Publication Ethics

EJIEM is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publication process — authors, reviewers, and editors — are expected to adhere to the following ethical principles.

For Authors

• Originality: All submitted manuscripts must be original work that has not been previously published or is currently under review elsewhere.
• Authorship: All listed authors must have made a genuine and substantial intellectual contribution to the research. Guest, ghost, and honorary authorship are strictly prohibited.
• Data integrity: Authors must accurately represent their data and methods. Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of data constitutes research misconduct.
• Conflict of interest: Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.
• AI tools disclosure: If AI-assisted writing tools were used during manuscript preparation, this must be explicitly disclosed in the manuscript. AI tools may not be listed as co-authors.
• Corrections: Authors have an obligation to promptly notify the editor if significant errors are discovered in a published work and to cooperate in issuing corrections or retractions.

For Reviewers

• Confidentiality: All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents and must not be shared, discussed, or disclosed to third parties.
• Objectivity: Reviews must be conducted objectively and constructively. Personal criticism of the author is not appropriate.
• Conflict of interest: Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest — whether competitive, collaborative, or personal.
• Timeliness: Reviewers are expected to respond promptly to review invitations and complete reviews within the agreed timeframe.

For Editors

• Fair treatment: Editors must evaluate all manuscripts fairly, on the basis of their academic merit alone, regardless of the author's nationality, institution, or gender.
• Confidentiality: Editors must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the relevant reviewers and editorial staff.
• Conflicts of interest: Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.
• Retractions: The editorial team is committed to issuing corrections, clarifications, or retractions when necessary, following COPE's retraction guidelines.