Publication Ethics Statement

We follow COPE's Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Core Practices guidelines. For a peer-reviewed journal, the publication of articles plays an essential role in the development of a coherent network of knowledge. It is, therefore, essential that all publishers, editors, authors, and reviewers, in the process of publishing the journals, conduct themselves in accordance with the highest level of professional ethics and standards. It is also necessary to agree upon the following standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing.

1. Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

1.1. Disclosure of interest

Conflict of interest exists when an author or the author’s institution, reviewer, or editor has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence or bias his or her actions. Such relationships are also known as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties. These relationships vary from being negligible to having a great potential for influencing judgment. Not all relationships represent true conflict of interest. On the other hand, the potential for conflict of interest can exist regardless of whether an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgment. Financial relationships such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, and paid expert testimony are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, or of the science itself. Conflicts can occur for other reasons as well, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. If there are any conflicts of interest, authors should disclose them in the manuscript. The conflicts of interest may occur during the research process as well; however, it is important to provide disclosure. If there is a disclosure, editors, reviewers, and reader can approach the manuscript after understanding the situation and the background of the completed research.

1.2. Feedback after publication

If the authors or readers find any errors, or contents that should be revised, it can be requested from the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board may consider erratum, corrigendum or a retraction. If there are any revisions to the article, there will be a CrossMark description to announce the final draft. If there is a reader’s opinion on the published article with the form of Letter to the editor, it will be forwarded to the authors. The authors can reply to the reader’s letter. Letter to the editor and the author’s reply may be also published.

1.3. Process to manage the research and publication misconduct

When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. We will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

1.4. Article withdrawal

Articles in Press (articles that have been accepted for publication but which have not been formally published and will not yet have the complete volume/issue/page information) that include errors, or are discovered to be accidental duplicates of other published article(s), or are determined to violate our journal publishing ethics guidelines in the view of the editors (such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like), may be "Withdrawn".

1.5. Article retraction

Errors serious enough to invalidate a paper's results and conclusions (Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like) may require retraction.

1.6. Appeals and complaints

We adhere to COPE guidelines regarding appeals to editorial decisions and complaints. For additional information, please visit https://publicationethics.org/core-practices.

1.7. Use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies

Authors. Generative AI tools, such as large language models, cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Authors may use such tools to improve the language and readability of a manuscript, under human oversight. Any use beyond basic spelling and grammar checking must be disclosed in a statement placed before the References, naming the tool and describing how it was used. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of the entire content, including all mathematical statements, proofs, computations and references. References produced with the help of AI tools must be verified against the original sources. Generative AI must not be used to create, alter or manipulate data, results or figures.

Reviewers. Manuscripts under review are confidential. Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, any part of it, or their review report into a generative AI tool. The scientific assessment must be the reviewer's own.

Editors. Editors may use AI-assisted tools for administrative and screening tasks, such as checking the validity of references or detecting textual overlap, while keeping submissions confidential. All editorial decisions are made by human editors.

1.8. Data sharing and reproducibility

IJAA encourages authors to deposit data, code and other material that support their results in a public repository with a persistent identifier, and to include a Data Availability Statement in the manuscript. Where results depend on computer calculations or numerical simulations, the manuscript must give enough detail (algorithms, parameters, software and version) for them to be reproduced, and the code should be available on request or in a repository. See also Section 2.3.2.

1.9. Ethical oversight

Most work published in IJAA is theoretical. Where research involves human participants, human data or animals (for example, in applications to biology, medicine or the social sciences), authors must confirm that the study was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board, and that informed consent was obtained where required. The editor may ask for supporting documentation.

1.10. Intellectual property

Authors retain the copyright of their articles, which are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). Authors must ensure that they hold the rights to any third-party material reproduced in the manuscript, such as figures or tables, and that such material is properly cited and used with permission. Allegations of intellectual property infringement are handled as described in Section 1.3.

1.11. Similarity screening

IJAA is a member of Crossref Similarity Check. Submissions are checked with Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) for overlap with previously published work. Manuscripts with substantial unattributed overlap are rejected, and suspected plagiarism is handled as described in Section 1.3.

2. Duties

2.1. For editors

2.1.1. Publication decisions

The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

2.1.2. Fair play

An editor will at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

2.1.3. Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

2.1.4. Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

2.2. For reviewers

2.2.1. Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

2.2.2. Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

2.2.3. Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

2.2.4. Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

2.2.5. Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

2.2.6. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

2.3. For authors

2.3.1 Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

2.3.2. Data Access and Retention

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

2.3.3. Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

2.3.4. Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

2.3.5. Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

2.3.6. Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

2.3.7. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

2.3.8. Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

2.4. For publisher

2.4.1. Handling of unethical publishing behavior

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work. The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.