Publication Ethics

The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations (TAJSSEI)
ISSN: 2689-100X

The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations 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, or research instruments—is unacceptable.

Reuse of previously published material must be cited and disclosed. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material where required and identify any separate conditions governing its use.

2. Accurate and Transparent Reporting

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

The journal does not accept fabricated data, falsified results, invented interviews, altered participant responses, deceptive image manipulation, or selective reporting that materially misrepresents the research.

Authors should explain their methods, analytical decisions, limitations, and the evidence supporting their conclusions. Interpretations must be clearly distinguished from participant statements and observed findings.

3. Exclusive Submission and Duplicate Publication

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

Authors must disclose related manuscripts, preprints, conference papers, and substantial overlap with earlier publications. Secondary analyses of existing data must identify the data source and explain their distinct contribution.

4. 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.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors must include an explanation and written agreement from all affected authors. Unresolved authorship disputes may delay assessment or publication.

5. 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 the approval reference 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.

6. Children, Students, and Vulnerable Participants

Research involving children or vulnerable individuals requires safeguards appropriate to their circumstances. Parental or guardian consent and participant assent must be obtained where required.

In educational settings, researchers must address power relationships between teachers, administrators, and students. Participation or refusal must not affect grades, access to services, employment, or other entitlements.

Institutional or school permission does not replace individual consent where consent is required.

7. Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must protect participants’ identities and avoid publishing unnecessary identifying information. Interview quotations, case descriptions, photographs, and combinations of demographic details may identify individuals even when names are removed.

Identifiable material requires appropriate consent for publication. Confidential records must be stored securely, and shared datasets must be suitably anonymized or subject to controlled access.

Researchers must respect consent conditions and relevant privacy requirements when collecting or using online and social media data.

8. Data Availability and Research Records

Authors must retain supporting research records and may be asked to provide data, instruments, coding procedures, or other documentation 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 institutional restrictions. Sensitive participant data should not be made publicly available merely to satisfy a sharing request.

9. 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 employment, consultancy, organizational affiliations, advocacy roles, or personal relationships connected to the work. Authors must state the funder’s role in research design, analysis, writing, and publication decisions.

If no relevant conflicts exist, an explicit declaration should be included.

10. Responsibilities of Editors

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

Editors must:

• Protect the confidentiality of submissions and correspondence.

• 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.

• 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.

11. 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, data irregularities, ethical concerns, or substantial overlap 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.

12. 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 the accuracy, originality, references, and integrity of submitted work.

AI-generated text must not be represented as genuine interview responses, participant observations, or collected research data.

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

13. 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 consent, ethics approval, funding, or conflicts of interest.

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

Publication charges do not guarantee acceptance or influence editorial decisions.

14. 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, ethics committees, funders, 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.