Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The editorial board of the Journal of Innovations and Sustainability in its work is guided by ethics of international scientific publications, including the concepts of integrity, confidentiality, oversight of publications and prevention of possible conflicts of interest and so on based on COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors to ensure ethics and quality in publication.

Compliance with the rules of publications ethics of the all parties of the publishing process helps to ensure the intellectual property rights of creators, improvement of publication quality and prevention of possible misuse of copyrighted material for the benefit of individuals.

The opinions and suggestions expressed in article do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of information in articles, the accuracy of titles, statistics, surnames and citations. The editors retain the right to minor literary editing of texts and abbreviations, while maintaining the author’s style. In cases of plagiarism, the authors of the submitted materials are responsible.

Ensure that you adhere to ethical standards (for research involving human subjects, including surveys, authors must state whether the study was approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), ethics committee, or other recognised institutional body, as well as the name of the institution, the approving body, and any available reference data). For all studies involving human participants, voluntary informed consent must be obtained for participation in the study and/or the publication of data in the article.

 

Conflict of Interest Statement

The editorial board provides for the receipt of information from the author(s) about the absence of any conflicts of interest. In case of any possible conflict of interests, which could affect the interpretation of results and the judgement of reviewers, the author(s) should make a statement about it. The author(s) bear the responsibility for pointing of potential conflicts of interests, which can influence on a decision about the publication of their paper.

Editor and any member of the editorial board and/or reviewer should release themselves from the duties of considering manuscripts in case of any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or other relationships or connections with any of the author(s), institutions having relevance to the manuscripts. Editor should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests. In case of revealing the competing interests after publication, the corrections should be published. A retraction or expression of concern may be published if needed. Reviewers bear the responsibility for objectivity, professionalism, impartiality and confidentiality of the maintenance of article estimation.

 

Policy on the use of artificial intelligence (AI)

Authorship and AI tools

The editorial board allows responsible and transparent use of AI tools, provided they serve exclusively as auxiliary tools and should not replace the author’s original work. Any use of AI tools must occur only under full human oversight. Authors must follow the COPE guidelines and declare the (non)use of AI during the preparation of the manuscript. Authors must not list AI tools as authors or co-authors, and must not refer to AI as an author. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript and for any violation of publication ethics.

Any use of AI as an auxiliary tool for data collection and/or analysis must be transparent, justified and disclosed in detail in the section “Methodology” and indicated in the declaration at the end of the article. Any use of AI as an auxiliary tool during proofreading, stylistic enhancement, or improving the readability of the manuscript must be declared at the end of the article. The declaration must include the name, version number, and precise application of the AI tool(s). Authors can use the GAIDeT Declaration Generator to properly disclose the use of generative AI. Authors are responsible for accuracy, avoiding plagiarism, and protecting against AI-generated bias.

AI must not replace the author’s intellectual contribution to the research process; it must not be used to write any substantive parts of the manuscript, generate false data, fabricate research, describe the results, conclusions, or recommendations, or generate a list of references. In addition, AI must not be used to create illustrations.

The detection by the editorial board of any undeclared, inappropriate, or prohibited use of AI tools at any stage of manuscript review or after publication may result in the rejection of the manuscript or its retraction. The editorial board reserves the right to determine whether the use of AI tools is appropriate in the context of the submitted or published manuscript.

Authors are expected to review and comply with the applicable terms of use of AI tools prior to submission.

Use of AI in the editorial and review process

Editors and reviewers are prohibited from uploading manuscripts, or any parts thereof, to AI tools or using AI-assisted technologies that could compromise confidentiality.

Editors and reviewers are prohibited from using AI tools to write comments or create reviews during manuscript review process.

This policy will be reviewed and updated in response to technological advancements and evolving ethical standards.

 

Procedure for handling complaints regarding ethical violations

If you have any questions or complaints regarding a publication in the journal, please contact the editorial office of the journal by e-mail editor@is-journal.com. Upon receiving a complaint, the editorial office acknowledges its receipt within five working days and assesses its validity. A complaint is accepted for consideration provided it is submitted formally and is not defamatory. If the complaint is substantiated, it is handled by the editorial office in accordance with the COPE guidelines. The complaint handling process generally takes up to two months, subject to the promptness of responses from the parties involved.

The editorial office is committed to ensuring compliance with all ethical standards and the principles of academic integrity. Complaints are handled confidentially regardless of their status or identification. During the handling of a complaint, the editorial office may contact the authors’ institution to report suspected misconduct. The editorial office will provide the supporting facts and evidence that gave rise to these concerns. Once the handling of the complaint is complete, the editorial office will notify the complainant(s) regarding the final decision and any measures taken.

In the case that the complaint concerns a published article and its validity is proven, the policy of correction and retraction of published articles will be applied.

 

Policy of correction and retraction of published article

The correction and retraction policy for published articles is based on the COPE guidelines for Expressions of Concern and Retractions. If errors, misconduct or ethical issues are identified in published materials, the journal will take appropriate action in accordance with recognised international publication standards and best editorial practices. Post-publication actions may include corrections, addenda, expressions of concern, retraction or removal, depending on the nature and severity of the issue.

Retraction of published articles occurs in cases of proven serious violations of the reliability of the presented data, proven manipulation or fabrication of data or the manuscript review process, detection of significant plagiarism, multiple publication of the same work, proven undeclared or inappropriate use of artificial intelligence tools, proven concealment of conflicts of interest and other unethical practices.

All notices of corrections, retractions or removals are published on the journal website, are open-access, and are directly linked to the original article. The journal notifies the relevant indexing and referencing services, including Crossref, where necessary.