Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
Journal of Management World publishes research articles of high quality maintaining the highest standards of integrity and ethics. This statement sets out the principles to which all the research articles published in the journal should adhere and is intended to provide useful guidance for authors, peer reviewers, editors and anyone seeking advice on dealing with research malpractice.
JoMW has zero tolerance for academic misconduct, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, falsification, fabrication and manipulation of data. Hence, prior to publication, all manuscripts are investigated thoroughly in terms of any potential unethical conduct and we take all possible measures against publication malpractices.
The following guidelines are based on Elsevier’s Publishing Ethics Resource Kit and the COPE Code of Conduct. Anyone who identifies research misconducts that possibly invalidate our principles should raise their concerns with the relevant editor, or email editor.managementworld[at]gmail.com
Editors’ Responsibilities
Impartial, Independent and Confidential Editorial Process
Endeavoring to safeguard editorial independence, the Editorial Team takes responsibility for establishing a review process that minimizes bias and for ensuring that no conflict of interest, fear, or any other corporate or political influence can compromise the review process. Manuscripts are evaluated in view of their scientific content only, without regard to the identity of the authors, their host institutions their nationality, gender etc.
Editors are expected to guarantee reviewer anonymity as well as material confidentiality taking all necessary actions for unpublished articles to be treated as confidential documents by all individuals involved in the editorial process. The Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and potential reviewers, except for cases of misconduct investigations where confidential material may be disclosed to third parties.
Articles submitted by the Editors-in-Chief or a member of the Editorial Committee shall be handled by another editor.
Publication Decisions
The Editor-in-Chief is ultimately accountable for acceptance or rejection of a paper. However, individual decisions may be delegated to other members of the Editorial Board depending on the specific topic of the publication and expertise. Editors are expected to oversee the timeliness of the process and, to their best ability, ensure that publication decisions occur within reasonable time frame.
The Editor-in-Chief should provide to the authors a written rationale for editorial decisions regarding a submitted article. This is naturally more important if the article is being rejected.
Appeals by Authors
Authors may appeal a rejection of their manuscript by the editors. In such case, the manuscript and all relevant information, including the identities of the referees, will be sent to a member of the Editorial Board. This member can review the case on the existing record or seek additional expert opinion. In the latter case, a signed advisory opinion should be presented to the editors, which will be sent to the authors and/or referees along with a decision of acceptance or rejection.
If a member of the Editorial Board has provided a referee report on a manuscript prior to appeal, another member will review the manuscript on appeal. If no suitable Board member is available, the editors may appoint an appropriate scientist to consider a manuscript under appeal as an ad-hoc Editor.
Research Integrity
We strive to enhance research integrity and we foster honesty, transparency and excellence in all aspects of research. If serious concerns are raised by readers, reviewers, or others, about the conduct, validity, or reporting of a paper, the Editor-in-Chief will initially contact the authors and allow them to respond to the concerns. If that response is unsatisfactory, JoMW will take the issue to the institutional level and seek legal advice from JoMW appropriate department. In the unlikely case that concerns are very serious and the published work is likely to influence public safety, JoMW may consider informing readers about these concerns, while the investigation is ongoing. Once an investigation is concluded the Editorial Team will publish its results explaining the findings of the investigation.
Retraction of the publication is possible according to the procedures described in the following paragraph.
Corrections & Retractions
If an error is identified in a published article, the Editor-in-Chief will issue a corrected version, as soon as possible, which will replace the original in JoMW Archives. If the error renders the work or substantial parts of it invalid, the paper shall be retracted with an explanation as to the reasons for retraction. Retractions are, in fact, reserved for extreme cases where the flaws compromise the conclusions of the paper. If a retraction is made without the unanimous agreement of the authors, the approval of the Editorial Board is required. To preserve the integrity of JoMW, the retracted article is not removed from the schedule and the publication, but notice of retraction is issued.
Reviewers’ Responsibilities
Peer review is critical to maintaining quality of publications. It is a system based on trust: each party – the reviewer, the author, and the publisher – relies on the others to operate professionally, honestly, and confidentially. Reviewers are expected to provide constructive comments on the manuscript that help the author(s) to revise the manuscript in higher standards. JoMW provides reviewers with guidance for rigorous, fair and effective peer review and encourages them to act in accordance with COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
Promptness and Objectivity
Reviews should be prompt, thorough and objective. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Referees should express their views clearly and support them with scientific arguments. Reviewers that feel unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or recognize conflict of interest are expected to notify the Editor and withdraw themselves from the review process. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the article.
Constructive Comments
Reviewers are expected to provide constructive comments with the intention to improve the quality of the manuscript. If the reported research is incomplete or insufficiently discussed, the reviewer should explain in detail what additional analyses or discussion would clarify the work submitted. Yet, reviewer suggestions should serve the purpose of supporting the conclusions rather than extending its scope.
Acknowledgement of Sources and Credits
Reviewers should identify missing citations to relevant earlier work and require that they be properly referenced in the manuscript. Moreover, credits for significant contributions by nonauthors should be properly acknowledged. Authors should make every effort to ensure that their citations to previously published work are comprehensive at the time of submission and may add citations to works published during the course of the review process during the revision process. They can make reference to unpublished work (i.e. preprints, preliminary reports etc.) or results that have been reported only orally at meetings (personal communication).
Relation to Prior Publications
JoMW aims to publish original research that essentially contributes to the field of knowledge. The reviewer should bring to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and other publications of which he/she has personal knowledge.
Confidentiality
The reviewers should treat unpublished articles as confidential and refrain from using privileged information or ideas obtained through peer-review for their own or another’s advantage, or to disadvantage or discredit others. They may receive permission to involve others in the reviewing process (e.g. students, early career researchers) but they are expected to include their names so that they are associated with the manuscript in our records and can also receive due recognition for their efforts.
Reviewer Misconduct
JoMW will take reviewer misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage.
Authors’ Responsibilities
Originality
The manuscript presents the original work of the listed authors. Authors warrant that their submitted manuscript has not been previously published (in part or in whole, in any language), is not in press, and has not been simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. Any manuscript with an unacceptable level of unoriginal material may be rejected or retracted at the editors’ discretion.
Duplicate Submissions
Authors must inform the editors if any related manuscripts are under consideration, in press, posted to a preprint server, or published elsewhere. The availability of a manuscript on a publicly accessible preprint server does not constitute prior publication (see ‘Preprints’), but authors should indicate upon submission any posting to a preprint server. If authors choose to submit their manuscript elsewhere before a final decision has been made on its suitability for publication in Journal of Management World, they must first withdraw it from the journal.
Preprints
Journal of Management World supports the wide dissemination of research and therefore encourages authors to post their research manuscripts on reputable preprint servers, either before or at the same time as submission to the journal. This policy applies only to the original version of a manuscript that describes primary research; other article types are not included. Versions of manuscripts that have been revised in response to reviewers’ comments, accepted for publication or published in the journal should not be posted on a preprint server. Rather, links via the DOI to the published manuscript on the journal’s website should be posted at the relevant pages of the preprint server.
Editors’ assessment of a submitted manuscript’s novelty will not be influenced by other manuscripts posted to preprint servers after the date of submission to Journal of Management World. In addition, if you submit your manuscript to the journal within 12 months of posting it to a preprint server, the Editors will consider your manuscript for publication.
Authorship and Acknowledgements
All those who made significant contributions were offered the opportunity to be listed as authors. All of the authors contributed significantly to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the research study.
The corresponding author warrants that all authors have seen and approved the author list and order. Changes to the author list after manuscript submission – such as the insertion or removal of author names, or a rearrangement of author order – must be approved by all authors and the relevant Associate Editor or Editor-in-Chief.
Authors are encouraged to consider the Council of Science Editors (CSE) principles governing authorship. According to the CSE guidelines, authors have made substantial contributions to the work; have agreed to be held accountable for their own contributions to the work; can identify which co-authors are responsible for other parts of the work; have confidence in the integrity of the work; and have reviewed and approved the final manuscript. Contributors who do not qualify for authorship may be included in the Acknowledgements section instead.
Consent
The authors accept the established procedures for reviewing processes and publication decisions. The authors agree to be accountable for concerns related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.
Reporting Standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately. The paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
Plagiarism
Any form of plagiarism is unacceptable and is considered a serious breach of professional conduct, with potentially severe ethical and legal consequences.
We reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism checking tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered post publication, we will follow our policy outlined in the Corrections & Retractions section of these guidelines. We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting the relevant Editor.
At the same time, we are struggling to deal with the malpractice of self-plagiarism, which concerns the somewhat vague concept of copying one’s own work. While this is a topic of ongoing debate, we expect our authors to keep the reproduction of previously published figures, tables, and text material to a minimum and properly reference preceding publications. In order to reproduce figures, tables, etc., from another publication, authors must show that they have complied with the copyright or licensing requirements of the paper’s publisher.
Reproducing Copyrighted Materials
If a manuscript includes material that is not the authors’ copyright, the authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce it. If a manuscript includes previously published material, such as figures or large amounts of text, the authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holder(s) and the publisher of the original work to reproduce it. The authors must always fully cite the original work in their manuscript. Copies of all reproduction permissions must be included with the manuscript when it is first submitted to the journal.
Availability of Data and Materials
Authors must disclose the source of publicly available data and materials, such as public repositories or commercial manufacturers, by including accession numbers or company details in their manuscript, as appropriate.
Authors may make their own data and materials available by linking from their manuscript to relevant community-recognized public databases or digital repositories. All data sets must be made available in full to the editors and reviewers during the peer-review process, and must be made publicly available by the date of publication. Authors commit to preserving their data sets for at least three years from the date of publication in the journal.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be acknowledged.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her submitted manuscript, the author must immediately notify the Editorial Team and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper.
Responding to Potential Ethical Breaches
The journal will respond to allegations of ethical breaches by following its own policies and, where possible, the appropriate guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Conflicts of Interest
In the interests of transparency, the journal requires all authors to declare any conflicts of interest in relation to their submitted manuscript. A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence an author’s ability to conduct or report research impartially. Potential conflicts include (but are not limited to) competing commercial or financial interests, commercial affiliations, consulting roles, or ownership of stock or equity.
Authors should list all funding sources for their work in the Acknowledgements section of their manuscript.
Consent-to-Publish Form
We request the corresponding author to fill out the Consent to Publish Form with all the required information, and his/her signature on the last page. It is critical that the corresponding author includes correct information; doing so will prevent delays in notifications to authors. Please note that only the copyright owner(s) of the paper, or an authorized representative, can sign the Consent-to-Publish Form. If one of the following cases applies, you may not be authorized to sign the copyright form, and you may need to request the appropriate copyright owner(s) or organization representative to sign the form:
- You created the paper within the scope of your employment, and your employer is the copyright owner (Work made for Hire).
- You created the paper jointly with coauthors. In this case, only one signature is required if all authors work for the same company, the copyright rests with the employer rather than the individual authors, and anyone authorized by the employer may authorize the copyright transfer. When the authors work for different employers, a separate copyright transfer form must be signed by an authorized agent for each employer (Joint Authorship).
- You created the paper under an independent contractor form.
- You received a grant, or other means of financial support by an institution, that funded your paper.
By submitting a manuscript, the author agrees that the copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher if and when the article is accepted for publication.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are based only on a manuscript’s scientific merit and are kept completely separate from the journal’s other interests. The authors’ ability to pay any publication charges has no bearing on whether a manuscript is accepted for publication in the journal.
