Publication Ethics Standards of the Journal of Social Research and Review

Journal of Social Research and Review (JSRR) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, transparency, and reliability throughout the scholarly publishing process. The Journal adopts the principles and ethical guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as a framework for its editorial and publication practices. Further information on publication ethics is available on the COPE website: https://publicationethics.org/

All participants involved in the Journal's publication process, including editors, reviewers, and authors, are required to adhere to the ethical standards and guidelines established by the Journal as follows:

1. Roles and Responsibilities of Authors
     1.1 Authors must submit original manuscripts that have not previously been published and are not simultaneously under consideration by another journal or publisher.
     1.2 Authors must not plagiarize, copy, reproduce, or adapt the work of others without proper acknowledgment. All texts, ideas, images, tables, data, and other materials derived from other sources must be appropriately cited. Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions where required.
     1.3 Authors must present data, findings, and conclusions accurately, transparently, and truthfully. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation, selective reporting of data, or any practice that could mislead readers is prohibited.
     1.4 Authors must provide sufficient information regarding research methods and data analysis procedures to enable an appropriate assessment of the reliability of the study.
     1.5 Research involving human participants, personal data, or matters requiring ethical oversight must comply with applicable research ethics principles, laws, and institutional requirements. Ethical approval information should be reported in the manuscript where applicable.
     1.6 All individuals listed as authors must have made a significant contribution to the work, accept responsibility for the content, and approve the submission of the manuscript. Individuals who have not made an appropriate contribution must not be listed as authors.
     1.7 Authors must clearly disclose all sources of research funding and any financial, professional, institutional, or personal conflicts of interest that could influence the conduct, analysis, interpretation, or presentation of the work.
     1.8 Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of all references. Retracted publications should not normally be cited unless directly relevant to discussion of the retraction itself, in which case the retracted status must be clearly indicated.
     1.9 Authors must respond appropriately to comments and recommendations from reviewers and editors and submit revisions within the period specified by the Journal. Where authors disagree with a recommendation, they should provide a clear academic justification.
     1.10 If authors discover a significant error in their published article, they must promptly inform the editor and cooperate with the Journal in correcting, clarifying, or otherwise addressing the matter.
    1.11 Authors are directly responsible for the accuracy, content, opinions, conclusions, and ethical integrity of their published articles.

2. Roles and Responsibilities of Reviewers
     2.1 Reviewers should accept manuscripts for review only when they have appropriate knowledge, expertise, or experience in the subject area and are able to complete the review within the specified timeframe.
     2.2 Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and on the basis of academic evidence and reasoning. Personal bias, unsupported opinions, or factors unrelated to scholarly quality must not influence the evaluation.
     2.3 Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and all information obtained through the peer-review process and must not disclose, distribute, or discuss manuscripts with unauthorized persons.
     2.4 Reviewers must not use unpublished information, ideas, methods, results, or other content contained in a manuscript for personal benefit or for the benefit of others.
     2.5 Reviewers should provide clear, constructive, reasoned, and useful comments that contribute to improving the quality of the manuscript and should submit their reviews within the timeframe specified by the Journal.
     2.6 If reviewers identify substantial overlap with previously published work or suspect plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or other forms of research or publication misconduct, they must promptly notify the editor.
     2.7 Reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest or relationship that could compromise the impartiality of their review and should decline the review if they cannot assess the manuscript independently and fairly.
     2.8 Reviewers must not attempt to identify or disclose the identity of authors where the Journal operates a blinded peer-review process.

3. Roles and Responsibilities of Editors
     3.1 Editors are responsible for overseeing manuscript submission, peer review, and editorial decision-making in accordance with the Journal's academic and ethical standards. The Journal employs a Double-Blind Peer Review process in which authors and reviewers remain anonymous to one another.
     3.2 Editors must evaluate manuscripts fairly, objectively, and without discrimination or personal bias. Editorial decisions should be based primarily on academic quality, accuracy, clarity, originality, methodological appropriateness, and relevance to the scope of the Journal.
     3.3 Editors must protect the confidentiality of authors, reviewers, manuscripts, review reports, and all other information associated with the editorial process.
     3.4 Editors must not use unpublished information, ideas, content, or research findings from submitted manuscripts for personal or academic advantage without the authors' permission.
     3.5 Editors must maintain procedures for identifying plagiarism, duplicate publication, and other possible breaches of publication ethics. Where reasonable concerns arise, the review process may be suspended while the authors are asked to provide clarification or supporting evidence.
     3.6 Editors must manage conflicts of interest transparently. Where an editor has a conflict of interest concerning a manuscript, that editor must not participate in the editorial decision and the manuscript should be assigned to another qualified editor or responsible person.
     3.7 Reviewers must be selected on the basis of appropriate expertise and independence. Editors should avoid appointing reviewers who may have conflicts of interest with the authors or the work under consideration.
     3.8 Editors should consider the appropriateness and reliability of the research methodology, analysis, and evidence supporting the conclusions, with academic quality and scholarly contribution serving as principal considerations in publication decisions.
     3.9 When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, editors must take appropriate action, which may include issuing a Correction, an Expression of Concern, or a Retraction, depending on the seriousness of the matter and the available evidence.
     3.10 Editors must handle complaints and allegations of publication misconduct fairly, transparently, and confidentially and should provide those concerned with an appropriate opportunity to respond before a final decision is made.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy
     Journal of Social Research and Review recognizes the increasing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including Generative AI, in research, writing, analysis, and manuscript preparation. The use of such technologies must be transparent, verifiable, and consistent with academic integrity and ethical responsibility.
     4.1 Authorship Status of Artificial Intelligence
        Artificial intelligence systems and automated content-generation tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, originality, conflicts of interest, or academic and ethical obligations associated with scholarly work.
     4.2 Authors' Responsibility
       Authors may use artificial intelligence tools to support activities such as language editing, formatting, coding or code checking, data analysis, image creation or modification, and other research- or manuscript-related processes. However, authors must carefully review and verify all AI-generated or AI-assisted outputs and remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, reliability, ethical appropriateness, and entire content of the manuscript.
     4.3 Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence Use
       Where the use of artificial intelligence materially affects the content of the manuscript, research methods, data analysis, findings, images, or conclusions, authors must transparently disclose such use.  The disclosure should include, where applicable, the name of the tool, model or version, purpose, and nature of its use and should be reported in the Methods, Acknowledgements, or a relevant declaration section of the manuscript.
      The use of tools solely for spelling, grammar, or formatting checks, without generating or materially altering scholarly content, may not require disclosure.
     4.4 Prohibited Uses of Artificial Intelligence
        Authors must not use artificial intelligence to fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent scholarly evidence. In particular, authors must not:
                 1. Generate fictitious data, research findings, research participants, interview statements, quotations, references, or evidence.
                 2. Use references or information generated or recommended by artificial intelligence without verifying their accuracy and existence.
                 3. Cite sources that cannot be traced to reliable and verifiable original materials.
                 4. Use artificial intelligence to create, modify, or manipulate images, data, or research findings in a manner that misrepresents the research process or results.
                 5. Upload personal data, confidential information, rights-restricted materials, information protected by confidentiality agreements, or unpublished manuscripts to external artificial intelligence systems without appropriate authorization.
        Authors are responsible for verifying all information, references, quotations, and evidence generated or suggested by artificial intelligence and must cite verifiable original sources.
     4.5 Use of Artificial Intelligence by Editors and Reviewers
                1. Editors must not delegate decisions regarding manuscript quality, suitability, acceptance, or rejection to artificial intelligence systems in place of human editorial judgment.
                2. Reviewers must not use artificial intelligence systems to generate peer-review reports on their behalf. Reviewers remain personally responsible for all comments, reasoning, and recommendations contained in their reviews.
                3. Editors and reviewers must not upload manuscripts, review reports, author information, or other confidential editorial materials to external artificial intelligence systems that may store, disclose, use the information for model training, or otherwise process the information without authorization.
                4. Any use of artificial intelligence to support administrative or technical functions of the Journal must not compromise confidentiality, impartiality, transparency, or human responsibility for scholarly decision-making.
       Authors, reviewers, and editors remain accountable for all actions, decisions, and outcomes arising from their use of artificial intelligence.