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Ethics and Malpractice Statement

All scholarly journals published by institutions under Universitas Islam Darussalam (UID) Ciamis, West Java, Indonesia are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, and scholarly quality.

This statement outlines the ethical behavior and responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process—including the Author(s), the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editors, the Editorial Board, Peer Reviewers, and the Publisher. Our ethical guidelines are strictly grounded in COPE’s Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy regarding copyright abuse, plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, and all forms of academic publishing malpractice.

1. General Ethical Principles & Publisher Responsibilities

As the overarching publishing institution, Universitas Islam Darussalam (UID) Ciamis assumes guardianship over all stages of publication:

  • Editorial Independence: The publisher guarantees the total editorial independence of journal editors. Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit, validity, and relevance, free from commercial, institutional, or political influence.

  • Financial Impartiality: We ensure that advertising, reprint proceeds, subsidies, or Article Processing Charges (APCs, where applicable) exert no influence over editorial decisions.

  • Preservation of Academic Record: The publisher is committed to maintaining an accurate, transparent, and permanent academic record. In the event a journal ceases publication or undergoes platform migration, published articles are safeguarded through digital archiving and long-term digital repositories (e.g., national repositories, CLOCKSS/PKP PN).

2. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Publication Decisions & Fair Play

  • Decisive Authority: The Editor-in-Chief (or designated Section Editor) holds final responsibility for deciding which submitted manuscripts should be published, informed by peer-review evaluations and editorial board consultations.

  • Merit-Based Assessment (Fair Play): Editors evaluate manuscripts exclusively on their academic merit—intellectual novelty, scientific rigor, clarity, validity, and relevance to the journal’s focus and scope—without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy.

Confidentiality & Conflict of Interest

  • Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any details concerning a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, designated peer reviewers, and the publisher.

  • Non-Misuse of Unpublished Data: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must never be used in an editor's personal research without explicit written consent from the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must remain strictly confidential.

  • Recusal in Conflicts: Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or personal relationships with any of the authors or institutions involved. In such cases, another qualified editorial board member will manage the review process.

Management of Unethical Behavior & Vigilance

  • Editors are duty-bound to take prompt, approachable, and decisive action when ethical concerns or allegations of misconduct arise regarding submitted or published papers.

  • Editors handle suspected cases of misconduct (plagiarism, data falsification, duplicate submission, citation manipulation, and authorship disputes) following COPE flowcharts. When warranted, corrections (corrigenda/errata), expressions of concern, or formal retractions will be issued transparently.

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Integrity

  • Editorial Support: Peer reviewers assist the editors in making informed publication decisions and provide constructive, critical feedback to help authors improve their scientific work.

  • Promptness: Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript or realizes that completing the evaluation within the agreed timeframe is unfeasible must immediately notify the editor and decline the invitation.

Confidentiality & Objectivity

  • Document Confidentiality: All manuscripts received for peer review are treated as strictly confidential documents. They must not be shared, discussed with unauthorized parties, or retained for personal use.

  • Standards of Objectivity: Reviews must be conducted impartially and constructively. Personal or ad hominem criticism of authors is strictly impermissible. Reviewers must express their assessments clearly, supported by sound academic reasoning and evidence.

Acknowledgment of Sources & Conflict of Interest

  • Citation & Overlap Alert: Reviewers should identify relevant published literature that the authors have failed to cite. Reviewers must immediately notify the editor of any substantial similarity, text overlap, or suspicion of duplicate publication between the manuscript and any other published work within their knowledge.

  • Disclosure of Conflicts: Reviewers must not evaluate manuscripts where potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative, or personal ties with authors) could compromise their impartiality.

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

Reporting Standards & Data Integrity

  • Accuracy & Validity: Authors of original empirical research must present an accurate, honest account of the work performed, accompanied by an objective discussion of its significance.

  • Data Authenticity: Data fabrication, falsification, image/text manipulation, or knowingly fraudulent statements constitute severe ethical misconduct and are strictly unacceptable. Authors should be prepared to provide raw data upon editorial request.

Originality, Plagiarism, and Redundant Publication

  • Originality: Authors must guarantee that their submitted manuscript is entirely their original work. All works, ideas, and verbatim excerpts taken from other sources (including the authors' own prior publications) must be appropriately quoted and cited.

  • No Concurrent Submissions: Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and will result in immediate rejection or retraction.

Authorship and Contributorship

  • Authorship Qualification: Authorship must be limited strictly to individuals who made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data analysis, or drafting/revising of the study.

  • Co-Authorship Agreement: The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors (and no unqualified/ghost/guest authors) are listed. All co-authors must review, approve the final manuscript version, and grant formal consent for submission.

  • Non-Author Contributors: Individuals who contributed substantive technical assistance or resources without meeting full authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the manuscript's Acknowledgments section.

Ethical Clearances & Disclosure of Conflicts

  • Research Ethics Compliance: Authors conducting research involving human subjects, sensitive populations, or empirical field surveys must ensure full compliance with institutional research ethics (including informed consent and ethical committee clearances where applicable).

  • Financial & Conflict Disclosures: All authors must explicitly disclose any financial grants, funding assistance, or personal/professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research findings.

  • Error Notification: If an author discovers a fundamental error or grave inaccuracy in their published paper, they must promptly notify the journal editor to facilitate a formal correction (erratum) or article retraction.

5. Digital Archiving and Access Preservation

Universitas Islam Darussalam (UID) Ciamis ensures the digital preservation of all published scholarly content across its journals through the Public Knowledge Project Preservation Network (PKP PN) and national indexing repositories (such as SINTA, Garuda, and Moraref), guaranteeing perpetual, unrestricted Open Access to the scientific community.