Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics for Journal Articles
The journal Insights into Modern Education (i-ME) follows Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/) to uphold high ethical standards in academic publishing. All stakeholders involved in the publication process must adhere strictly to ethical principles and standards, as outlined below.

Roles and Responsibilities of Editors and the Editorial Board
1. Review and evaluate all articles submitted for consideration for publication in the journal by assessing the alignment of the article’s content with the aims and scope of the journal, as well as ensuring the article’s quality through a rigorous peer-review process prior to publication.
2. The evaluation of articles must be based on academic reasoning and must be free from any bias toward the author or the article under review for any reason.
3. Editors must not have any conflicts of interest with the authors or reviewers, whether for business gain or for use as part of their own academic work.
4. Editors must not block, alter, or interfere with the information exchanged between reviewers and authors.
5. Editors must not disclose the identities of authors or reviewers to any unrelated parties during the review process.
6. Editors must strictly adhere to the journal’s processes and procedures.
7. Editors must implement a serious plagiarism screening process by using reliable and widely accepted software in the academic community. The i-ME Journal employs automatic plagiarism detection software, CopyCatch, to screen for plagiarism and duplication in electronic documents. The acceptable similarity level must not exceed 20%. If plagiarism is detected during the review process, the editor and editorial board must immediately suspend the review process and contact the corresponding author to request an explanation before making a decision to either “accept” or “reject” the article for publication.
8. Editors and the editorial board must not reject an article merely due to suspicion or uncertainty. They must obtain evidence to substantiate any concerns before making a decision.
9. Editors must thoroughly check the accuracy and completeness of the article before publication and must not make any changes to the article that would alter the article’s essential meaning.

Roles and Responsibilities of Authors
1. Submitted articles must be original and should not have been published or disseminated elsewhere.
2. Authors must provide proper citations whenever using or referencing others' work. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Authors are solely responsible for any copyright violations concerning cited content, images, or tables. In case of copyright infringement claims, the journal holds no responsibility and will immediately retract the article.
3. Once published in i-ME, authors may not modify, translate, or submit the same article in other journals.
4. All listed authors must have genuinely contributed to the article.
5. Manuscripts must be formatted according to the "Author Guidelines" provided by the journal.
6. Authors must make revisions as suggested by the editorial team and reviewers. Failure to comply with revisions within the given timeframe may result in article rejection, with no refund of the publication fee.
7. Authors must disclose any funding sources supporting their research and declare any conflicts of interest (if applicable).
8. If research involves human or animal subjects, participants, or sensitive data, authors must comply with ethical standards, relevant laws, and regulations. Ethical approval documents, such as an Institutional Review Board (IRB) certificate for human or animal research, must be provided.
9. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of their articles. If an error is found after online publication, the author must notify the journal for necessary corrections.

Roles and Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers
1. Reviewers must have no conflicts of interest with the authors. Evaluations must be based solely on academic merit, free from bias or personal conflict.
2. Reviewers should assess only manuscripts within their expertise and ensure a thorough understanding of the content before review.
3. Reviewers must not exploit any information or content from reviewed manuscripts for personal gain.
4. If plagiarism or duplicated content is detected, reviewers must immediately notify the editor with clear supporting evidence.
5. Reviewers must adhere to the journal’s review timeline and maintain confidentiality by not disclosing manuscript details to others.
6. Reviewers may not use any part of the manuscript for their own work without explicit consent from the author or the journal.
7. Reviews should be based on academic accuracy and must provide constructive feedback to improve the manuscript for scholarly acceptance.

Handling of Misconduct

i-ME follows the Core Practices and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when investigating plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate or redundant publication, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest and authorship disputes. Depending on the outcome, the journal may reject the manuscript, publish a correction or an expression of concern, retract the article, or inform the authors' institutions.

Corrections and Retractions

Minor errors that do not affect the findings are corrected by a published Correction linked to the original article. Articles with serious errors that invalidate the findings, or with confirmed misconduct, are retracted following the COPE Retraction Guidelines. A retracted article remains online, clearly marked "Retracted", with a linked notice giving the reason.

Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any financial, institutional or personal relationship that could influence their work. Every manuscript must include a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and a Funding statement. Editors and reviewers with a conflict of interest must withdraw from handling the manuscript.

Research Ethics

Studies involving human participants must report approval from an appropriate ethics committee (or explain why it was not required) and confirm that informed consent was obtained.

Open Access and Licensing

All articles are freely available immediately on publication under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors keep copyright and grant i-ME the right of first publication. Authors may deposit any version of their article in repositories at any time.

Article Processing Charge

There is no submission or review fee. An APC of 4,000 THB per article applies only after acceptance; waivers are available on request, and inability to pay never affects the editorial decision.