Publication Ethics

Econova: A Journal of Business, Commerce, and Economic Research is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, transparency, fairness, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow responsible research and publication practices and contribute to protecting the integrity of the scholarly record.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must submit original, accurate, and ethically conducted research. All sources, data, ideas, and previously published material must be properly acknowledged and cited.

Authors must not engage in plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate or redundant publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, or other forms of research and publication misconduct.

A manuscript must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal.

2. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made meaningful scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript. All listed authors should approve the submitted version and accept responsibility for their contributions.

Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are not acceptable. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.

Any request to change authorship after submission must be appropriately justified and may require agreement from all affected authors.

3. Plagiarism and Originality

The journal expects all submitted manuscripts to be original. Manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-detection software.

A similarity percentage alone is not considered proof of plagiarism. The editorial team will assess the nature, extent, source, and context of identified similarities.

Substantial plagiarism may result in rejection. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice.

4. Data Integrity and Research Ethics

Authors must accurately report research methods, data, analyses, results, and conclusions. Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, or misleading presentation of research data is prohibited.

Research involving human participants, personal or confidential information, surveys, interviews, or other activities requiring ethical oversight must comply with applicable institutional, ethical, and legal requirements.

Where required, authors should obtain appropriate ethical approval and informed consent.

5. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other interests that could reasonably influence their work, assessment, or editorial decisions.

Reviewers and editors should not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where a significant conflict of interest prevents an independent and impartial assessment.

6. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, and confidential assessments. Submitted manuscripts and unpublished information obtained through peer review must not be disclosed or used for personal or professional advantage.

Reviewers should disclose relevant conflicts of interest and inform the editor if they identify suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, citation manipulation, or other potential misconduct.

7. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring fair, independent, and confidential editorial processes. Decisions must be based on scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, relevance to the journal's scope, and compliance with ethical standards.

Editors must appropriately manage conflicts of interest and should not handle manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Publication fees, advertising, sponsorship, or other commercial considerations must not influence editorial decisions.

8. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, citations, analysis, conclusions, and integrity of their manuscripts.

Substantive use of generative AI in research or manuscript preparation should be transparently disclosed where applicable.

Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality and should not upload confidential submission materials to AI systems where privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, or data security cannot be assured. AI tools must not replace independent scholarly judgment in peer review or editorial decision-making.

9. Corrections and Retractions

The journal is committed to maintaining an accurate scholarly record. Significant errors identified after publication may be addressed through an appropriate correction.

An article may be retracted where reliable evidence demonstrates serious errors, plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, unethical research, duplicate publication, or other serious breaches of publication ethics.

Corrections, retractions, and other post-publication notices will be clearly linked to the affected article where applicable.

10. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, and readers may raise concerns regarding editorial decisions, journal procedures, ethical issues, or published content.

Complaints and appeals should clearly explain the concern and provide relevant supporting information. Where appropriate, the matter will be considered by an editor who was not directly involved in the disputed decision.

An appeal does not guarantee reversal of an editorial decision.

11. Handling Research Misconduct

Allegations of research or publication misconduct will be assessed fairly, confidentially, and on the basis of available evidence.

The journal may request explanations, original data, documentation, ethical approvals, or other supporting information. Where necessary, appropriate institutions or relevant authorities may be contacted.

Depending on the seriousness of the matter, editorial action may include manuscript rejection, correction, retraction, an expression of concern, or other appropriate measures.

12. Commitment to Publication Integrity

Econova: A Journal of Business, Commerce, and Economic Research is committed to protecting the accuracy, reliability, transparency, and integrity of scholarly communication.

The journal will take reasonable and proportionate action when credible concerns regarding submitted or published research are brought to its attention.