The International Journal of Information & Management Sciences (IJIMS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This statement outlines the ethical responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher, and serves to ensure transparency, accountability, and trust in the publication process.
- Duties of Authors
- Authors must ensure that their work is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere. All sources must be properly cited. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the content of their manuscripts.
- Where research involves human participants, personal data, or sensitive information, authors are responsible for ensuring that appropriate ethical approval has been obtained and that the research complies with applicable institutional and national regulations.
- Use of AI and AI-assisted Technologies
- AI and AI-assisted technologies may be used solely to improve language clarity and readability. Such tools must not replace core research activities, including research design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, or the formulation of conclusions. Any use of AI-assisted tools must be transparently disclosed in the manuscript. AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors.
Data Availability and Transparency
Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement and provide access to underlying data, materials, and analytic code where appropriate, subject to ethical and legal constraints. Authors should ensure transparent reporting of research design, methods, and analysis to support reproducibility. Where data involve human participants or personal information, data must be de-identified and shared only in compliance with applicable regulations and approved ethical protocols.
- Duties of Reviewers
- Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents and conduct reviews objectively, fairly, and professionally. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited and report any suspected ethical misconduct, plagiarism, or conflicts of interest to the editors.
- Duties of Editors
- Editors are responsible for making publication decisions based solely on the academic merit, originality, and relevance of manuscripts. Editors must ensure a fair, unbiased, and confidential peer-review process and manage conflicts of interest appropriately.
Peer Review Process
- IJIMS operates a double-blind peer-review process to ensure academic rigor, impartial evaluation, and confidentiality. Following an initial editorial assessment, manuscripts that fall within the journal’s scope and meet basic quality requirements are typically evaluated by at least two independent reviewers. Editorial decisions are based on the academic merit, originality, relevance, and the reviewers’ reports.
- Plagiarism, Data Fabrication, and Misconduct
- All submissions are screened for plagiarism using professional similarity detection software prior to peer review. Plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, and other forms of research misconduct are strictly prohibited. Confirmed cases of misconduct may result in manuscript rejection, retraction of published articles, notification to affiliated institutions, and other corrective actions as deemed appropriate.
- Conflict of Interest
- All participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could influence the evaluation, interpretation, or publication of manuscripts.
- Corrections and Retractions
- When significant errors, ethical issues, or integrity concerns are identified after publication, IJIMS will issue corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern in accordance with established editorial procedures.
- Complaints or appeals regarding editorial decisions or ethical matters will be handled in a fair, transparent, and timely manner.
- Compliance with International Standards
- IJIMS aligns its publication ethics with internationally recognized standards and best practices, including guidance provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and leading academic publishers.
