Publication Ethics
JASAT follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This statement sets out what the journal expects of authors, reviewers and editors, and what it does when a concern is raised. World Research Union is not a COPE member; the journal applies COPE guidance as its own policy.
1. Authorship
The journal applies COPE authorship principles and the CRediT contributor taxonomy. Ghost, gift and guest authorship are not allowed. Details, including how to change the author list, are on the Authorship and Contributorship page.
2. Conflicts of interest
Authors, reviewers and editors must declare any interest that could reasonably be seen to affect their work on a manuscript. See the Conflict of Interest page, and the Editorial Independence page for submissions from editors and reviewers.
3. Originality, text recycling and citation manipulation
Every submission is screened with iThenticate. Unattributed copying, including from the authors' own earlier papers, is handled as described in the Plagiarism Policy. Authors should follow the COPE-endorsed Text Recycling Guidelines when reusing their own prior work.
Citations added to inflate the metrics of the authors, the journal or anyone else, rather than to support the argument, count as citation manipulation. Manuscripts containing it are rejected or retracted, and the authors' institutions may be told.
4. Duplicate and overlapping publication
Manuscripts must not have been published before or be under review elsewhere. Authors must disclose any related submission. A journal version of a conference paper needs substantial new content, must be declared at submission and must cite the conference paper.
5. Fabrication, falsification and selective reporting
Fabricating or falsifying data, results or images is misconduct. It leads to rejection before publication and retraction after it. Image adjustments applied evenly to the whole image, such as cropping or contrast, must be disclosed if they could affect interpretation. In experimental and computational work the same rule covers selective reporting: authors must not drop unfavourable runs or samples, choose test conditions after seeing the results, or present tuned results as independent validation.
6. Use of AI tools
Authors must disclose any use of generative AI in preparing a manuscript, and AI tools cannot be authors. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts to AI services. See the AI Use Policy.
7. Data and reproducibility
Every manuscript needs a Data Availability Statement, and code should be shared where it is needed to reproduce the results. See the Data Availability page.
8. Research ethics
Research with human participants needs approval from an ethics committee or institutional review board, and the manuscript must give the approval reference and date. Animal research must meet national and institutional rules. Where research uses identifiable personal or financial data, consent must have been obtained where required and the procedure described. Authors must keep records of approval and consent and supply them on request.
9. Corrections, expressions of concern and retractions
The journal follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines and uses three kinds of notice:
- Correction. For honest errors that affect accuracy but not the main findings. The article stays online, linked to the correction.
- Expression of concern. For serious but unresolved doubts while an investigation runs. The article stays online, linked to the notice.
- Retraction. For findings that are unreliable because of error or misconduct. The article stays online, clearly marked as retracted, and indexing services are told.
10. Allegations of misconduct
Allegations about a submitted or published paper can be sent in confidence to the Editor-in-Chief through the Contact page. The journal follows the relevant COPE flowchart and may contact the authors, their institutions and other parties. Complainants are not named without their consent unless the law requires it. Allegations are investigated whatever the seniority of those involved or the time since publication.
11. Complaints and appeals
Complaints about the editorial process go to the Editor-in-Chief through the Contact page. Appeals against rejection follow the procedure on the Peer Review Process page. A complaint the editors cannot resolve can be taken to the publisher at info@wrunion.org.
12. Protection for whistleblowers
People who raise a concern in good faith are protected from retaliation. Their identity is kept confidential as far as the law allows, and the journal will not contact their employer or institution without their consent.
13. Confidentiality
Editors and reviewers do not disclose anything about a submission outside the editorial process, and may not cite or use unpublished material from it.
14. Independence
Editorial decisions are made by the editors on the basis of peer review. The publisher plays no part in them. See the Editorial Independence page.
