JATG - Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

The Journal of Accounting, Transparency and Governance (JATG) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. All parties involved in the publication process — authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher — are expected to adhere to these ethical standards. JATG follows the guidelines and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles all cases of suspected misconduct in accordance with COPE procedures.

1. Duties of Authors

1.1 Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that their submitted manuscript is entirely original and has not been previously published in any language or form, in whole or in substantial part. Where authors have drawn upon the work of others, this must be properly cited and referenced. Plagiarism in any form — including direct copying, paraphrasing without attribution, or the appropriation of others' ideas without acknowledgement — constitutes unethical conduct and is unacceptable. All submissions are screened using Turnitin. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% (excluding references, quotations, and common phrases) will be returned to the authors before review.

1.2 Prohibition of Duplicate and Redundant Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal. Submitting a manuscript that has been previously published — in the same or a substantially similar form — to another journal constitutes duplicate publication and is unethical. Authors must confirm, at the time of submission, that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere and has not been previously published. If elements of the work have been published previously (e.g., as a conference proceeding or preprint), this must be clearly disclosed in the cover letter and acknowledged in the manuscript.

1.3 Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship of a manuscript should accurately reflect who made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work. All listed authors must have:

1. Made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study
2. Participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript
3. Approved the final version submitted for publication
4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work

Honorary or gift authorship — listing individuals who did not contribute substantively to the work — is not permitted. Ghost authorship — omitting individuals who made substantial contributions — is equally prohibited. Changes to authorship (addition, removal, or reordering of authors) after submission are not permitted without the written consent of all authors and a satisfactory explanation to the editor.

Authors are required to declare individual contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework in the manuscript. Example roles include: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing.

1.4 Data Integrity and Transparency

Authors must present their research findings honestly and accurately. Fabrication (inventing data or results), falsification (manipulating or selectively omitting data to misrepresent findings), and selective reporting of results are serious forms of research misconduct. Raw data underlying the reported findings should be retained by authors for a reasonable period after publication and made available to the editorial team or other researchers upon reasonable request, where ethically permissible.

Authors are encouraged to follow open data practices and to deposit datasets in appropriate repositories where feasible. The source, collection method, and any limitations of data used in the study must be clearly described in the manuscript.

1.5 Disclosure of Funding and Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could be perceived as having influenced the research, its interpretation, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. This includes, but is not limited to: research funding sources, employment relationships, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, and patent applications.

Funding sources and grant numbers must be acknowledged in a dedicated Funding or Acknowledgements section. If no conflict of interest exists, authors must include the statement: "The authors declare no conflict of interest." Failure to disclose conflicts of interest may result in rejection or post-publication correction.

1.6 Ethical Research Standards

Research involving human subjects, surveys, sensitive data, or personal information must have been conducted in compliance with applicable national and international ethical standards, including the principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and participant protection. Authors must confirm in the manuscript that:

1. Ethical approval was obtained from the relevant institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee, with the name of the approving body and approval number stated
2. Informed consent was obtained from all participants where applicable
3. Participant data has been anonymized where required to protect privacy

Research involving secondary data or publicly available datasets is exempt from ethical approval requirements but must comply with applicable data use agreements and privacy regulations.

1.7 Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

In line with COPE's position on AI and authorship, AI tools (including large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar) cannot be listed as authors of a manuscript. AI tools do not meet the criteria for authorship as they cannot take accountability for the work, hold copyright, or consent to publication.

The use of AI tools for language editing, grammar checking, or improving the readability of the manuscript is permitted, provided that:

1. The use is declared in the Acknowledgements section (e.g., "The authors used [tool name] to improve the language and readability of this manuscript. The authors take full responsibility for the content.")
2. AI tools are not used to generate, fabricate, or substantially write research content, results, discussion, or conclusions
3. All references cited in the manuscript have been verified by the authors — AI-generated references that have not been independently verified must not be included

The use of AI tools to generate peer review reports is not permitted.

1.8 Citation Integrity

Authors must ensure that all sources cited in the manuscript are relevant, accurately represented, and properly referenced in accordance with APA 7th Edition. Excessive self-citation beyond what is academically justified, citation of sources not actually read or consulted, and participation in citation cartels or citation manipulation are forms of unethical conduct that JATG takes seriously.

2. Duties of Reviewers

2.1 Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer reviewers assist the Editor-in-Chief in making informed editorial decisions and may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, specific, and evidence-based assessments. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate and will not be tolerated.

2.2 Promptness and Commitment

Reviewers who accept a review invitation are expected to complete the review within the agreed timeframe of 21 days. If a reviewer realizes they cannot complete the review on time, they must notify the editorial office promptly and, where possible, suggest an alternative reviewer with relevant expertise.

2.3 Confidentiality

All manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such. Reviewers must not share, discuss, cite, or otherwise disclose the content of a manuscript under review to any third party without the explicit permission of the editor. This obligation of confidentiality continues after the review process has concluded and after the article has been published or rejected.

2.4 Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively and impartially. Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts solely on their academic merit and must not allow personal relationships, professional rivalries, or institutional affiliations to influence their assessments. Reviewers should declare any potential conflicts of interest to the editorial office before accepting a review assignment.

2.5 Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors and bring them to the authors' attention. Reviewers should also alert the editor to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and any other published work of which they are aware.

2.6 Prohibition on Use of Unpublished Material

Reviewers must not use or appropriate unpublished ideas, data, arguments, or information obtained through the peer review process for their own research purposes without the explicit written consent of the authors. Such conduct constitutes a serious breach of publication ethics.

3. Duties of Editors

3.1 Editorial Independence

The Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team of JATG are solely and independently responsible for all editorial decisions. Editorial decisions are based exclusively on the academic merit, originality, clarity, and relevance of submitted manuscripts to the journal's scope. No external party — including the publisher (IMAR), advertisers, institutional affiliates, or funding bodies — may interfere with or influence editorial decisions.

3.2 Fair and Unbiased Treatment

Editors must evaluate all submissions fairly and without discrimination on the basis of the authors' gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliation, religious beliefs, or political views. Manuscripts must be judged solely on their academic content and contribution.

3.3 Confidentiality

Editors must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and all communications with reviewers and authors. Information about submitted manuscripts must not be shared with third parties except as required by the editorial process. Editors must not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts in their own research without the explicit written consent of the authors.

3.4 Conflict of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest — including manuscripts from close collaborators, current or former students, colleagues at the same institution, or manuscripts related to topics in which the editor has a direct financial interest. In such cases, the manuscript will be assigned to another editor or an independent Guest Editor.

3.5 Handling Misconduct

Editors have a duty to act when misconduct is suspected or alleged, both before and after publication. This includes taking appropriate action in cases of plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, duplicate submission, undisclosed conflicts of interest, authorship disputes, and manipulation of the peer review process. Editors will follow COPE guidelines and flowcharts in investigating and responding to all suspected cases of misconduct.

4. Duties of the Publisher

As the publisher of JATG, International Multidisciplinary Academic Research (IMAR) is committed to supporting editors, reviewers, and authors in fulfilling their ethical responsibilities. IMAR affirms that:

1. Editorial independence is fully respected — IMAR does not interfere with editorial decisions
2. Commercial considerations (including advertising revenue and APC income) have no influence on editorial decisions
3. IMAR supports the editorial team in investigating and responding to cases of suspected misconduct
4. IMAR is committed to maintaining a permanent, complete, and accurate scholarly record, including the issuance of corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions where necessary
5. IMAR will work to ensure that JATG's policies remain current and aligned with evolving best practices in publication ethics

5. Handling Allegations of Misconduct

JATG takes all allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously, whether raised before or after publication. The following procedure applies when misconduct is suspected or alleged:

1. Receipt and acknowledgement — The editorial office acknowledges receipt of the concern within 5 business days
2. Preliminary assessment — The Editor-in-Chief conducts a preliminary assessment to determine whether the concern is credible and warrants further investigation
3. Author notification — Where appropriate, the corresponding author is notified of the concern and given the opportunity to respond
4. Investigation — Depending on the severity and nature of the concern, the editorial team may contact the author's institution, consult COPE guidelines, or seek independent expert advice
5. Decision and action — Based on the findings, appropriate action will be taken, which may include: rejection of the manuscript, retraction of a published article, issuance of a correction or expression of concern, notification of the authors' institution or funding body, or imposition of a submission embargo
6. Documentation — All correspondence and decisions are documented and retained by the editorial office

6. Plagiarism Policy

JATG defines plagiarism as the use of another person's ideas, words, data, figures, or other scholarly output without proper attribution, regardless of whether the source is published or unpublished. The following forms of plagiarism are explicitly prohibited:

1. Direct plagiarism — verbatim copying of text without quotation marks and citation
2. Mosaic plagiarism — paraphrasing with minor changes while retaining the original sentence structure
3. Self-plagiarism — reusing substantial portions of one's own previously published work without acknowledgement or appropriate citation
4. Idea plagiarism — presenting another scholar's conceptual framework, argument, or hypothesis as one's own

All submissions are screened using Turnitin. A similarity index exceeding 20% (excluding references, abstract, and common phrases) will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for revision before entering peer review. Confirmed cases of plagiarism after publication will result in retraction.

7. Retraction and Correction Policy

JATG is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record. Where errors, misconduct, or inaccuracies are identified in published articles, the journal will take appropriate corrective action:

1. Correction (Erratum): Issued for minor errors in a published article that do not affect the validity or conclusions of the research. A correction notice will be published and linked bidirectionally to the original article.
2. Expression of Concern: Published when there is unresolved doubt about the reliability of a published article — for example, where an investigation is ongoing or where conflicting evidence has emerged. This is a temporary measure pending a final determination.
3. Retraction: Issued when a published article is found to contain fundamental errors that invalidate the conclusions, constitutes plagiarism or duplicate publication, contains fabricated or falsified data, or was subject to serious ethical violations. The retracted article will remain visible in the journal archive with a clear and permanent retraction notice attached, in accordance with best practice for maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

Requests for post-publication corrections or concerns about published articles should be directed to editor@imarjournal.org. JATG will acknowledge all requests within 5 business days and communicate a decision within 30 days.

8. Copyright and Licensing

Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication in JATG retain copyright of their work. Upon acceptance, authors grant JATG and IMAR a license to publish the article under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Under this license, readers are free to share, copy, redistribute, adapt, and build upon the published work for any purpose, provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors, the journal, and the publisher, and a link to the CC BY 4.0 license is provided.

Authors are permitted to self-archive the accepted manuscript (post-print) in institutional repositories, personal websites, or open-access platforms, provided that the published version of record or a direct link to it is also included. The publisher's formatted PDF (version of record) may be deposited without embargo.

9. Open Access Policy

JATG is a fully open-access journal. All published articles are freely and permanently accessible online to all readers worldwide without subscription or access fees. Open access is funded through an Article Processing Charge (APC) of IDR 350,000 (domestic authors) or USD 30 (international authors), payable only upon acceptance of the manuscript. There is no charge at the submission stage. APC waivers may be granted in cases of demonstrated financial hardship — authors are encouraged to contact the editorial office at editor@imarjournal.org prior to submission to request a waiver.