Publication Ethics

Jurnal Mufassir is a peer-reviewed journal committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Springer, and global best practices in scholarly publishing. This statement clarifies the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process of articles in this journal, including authors, the editor-in-chief, editorial board members, reviewers, and the publisher. This declaration is based on the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

 

General Guidelines for Scholarly Publication

The publication of articles in the peer-reviewed Jurnal Mufassir is an essential foundation for the development of a coherent and respected body of knowledge. Published works reflect the quality of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles uphold the scientific method; therefore, it is important to agree on standards of ethical behavior expected of all parties: authors, editors, reviewers, publishers, and the scientific community.

The journal’s publication ethics refer to three key principles established in LIPI Regulation No. 5 of 2014 on the Code of Ethics for Scientific Publication:

1. Neutrality: Free from conflicts of interest in managing publications

2. Fairness: Granting authorship rights to those who are entitled

3. Integrity: Free from duplication, fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism

 

Responsibilities of the Journal Management

  • Determining the journal’s name, scope, periodicity, and accreditation requirements
  • Appointing editorial board members
  • Defining the relationships among the publisher, editors, reviewers, and other parties through formal agreements
  • Protecting confidentiality for all parties involved
  • Implementing norms and regulations on intellectual property rights, especially copyright
  • Reviewing journal policies and communicating them to authors, editors, reviewers, and readers
  • Establishing ethical guidelines for editors and reviewers
  • Publishing the journal on a regular schedule
  • Ensuring adequate funding sources for sustainable publication
  • Building cooperation networks and marketing strategies
  • Managing legal and licensing matters

 

Responsibilities of Editors

1. The Editors Of Jurnal Mufassir Are Committed To:

  • Serving the needs of readers and authors
  • Continuously improving publication quality
  • Implementing processes that ensure the quality of published articles
  • Upholding objective academic freedom of expression
  • Maintaining the integrity of authors’ academic records
  • Publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary
  • Being responsible for the writing style and format; content remains the responsibility of authors
  • Actively seeking feedback from authors, readers, reviewers, and editorial board members to improve publication quality

2. Publication Decisions

2.1. Editors are responsible for determining which articles are suitable for publication, often in consultation with relevant scholarly communities.

2.2. Decisions are based on:

  • Research validity
  • Importance for researchers and readers
  • Originality and clarity
  • Relevance to the journal’s scope

2.3. Editors may be guided by the journal’s editorial board policies and are constrained by legal requirements on defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

2.4. Editors may consult with other editors, reviewers, or society officers when making decisions.

3. Fair Play

3.1. Editors evaluate manuscripts based on their intellectual content regardless of:

  • Race, gender, sexual orientation
  • Religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality
  • Political philosophy

3.2. Editors ensure that all authors receive unbiased and fair evaluation.

4. Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must not disclose information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than:

  • Corresponding authors
  • Reviewers or potential reviewers
  • Other editorial advisers
  • The publisher (where necessary)

5. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

  • Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in editors’ own research without explicit written permission from the authors.
  • Privileged information obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
  • Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where conflicts of interest exist due to competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with authors or institutions.
  • Editors must require authors to disclose any relevant conflicts of interest and publish corrections if conflicts are discovered after publication.
  • Sponsored supplements must undergo the same peer-review process as regular issues.
  • Non–peer-reviewed sections of the journal must be clearly identified.

6. Involvement in Investigations

Editors must take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints are made regarding submitted manuscripts or published articles. Actions may include:

  • Contacting the author(s)
  • Communicating concerns to relevant institutions
  • Publishing corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern
  • Investigating all reported unethical publishing behavior, even if discovered years later

 

Reviewer Responsibilities

1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions

  • Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions.
  • Editorial communication with the authors may also help authors improve the quality of their manuscripts.
  • Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the core of the scientific method.
  • Jurnal Mufassir upholds the view that all scholars who wish to contribute to publication have an obligation to perform their fair share of reviewing.

2. Promptness

  • Reviewers who feel unqualified to review a manuscript must immediately notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.
  • Reviewers who realize that a timely review is not feasible should inform the editor promptly and excuse themselves from the process.

3. Confidentiality

  • Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
  • They must not be shown to or discussed with others except with explicit permission from the editor.

4. Standards of Objectivity

  • Reviews must be conducted objectively.
  • Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
  • Reviewers should express their views clearly and support them with relevant arguments.

5. Acknowledgment of Sources

  • Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
  • Statements that an observation, derivation, or argument has been reported previously should be supported by appropriate citations.
  • Reviewers must alert the editor to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and other published articles of which they are aware.

6. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

  • Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential
  • Not used for personal advantage.
  • Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

 

Author Responsibilities

1. Reporting Standards

  • Authors must present an accurate account of the research conducted.
  • An objective discussion of the significance of the findings must be provided.
  • Underlying data should be represented accurately.
  • The manuscript must contain sufficient detail and references to allow replication of the work.
  • Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

2. Data Access and Retention

  • Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study for editorial review.
  • Authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP–STM Statement on Data and Databases), where feasible.
  • In any case, authors must be prepared to retain the data for a reasonable period after publication.

3. Originality and Plagiarism

  • Originality: Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original.
  • Proper Citation: If authors have used the work and/or words of others, these must be appropriately cited or quoted.
  • Forms of Plagiarism: Plagiarism may take many forms, including claiming another’s work as the author's own, copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s work without attribution, or claiming results from research conducted by others.
  • Unacceptable Practice: Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
  • Plagiarism Screening: Manuscripts will be screened using plagiarism detection software (Turnitin/iThenticate).
  • Similarity Threshold: Manuscripts with a similarity index above 25% will be rejected.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Self-plagiarism (auto-plagiarism) is also prohibited.

4. Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

  • Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication.
  • Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior.
  • As a general rule, authors should not submit previously published work for consideration in another journal.
  • Certain types of articles (e.g., clinical guidelines, translations) may be published in more than one journal only with proper justification and with the approval of the authors and editors concerned.

5. Acknowledgment of Sources

  • Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given.
  • Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
  • Information obtained privately (through conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit written permission from the source.
  • Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as manuscript reviewing or grant application evaluation, must not be used without explicit written permission from the author(s) of the work involved.

 

Authorship

1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship should be granted only to individuals who meet all of the following criteria:

  • Have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research reported
  • Have participated in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content
  • Have given final approval of the version to be published
  • Agree to the submission of the manuscript for publication
  • Accept responsibility for all aspects of the research to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

2. Authorship Provisions

  • Authorship must be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the research.
  • All individuals who have made substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors.
  • Individuals who have participated in specific substantive aspects of the research project but do not meet authorship criteria must be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
  • The order of authors should reflect the relative level of contribution to the work.
  • The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included, and that no inappropriate co-authors are listed.
  • All co-authors must have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission.
  • Changes to authorship after submission are permitted only with the agreement of all parties involved and with approval from the editor.
  • The corresponding author serves as the primary point of communication with the journal during the submission, peer review, and publication processes.
  • Gift authorship (adding authors without real contribution) and ghost authorship (excluding contributors who deserve authorship) are strictly prohibited.
  • Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria must be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.

3. Hazards and Use of Human or Animal Subjects

  • If the research involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with inherent hazards, the authors must clearly identify these risks in the manuscript.
  • If the study involves human or animal subjects, the manuscript must include a statement confirming that all procedures were conducted in accordance with relevant institutional laws and guidelines and approved by the appropriate institutional committee.
  • For studies involving human participants, authors must state that informed consent was obtained.
  • The privacy and confidentiality of human subjects must always be protected.

4. Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose in their manuscript:

  • Any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be perceived to influence the results or interpretation of the manuscript;
  • All sources of financial support for the project.
  • Examples of potential conflicts of interest that require disclosure include: Employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications or registrations, grants, or other funding.
  • Conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
  • If there is no conflict of interest, authors must state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

5. Fundamental Errors in Published Work

  • When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they are obligated to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher.
  • Authors must cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the article.
  • If the editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains significant errors, the authors must either promptly retract or correct the article or provide evidence supporting the accuracy of the original work.

 

Research Data and Transparency

  • Authors are responsible for the validity and reliability of the data.
  • Supporting data must be made available upon request by editors or reviewers.
  • Data involving human subjects must have prior ethical approval.
  • A Data Availability Statement must be included where required.
  • Data must be presented accurately and honestly.

 

Review Process

  • All manuscripts submitted to Jurnal Mufassir undergo independent review by at least two reviewers.
  • The journal uses a double-blind peer-review system.
  • Publication, revision, or rejection decisions are based on reviewer evaluations and recommendations.
  • In certain cases, the editor may request a third review before making a final decision.

 

Acknowledgment of Contributions

  • All contributors who do not meet authorship criteria must be acknowledged.
  • This includes funders, research assistants, data providers, or technical support.
  • Proper acknowledgment must be given for all forms of assistance.

 

Post-Publication Corrections

Jurnal Mufassir is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Published articles will not be altered or removed from electronic or print platforms. Electronic publications are considered final; changes will only be made under exceptional circumstances. Final decisions regarding corrections rest with the Editor-in-Chief.

Types of post-publication corrections include:

1. Errata

Issued to correct production errors affecting scientific integrity, the publication record, or author reputation.

2. Corrigenda

Applied when authors identify errors in the published article, subject to publisher assessment.

3. Addenda

Peer-reviewed corrections providing additional information in response to readers’ requests for clarification. Addenda must not contradict the original publication but may include important information omitted from the initial version.

4. Retractions

Retractions occur when articles are proven invalid due to ethical violations such as:

  • Plagiarism
  • Data manipulation
  • Invalid authorship claims
  • All authors must agree to a retraction. If agreement is not reached, the journal may proceed and indicate the disagreement.
  • Retracted articles will be marked as "Retracted".
  • Articles may be removed completely if they violate the law, contain defamatory content, or pose significant risk.

5. Expression of Concern

Issued when concerns arise but conclusive evidence is not yet available. It may later be replaced by a retraction or clarification.

 

Plagiarism Screening Policy

All submissions are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin or Plagiarism Checker before the review process begins. Manuscripts with a similarity index above 25% will be rejected and returned for substantial revision.

 

Copyright Policy

Authors publishing in Jurnal Mufassir agree to the following:

  • Author Rights: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal first publication rights. The work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, allowing redistribution with proper attribution.
  • Additional Agreements: Authors may enter into non-exclusive agreements for distributing the published version (e.g., institutional repositories, books), acknowledging initial publication in this journal.
  • License: Jurnal Mufassir adopts the CC BY-SA 4.0 license (or equivalent) to support the optimal distribution, use, and reuse of scholarly work.
  • Open Access: The journal recognizes that open access under CC BY-SA 4.0 or equivalent is preferable to paywalled access.

 

Preprints

  • The journal accepts manuscripts previously posted on preprint servers.
  • Prior preprint publication must be disclosed in the article.

 

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Authors must disclose the use of generative AI tools during manuscript preparation.
  • Editors and reviewers should remain vigilant regarding AI-generated content.
  • Use of AI must not compromise research integrity and originality.

 

Privacy and Confidentiality

  • Names and email addresses entered in the journal system will be used exclusively for stated purposes.
  • Information will not be misused or distributed to third parties.
  • The privacy of all involved parties will be strictly protected.

 

Final Commitment

Jurnal Mufassir is committed to:

  • Upholding the highest standards of publication ethics;
  • Ensuring a fair and transparent publication process;
  • Safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record;
  • Supporting the advancement of scientific knowledge;
  • Contributing positively to the academic community.

By adhering to these ethical standards, Jurnal Mufassir aims to maintain scientific credibility and uphold academic integrity at all stages of the publication process.