Publication Ethics

The Journal of Excellence in Business Administration (JEBA), published by SMARCONS Publisher, is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and scholarly accountability. JEBA follows recognized ethical publishing practices and relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), where applicable.

This policy provides ethical guidance for authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and readers. It applies to all stages of the publication process, including submission, peer review, editorial decision-making, revision, production, publication, correction, and post-publication matters.

Research and Publishing Ethics

All manuscripts submitted to JEBA must represent original, ethical, and good-faith scholarly work. Manuscripts must not be under consideration by another journal at the time of submission and must not contain plagiarized, defamatory, unlawful, fabricated, falsified, or misleading content.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their work complies with relevant ethical, legal, institutional, and disciplinary standards. Where required, authors must obtain permission for third-party materials and secure informed consent or ethical approval for research involving human participants, animals, sensitive data, identifiable individuals, or organizational information.

JEBA does not permit ghost authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship, duplicate submission, redundant publication, plagiarism, citation manipulation, peer review manipulation, data fabrication, data falsification, or undisclosed conflicts of interest.

If ethical concerns are identified before or after publication, the journal may investigate the matter and take appropriate action, including correction, expression of concern, retraction, rejection, notification to relevant institutions, or other steps in accordance with the journal’s ethical policies.

JEBA seeks to limit editorial endogeny. In each of the latest two issues, articles authored or co-authored by editors, editorial board members, or listed reviewers should not exceed 25% of the published research content.

Authorship and Contributorship

All listed authors must have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the manuscript. Authorship should be based on meaningful participation in one or more of the following areas:

  • Conception or design of the study

  • Data collection, analysis, or interpretation

  • Drafting or critically revising the manuscript

  • Approval of the final version before submission or publication

  • Accountability for the integrity and accuracy of the work

All authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are properly listed and that all listed authors have approved the manuscript.

Ghost authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship, and the exclusion of eligible contributors are considered unethical. Authorship disputes will be handled in accordance with recognized publication ethics practices and may require institutional involvement where necessary.

Artificial intelligence tools, large language models, chatbots, or similar technologies cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the integrity, originality, accuracy, or ethical compliance of the work.

Use of Generative AI and Language Tools

Authors must use artificial intelligence tools responsibly and transparently. AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, manipulate results, create misleading content, or replace the authors’ own scholarly judgment.

Authors may use language-editing tools, grammar-checking tools, or AI-assisted technologies for improving readability, grammar, spelling, or formatting. Any substantial use of AI tools in manuscript preparation, data analysis, coding, image generation, or content development must be clearly disclosed in the manuscript.

AI-generated images, figures, or visual material are not permitted unless their use is clearly justified, legally permitted, ethically appropriate, and transparently disclosed. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, originality, legality, and ethical acceptability of all content included in the manuscript.

AI and Peer Review

The peer review process is confidential. Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts, review reports, unpublished data, figures, tables, or any confidential review material into artificial intelligence tools, large language models, chatbots, or third-party systems that may store, process, or reuse the content.

Reviewers must complete evaluations independently and must not rely on AI-generated assessments as a substitute for their own expert judgment. Any misuse of AI tools in the peer review process may be treated as peer review misconduct and may be investigated by the journal.

Attribution and Citation Ethics

Authors must appropriately cite all relevant sources, including previously published work, preprints, conference papers, presentations, datasets, and other scholarly materials where applicable. All references must be accurate, complete, relevant, and formatted according to the journal’s required citation style.

Citation manipulation is prohibited. This includes excessive self-citation, coercive citation, irrelevant citation, citation pushing, or the inclusion of references primarily to increase citation metrics. Editors and reviewers must not request unnecessary citations for personal, journal, institutional, or metric-related benefit.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or appear to influence, the submission, review, editorial decision, interpretation, or publication of a manuscript.

Conflicts of interest may include financial relationships, institutional affiliations, funding arrangements, consultancy roles, employment, personal relationships, academic competition, previous collaboration, editorial involvement, or any other situation that may affect impartial judgment.

Failure to disclose a conflict of interest may result in manuscript rejection, correction, investigation, retraction, or other appropriate action.

Defamation, Privacy, and Legal Responsibility

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts do not contain defamatory, unlawful, misleading, or unsupported claims. Where identifiable individuals, organizations, cases, images, direct quotations, or personal information are included, authors must obtain appropriate permission or consent where required.

If defamatory, unlawful, or privacy-violating content is identified after publication, JEBA may issue a correction, remove affected content where legally necessary, publish an expression of concern, or retract the article depending on the nature and severity of the issue.

Research Involving Human Participants, Animals, or Sensitive Data

Manuscripts involving human participants, animals, clinical information, personal data, organizational data, or sensitive information must include an ethics statement. The statement should include:

  • Name of the ethics committee, review board, or approving authority

  • Approval number or reference number, where applicable

  • Confirmation of informed consent, where applicable

  • Explanation if ethical approval or consent was not required

Research must comply with relevant local, national, institutional, and international ethical standards. Manuscripts without appropriate ethical approval, consent information, or justification may be returned, rejected, or investigated.

Consent to Publish

Authors must obtain consent to publish when a manuscript includes identifiable personal information, images, case details, direct quotations, organizational information, or other material that could identify an individual or entity.

Consent must confirm that the relevant person or authorized representative understands how the information will be published and made available through an open access journal.

Data Integrity, Fabrication, and Image Manipulation

JEBA does not permit fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or misrepresentation of data, results, figures, tables, images, or research findings. Images may be adjusted only when such adjustments do not misrepresent the original data or alter the interpretation of results.

Authors may be asked to provide raw data, original images, ethical approval documents, consent forms, or other supporting material during peer review or after publication. Confirmed cases of data fabrication, falsification, or misleading manipulation may result in rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or notification to relevant institutions.

Third-Party Materials and Datasets

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use third-party materials, including images, tables, figures, scales, questionnaires, datasets, software, copyrighted text, or other protected content. Proper attribution must be provided.

Where third-party datasets are used, authors must confirm that the data are publicly available, legally accessible, properly licensed, or used with appropriate permission. Sensitive or personal data must be anonymized unless explicit ethical approval and consent permit otherwise.

Plagiarism and Similarity Checking

JEBA uses plagiarism and similarity-checking tools, including Turnitin and/or Crossref Similarity Check, where available, to help identify possible plagiarism, text recycling, duplicate publication, or inappropriate use of previously published work.

Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, data, figures, images, or other scholarly material without proper acknowledgment. Paraphrasing without citation, using protected works without permission, and presenting another person’s work as one’s own are also considered forms of plagiarism.

Manuscripts with confirmed plagiarism may be rejected. If plagiarism is identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or institutional notification, depending on the seriousness of the case.

Self-Plagiarism and Redundant Publication

Text recycling, duplicate publication, redundant publication, and simultaneous submission are not permitted. Authors must disclose any prior dissemination of related work, including preprints, conference papers, reports, theses, working papers, or previously published material.

If authors reuse parts of their own previous work, the reused material must be properly cited and transparently disclosed. Serious or undisclosed self-plagiarism may result in rejection, correction, or retraction.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

All allegations of misconduct are handled confidentially, fairly, and without bias. Allegations may be raised by editors, reviewers, authors, readers, institutions, funders, or other concerned parties.

The Editor-in-Chief will conduct an initial assessment of the allegation. Where necessary, the editorial board, external experts, relevant institutions, funding bodies, or ethics committees may be consulted. The person or persons against whom allegations are made will normally be given an opportunity to respond.

Malicious, knowingly false, or deliberately misleading allegations may themselves be considered misconduct. Verified allegations may result in rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, institutional notification, reviewer removal, editorial action, or other appropriate measures.

Complaints, Appeals, and Grievance Procedure

Authors may appeal editorial decisions if they believe that the decision was based on a factual error, procedural error, conflict of interest, or misunderstanding of the manuscript. Appeals must be submitted in writing with clear reasons and supporting evidence.

Complaints about editorial decisions, peer review, ethical conduct, journal procedures, or publication practices should be submitted to the editorial office. JEBA will review complaints and appeals fairly and without undue delay. Where appropriate, the matter may be referred to the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board, independent advisor, ethics committee, or ombudsperson.

The journal aims to provide a response to appeals and formal complaints within a reasonable period, normally within two months.

Ethics Oversight

JEBA maintains ethics oversight through the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board, and designated ethics or advisory representatives where applicable. Ethical concerns may relate to authorship, conflicts of interest, research ethics, plagiarism, data integrity, peer review, editorial conduct, complaints, corrections, or retractions.

Unresolved or complex ethical matters may be referred to an independent advisor, ethics committee, ombudsperson, institutional authority, or relevant external body where appropriate.

Ethical concerns may be sent to jeba@smarcons.com. If the journal has formally appointed an ombudsperson, concerns may also be sent to ombudsperson@smarcons.com.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

JEBA is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. If errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and seriousness of the matter.

Corrections are used for honest errors that do not invalidate the findings. Expressions of concern may be issued when serious concerns exist but an investigation is ongoing or inconclusive. Retractions may be issued when findings are unreliable due to misconduct, major error, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, or other serious issues.

All correction, retraction, and expression of concern notices will be clearly linked to the original article where applicable.

Responsibilities of Editors and Reviewers

Editors are responsible for ensuring a fair, confidential, transparent, and unbiased editorial process. Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and reviewer feedback.

Reviewers are responsible for providing objective, confidential, constructive, and timely evaluations. Reviewers must declare conflicts of interest and must not use confidential manuscript information for personal or professional advantage.

Our Commitment

JEBA is committed to handling all ethical matters with fairness, professionalism, confidentiality, transparency, and respect for the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal strives to follow recognized publication ethics practices and to protect the rights and responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and institutions involved in scholarly communication.

For questions regarding publication ethics, please contact the editorial office at jeba@smarcons.com.