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Publication Ethics Statement

Contents

The journal and its editorial board fully adhere to and comply with the policies and principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Duties of Editors  

Publication decisions

The editorial board of the journal is responsible for determining which submitted articles should be published. Board members consult with reviewers and consider their recommendations while adhering to legal requirements concerning libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editorial decisions are made impartially and are not influenced by the manuscript's origins, including the authors' nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion.

Confidentiality, disclosure, and conflicts of interest

During the review process, editors must keep information about a submitted manuscript confidential, sharing it only with the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisers. Unpublished material from a submitted manuscript must not be used in the editor’s, reviewer’s, or any other reader’s own research without the explicit written consent of the author. Additionally, readers should be informed about the funding sources for the research or scholarly work and whether the funders played any role in the research or its publication, including details of their involvement, if applicable.

Author relations

Editors are committed to ensuring that the peer review process at the journal is fair, unbiased, and timely. The journal has implemented policies to handle submissions from editorial board members in a way that maintains impartiality. Additionally, author instructions offer guidance on the criteria for authorship.

Reviewer relations

The journal encourages reviewers to address ethical concerns and potential misconduct in submissions, such as unethical research design or inappropriate data manipulation, and to be vigilant for issues like redundant publication and plagiarism. Reviewers' comments should be provided to authors in full, except when they contain offensive or defamatory remarks. The journal regularly acknowledges the contributions of reviewers and will discontinue the use of reviewers who consistently provide discourteous, low-quality, or late reviews.

Reviewer relations

The Journal encourages reviewers to address ethical concerns and potential misconduct in submissions, such as unethical research design or inappropriate data manipulation, and to be vigilant for issues like redundant publication and plagiarism. Reviewers' comments should be provided to authors in full, except when they contain offensive or defamatory remarks. The Journal regularly acknowledges the contributions of reviewers and will discontinue the use of reviewers who consistently provide discourteous, low-quality, or late reviews.

Quality assurance

Editors should take all reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the material they publish, understanding that different sections may have varying aims and standards. They should seek confirmation that the research has been approved by an appropriate body, such as a research ethics committee or institutional review board, where applicable. Editors must be vigilant about intellectual property issues and collaborate with their publishers to address any potential breaches of laws and conventions. Any errors, inaccuracies, or misleading statements must be corrected promptly and prominently.

Duties of Reviewers  

Contribution to editorial decisions

Reviewers assist the editorial board in making editorial decisions. Reviews should be conducted objectively, with observations clearly articulated and supported by arguments, allowing authors to use them to improve their manuscripts. Personal criticism of the author is not appropriate.

Qualification of reviewers

Any referee who feels unqualified to review the research in a manuscript or is unable to complete the review promptly should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process. Reviewers should also avoid reviewing manuscripts if they have conflicts of interest due to competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the paper.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Information or ideas gained through peer review are privileged and must be kept confidential, not used for personal advantage.

Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. References to others' ideas should be properly cited. Additionally, reviewers should inform the editor of any significant similarity or overlap between the manuscript and any other published papers they are personally aware of.

Duties of Authors  

Reporting standards

Authors of original research reports should provide an accurate account of their work and offer an objective discussion of its significance. The data presented in the paper must be represented accurately. Authors should be prepared to make raw data publicly accessible in connection with the paper and retain this data for at least two years after publication. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical and unacceptable.

Originality, plagiarism, and concurrent publication

Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original and that any contributions or words from others are properly acknowledged. Plagiarism in all its forms is considered unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Additionally, submitting essentially the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously is also deemed unethical and unacceptable.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

All authors must disclose any financial or other substantial conflicts of interest in their manuscript that could be perceived as influencing the results or interpretation of their work. Additionally, all sources of financial support for the project should be clearly stated.

Authorship of the paper

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that no inappropriate co-authors are listed. All co-authors must have reviewed and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication. Those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors, while others who have participated in substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

Fundamental errors in published works

Suppose an author identifies a significant error or inaccuracy in a published work. In that case, it is their responsibility to promptly inform the journal editor and collaborate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Plagiarsm Policies  

The journal maintains a strict policy against plagiarism, prohibiting the use of others’ ideas, words, or work without proper acknowledgment. Submissions that contain plagiarism in whole or in part, as well as those involving duplicate or redundant publication, or self-plagiarism (in the same or different language), will be rejected. Works archived in preprint form are not considered duplicate publications. The corresponding author is responsible for the manuscript throughout the evaluation and publication process and has the authority to act on behalf of all co-authors. All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using Turnitin, and those with an unacceptable similarity index resulting from plagiarism are rejected immediately.

Withdrawal of Manuscripts  

Authors are not permitted to withdraw submitted manuscripts, as doing so would waste the valuable time and resources of editors and reviewers who have invested significant effort in processing the submissions. However, if authors do not receive any progress updates after six months, they may suggest withdrawal of their manuscript, and notifications to the Editorial Board must be made.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retraction  

Corrections to a published article may be made with the editor's authorization. Editors will determine the extent of the necessary corrections. Minor corrections will be made directly to the original article, while major corrections will be addressed by publishing a corrected version alongside the unchanged original. Both versions will be linked to one another, and a statement explaining the reason for the major change will also be published. If necessary, article retractions will be conducted following COPE retraction guidelines.

Conflict of Interest  

All authors of articles are required to disclose any conflicts of interest related to the publication of the manuscript, including any associations with institutions or products mentioned in the manuscript that may influence the study's outcomes. Additionally, authors must disclose conflicts of interest involving competing products. If an author is uncertain about whether a competing interest should be disclosed, they should consult their institution or the journal editor for guidance.

If no competing interests exist, the article will include the following statement: “The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

Research Ethics and Consent  

Studies in Humans, Animals, and Plants

All original research papers involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections, or sites must include a written statement in an Ethics Approval section that encompasses the following:

  • The name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved.
  • The number or ID of the ethics approval(s).
  • A statement confirming that human participants provided informed consent prior to participation in the research.

For research involving animals, adherence to ethical standards concerning animal welfare is mandatory. All original research papers involving animals must:

  • Comply with international, national, and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals.
  • Obtain approval from the ethics review committee at the institution or facility where the research was conducted, including details on the approval process, the names of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved, and the number or ID of the ethics approval(s) in the Ethics Approval section.
  • Justify the use of animals and specify the species selected.
  • Provide information regarding housing, feeding, and environmental enrichment, as well as measures taken to minimize suffering.
  • Detail the methods of anesthesia and euthanasia used.

Research that fails to meet the aforementioned ethical approval and animal welfare requirements will be rejected.

Allegations of Misconduct

Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • Directly copying text from other sources without attribution
  • Copying ideas, images, or data from other sources without attribution
  • Reusing text from your own previous publications without attribution or agreement of the editor
  • Exception: Reusing text from the Methods section in the author’s previous publications, with attribution to the source, is acceptable.
  • Using an idea from another source with slightly modified language without attribution.
  • If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may issue a correction or retract the paper as appropriate.

Data fabrication

  • This relates to the creation of research results.
  • Alleged falsified data in a submitted paper.
  • Alleged falsified data in a published paper.

Data falsification

Manipulating research data with the intention of giving a false impression. This includes manipulating images (e.g., micrographs, gels, radiological images), removing outliers or “inconvenient” results, changing, adding or omitting data points, etc.

Duplicate submissions

Authors must declare upon submission that the manuscript is not being considered elsewhere. The detection of a duplicate submission or publication is generally regarded as a deliberate act, including articles previously published in another language. For permissible secondary submissions or publications (e.g., a translated article), authors must obtain permission from the publisher and copyright holder of the original article and inform the editor of the receiving journal about the original article's history. Additionally, it must be clearly indicated to readers that the manuscript is a translated version, with a citation to the original article included.

Authorship Issues

Clear policies (that allow for transparency around who contributed to the work and in what capacity) should be in place for requirements for authorship and contributorship, as well as processes for managing potential disputes.

Citation Manipulation

Citation Manipulation includes excessive citations in the submitted manuscript that do not contribute to the scholarly content of the article and have been included solely for the purpose of increasing citations to a given author’s work or to articles published in a particular journal. This leads to misrepresenting the importance of the specific work and journal in which it appears and is thus a form of scientific misconduct.

Suspected Manipulation of Peer Review/Bias of Peer Reviews

Jurnal Pendidikan Vokasi selects the reviewers on any manuscript with due care so as to avoid any conflict of interest between the reviewers and the authors. Our policy is compliant with COPE Guidelines on peer review.

Errata and Corrigenda  

Changes/additions to accepted articles

All content in published articles undergoes an editorial review process, overseen by the editor. If authors wish to make additions to their article after it has been accepted, they must submit a request to the editor, and the new content will be reviewed.

Suppose the new material is intended to be added to the accepted article. In that case, it must be submitted as a new manuscript for peer review, with a reference to the original work.

If the new material is meant to replace content in the accepted article, the editor may consider publishing an erratum or a corrigendum.

Erratum

An erratum is issued to correct errors introduced by the publisher. Any changes made by the publisher are flagged for the author during the proofing stage, and it is the author’s responsibility to identify and request corrections before the article’s final publication.

Corrigendum

A corrigendum refers to a correction that the author wishes to make at any time after the article has been accepted. Authors should contact the journal editor, who will assess the significance of the change and determine the appropriate course of action.