Publication Ethics

Al-Fateh Journal for Educational and Psychological Research, published by the College of Basic Education at the University of Diyala, is committed to the principles of integrity, transparency, objectivity, and accountability in research and scholarly publishing. Submitted manuscripts are evaluated according to their scientific merit, originality, methodological soundness, quality of presentation, and conformity with the journal’s aims, scope, and author guidelines, without discrimination based on nationality, gender, religion, ethnicity, institutional affiliation, social background, or intellectual or political views.

Publication ethics is a shared responsibility among authors, reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board, and the publisher. The journal’s ethical policies and procedures are guided by the core practices and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and by internationally recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing.

First: General Principles

  1. Editorial decisions are based on the scientific merit, originality, methodological quality, clarity, and relevance of the manuscript to the journal’s scope.
  2. The journal safeguards editorial independence and does not permit financial, personal, institutional, or political considerations to influence screening, peer-review, acceptance, or rejection decisions.
  3. The journal maintains the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts, editorial correspondence, peer-review reports, and the personal information of authors and reviewers.
  4. Complaints, appeals, and allegations of research or editorial misconduct are handled seriously, fairly, and professionally.
  5. The journal is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record and taking appropriate action when errors or misconduct are identified before or after publication.

Second: Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board

The Editor-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board shall:

  1. Conduct an initial assessment of submitted manuscripts to determine their conformity with the journal’s scope and whether they meet the minimum standards of originality and scientific, methodological, linguistic, and ethical quality.
  2. Make editorial decisions concerning acceptance, revision, or rejection based on editorial assessment, reviewers’ reports, and the journal’s published scientific standards.
  3. Select reviewers whose expertise and experience are appropriate to the subject of the manuscript while avoiding conflicts of interest.
  4. Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and disclose their contents or data only to individuals authorized to participate in the editorial process.
  5. Refrain from using information, data, or ideas contained in unpublished manuscripts for personal or scholarly benefit before publication.
  6. Disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest and recuse themselves from handling a manuscript when a personal, professional, financial, or academic relationship may affect impartiality.
  7. Ensure fair and equal treatment of all authors and reviewers and avoid decisions based on nonscientific considerations.
  8. Critically assess reviewers’ reports and disregard recommendations containing personal attacks, bias, or unscientific or unethical demands.
  9. Handle allegations of plagiarism, data manipulation, authorship misconduct, or duplicate publication confidentially and professionally.
  10. Take the necessary measures to correct the scholarly record when errors or misconduct are identified after publication.

Third: Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher shall:

  1. Protect the independence of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board in making scientific and editorial decisions.
  2. Refrain from influencing the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts for financial, personal, institutional, or other nonscientific reasons.
  3. Provide the administrative and technical support necessary for manuscript submission, peer review, editing, and publication.
  4. Support the implementation of publication ethics policies and cooperate in investigations of suspected misconduct when necessary.
  5. Ensure that the journal’s policies, fees, authors’ rights, complaint procedures, and appeal procedures are clearly and publicly stated.
  6. Support actions necessary to maintain the accuracy of published content and the integrity of the journal’s scholarly record.

Fourth: Responsibilities of Authors

Authors shall:

  1. Submit original manuscripts that have not previously been published in an identical or substantially overlapping form and are not simultaneously under consideration by another journal or publisher, while disclosing any related previous work.
  2. Present data, procedures, and findings accurately and objectively and refrain from fabricating, falsifying, omitting, distorting, or manipulating data.
  3. Properly acknowledge and cite all sources, quotations, instruments, scales, and datasets used in the study.
  4. Avoid plagiarism, duplicate publication, undisclosed self-plagiarism, unjustified fragmentation of research, and all other forms of research misconduct.
  5. Verify the accuracy of all references and refrain from including fabricated, nonexistent, or irrelevant sources.
  6. List as authors only individuals who have made genuine scholarly contributions to the work and refrain from adding non-contributors or excluding individuals who made substantial contributions.
  7. Ensure that all authors approve the submitted version, the order of authorship, and the designation of the corresponding author.
  8. Clearly disclose all sources of funding and financial or institutional support.
  9. Disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest that may affect the interpretation or findings of the research.
  10. Obtain the necessary ethical and institutional approvals for research involving participants, personal data, interviews, questionnaires, recordings, or institutional information.
  11. Protect participants’ privacy and data confidentiality and obtain informed consent whenever applicable.
  12. Respond to reviewers’ and editors’ comments scientifically and professionally, explaining the revisions made or providing a reasoned justification when a particular recommendation is not followed.
  13. Retain the original research data and make them available for legitimate verification requests, subject to ethical and legal restrictions relating to privacy and confidentiality.
  14. Inform the journal immediately upon discovering a substantial error in a submitted or published manuscript and cooperate in issuing a correction or taking other appropriate action.
  15. Disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in accordance with the journal’s published policy.

Fifth: Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers shall:

  1. Accept assignments only for manuscripts that fall within their areas of expertise and scholarly competence.
  2. Decline a review when they lack the required expertise or cannot complete the review within the specified period.
  3. Evaluate manuscripts objectively and impartially, without being influenced by personal, institutional, or intellectual considerations.
  4. Provide clear, specific, constructive, and evidence-based reports that assist the Editorial Board in reaching an appropriate decision and help authors improve their manuscripts.
  5. Avoid offensive, personal, discriminatory, or unprofessional language in review reports.
  6. Maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript and all associated data and information and refrain from discussing it with unauthorized individuals.
  7. Refrain from using unpublished ideas, data, findings, or materials contained in the manuscript for personal or scholarly benefit.
  8. Disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest involving the authors, the manuscript’s subject, or the institutions associated with the work and decline the review when impartiality cannot be ensured.
  9. Inform the Editorial Board when plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, or substantial similarity to previously published work is suspected.
  10. Refrain from requiring authors to cite the reviewer’s work or that of others unless the requested references are directly relevant and scientifically necessary.
  11. Refrain from uploading unpublished manuscripts or any part of them to artificial intelligence tools or external platforms that may compromise confidentiality or authors’ rights.

Sixth: Ethics of Research Involving Participants

  1. Research involving individuals or personal data must comply with recognized ethical principles protecting participants’ rights, dignity, safety, and well-being.
  2. Approval must be obtained from a research ethics committee or the relevant institutional authority whenever required by the nature of the study.
  3. Informed consent must be obtained from participants or their legal guardians when necessary, and participants must be informed of the nature of their participation and their right to withdraw.
  4. Appropriate measures must be taken to protect participants’ identities, privacy, and data confidentiality.
  5. Research involving children or vulnerable groups requires additional safeguards and ethical approvals appropriate to the participants and the nature of the study.
  6. The manuscript must include a statement confirming ethical approval and informed consent or explaining why either was not required, where applicable.

Seventh: Plagiarism and Textual Similarity

Literary theft and plagiarism in all their forms constitute unethical conduct. Submitted manuscripts are screened for textual similarity using Turnitin or another system approved by the relevant official authorities.

The journal does not assess a manuscript solely on the basis of a numerical similarity percentage. The Editorial Board examines the nature, source, extent, documentation, and effect of the identified similarities on the manuscript’s originality. Properly cited similarities involving the names of research instruments, standard methodological expressions, or reference entries do not automatically constitute plagiarism. Conversely, a low similarity percentage does not exclude misconduct when substantial ideas, data, or wording have been used without proper acknowledgment.

When unjustified similarity is identified before publication, the journal may return the manuscript to the authors for revision or reject it, depending on the nature and seriousness of the case. Misconduct discovered after publication shall be handled in accordance with the journal’s policies on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

Eighth: Duplicate or Simultaneous Publication

  1. The same manuscript must not be submitted simultaneously to more than one journal or publishing body.
  2. A work previously published in whole or in part must not be republished without transparent disclosure and an acceptable scientific and legal justification.
  3. Authors must disclose any conference abstract, previous paper, academic thesis or dissertation, or electronic repository version directly related to the submitted manuscript.
  4. When the manuscript extends previously published work, it must contain a substantial new scholarly contribution, cite the earlier work, and clearly explain the additions and differences.
  5. A single study must not be artificially divided into several manuscripts solely to increase the number of publications.
  6. Simultaneous submission, duplicate publication, or concealment of previous publication constitutes a breach of publication ethics and may result in rejection or further action depending on the stage at which the violation is identified.

Ninth: Authorship and Scholarly Contributions

  1. Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception or design of the study, its implementation, data analysis, interpretation of findings, drafting of the manuscript, or critical scholarly revision.
  2. All authors must approve the final version and accept responsibility for the integrity of the published work.
  3. Authorship must not be granted for administrative, professional, personal, or financial reasons or solely for providing language assistance or general support that does not constitute a substantial scholarly contribution.
  4. Individuals whose assistance does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged, subject to their consent where necessary.
  5. Requests to add or remove an author or change the order of authors before publication must be justified, approved by all authors, and reviewed by the Editorial Board.
  6. The journal does not adjudicate personal authorship disputes and may refer such disputes to the authors’ institutions for investigation.

Tenth: Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief, and members of the Editorial Board must disclose any financial, professional, academic, institutional, or personal relationship that may affect, or reasonably appear to affect, the objectivity of the research, peer review, or editorial decision.

A reviewer or editor with a conflict of interest must decline or recuse themselves from handling the manuscript, which shall then be assigned to an independent person. The disclosure of an author’s conflict of interest does not necessarily result in rejection, but it must be clearly stated to ensure transparency.

Eleventh: Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

  1. Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in preparing, editing, translating, analyzing data for, or generating any part of a manuscript. The name of the tool and the purpose for which it was used must be stated.
  2. Artificial intelligence tools may not be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume scientific, ethical, or legal responsibility for the work.
  3. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, data integrity, references, analyses, and conclusions of the manuscript, including content prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools.
  4. Artificial intelligence must not be used to fabricate data, findings, or references or to alter images or scientific content in a misleading manner.
  5. Reviewers and editors must not enter unpublished manuscript text, data, or reports into artificial intelligence tools when doing so may compromise confidentiality or authors’ rights.
  6. The detailed provisions of the journal’s separately published artificial intelligence policy shall apply.

Twelfth: Handling Allegations of Misconduct

The journal handles allegations of research or editorial misconduct seriously, confidentially, and fairly, whether they arise before or after publication. Depending on the nature of the case, the following procedures may apply:

  1. Conducting an initial assessment to determine whether the allegation is credible and supported by reviewable information or evidence.
  2. Giving the parties concerned an opportunity to provide explanations and responses.
  3. Consulting an independent expert or contacting the researcher’s institution when necessary.
  4. Maintaining confidentiality and refraining from publicizing unsubstantiated allegations.
  5. Making decisions based on the available evidence and the nature, seriousness, and effect of the misconduct on the integrity of the research.
  6. Rejecting the manuscript, requesting correction, or suspending publication procedures when misconduct is established before publication.
  7. Publishing a correction, expression of concern, or retraction notice when misconduct is established after publication.
  8. Informing the relevant institution or competent authority when warranted by the nature of the case.

Thirteenth: Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

  1. The journal publishes a correction when an error is identified that does not invalidate the principal findings or conclusions but requires clarification of the published record.
  2. An expression of concern may be issued when serious doubts exist regarding the reliability of an article but the available evidence or investigation is not yet sufficient for a final decision.
  3. An article shall be retracted when its findings become unreliable because of a substantial error, fabrication, falsification, data manipulation, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or serious ethical violation.
  4. Correction, expression-of-concern, and retraction notices must be clearly identified, publicly accessible, and electronically linked to the original article.
  5. A retracted article remains in the journal’s electronic record with a clear indication of its retracted status and the reason for retraction, in order to preserve the transparency of the scholarly record.

Fourteenth: Complaints and Appeals

The journal accepts complaints concerning editorial, peer-review, or ethical procedures and permits authors to submit a reasoned appeal against an editorial decision in accordance with the policy published on its website. Complaints and appeals are reviewed fairly and confidentially and, whenever possible, are assigned to a person who was not directly involved in the original decision.

Submission of an appeal does not guarantee that the decision will be changed. Authors who submit complaints or appeals in good faith shall not be treated unfairly in their future interactions with the journal.