Ethics and Malpractice

Ethical and Malpractice

All articles submitted to the Politeknik & Kolej Komuniti Journal of Life Long Learning (PKKJLLL) will be evaluated after the Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Program. The similarity rate for Turnitin is 30%. The editor determines whether there is plagiarism in a paper according to the plagiarism report. The PKKJLLL’s Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is based, in large part, on the guidelines and standards developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The relevant duties and expectations of authors, reviewers, and editors of the journal are below.

 

Responsibilities of Authors

By submitting the article to PKKJLLL, the author(s) warrant that the article is their original work and that it has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. They also warrant that the sources of any ideas and/or words in the article that are not theirs have been properly attributed through appropriate citations and/or quotes.

An author should not normally publish articles describing the same research in multiple journals or venues. Such redundant publication is generally considered to constitute unethical publishing behaviour and, if discovered, may result in the article under consideration being rejected or a published article being retracted.

Authors of articles reporting on original research should present an accurate account of the work performed, accompanied by an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the article. The article should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. The fabrication of results and the making of fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and may cause rejection or retraction of a article or published article.

Where the article reports on commercial software, hardware, or other products, authors must include a declaration at the beginning of the article in which they must either state that no conflict of interest exists or describe the nature of any potential conflict. All sources of financial support for the research should also be disclosed in the article.

The author(s) of a article agree that if the article is accepted for publication in PKKJLLL, the published article will be copyrighted using a Creative Commons “Attribution 4.0 International” license. This license allows others to freely copy, distribute, and display the copyrighted work and derivative works based upon it under certain specified conditions.

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to include any images or artwork for which they do not hold copyright in their articles or to adapt any such images or artwork for inclusion. The copyright holder must be explicitly aware that the image(s) or artwork will be made freely available online as part of the article under a Creative Commons “Attribution 4.0 International” license.

The authors’ names should be listed on the article in order of their contribution to the article, and all authors take responsibility for their contributions. Only those individuals who have made a substantive contribution should be listed as authors; those whose contributions are indirect or marginal example., colleagues or supervisors who have reviewed drafts of the work or provided proofreading assistance and heads of research institutes/centres/labs should be named in an “Acknowledgments” section at the end of the article, immediately preceding the Reference List. The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the article and that all listed co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article and agreed to its publication.

Where an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in an article of his/hers that has been published in PKKJLLL, he/she has an obligation to promptly notify the editors and cooperate with them to correct the article or retract it as appropriate.

 

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not be used for personal interest. Reviewers should not consider articles in which they have conflicts of interest (for example: collaboration and/or other connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions affiliated to the articles).

 

Responsibilities of Reviewers

PKKJLLL’s reviewers perform work for the journal on a volunteer basis. Given that most of these individuals are in full-time employment, their reviewing activities for PKKJLLL must, by necessity, not be their top priority. Reviewers are free to decline invitations to review particular articles at their discretion, for example, if their current employment workload and/or other commitments make it prohibitive for them to complete a review in a timely fashion and to do justice to the task in the available time frame. They should also not accept article review assignments for which they feel unqualified.

Reviewers who have accepted article assignments are normally expected to submit their reviews within one month. They should recuse themselves from the assignment if it becomes apparent to them at any stage that they do not possess the required expertise to perform the review or that they may have a potential conflict of interest in performing the review example., one resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, institutions, or companies associated with the article.

Privileged information or ideas obtained by reviewers through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Any articles received for review must be treated as confidential documents and not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorised by the PKKJLLL Editor.

When conducting their reviews, reviewers are asked to do so objectively, refraining from engaging in personal criticism of the author(s). They are encouraged to express their views clearly, explaining and justifying all recommendations. They should always attempt to provide detailed and constructive feedback to assist the author(s) in improving their work, even if the article is, in their opinion, not publishable.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s), together with any instances in which proper attribution of sources has not been provided. They should call to the responsible editor’s attention any major resemblances between a article under consideration and other published articles or papers of which they are aware, as well as any concerns they might have in relation to the ethical acceptability of the research reported in the article.

 

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not be used for personal interest. Reviewers should not consider articles in which they have conflicts of interest (for example: collaboration and/or other connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions affiliated to the articles).

 

Responsibilities of Editors

PKKJLLL is ultimately responsible for deciding if the article submitted to PKKJLLL should be published. In doing so, it is guided by the journal’s policies as determined by the PKKJLLL editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The Editor may consult with the other Editor and other editorial team members, as well as with reviewers, in making publication decisions.

The editors will evaluate articles for their intellectual content without regard to the race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). They will not disclose any information about the article under consideration to anyone other than the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers, and in some instances, the PKKJLLL editorial board members, as appropriate. Additionally, the editors will make every effort to ensure the integrity of the blind review process by not revealing the identity of the author(s) of the article to the reviewers and vice versa.

When evaluating the article for publication, in addition to considering standard criteria about the rigour of the article, the quality of its presentation, and its contribution to humanity’s stock of knowledge, the editors will also seek evidence that ethical harms have been minimised in the conduct of the reported research. They will question whether the benefits outweigh the harms in the particular study’s case. Since PKKJLLL welcomes the submission of article from any country, it is necessary to recognise that laws and regulations regarding research ethics and ethical approval vary worldwide. As such, the editors may need to seek clarification with the author(s) and request that they supply a letter from the relevant institutional ethics committee or board that approved the research.

The editors will be guided by CORE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, expressing concern about, and issuing corrections about articles published in PKKJLLL. They are committed to working closely with research organisations and institutions per CORE’s advice on Cooperation between Research Institutions and Journals on Research Integrity Cases.

 

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not be used for personal interest. Reviewers should not consider articles in which they have conflicts of interest for example: collaboration and/or other connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions affiliated to the articles.