An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)
مجلة جامعة النجاح للأبحاث - ب (العلوم الإنسانية)

Malpractice and Ethics Statement

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism can be simply defined as using others’ ideas, phraseologies, information, or other sources of material without acknowledging the original owners of these materials. Thus, it is important to point out that plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including: text, illustrations, images, long quotations, recordings, etc.; material downloaded from websites on the Internet or taken from manuscripts or other forms of media;

published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations, MA dissertations and PhD theses. Plagiarism cannot be tolerated at all costs in our journal whose editorial team has the right to check all submissions through different technological tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be instantly rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after the publication of a manuscript, we will consult our editors about following some guidelines such as correction, author(s)’ restriction or complete retraction. We also expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism if they find out that some parts of the submitted work are incompatible with the rest of the work.

Reused and Redundant Publication:

Reused or redundant publication occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is appropriated and sent to different journals more than once by the author(s) without adhering to cross-referencing or providing sufficient justification for the overlap in different publications. This can happen in the same language or in more than one language, especially Arabic and English in our case. We do not support and acknowledge substantial overlap between publications, unless:

• the editors agree that this overlap will strengthen the academic discourse;
• the editors get clear approval from the original publication;
• the author(s) include citation of the original source.

As we expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of reused or redundant publication, authors must make sure that manuscripts are not under consideration elsewhere, whether accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or other places.

For ethical reasons, it is advisable that author(s) check their submitted field-research and remove any prejudices or provocations involving vulnerable humans, beliefs of religious minorities, foreigners or even endangered animals. Submissions are approved by relevant editorial members who will ensure that the submitted work conforms to international ethical and legal standards for research. We, therefore, expect authors to respect human participants’ right to privacy, and to gain any necessary consent by participating individuals to publish before submitting to us.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding:

Authors are entitled to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could affect the integrity of their research. Conflicts of interest, which could be financial, professional or personal, may cause an undue influence on the presentation, review or publication of a piece of work.

Defamation and Freedom of Expression:

Although freedom of expression is significant to our journal, we refrain from publishing harmful statements that damage the reputation of individuals, groups, or institutions.

Image Manipulation, Falsification and Fabrication:

If researchers change the images presented in their work as integral data, the outcomes and significance of the work can be disqualified on the basis of misrepresentation. Unless there are valid reasons for modifying these images, we strongly urge authors to present these images as they appear in the original sources. Changes to original images can easily lead to falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of intended results.

Research Frauds and Misconduct:

We always seek to ensure that the content of all submitted research is ethical. If we discover that any research includes fraudulent information or results, the published work will be corrected or retracted, and the author(s) will be officially notified of our decision.

Transparency / Data and Supporting Evidence:

Transparency and openness around all types of research material are vital components of our ethical codes of publication. Authors are expected to maintain accurate records of supporting evidence. This is necessary to help others understand and verify new findings, and to supply or provide access to this supporting evidence, if requested.

Integrity of Record:

We maintain an excellent record of all published material and we do not modify or manipulate the presentation of our academic records even for marketing purposes. The published information provided by our journal describes each publication in details. We preserve our records as much as possible if it is necessary for us to change the publication records in one way or another.

Our journal takes full care and respect for all participants contributing to our input in all fields of research. In addition to the general principles mentioned earlier, our journal and editorial teams are also responsible for responding to all authors in different research areas concerning ethical issues and policies appropriate to their subject matter and discipline. If author(s) have any concern regarding these publication ethics, principles or procedures, please do not hesitate to email the editor-in-chief at scresearch@najah.edu.

Duties of Editors

• Determine whether a submitted manuscript is appropriate and within the scope of the Journal.
• Select expert reviewers (i.e., referees) and an area editor to evaluate the submitted manuscript.
• Render a final editorial decision on each manuscript based on journal priorities, other similar manuscripts in process and related considerations.
• Communicate directly with the author and the review team.
• Schedule accepted manuscripts for publication.
• Balance workloads for the area editors and reviewers.
• Resolve any conflicts.

Fair Play: The editors should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality: The editors 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.

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. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations: The editors should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

Duties of Reviewers

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. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication, and lies at the heart of the scientific method.

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.

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.

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

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.

Disclosure and conflict of interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

Duties of Authors

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. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.

Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review.

Acknowledgement of sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

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.

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.

Authorship and Contribution:

1. Author(s) must abide by certain ethical commitments relating to the accuracy, originality or integrity of any part of the work, and if any of these ethical commitments are violated during or after the process of writing, drafting and revising, the author(s) must adequately investigate, address and resolve these issues before we proceed with publication. The corresponding author is the main person who manages the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process in all possible ways.
2. The corresponding author must confirm that he/she has the full authority to act on behalf of all co-authors, whose names must be listed in a non-review document upon submission, in all matters pertaining to submission, correspondence and publication of the manuscript. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain the agreement to act on behalf of all participating authors and to inform them constantly of the manuscript’s status throughout the submission, review, and publication process. In case of general or specific enquiries pertaining to the submitted work, the corresponding author must also handle any communication on behalf of other authors. Moreover, our journal editorial team encourages authors to list anyone who provided research, proofreading, editing and writing assistance in the Acknowledgments section in their publication.