Ethical Issues & Misconduct

Ethical Issues and Misconduct

PAJE adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All editors must be alert to and act on:

1.1 Plagiarism and Text Recycling

• All submissions are screened with plagiarism-detection software
• Substantial overlap with prior work (whether the author's own or others') without proper attribution is grounds for rejection
• Confirmed plagiarism after publication triggers retraction and notification to the author's institution

1.2 Data Fabrication or Falsification

• If a reviewer or editor has substantive concerns about the integrity of the data, the EIC investigates
• The author may be asked to provide raw data, ethics approvals, and detailed methodology
• Confirmed fabrication results in rejection and a publication ban of at least three years

1.3 Authorship Disputes

• All listed authors must have contributed substantively (per ICMJE criteria)
• Ghost authorship, gift authorship, and post-acceptance addition of authors are not permitted
• Disputes are escalated to the EIC, who may consult the authors' institutions

1.4 Duplicate Submission

• Manuscripts under review at another journal are immediately rejected
• Confirmed duplicate submission may result in a publication ban

1.5 Conflicts of Interest

• Editors and reviewers with a conflict of interest must recuse themselves
• Authors must declare all funding sources and potential conflicts
• Suspected undisclosed conflicts are investigated by the EIC

1.6 Reviewer Misconduct

• Reviewers who breach confidentiality, plagiarise the manuscript under review, or use the review to suppress competition are removed from the reviewer panel
• Persistent late or perfunctory reviewing is also grounds for removal