals must meet all of the following four criteria:

Substantial Contribution: Significant involvement in the conception, design, execution, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of the study.
Drafting & Intellectual Input: Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
Final Approval: Approval of the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Accountability: Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

2. Non-Author Contributions & Acknowledgments

Individuals who contributed to the research project (e.g., administrative support, technical editing, financial funding, or general data collection) but do not meet all four authorship criteria must not be listed as authors. Instead, their contributions should be explicitly credited in the Acknowledgments section.

3. Unethical Authorship Practices

The journal strictly prohibits all forms of unethical authorship practices, including:

Gift Authorship: Including individuals who made no or minimal contribution.
Honorary / Guest Authorship: Including senior figures solely based on position or reputation.
Ghost Authorship: Omitting individuals who made significant scientific contributions.
Purchased Authorship: Utilizing paper mills, brokers, or paid authorship services.

4. Post-Submission Authorship Changes

Any request to add, delete, or rearrange author names after manuscript submission must be approved by all listed authors (including the author to be added or removed). The corresponding author must submit a formal request to the Editor-in-Chief accompanied by a signed agreement letter and a clear scientific justification for the change.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding Transparency

To maintain transparency and public trust in the scientific process, all authors, handling editors, and peer reviewers must explicitly disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing their objectivity or judgment.

1. Types of Competing Interests

Potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

Financial Relationships: Consulting fees, honoraria, stock ownership, or paid expert testimony.
Research Grants & Funding: Direct financial support, equipment access, or sponsorship from commercial or non-commercial entities.
Employment & Advisory Roles: Employment history, board memberships, or active consulting arrangements.
Personal & Academic Ties: Close personal relationships, academic rivalries, or institutional affiliations.
Intellectual Property: Patents, royalties, or pending patent applications held by the authors or their institutions.

2. Funding Disclosure Requirements

Authors must explicitly detail all funding sources in the Funding Statement section of the manuscript. This includes specifying the role of the funder(s) in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit for publication.

3. Declaration Statement

If no financial or non-financial conflicts exist, authors must include the following standardized statement in their manuscript before the reference section: "The authors declare no competing interests."

Citation Integrity

Authors, handling editors, and peer reviewers must ensure that all citations within submitted manuscripts are relevant, accurate, and academically justified. The Journal of Aceh Studies enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy against all forms of citation manipulation designed to artificially influence publication metrics.

1. Prohibited Citation Practices

The journal strictly prohibits the following unethical practices:

Excessive Self-Citation: Unnecessary or disproportionate referencing of the author's own previously published work.
Coercive Citation: Editors or reviewers compelling authors to cite their personal publications or specific journal papers without scientific justification.
Citation Stacking: Exchanging citations between authors or papers primarily to inflate citation counts rather than support academic arguments.
Citation Cartels: Collusive agreements among groups of authors or journal networks to systematically cite each other's work.
Metrics Manipulation: Any coordinated attempt to artificially boost author, institutional, or journal citation indices (such as h-index or Impact Factor).

2. Core Citation Principle

All citations must directly serve scholarly communication, contextualize research gaps, and credit original ideas, never to manipulate academic metrics.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors of the Journal of Aceh Studies are responsible for ensuring the academic quality, scientific integrity, and overall fairness of the publication process. Handling editors and Editorial Board members must adhere to the following principles:

1. Core Editorial Duties

Editors shall:

Objective Evaluation: Evaluate submitted manuscripts based solely on their scholarly merit, scientific rigor, original contribution, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
Fair & Timely Review: Oversee an impartial, objective, and prompt peer-review process within the standard 3-month review timeline.
Confidentiality: Preserve strict confidentiality regarding submitted manuscripts, referee feedback, and editorial communications.
Conflict Management: Recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where personal, financial, academic, or institutional conflicts of interest exist.
Ethical Oversight: Investigate suspected publication misconduct in accordance with COPE guidelines and issue corrections, clarifications, expressions of concern, or retractions when necessary.

2. Prohibited Editorial Actions

Editors shall not:

Discriminate: Allow decisions to be influenced by an author's race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religious beliefs, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy.
Misappropriate Research: Use unpublished data, ideas, or materials disclosed in submitted manuscripts for personal research or gain without explicit written authorization.
External Bias: Allow commercial, political, institutional, or personal interests to sway editorial outcomes or peer-review decisions.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting to the Journal of Aceh Studies bear primary responsibility for the originality, scientific accuracy, and ethical integrity of their research work. Authors must strictly comply with the following standards:

1. Core Author Obligations

Authors shall:

Originality & Novelty: Submit entirely original, unpublished manuscripts that are not under evaluation elsewhere.
Data Accuracy: Present research methods, empirical findings, and data analysis truthfully, without distortion or selective reporting.
Data Retention: Retain raw data, research instruments, and supporting assets to make them available upon request by editors or ethics reviewers.
Proper Attribution: Accurately cite, reference, and acknowledge all intellectual work, figures, or ideas drawn from third-party sources.
Ethical Compliance: Secure required institutional ethics approvals (IRB), subject permissions, and copyright clearances prior to submission.
Transparency: Fully disclose all funding sources, institutional support, and potential financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.
Peer-Review Cooperation: Engage constructively during peer review by providing timely revisions, detailed point-by-point response letters, and clear manuscript updates.
Post-Publication Corrections: Notify the Editor-in-Chief immediately if significant errors or inaccuracies are discovered post-publication to facilitate an official erratum or correction.

2. Strictly Prohibited Actions

Authors shall not:

Multiple / Concurrent Submissions: Submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one publication outlet.
Data Fraud: Fabricate fake data, falsify results, or manipulate visual images and metrics.
Plagiarism & Duplication: Engage in text-matching plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or redundant/duplicate publishing.
Citation & Authorship Misconduct: Practice citation manipulation or misrepresent contribution roles (e.g., gift, ghost, or guest authorship).
Concealment: Hide or omit financial arrangements, commercial ties, or competing interests.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer reviewers play a vital role in maintaining the academic quality, scientific rigor, and international credibility of research published in the Journal of Aceh Studies. Reviewers must adhere to the following professional standards:

1. Core Reviewer Obligations

Reviewers shall:

Objective Evaluation: Provide impartial, constructive, and evidence-based scientific evaluations to assist editors in making informed decision and help authors improve their work.
Subject Expertise: Accept review invitations only if they possess adequate expertise in the manuscript's subject matter to perform a proper evaluation.
Timely Assessment: Complete evaluation reports within the agreed timeline (standard 2–3 weeks) to uphold the journal's 3-month submission-to-decision workflow.
Confidentiality: Treat all submitted manuscripts, data, and editorial correspondence as strictly confidential documents.
Literature Identification: Identify relevant published research, key arguments, or foundational literature that authors may have overlooked or improperly cited.
Ethical Oversight: Immediately alert the Editor-in-Chief of potential ethical breaches, including plagiarism, data manipulation, or duplicate submission.
Conflict Disclosure: Disclose any potential financial, personal, or collaborative conflicts of interest and decline the review assignment when necessary.

2. Prohibited Reviewer Actions

Reviewers shall not:

Misappropriate Ideas: Use unpublished data, methodologies, or findings from assigned manuscripts for personal research or commercial advantage.
Unauthorized Sharing: Share, distribute, or discuss manuscript content with third parties or co-reviewers without prior written consent from the Editor.
Personal Bias: Allow institutional affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, or personal viewpoints to influence evaluation outcomes.
Direct Author Contact: Contact authors directly concerning a manuscript under active single-blind review; all communication must proceed strictly through the OJS platform.

Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Discussions

The Journal of Aceh Studies recognizes that published research may occasionally require corrections or updates to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, the journal may publish:

Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda): Issued for minor errors, typographical mistakes, or factual omissions that do not invalidate the scientific conclusions of the paper.
Editorial Notes: Published to provide formal clarifications on significant editorial or procedural matters.
Expressions of Concern: Issued by the Editor-in-Chief while investigations into potential research misconduct or data errors are actively ongoing.
Retractions: Executed when research findings are determined to be fundamentally unreliable due to academic misconduct, plagiarism, data fabrication, or major scientific errors.

Linking & Record Integrity

All post-publication notices will be executed strictly in accordance with COPE recommendations. Notices will be permanently linked to the original published article (via DOI) to preserve the permanent, transparent record of scholarly communication.

For detailed operational procedures regarding article removal or updates, please consult our Retraction, Withdrawal, and Correction Policy.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-Assisted Technologies

Authors submitting to the Journal of Aceh Studies must comply with the following standards regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation:

Author Accountability: Human authors remain solely and fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, scientific integrity, and core ideas presented in their submitted content.
Authorship Prohibition: AI tools, language models (such as ChatGPT), and automated software cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot accept legal, moral, or scientific responsibility for scholarly work.
Transparent Disclosure: Any permitted use of AI tools (such as for language editing, proofreading, or data analysis assistance) must be explicitly disclosed in the manuscript’s Methods section or Acknowledge/Declaration Statement.

For comprehensive operational guidelines and permitted use cases, please refer to our full Generative AI Policy.

Ethical Commitment

The Journal of Aceh Studies is dedicated to fostering responsible research, ethical publishing, absolute transparency, and continuous editorial enhancement. We actively encourage all participants in the publication ecosystem, authors, peer reviewers, editors, and publishing staff, to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct.

Advancing Regional & Academic Progress

Through rigorous ethical oversight and fair scientific evaluation, our journal strives to contribute directly to the advancement of reliable, high-impact scholarly knowledge in Acehnese studies, regional development, governance, and social innovation.

References

The publication ethics and editorial standards of the Journal of Aceh Studies are formulated based on the following national regulations, institutional governance standards, and international ethical guidelines:

National Legal Framework: Regulation of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia Number 39 of 2021 concerning Academic Integrity in Producing Scholarly Works.
Institutional Governance: Journal Governance Regulations and Editorial Mandates of the Journal of Aceh Studies.
International Standards: Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.
Editorial Oversight: COPE Guidelines for Editors, Reviewers, and Publishers.
Post-Publication Policies: COPE Retraction Guidelines.