Publication Ethics

1. Introduction

Jurnal Wasian upholds high standards of academic integrity and ethical publishing. The journal applies rigorous peer-review procedures and ethical oversight to ensure the credibility, transparency, and reliability of published research. This policy outlines the ethical responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers and applies to all submissions.

2. Ethical Principles

Jurnal Wasian follows the principles and best practices promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Editors and reviewers use COPE guidance when addressing ethical issues such as plagiarism, data fabrication, redundant publication, and authorship disputes.

COPE guidelines and flowcharts are publicly available at:
https://publicationethics.org

3. Ethical Considerations for Research

3.1 Research Involving Human Participants

  1. Research involving human participants (e.g. interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, participatory mapping) must be conducted in accordance with recognised ethical standards.
  2. Authors must ensure informed consent is obtained from participants and that participation is voluntary.
  3. Privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity must be protected, particularly in community-based and Indigenous research contexts.
  4. Where applicable, approval from an institutional or local ethics committee must be stated in the manuscript.

The ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki provide general guidance for research involving human participants:
https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/

3.2 Animal Research

  1. Studies involving animals must prioritise animal welfare and minimise harm.
  2. Authors must confirm that relevant permits and approvals from competent authorities were obtained.
  3. Research methods affecting animal welfare must be clearly described and justified.

3.3 Plant and Biodiversity Research

  1. Research involving plants, forests, or genetic resources must comply with applicable national regulations and international agreements.
  2. Where relevant, research should align with the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
  3. Authors must ensure appropriate permissions for plant collection and field research, particularly for protected or rare species.

Convention on Biological Diversity:
https://www.cbd.int

4. Responsibilities of Authors

4.1 Authorship

  1. Authorship should reflect substantial contributions to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, and writing of the manuscript.
  2. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.
  3. Any changes to authorship after submission must be agreed upon by all authors and approved by the editor.

4.2 Originality and Plagiarism

  1. Submitted manuscripts must be original and properly cited.
  2. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and redundant publication are not permitted.

4.3 Conflict of Interest

  1. Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the research or interpretation of results.

4.4 Data Integrity

  1. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of data presented in their manuscripts.
  2. Underlying data should be retained and made available for editorial review if requested.

4.5 Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

  1. Authors must disclose any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies (for example, large language models such as ChatGPT) in the preparation of their manuscript, stating the tool, its version, and the purpose of use in the Methods or Acknowledgements section.
  2. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, as they cannot take responsibility or be held accountable for the content, integrity, or originality of the work.
  3. Authors remain fully responsible for the entire content of their manuscript, including any text, data, code, or images produced with AI assistance, and must verify its accuracy and originality and ensure it is free from plagiarism and fabrication.
  4. AI tools must not be used to fabricate, alter, or manipulate research data or images.
  5. The use of AI solely for basic language editing or readability improvements does not normally require disclosure, provided it does not affect the scientific content of the work.

5. Open Access and Licensing Policy

Jurnal Wasian is an open-access journal and supports the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), ensuring that all published content is freely accessible without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

All articles published in Jurnal Wasian are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

6. Editorial and Peer Review Responsibilities

6.1 Editorial Responsibilities

  1. Editors evaluate manuscripts based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, and ethical compliance.
  2. Editorial decisions are made independently and without discrimination.
  3. Editors address ethical concerns in accordance with COPE guidance.

6.2 Reviewer Responsibilities

  1. Reviewers provide objective, constructive, and timely assessments.
  2. Confidentiality must be maintained throughout the review process.
  3. Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest and report suspected ethical issues.
  4. To protect the confidentiality of unpublished work, reviewers must not upload a manuscript, any part of it, its supplementary materials, or their review report to generative AI or AI-assisted tools (such as ChatGPT or other public large language models), as this may breach the authors’ confidentiality and intellectual-property rights, and the content may be stored or reused by the tool.
  5. The critical evaluation of the manuscript and the final recommendation must be the reviewer’s own work and must not be delegated to an AI tool, which may produce inaccurate, biased, or fabricated content; reviewers remain fully responsible for the content and accuracy of their review.
  6. Reviewers must disclose to the editor any use of AI-assisted technologies in preparing their review, stating the tool and the purpose of use, and should raise with the editor any suspected undisclosed use of AI in a manuscript. The use of AI solely for basic language editing or readability improvements of the reviewer’s own comments, using a private AI tool and without sharing any part of the manuscript, does not normally require disclosure.

7. Addressing Ethical Misconduct

7.1 Investigation

  1. Allegations of misconduct are investigated following COPE guidance.

7.2 Corrective Actions

  1. Confirmed misconduct may result in corrections, retractions, or notifications to relevant institutions.

8. Ethical Compliance Statement

Submission of a manuscript to Jurnal Wasian implies that authors, reviewers, and editors agree to comply with this publication ethics policy. The policy is periodically reviewed to reflect developments in ethical standards and best practices.