Publication Ethics

The International Journal of Management Research (IJMR) is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, transparency, fairness, and responsible scholarly publishing. This policy applies to authors, editors, reviewers, editorial-board members, and all individuals involved in the journal’s publication process.

IJMR does not tolerate plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, manipulation of peer review, or any other form of research misconduct.

Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are evaluated fairly, independently, and confidentially.

Editorial decisions are based on:

  • Relevance to the journal’s aim and scope
  • Originality and academic contribution
  • Methodological quality
  • Clarity of presentation
  • Ethical compliance
  • Reviewer recommendations

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by an author’s nationality, gender, religion, political views, institutional affiliation, academic position, financial status, or personal characteristics.

Editorial Independence

The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for decisions concerning acceptance, revision, rejection, correction, or retraction.

Editorial decisions must remain independent of:

  • Publication fees
  • Advertising arrangements
  • Sponsorship
  • Institutional pressure
  • Personal or professional relationships
  • Commercial interests

Payment of a publication fee does not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Confidentiality

All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, and journal staff must not:

  • Share manuscripts with unauthorized individuals
  • Disclose information about submissions outside the editorial process
  • Use unpublished material for personal, academic, or commercial benefit
  • Contact authors directly without editorial authorization
  • Reveal reviewer identities under the double-blind review system

Manuscript files and confidential information must be stored and handled securely.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that their submissions are original, accurate, ethical, and prepared according to the journal’s requirements.

Authors are responsible for:

  • Submitting original scholarly work
  • Accurately presenting research methods and findings
  • Providing appropriate citations and acknowledgements
  • Disclosing all relevant conflicts of interest
  • Obtaining ethical approval where required
  • Protecting participants’ privacy and confidentiality
  • Obtaining permission for copyrighted material
  • Ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript
  • Confirming that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere
  • Retaining research records and data where appropriate
  • Responding honestly to editors and reviewers

Authors must immediately inform the journal if they discover a serious error in a submitted or published article.

Originality and Plagiarism

Manuscripts submitted to IJMR may be screened using similarity-detection software.

Authors must not:

  • Copy text without acknowledgement
  • Present another person’s ideas or findings as their own
  • Use figures, tables, data, or research instruments without citation or permission
  • Translate previously published material without disclosure
  • Reuse substantial portions of their own published work without citation
  • Manipulate wording to conceal copied material

Similarity reports are assessed by the editorial team. The overall similarity percentage alone does not determine plagiarism; the nature, source, location, and extent of matching material are also considered.

Duplicate and Simultaneous Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

A manuscript must not have been previously published in substantially the same form unless:

  • The earlier publication is clearly disclosed
  • Appropriate permission has been obtained
  • The new submission provides a substantial original contribution
  • The editor approves its consideration

Duplicate or redundant publication may result in rejection or retraction.

Authorship Policy

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the research and manuscript.

An author should normally have contributed to:

  • The conception or design of the study
  • Data collection, analysis, or interpretation
  • Drafting or critically revising the manuscript
  • Approval of the final version
  • Accountability for the accuracy and integrity of the work

Individuals who provided limited administrative, technical, financial, or language assistance should be acknowledged rather than listed as authors.

Gift authorship, honorary authorship, ghost authorship, and the unauthorized addition or removal of authors are prohibited.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors must include:

  • A clear explanation
  • Written approval from all listed authors
  • Written consent from the author being added or removed
  • Confirmation from the corresponding author

Authorship changes after acceptance or publication will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  • Communicating with the journal
  • Ensuring that all authors approve the submission
  • Confirming the accuracy of author names and affiliations
  • Disclosing funding and conflicts of interest
  • Coordinating responses to reviewers
  • Informing co-authors of editorial decisions
  • Ensuring that the final proof is approved

The corresponding author must not submit the manuscript without the knowledge and consent of all co-authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any conflict that could influence, or appear to influence, their judgment.

Conflicts may include:

  • Financial interests
  • Employment relationships
  • Consultancy arrangements
  • Institutional affiliations
  • Personal relationships
  • Academic competition
  • Recent collaboration
  • Supervisory relationships
  • Political or ideological interests

Disclosure of a conflict does not automatically prevent publication, but failure to disclose a relevant conflict may result in corrective action.

Funding Disclosure

Authors must identify all sources of financial or material support.

The funding statement should explain:

  • The name of the funder
  • Grant or project number, where applicable
  • The funder’s role in study design
  • Data collection and analysis
  • Manuscript preparation
  • The decision to submit for publication

Where no external funding was received, authors may state that the research received no specific grant.

Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving individuals, employees, consumers, managers, students, patients, or organizational participants must comply with applicable ethical requirements.

Where required, authors must confirm:

  • Approval from an institutional ethics committee or review board
  • Voluntary participation
  • Informed consent
  • Protection of personal information
  • Confidential handling of responses
  • The right of participants to withdraw
  • Appropriate safeguards for vulnerable individuals

The name of the approving institution and approval number should be provided where available.

Surveys, Interviews and Organizational Research

For questionnaire-based studies, interviews, focus groups, workplace research, and organizational case studies, authors must ensure that:

  • Participants understand the purpose of the research
  • Participation is voluntary
  • Responses are treated confidentially
  • Participants are not exposed to unnecessary risk
  • Organizational permission is obtained where required
  • Identifiable information is not published without consent
  • Data collection complies with applicable privacy requirements

Coercion, misleading recruitment, and unauthorized use of employee or customer data are prohibited.

Informed Consent

Authors must obtain informed consent where research involves identifiable individuals or personal information.

Consent should cover participation and, where relevant, publication of:

  • Names
  • Photographs
  • Personal quotations
  • Case information
  • Audio or video recordings
  • Identifiable organizational details

Consent documentation should be retained by the researchers and provided to the journal if requested.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must protect the privacy of research participants.

Names, contact details, employee numbers, medical information, financial information, or other identifying details should not be published unless scientifically necessary and supported by explicit consent.

Data should be anonymized or de-identified wherever possible.

Data Accuracy and Integrity

Authors must present data honestly and accurately.

The following practices are prohibited:

  • Data fabrication
  • Data falsification
  • Selective deletion of findings to mislead readers
  • Manipulation of statistical results
  • Misrepresentation of sample characteristics
  • Alteration of images or figures in a deceptive manner
  • Invented interviews, quotations, or survey responses

Editors may request original data, questionnaires, statistical outputs, ethical approvals, or other supporting materials when concerns arise.

Data Availability

Authors are encouraged to preserve research data and make it available where legally, ethically, and practically appropriate.

A data-availability statement may explain whether:

  • Data are publicly available
  • Data can be requested from the corresponding author
  • Data are restricted for confidentiality reasons
  • Data cannot be shared because of ethical or legal limitations
  • No new data were generated

Data sharing must not violate participant consent, privacy, institutional agreements, or legal obligations.

Citation Ethics

Authors must cite sources accurately and responsibly.

Authors should not:

  • Include references they have not consulted
  • Add irrelevant references to increase citation counts
  • Participate in citation exchanges or citation cartels
  • Misrepresent the content of a cited source
  • Cite retracted work without clearly identifying its status
  • Use fabricated or unverifiable references

Editors and reviewers must not pressure authors to add unnecessary citations.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, confidential, and timely evaluations.

Reviewers should:

  • Assess the manuscript fairly
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses
  • Support criticism with clear reasoning
  • Declare conflicts of interest
  • Respect the confidentiality of unpublished work
  • Report suspected plagiarism or misconduct
  • Avoid personal, discriminatory, or offensive comments
  • Recommend references only when academically relevant
  • Complete the review within the agreed period

Reviewers must not use the review process to promote their own work or disadvantage competitors.

Peer-Review Manipulation

IJMR does not tolerate manipulation of the peer-review process.

Prohibited practices include:

  • Providing false reviewer identities
  • Creating fraudulent reviewer accounts
  • Supplying fabricated email addresses
  • Attempting to influence reviewers improperly
  • Submitting reviews written by authors or their associates
  • Offering payment or incentives for favorable reports
  • Interfering with editorial decisions

Confirmed manipulation may result in rejection, retraction, institutional notification, and restrictions on future submissions.

Use of Artificial Intelligence by Authors

Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content, including content developed with artificial-intelligence tools.

Artificial-intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot accept responsibility, approve publication, disclose conflicts, or respond to ethical concerns.

Authors must not use artificial intelligence to:

  • Generate fabricated data or results
  • Invent references or quotations
  • Conceal plagiarism
  • Create false participant responses
  • Manipulate images deceptively
  • Misrepresent the authors’ intellectual contribution
  • Upload confidential participant data to insecure platforms

Material use of artificial-intelligence tools should be disclosed where relevant, including the name of the tool and the purpose for which it was used.

Use of Artificial Intelligence by Editors and Reviewers

Editors and reviewers must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts.

Unpublished manuscripts, data, images, author information, or reviewer reports must not be uploaded to publicly accessible artificial-intelligence systems where confidentiality and intellectual-property protection cannot be guaranteed.

Editors and reviewers remain personally responsible for their assessments and decisions.

Copyright and Permissions

Authors must ensure that submitted material does not violate copyright.

Permission may be required for the reuse of:

  • Figures
  • Tables
  • Photographs
  • Illustrations
  • Questionnaires
  • Measurement scales
  • Extensive quotations
  • Previously published datasets

Authors must provide appropriate credit lines and evidence of permission where requested.

Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • Plagiarism
  • Fabrication
  • Falsification
  • Duplicate publication
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest
  • Inappropriate authorship
  • Ethical approval violations
  • Peer-review manipulation
  • Citation manipulation
  • Copyright infringement
  • Misuse of confidential information

Allegations will be assessed fairly and confidentially.

Handling Allegations

When suspected misconduct is reported, IJMR may:

  1. Conduct a preliminary assessment
  2. Request an explanation from the author
  3. Examine manuscripts, data, reports, and source materials
  4. Pause peer review or publication
  5. Contact co-authors where necessary
  6. Consult independent experts
  7. Refer the matter to the author’s institution
  8. Issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction
  9. Retain records of the investigation

The journal will avoid making unsupported public allegations.

Corrections

A correction may be published when an article contains an error that does not invalidate its central findings.

Corrections may address:

  • Author names or affiliations
  • Errors in tables or figures
  • Typographical errors affecting interpretation
  • Incorrect funding information
  • Reference errors
  • Minor analytical or reporting mistakes

The correction will be linked to the original article where technically possible.

Retractions

An article may be retracted when:

  • Findings are unreliable
  • Data were fabricated or falsified
  • Serious plagiarism is confirmed
  • The work was published elsewhere without disclosure
  • Peer review was manipulated
  • Research was conducted unethically
  • Copyright was seriously infringed
  • Authorship was fraudulent
  • A major undisclosed conflict affected the research

A retraction notice will explain the reason and remain linked to the published record.

Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when serious questions have been raised but an investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion.

This may occur when:

  • Evidence is incomplete
  • Institutional investigations are delayed
  • Authors provide conflicting explanations
  • Data reliability cannot immediately be established
  • Legal proceedings limit disclosure

The notice may later be replaced by a correction, retraction, or statement clearing the article.

Article Withdrawal and Removal

Unpublished manuscripts may be withdrawn according to the journal’s Withdrawal Policy.

Published articles will not ordinarily be removed because they form part of the permanent scholarly record. Complete removal may be considered only in exceptional legal, privacy, security, or safety circumstances.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other concerned parties may submit complaints about:

  • Editorial procedures
  • Peer-review conduct
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Publication delays
  • Ethical concerns
  • Copyright violations
  • Editorial decisions

Complaints should include clear details and supporting evidence.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that a significant factual, procedural, or ethical error occurred. An appeal must provide academic reasons rather than merely disagreement with the outcome.

Editorial-Team Submissions

Manuscripts submitted by editors or editorial-board members will not receive preferential treatment.

Such submissions will be handled by an independent editor who has no conflict of interest. The submitting editor or board member will not participate in reviewer selection or the final decision.

Post-Publication Discussion

IJMR encourages responsible scholarly discussion of published work.

Readers may report:

  • Factual errors
  • Methodological concerns
  • Ethical issues
  • Undisclosed conflicts
  • Possible plagiarism
  • Data irregularities

Substantive concerns will be reviewed and, where necessary, addressed through a correction, response, expression of concern, or retraction.

Record Retention

The journal may retain submission files, review reports, editorial correspondence, ethical documentation, payment records, and misconduct-investigation materials for administrative, legal, ethical, and archival purposes.

Confidential records will be handled securely.

Policy Review

IJMR may periodically review and update this Publication Ethics Policy to reflect developments in research integrity, peer review, artificial intelligence, copyright, data protection, and scholarly publishing practices.