ETHICAL STANDARDS
The International Journal for Peace and Public Leadership (IJPPL) is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, fairness, and responsible scholarly publishing. The following standards apply to authors, editors, and reviewers.
1. Authors’ Responsibilities
Authors commit themselves to the following:
- Respectful and collegial writing: Submitted articles should maintain a respectful and collegial tone. While passion is encouraged, combative writing and partisan rhetoric are not acceptable and may be grounds for rejection.
- Originality: Submitted articles must be original and unpublished. Simultaneous submission to other journals is not permitted.
- No plagiarism or redundant publication: Plagiarism, including the inappropriate reuse of one’s own previously published work, is unacceptable. Submissions must not contain substantial previously published material presented as new work, including through data slicing.
- Research integrity: Falsification or fabrication of data, evidence, or sources is unacceptable and will be grounds for rejection. Submitted articles may be checked using appropriate software.
- Authorship: All listed authors must have made a meaningful contribution to the work and must approve the submitted manuscript. All authors share responsibility for its integrity.
- Conflicts of interest: Authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their work.
- Research ethics: Authors must ensure that research involving human participants, personal data, or other ethically sensitive material complies with applicable ethical requirements, including informed consent and appropriate ethical approval where required.
2. Editorial and Review Responsibilities
- Impartiality: Editors and reviewers must evaluate submissions fairly and on their scholarly merits, without discrimination or undue influence.
- Confidentiality: Manuscripts and communications relating to submissions must be treated as confidential. Reviewers must not disclose or use unpublished material for their own purposes.
- Conflicts of interest: Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and decline assignments where impartiality could be compromised.
- Editorial independence: Publication decisions rest with the editor and are based on the journal’s scholarly standards, scope, and peer-review process.
3. Misconduct and Post-Publication Issues
The journal takes allegations of plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, authorship misconduct, and other forms of publication misconduct seriously. Such concerns will be assessed fairly, and authors may be asked to provide explanations or supporting information. Where appropriate, the journal may consult the authors’ institutions or other relevant bodies.
If significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, issue an expression of concern, or retract the article, as appropriate.
Authors may appeal editorial decisions or raise complaints concerning the handling of their submissions. Such matters will be considered fairly and impartially. Complaints concerning the Editor should be addressed directly to the Executive Editor at t.walsh@hji.edu.
4. Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
Authors are responsible for obtaining any permissions required for copyrighted material included in their submissions. Copyright ownership and licensing arrangements are set out in the journal’s separate Copyright and Licensing Policy.
The use of artificial intelligence tools by authors, editors, and reviewers is governed by the journal’s separate Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.
5. Publication Ethics Framework
The IJPPL is committed to following the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).