Publishing Ethics Policy

International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education (IEJEE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, academic quality, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. The Journal recognizes that ethical publishing is a shared responsibility involving authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, readers, and the publisher.

IEJEE follows internationally recognized principles and good practices in scholarly publishing, particularly the ethical guidance provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publication process are expected to conduct themselves responsibly, objectively, transparently, and professionally.

1. Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher is committed to safeguarding the integrity and independence of the editorial process. Commercial, financial, institutional, political, religious, ethnic, or personal considerations shall not influence editorial decisions.

The publisher shall:

  • Support editors in maintaining high academic and ethical standards.

  • Protect the confidentiality and integrity of submitted and published scholarly records.

  • Support appropriate investigation of allegations of research or publication misconduct.

  • Facilitate the publication of corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other notices when necessary.

  • Support measures for identifying plagiarism, duplicate publication, manipulation, and other forms of misconduct.

  • Preserve published scholarly content through appropriate digital archiving and preservation mechanisms.

  • Respect editorial independence and avoid inappropriate interference with editorial decisions.

2. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are evaluated fairly, objectively, confidentially, and according to their academic merit and relevance to the Journal's aims and scope.

Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by an author's nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political views, disability, or other personal characteristics unrelated to scholarly merit.

Editors shall:

  • Ensure an impartial and academically rigorous peer-review process.

  • Select qualified and independent reviewers with appropriate subject expertise.

  • Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and communications with authors and reviewers.

  • Identify and appropriately manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

  • Avoid using unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional advantage.

  • Investigate credible allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, inappropriate authorship, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, or other misconduct.

  • Take appropriate corrective action when significant errors or ethical violations are identified.

  • Refrain from requesting unnecessary citations for the purpose of artificially increasing journal, editor, reviewer, or author citation metrics.

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a significant conflict of interest exists.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the scholarly quality and integrity of IEJEE publications.

Reviewers are expected to:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively, constructively, and professionally.

  • Accept review assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise.

  • Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or promptly inform the editor when this is not possible.

  • Treat manuscripts and associated materials as confidential documents.

  • Avoid sharing manuscripts or unpublished information without authorization.

  • Declare any actual or potential conflict of interest before accepting a review assignment.

  • Identify relevant ethical concerns, including suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate citation practices, data irregularities, or other possible misconduct.

  • Provide clear, evidence-based, and academically justified recommendations.

  • Avoid personal criticism, discriminatory comments, defamatory statements, or inappropriate language.

  • Refrain from requesting citations to their own publications or those of colleagues unless such references are genuinely relevant to the manuscript.

Information obtained through peer review must not be used for personal research, financial benefit, competitive advantage, or any other unauthorized purpose.

4. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts submitted to IEJEE represent accurate, original, transparent, and ethically conducted scholarly work.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must submit original work and appropriately acknowledge all sources, ideas, data, quotations, and materials obtained from others.

Plagiarism, including direct copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, unattributed use of ideas or data, and presenting another person's work as one's own, is considered serious publication misconduct.

Multiple and Duplicate Submissions

A manuscript submitted to IEJEE must not simultaneously be under consideration by another journal.

Authors must not submit previously published work as a new manuscript or publish substantially the same research in multiple journals without appropriate disclosure and justification.

Accuracy and Research Integrity

Authors must accurately describe their research methods, procedures, analyses, findings, and conclusions.

Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, deliberate misrepresentation of data, or other practices intended to produce misleading research findings are unacceptable.

5. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual or scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript.

All listed authors should:

  • Have made a meaningful contribution to the work.

  • Review and approve the final version of the manuscript.

  • Agree to its submission and publication.

  • Accept appropriate accountability for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.

Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are considered unethical.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission or acceptance must be appropriately justified and agreed upon by all authors.

6. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, academic, or personal relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their work or judgment.

Authors must disclose relevant sources of financial support and describe the role of funding organizations, where applicable.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication; however, transparency is essential.

7. Research Involving Human Participants or Animals

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and relevant national or international regulations.

Where required, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent authority.

Authors should clearly state relevant ethical approval information in the manuscript.

Research participants must provide appropriate informed consent where required, and their privacy, confidentiality, dignity, and rights must be protected.

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international standards for animal welfare and ethical research.

8. Data Integrity, Availability, and Transparency

Authors are responsible for maintaining accurate research records and should retain underlying data for an appropriate period following publication.

Editors may request research data or supporting documentation when necessary to verify the integrity of a manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to make research data available where ethically, legally, and practically appropriate while protecting confidential or personally identifiable information.

Manipulation, fabrication, or falsification of research data is prohibited.

9. Confidentiality and Privacy

Editors and reviewers must protect the confidentiality of manuscripts submitted for consideration.

Unpublished manuscripts, research findings, personal information, correspondence, reviewer reports, and other confidential materials must not be disclosed or used without appropriate authorization.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that confidential information, photographs, recordings, personal data, or other identifiable information are used only with appropriate consent and authorization.

10. Citation and Reference Ethics

Authors must accurately acknowledge publications that have influenced their research.

Citation manipulation is prohibited. Authors, reviewers, and editors must not attempt to artificially increase citation counts through unnecessary, irrelevant, coercive, or inappropriate citation requests.

References should be included because of their scholarly relevance to the manuscript.

11. Research and Publication Misconduct

IEJEE takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Plagiarism

  • Data fabrication or falsification

  • Duplicate or redundant publication

  • Simultaneous submission

  • Inappropriate authorship

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest

  • Citation manipulation

  • Peer-review manipulation

  • Unauthorized use of confidential information

  • Manipulation of images, figures, or research records

  • Misrepresentation of research results

  • Ethical violations involving research participants or animals

When credible concerns arise, the Journal may investigate the matter and request explanations, original data, ethical approval documents, or other supporting information from the authors.

12. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

IEJEE is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the Journal may issue an appropriate:

  • Correction or erratum

  • Retraction

  • Expression of concern

  • Editorial notice or other amendment

Authors are required to cooperate with the Journal when errors or potential misconduct are identified.

If an author discovers a significant error in a published article, the author should promptly inform the editorial office and cooperate in correcting or retracting the publication where appropriate.

13. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial decisions, peer review, ethical issues, or publication procedures.

Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, independently of the individuals involved in the original decision.

Submitting an appeal does not guarantee that an editorial decision will be changed.

14. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, and ethical compliance of all content submitted to IEJEE, including material developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence technologies.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for published scholarly work.

Where AI-assisted technologies have been substantially used in preparing or conducting research, authors should disclose their use transparently where appropriate and in accordance with the Journal's applicable policies.

Authors must ensure that the use of AI tools does not compromise confidentiality, intellectual property rights, research integrity, participant privacy, or applicable ethical requirements.

15. Commitment to Publication Ethics

IEJEE considers ethical scholarly publishing a collective responsibility. Authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher are expected to contribute to maintaining the reliability, transparency, fairness, and integrity of the scholarly record.

Suspected violations of publication ethics will be evaluated carefully and handled in accordance with established journal procedures and internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, including relevant COPE guidelines and recommendations.