Research and publication ethics
Revised on June 15, 2024
JPS fully adheres to the COPE guidelines (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and strongly encourages all authors to observe ethical policies and standards for scholarly publication. Journal of Policy Studies (JPS) does not accept any manuscripts that include plagiarized content, fabricated and/or manipulated data and analysis, inappropriate authorship, financial and non-financial conflicts of interest to distort research ethics, and simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal. JPS does not tolerate any plagiarism, falsification and manipulation in research materials and data, unethical authorship, and other inappropriate academic activities in the process of publication.
Authorship
Authorship credit should be based on (1) substantive contributions to conceptualization and design of the study, acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Every author should meet all of these four conditions. After initial submission of a manuscript, any changes whatsoever in authorship (adding author(s), deleting author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) must be explained by a letter to the editor from the authors concerned. This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. Copyright assignment must also be completed by every author.
Corresponding author and first author: JPS does not allow multiple corresponding authors for one article. Only one author should correspond with the editorial office and readers for one article. JPS does accept notice of equal contribution for the first author when the study was clearly performed by co-first authors.
Correction of authorship after publication: JPS does not correct authorship after publication unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff. Authorship may be changed before publication but after submission when an authorship correction is requested by all of the authors involved with the manuscript.
Author name change policy: An author who has changed their name may request an author name change on articles published in out journal. This can be done silently or through an Addendum according to author preference. We do not require evidence of name changes, but changes to both surname and first name may be subject to additional checks. Authors should managing editor (kjps@snu.ac.kr) to request more information or a name change.
Originality, plagiarism, and duplicate publication
Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival. If plagiarism or duplicate publication is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected, the authors will be announced in the journal, and their institutions will be informed. There will also be penalties for the authors.
wA letter of permission is required for any and all material that has been published previously. It is the responsibility of the author to request permission from the publisher for any material that is being reproduced. This requirement applies to text, figures, and tables.
Text recycling
Text recycling, also known as self-plagiarism, is when an author re-uses sections of text from their own previous publications without proper attribution. This is distinct from redundant or duplicate publication which refers to larger scale repeated publication of text or data with at least one author in common. This journal will follow COPE guidelines on text recycling when assessing acceptability of text recycling in a given manuscript. These factors that will be considered are: (1) How much text is recycled; (2) Where in the article the text recycling occurs; (3) Whether the source of the recycled text has been acknowledged; (4) Whether the article is a research or non-research article; (5) Whether there is a breach of copyright; (6) In some circumstances, cultural norms at the time and place of publication. Where text recycling is deemed unacceptable, a submitted manuscript may be rejected. A published article may require a post-publication change as described in the Retractions, Corrections, and Expressions of Concern.
Conflict of interest statement
The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.
Funding: This journal requires authors to include a statement of funding in their manuscript. The source of funding for the authors’ research should be stated in accordance with the journal's author instructions.
Statement of informed consent and Institutional Review Board approval
Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.
Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern
Cases that require corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern shall follow the COPE flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).
Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. If an author is found to have made an error in a published article, a Corrigendum will be used. If the journal is found to have made an error, an Erratum will be used.
Process for managing research and publication misconduct
When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and so on, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the COPE (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board.
How the journal handle complaints and appeals
The policy of the journal is primarily aimed at protecting the authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher of the journal. If not described below, the process of handling complaints and appeals follows the guidelines of the COPE (https://publicationethics.org/appeals).
Who complains or makes an appeal? Authors, reviewers, and readers may register complaints and appeals in a variety of cases as follows: falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, duplicate publication, authorship dispute, conflict of interest, ethical treatment of animals, informed consent, bias or unfair/inappropriate competitive acts, copyright, stolen data, defamation, and legal problem. If any individuals or institutions want to inform the cases, they can send an email. For the complaints or appeals, concrete data with answers to all factual questions (who, when, where, what, how, why) should be provided.
Who is responsible to resolve and handle complaints and appeals? The Editor, Editorial Board, or Editorial Office is responsible for them. A legal consultant or ethics editor may be able to help with the decision making.
What may be the consequence of remedy? It depends on the type or degree of misconduct. The consequence of resolution will follow the guidelines of the COPE.
Editorial responsibilities
The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and excluding plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; avoiding any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promoting publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.
