Ethical & Privacy Guidelines

ETHICAL AND POLICY GUIDELINES:

The journal is committed to meeting and upholding the universally accepted ethical standards at
all stages of the publication process. Strict adherence to the ethical standards is expected of all
parties involved: authors, editors and reviewers. The journal is committed to the highest
standards of both critical scholarly review and professional publishing judgment. By insisting on
thorough peer review procedures combined with careful editorial assessments, the journal
performs an intellectual gatekeeping function, ensuring that only scholarship of the highest
quality receives an acceptance for publication.
The following publication ethics and malpractice statements have set out the specific
responsibilities of all parties involved to ensure that the journal complies with internationally
accepted guidelines for ethical and culturally competent research.

Responsibilities of the Editors

The Editors are responsible for examining all the submitted articles exclusively based on
their academic merit, i.e., significance, timeliness, relevance, originality, and clarity.
The Editors would not consider the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic
origin, language, citizenship, religious beliefs or institutional affiliation.
The editors will be responsible for the integrity of the published record by issuing
corrections and retractions; and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication
misconduct, if required.
The editorial team and staff will not disclose any information about a submitted article to
anyone other than the corresponding author, editorial reviewers, potential peer reviewers,
other editorial advisers, and the publisher as necessary.
 Any Editor will not use unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript in their
personal research.
 The Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality of the language used in the article
and that the format and all required guidelines are fulfilled by the author(s).
 The Editors are responsible for ensuring a fair and appropriate double-blind peer-review
process of all submitted articles.
 The Editors shall ensure that they select the reviewers according to the expertise relevant
to the submitted manuscript.
 The Editors shall ensure that the manuscript is reviewed by a minimum of two experts in
the relevant field.
Submissions from authors who have any conflict of interest with the Editor(s) concerned
will be assessed, evaluated and processed by another editorial member.
The Editors will ask all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish
corrections if competing interests are revealed after the publication.
 The Editors shall be responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the
journal will be published based on the validation of the work in question, its importance
to researchers, scholars and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal
requirements as are in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
 In cases of alleged or proven misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the
Editorial team will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and amend the

article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or
the retraction of the affected manuscript in the most severe case.
 If an inaccuracy, misleading text or wrong explanations are found in the published article,
Editorial team must correct it promptly.
 The Editors will forward all complaints to the Editor-in-Chief. He will be responsible for
seriously investigating them regardless of who files the complaint.
 The Editor-in-Chief shall confer with editors, advisors, and reviewers in making these
processes and decisions.

Responsibilities of the Reviewers

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in an article or
knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and excuse
himself from the review process.
 Any manuscript received for review shall be treated as a confidential document by the
reviewers.
 Double-blind peer reviews are conducted objectively. Referees should express their
views clearly with supporting arguments.
 The Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited.
 The Reviewers shall not use unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript in
their personal research.

Responsibilities of the Authors

 It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that the manuscripts are reviewed/edited by an
English language expert before submission for publication.
 The authors shall ensure that the referencing and citation style is maintained according to
the APA guidelines (latest edition).
 The authors shall ensure an in-text citation style used with a list of references at the end
of the manuscript.
 The correspondence author shall ensure that the manuscript is not submitted and/or is
under review for publication elsewhere.
 The correspondence author shall ensure no conflict of interest between the principal
author & the co-author(s).
 The correspondence author shall ensure that there is no plagiarism and/or similarity in the
manuscript. Any data or ideas taken from other sources are cited correctly by
international standards.
 The international standards of research ethics must be followed and ensured by the
authors/co-authors.
 Complete affiliation details of author/co-authors, either with one or more institutions,
shall be provided during the submission of the manuscript.
 The correspondence author shall ensure that the manuscript, once accepted for peer
review, is not submitted/published elsewhere unless rejected by the journal.
 Author(s) shall provide a signed agreement/undertaking allowing the journal to reserve
the right to circulate the article and all other derivative works such as translations.

 It is the authors' responsibility to carefully read the author (s) guidelines and make sure
that all the requirements and conditions contained therein are fulfilled before submission
of the manuscript.