Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

FREP Journal of Social Sciences

To ensure the highest standards of integrity and academic quality, the FREP Journal of Social Sciences

adheres to the following ethical guidelines for all parties involved: the editor, the reviewers, and the authors.

1. Duties of the Editor

  • Publication Decisions: The editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published, based on academic merit, validity, and relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the authors' race, gender, religious belief, or institutional affiliation.

  • Confidentiality: The editor and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and potential reviewers.

  • Transparency and Conflicts of Interest: The editor must ensure a fair double-blind peer review process. Editors should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions.

2. Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and may also assist the author in improving the paper.

  • Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse themselves from the review process.

  • Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

  • Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation.

     

3. Duties of Authors

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works. If authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

  • Multiple or Concurrent Publication: An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is considered unethical.

  • Human Subjects Research: For social science research involving human participants, authors must ensure the study was conducted in accordance with ethical standards (e.g., Institutional Review Board - IRB approval) and obtain informed consent where applicable.

  • Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All co-authors must have seen and approved the final version of the paper.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.

Handling of Ethical Violations

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the editorial board will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation. This may include:

  1. Immediate rejection of the manuscript.

  2. Publication of a retraction if the article has already been published online or in print.

  3. Temporary or permanent ban on future submissions from the authors involved.