Publication Ethics

The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology (TAJPSLC)
ISSN: 2693-0803

The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology is committed to integrity, transparency, and accountability in scholarly publishing. Authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher share responsibility for maintaining ethical standards throughout submission, peer review, and publication.

1. Originality and Proper Attribution

Authors must submit original work and acknowledge all sources appropriately. Plagiarism—including unattributed use of text, ideas, data, images, legal analysis, or research instruments—is unacceptable.

Reuse of previously published material must be cited and disclosed. Authors must obtain permission for third-party content where required and identify any separate copyright or licensing conditions.

2. Accurate and Transparent Reporting

Research methods, sources, findings, and conclusions must be reported honestly and accurately.

The journal does not accept fabricated data, falsified results, invented interviews, misleading quotations, or selective reporting that materially misrepresents the evidence.

Authors must distinguish clearly between:

• Empirical findings and personal interpretation.

• Established facts and allegations.

• Legal rules, judicial interpretations, and proposed reforms.

• Supported conclusions and speculative arguments.

Relevant assumptions, limitations, and contextual boundaries must be explained.

3. Accuracy of Legal and Documentary Sources

Authors must verify the accuracy of legislation, judgments, treaties, policy documents, and other authorities cited in their manuscripts.

Legal analysis must identify the relevant jurisdiction and period. Proposed, historical, amended, or superseded provisions must not be presented as current law without clarification.

Quotations and translations must accurately reflect the source. Fabricated cases, references, or legal authorities are unacceptable.

4. Exclusive Submission and Duplicate Publication

A manuscript must not be submitted to another journal while under consideration by TAJPSLC. Previously published work must not be presented as new research.

Authors must disclose related manuscripts, preprints, working papers, conference publications, and substantial overlap with earlier work.

Secondary analyses must identify the original data or sources and explain their distinct contribution. Legitimate secondary publication requires transparent disclosure and appropriate permissions.

5. Authorship and Contributions

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. All listed authors must approve the final submission and accept accountability for their contributions.

Individuals whose contributions do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged with their permission. Gift, guest, purchased, and ghost authorship are unacceptable.

Changes to author names or order require an explanation and written agreement from all affected authors. Unresolved authorship disputes may delay assessment or publication.

6. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving participants or identifiable personal information must receive appropriate ethics approval before the research begins, where required.

Authors must identify the approving committee and provide approval details where available. Any exemption or waiver must be explained and attributed to the responsible authority.

Participation must be voluntary. Authors must explain how informed consent, confidentiality, and participants’ right to withdraw were addressed, as applicable to the study design.

7. Protection of Vulnerable Participants

Research involving persons in custody, victims of crime, minors, or other vulnerable individuals requires safeguards appropriate to their circumstances.

Researchers must address coercion, dependency, unequal power relationships, and risks arising from participation or disclosure. Participation or refusal must not affect legal treatment, access to services, institutional privileges, or other entitlements.

Institutional access permission does not replace individual consent where consent is required. Parental or guardian consent and participant assent must be obtained where applicable.

8. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Restricted Records

Authors must protect participants’ identities and avoid publishing unnecessary identifying information. Interview quotations, case descriptions, locations, and combinations of contextual details may reveal identity even when names are removed.

Identifiable material requires appropriate consent or authorization for publication. Authors must respect restrictions governing sealed records, confidential documents, protected identities, and information obtained through professional relationships.

Public availability of information does not automatically remove ethical responsibilities concerning privacy and potential harm.

9. Data Availability and Research Records

Authors must retain supporting research records and may be asked to provide data, instruments, coding procedures, or documentary evidence during assessment or investigation.

Manuscripts should include a data availability statement explaining how supporting materials can be accessed or why access is restricted.

Data sharing must respect participant consent, confidentiality, intellectual property, and legitimate access restrictions. Sensitive information should be anonymized or made available through controlled access where appropriate.

10. Funding and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose funding sources and relevant financial or non-financial interests that could influence the research or its interpretation.

Relevant interests may include professional representation, consultancy, employment, advocacy roles, political appointments, or involvement in cases or organizations discussed in the manuscript.

The funder’s role in research design, analysis, writing, and publication decisions must be stated. If no relevant conflicts exist, an explicit declaration should be included.

11. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must assess manuscripts fairly according to scholarly quality, originality, relevance, analytical rigor, and ethical integrity.

Editors must:

• Protect manuscript confidentiality.

• Select reviewers with appropriate expertise.

• Manage conflicts of interest and recuse themselves where necessary.

• Make decisions without discrimination based on authors’ personal characteristics or institutional affiliation.

• Evaluate arguments on their scholarly merits rather than political agreement or disagreement.

• Investigate credible concerns about submitted or published work.

• Keep editorial decisions independent of payments and commercial interests.

Submissions from editors or editorial board members must receive independent handling. The submitting individual must not participate in reviewer selection or the decision on their own manuscript.

12. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, respectful, and timely assessments. They should decline assignments when they lack appropriate expertise, cannot complete the review, or have a conflict that compromises impartiality.

Reviewers must not disclose confidential material, use unpublished findings for personal advantage, or contact authors directly about the review without authorization.

Suspected plagiarism, inaccurate authorities, data irregularities, substantial overlap, or ethical concerns must be reported to the editor. Citation requests must have a scholarly justification and must not primarily serve to increase personal or journal citation counts.

13. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors must disclose substantive use of generative AI in manuscript preparation, analysis, or content creation, identifying the tool and explaining its purpose.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Human authors remain responsible for accuracy, originality, references, and research integrity. Legal authorities, quotations, and citations must be independently verified.

AI-generated content must not be presented as genuine participant responses, documentary evidence, or collected research data. Legitimate use of synthetic data must be clearly identified and explained.

Editors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts, restricted records, or sensitive participant information to external AI services without appropriate authorization and confidentiality protections.

14. Unacceptable Publishing Practices

The journal does not accept:

• Plagiarism, data fabrication, or falsification.

• Paper-mill submissions or purchased manuscripts.

• Fraudulent authorship or fabricated reviewer identities.

• Manipulation of peer review.

• Coercive citations or coordinated citation manipulation.

• False statements about approvals, consent, permissions, funding, or conflicts of interest.

• Deliberate misrepresentation of submission, acceptance, or publication dates.

• Unsupported accusations presented as established findings.

Publication charges do not guarantee acceptance or influence editorial decisions.

15. Complaints and Investigations

Suspected misconduct should be reported to the editorial office with relevant article details and supporting evidence.

The journal will assess concerns fairly, seek explanations from the individuals involved, and examine available documentation. Where appropriate, it may contact institutions, funders, ethics committees, or other responsible bodies.

Actions may include requesting clarification, suspending assessment, rejecting a submission, publishing an editorial notice, or correcting the scholarly record. Decisions will reflect the evidence and seriousness of the concern.

16. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

A correction may be issued when an error affects part of an article without invalidating its overall findings.

An expression of concern may be issued when a serious concern remains unresolved or an investigation is ongoing.

A retraction may be issued when findings are unreliable or publication involved a serious ethical breach. Retraction notices will explain the reason and link to the affected article. Retracted articles will normally remain accessible and clearly marked to preserve the scholarly record.

Authors must promptly report significant errors and cooperate in correcting their published work.

17. Appeals

Authors may appeal an editorial decision by submitting a reasoned explanation and supporting evidence. Appeals will be assessed fairly, with independent editorial input where appropriate.

An appeal does not guarantee that the original decision will be changed.

Contact

Questions, complaints, appeals, and reports of suspected misconduct should be directed to the editorial office through the journal’s official Contact page.