Ethic Statement

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published periodically in online format. The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against publication malpractice, including plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, and other forms of research misconduct.

This statement explains the ethical standards and responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, members of the editorial board, peer reviewers, and the publisher. These ethical guidelines are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of an article in the peer-reviewed journal SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA is an essential contribution to the development of a coherent, credible, and respected body of scientific knowledge. Published articles directly reflect the quality of the authors’ work and the institutions supporting their research.

Peer-reviewed publications support and embody the scientific method. Therefore, all parties involved in the publication process—including authors, editors, peer reviewers, members of the editorial board, and the publisher—must agree upon and comply with the expected standards of ethical behavior.

SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint revenue, sponsorship, or other commercial interests have no influence on editorial decisions.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions

The editors of SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA are responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts should be published. Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript’s academic merit, originality, validity, relevance, clarity, and importance to researchers and readers.

Editors must follow the policies established by the journal’s editorial board and comply with applicable legal requirements concerning defamation, copyright infringement, plagiarism, and other ethical issues.

In making publication decisions, editors may consult other editors, members of the editorial board, or peer reviewers.

Fair Play

Editors must evaluate submitted manuscripts solely based on their intellectual and scientific content. Manuscripts must be assessed without discrimination based on the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, citizenship, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts. Information concerning a manuscript must not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors or members of the editorial staff for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent.

Editors must withdraw from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, financial, institutional, personal, or other relationships with the authors or organizations connected to the manuscript.

Handling Ethical Complaints

Editors must take reasonable and appropriate action when ethical complaints are presented concerning a submitted or published manuscript.

Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior must be investigated, even when it is discovered after publication. Depending on the findings, the journal may issue a correction, clarification, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice.

Duties of Peer Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists editors in making publication decisions. Through constructive editorial communication, reviewers may also assist authors in improving the quality, clarity, validity, and presentation of their manuscripts.

Promptness

A selected reviewer who feels unqualified to evaluate a manuscript or knows that completing the review within the required period will not be possible must promptly notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Manuscripts must not be disclosed, shared, copied, or discussed with other parties unless specifically authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively, professionally, and constructively. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate and unacceptable.

Reviewers must clearly express their assessments and provide relevant evidence, explanations, and supporting arguments. Review comments should focus on the scientific and intellectual content of the manuscript.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors. Any statement indicating that an observation, argument, method, or research finding has previously been published should be supported by an appropriate citation.

Reviewers must also inform the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and another published or submitted work of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer-review process must remain confidential and must not be used for personal advantage.

Reviewers must not evaluate manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, financial, institutional, personal, or other relationships with the authors, companies, organizations, or institutions associated with the manuscript.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors reporting original research must present an accurate account of the work performed and provide an objective discussion of its significance.

Research data must be represented accurately in the manuscript. The manuscript should contain sufficient details, methods, evidence, and references to enable other researchers to understand, verify, or replicate the research where appropriate.

Fraudulent, fabricated, falsified, manipulated, or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may be requested to provide the raw data associated with their manuscript for editorial review. Authors should be prepared to provide access to such data where possible and should retain the research data for a reasonable period after publication.

Authors must ensure that the collection, storage, use, and sharing of research data comply with ethical standards, institutional policies, and applicable regulations.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are entirely original works. When authors use the ideas, data, figures, tables, statements, or words of others, the original sources must be appropriately cited or quoted.

Plagiarism in any form—including copying text, paraphrasing without attribution, using another person’s research results, or claiming another person’s work as one’s own—constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Authors must not publish manuscripts describing substantially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication.

Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Authors must inform the editor when a manuscript contains material that has previously been published or is under consideration elsewhere.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgement of the work of others is essential. Authors must cite publications, data, theories, methods, and other sources that have significantly influenced the research and preparation of the manuscript.

Information obtained privately through conversations, correspondence, discussions, or communication with third parties must not be used or reported without explicit permission from the source.

Authorship of the Manuscript

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, implementation, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the reported study.

All individuals who have made significant contributions must be listed as co-authors. Individuals who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged as contributors.

The corresponding author must ensure that:

  1. All appropriate co-authors are included in the manuscript.

  2. No inappropriate individuals are listed as authors.

  3. All co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

  4. All co-authors have agreed to submit the manuscript to SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA.

  5. All co-authors accept responsibility for the integrity of the published work.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other conflicts of interest that could influence or be perceived to influence the results or interpretation of the manuscript.

All sources of financial support, grants, sponsorship, equipment, or other assistance related to the research must be clearly disclosed in the manuscript.

Research Involving Human Participants or Animals

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and institutional or national regulations. Authors must state that informed consent was obtained from participants when required.

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines concerning animal welfare.

Where appropriate, authors must provide information regarding ethical approval, including the name of the approving institution or ethics committee and the approval number.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

Authors must clearly identify any unusual hazards associated with chemicals, equipment, procedures, or methods used in the research.

When research involves procedures that may pose risks to human participants, animals, or the environment, authors must explain the precautions and ethical measures implemented during the research.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted or published work, they are obligated to promptly notify the editor or publisher of SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA.

Authors must cooperate with the editor in correcting or retracting the article when necessary. When an editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published article contains a significant error, the authors must provide evidence supporting the accuracy of the article or cooperate in issuing a correction or retraction.

Duties of the Publisher

The publisher of SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions are based solely on academic merit and are not influenced by advertising, commercial interests, sponsorship, or other forms of revenue.

The publisher supports editors in addressing allegations of research misconduct, copyright infringement, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, and other ethical violations.

The publisher will cooperate with editors, authors, reviewers, institutions, and relevant organizations to maintain the integrity of the scholarly publication record.

Plagiarism and Research Misconduct

All manuscripts submitted to SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA may be screened using plagiarism-detection software before entering the peer-review or publication process.

Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, or other forms of research misconduct may be rejected or retracted.

When necessary, the journal may notify the authors’ institutions, research funders, ethics committees, or other relevant authorities regarding suspected publication misconduct.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

The journal may publish:

  • A correction when a published article contains an error that does not invalidate its main findings.

  • An expression of concern when there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct.

  • A retraction when the findings are unreliable because of misconduct, serious error, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, or other significant violations.

All corrections, expressions of concern, and retraction notices will be clearly identified and linked to the original published article.

Post-Publication Discussion

SITUSTIKA FIKUNMA welcomes responsible academic discussion regarding published articles. Readers, authors, reviewers, and researchers may submit concerns, comments, or corrections to the editorial office.

All post-publication concerns will be reviewed fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies and applicable COPE guidelines.