IJABE Publishing Ethics Policy

IJABE Publishing Ethics Policy

This publicly accessible Publishing Ethics Policy governs all journal submissions, peer review procedures, editorial decisions, and published content. It sets out enforceable ethical standards for authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members to safeguard the integrity, authenticity, transparency, and academic credibility of all published research.

  1. Authorship and Contributorship Policy

This journal follows international standards for legitimate authorship and contributorship. All listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research, including study design, data acquisition and analysis, manuscript drafting or critical revision, and final approval of the published version.

Ghost, guest, and honorary authorship are strictly prohibited. Individuals providing technical or administrative support without qualifying authorship contributions will be acknowledged appropriately in the manuscript. Corresponding authors are accountable for verifying contributor authenticity, confirming accurate author ordering and coordinating all journal communications throughout the publication lifecycle. All authors must confirm their participation and approval before submission.

  1. Complaints and Appeals Handling Policy

The journal maintains a fair, transparent and timely mechanism for handling all publication-related complaints and appeals, including authorship disputes, peer review misconduct, contested editorial decisions, ethical breaches and post-publication content concerns. All complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing with supporting evidence via the official editorial email address.

The editorial office will acknowledge valid submissions within five working days and conduct an impartial, independent investigation separate from the original review team. All case details remain confidential to protect stakeholder interests. A formal investigation outcome will be issued within 30 working days; extended timelines for complex cases will be communicated in advance. All decisions are final, and all cases are archived internally for ethical supervision and record-keeping.

  1. Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests Policy

Any personal, financial, professional, or other interests that may bias judgment during the publishing process constitute a conflict of interest. All authors, reviewers, editors, and board members must fully disclose all actual or potential competing interests relevant to the manuscripts they submit or evaluate.

Authors must complete a conflict of interest disclosure form at submission, declaring all funding, commercial affiliations, patent activities, and personal relationships that may affect research objectivity. Reviewers and editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts with conflicting affiliations, collaborations or financial ties. Undisclosed competing interests constitute academic misconduct and may result in manuscript rejection, published article correction, or formal retraction.

  1. Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy

The journal promotes open data sharing and research reproducibility to enhance academic transparency. Authors of original research must ensure all supporting raw and processed data, analytical code, experimental protocols, and study materials are complete, authentic, and traceable.

Authors are encouraged to deposit research data in reputable public repositories and include valid access links and accession numbers in their manuscripts. For restricted or sensitive data, authors must provide a clear justification and ensure data availability for legitimate academic verification. The journal reserves the right to request original data for pre- and post-publication validation. Manuscripts with unverifiable or irreproducible results will be rejected, and flawed published data will be corrected or retracted.

  1. Ethical Oversight Policy

All submitted research must comply with prevailing national and international ethical guidelines and legal requirements. Human participant studies require formal institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee approval and documented informed consent from participants or their legal guardians.

Animal experiments must adhere to institutional and national animal welfare standards with valid ethical approval. Clinical trials and systematic reviews must be registered and ethically certified. The editorial team conducts full-process ethical oversight throughout screening and peer review. Incomplete ethical documentation will suspend review until full compliance is achieved. Confirmed ethical violations result in immediate manuscript rejection, formal misconduct recording, and potential public notification.

  1. Intellectual Property Policy

All journal-published content is protected by intellectual property law. Upon acceptance, authors transfer publication copyright, including reproduction, distribution and online dissemination rights, to the journal unless a special authorization agreement applies.

Authors retain moral authorship rights, including attribution and protection against unauthorized content alteration. Submitted manuscripts must be original, free of third-party intellectual property infringement, and not under concurrent consideration elsewhere. Confirmed plagiarism, copyright infringement or unauthorized dissemination will lead to manuscript rejection or article retraction, with the journal reserving the right to pursue legal remedies.

  1. Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections Policy

The journal supports constructive post-publication academic discussion and maintains a rigorous correction and retraction framework to preserve the accuracy and reliability of published research.

Readers may submit objective academic comments and questions via official journal channels; legitimate discussions will be formally retained. Minor non-core errors will be addressed through published Corrections. Major inaccuracies, data fraud, ethical violations, or compromised conclusions will result in formal Retraction notices.

All post-publication corrections, retractions and academic comments are permanently linked to the original article to ensure full transparency and traceability. The editorial team reviews post-publication feedback and processes valid revision requests promptly and consistently.

  1. Policy Implementation and Update

This policy takes effect upon official website publication. The journal editorial team oversees implementation, interpretation, and routine supervision. The journal reserves the right to update this policy to align with evolving international ethical standards, with revised versions posted publicly to supersede prior editions.