Publication Ethics
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
Introduction
The Andalasian International Journal of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (AIJANS) is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, and ethical responsibility throughout the scholarly publishing process.
AIJANS publishes scholarly research in agriculture, natural sciences, and related interdisciplinary fields. The journal recognizes that reliable scientific knowledge depends on ethical research conduct, sound methodology, transparent reporting, impartial editorial assessment, responsible peer review, and appropriate correction of the scholarly record when necessary.
Publication ethics is a shared responsibility among authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, the publisher, and other individuals involved in scholarly communication.
AIJANS does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of research findings, inappropriate authorship, manipulation of peer review, citation manipulation, deliberate misrepresentation of research, or other forms of publication misconduct.
The journal's policies are informed by guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, Version 5, developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.
These standards guide the journal's publication policies. References to these organizations do not imply formal membership or endorsement.
AIJANS Publication Policies
The following policies establish the responsibilities, requirements, and procedures governing publication in AIJANS. They are presented in the same order as the journal's Policy menu.
1. Publication Ethics
This Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement serves as the central framework for ethical research and scholarly publishing at AIJANS.
It establishes the journal's general commitments concerning research integrity, ethical oversight, responsible authorship, editorial independence, peer-review integrity, accurate reporting, transparency, confidentiality, and accountability.
The requirements apply to all relevant participants in the publication process and to manuscripts or articles handled by the journal.
Detailed requirements concerning specific aspects of publication ethics are provided in the individual policies listed below.
2. Peer Review Process
AIJANS uses a double-anonymized peer-review process, in which reviewers are not informed of authors' identities and authors are not informed of reviewers' identities during the review process.
Submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine their suitability for the journal, basic scholarly quality, compliance with submission requirements, and relevant ethical considerations.
Manuscripts considered suitable for further evaluation are assessed through the journal's peer-review procedures.
Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, confidential, and evidence-based assessments. They must disclose relevant competing interests and must not misuse unpublished information obtained through review.
Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, reviewer assessments, author responses, methodological reliability, and compliance with the journal's policies.
The Editor-in-Chief retains overall responsibility for the integrity of editorial decisions, including decisions made through appropriately delegated editorial responsibilities.
Detailed procedures, reviewer responsibilities, editorial assessment criteria, and decision-making arrangements are provided in the journal's:
Peer Review Process and Editorial Assessment.
3. Authorship and Contributorship
AIJANS requires authorship to reflect genuine intellectual contributions and accountability for scholarly work.
Individuals listed as authors must satisfy the journal's authorship criteria, approve the submitted manuscript, and accept responsibility for their contributions and the integrity of the work.
Gift authorship, honorary authorship, ghost authorship, and other forms of inappropriate authorship are unacceptable.
Authors must provide accurate contribution statements and disclose relevant funding, competing interests, ethical approvals, and other information required by the journal.
Disputes concerning authorship and requests to add, remove, or reorder authors must follow the journal's established procedures.
Artificial intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot fulfill the responsibilities and accountability required of human authors.
Full requirements are available in:
Authorship and Contributorship.
4. Competing Interests Policy
AIJANS requires transparency concerning relationships and interests that may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, research conduct, manuscript evaluation, editorial decisions, or publication.
Competing interests may be financial, personal, professional, academic, institutional, political, or otherwise relevant to impartial judgment.
Authors must disclose relevant competing interests. Editors and reviewers must disclose interests that may compromise their independence and must withdraw from assignments when a significant conflict prevents impartial participation.
Competing interests involving the journal or publisher must also be managed appropriately.
Undisclosed competing interests identified after publication may require clarification, correction, or other editorial action.
Detailed disclosure requirements and procedures are described in:
5. Plagiarism Policy
AIJANS requires submitted manuscripts to present original scholarly work and to acknowledge the intellectual contributions of others appropriately.
Plagiarism includes the unattributed use of another person's words, ideas, data, figures, images, results, or other intellectual materials.
The journal also addresses inappropriate text recycling, undisclosed overlapping publication, redundant publication, and simultaneous submission.
Authors must disclose relevant prior dissemination, including preprints or other publicly available versions when required by the journal's policies.
Similarity-detection tools may assist editorial screening, but similarity percentages alone do not establish plagiarism. Editorial evaluation must consider the nature, context, and significance of the overlap.
Detailed requirements and procedures are provided in:
6. Allegations of Misconduct
AIJANS takes credible allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously, whether they arise before or after publication.
Concerns may involve plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, authorship misconduct, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, ethical violations, or other practices that compromise the integrity of the scholarly record.
Reports may be submitted by authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, or other individuals with relevant information. Anonymous reports may be considered when sufficient specific evidence is available.
The journal assesses allegations impartially, protects confidentiality where appropriate, provides relevant parties with a fair opportunity to respond, and manages conflicts of interest in the handling of allegations.
Where necessary, AIJANS may cooperate with research institutions or other competent bodies. The journal distinguishes its responsibility for editorial decisions and the scholarly record from an institution's authority to conduct formal research misconduct investigations.
Detailed procedures are available in:
7. Corrections and Retractions
AIJANS is committed to maintaining an accurate and reliable scholarly record.
When significant errors or concerns are identified after publication, the journal evaluates the available evidence and determines whether corrective action is necessary.
Possible actions include:
- Correction: To address errors or omissions that require amendment without invalidating the article's principal findings.
- Expression of Concern: To inform readers about substantial unresolved concerns affecting a published article.
- Retraction: To identify articles whose findings are unreliable or that meet other recognized grounds for retraction.
Corrective notices should be clear, appropriately linked to the original publication, and consistent with the journal's procedures and relevant COPE guidance.
Retraction is primarily intended to correct the scholarly record, not to serve as a disciplinary punishment.
Detailed procedures are available in:
Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern.
8. Open Access Policy
AIJANS supports the dissemination of scholarly knowledge through open access publishing.
Published articles are made freely accessible online without subscription or pay-per-view barriers.
Open access enables readers to access and reuse scholarly material in accordance with the applicable copyright and licensing terms.
The availability of an article does not remove requirements concerning proper attribution, research integrity, copyright, or relevant third-party rights.
Detailed provisions are available in:
9. Copyright Notice
Authors retain copyright to their original scholarly articles published in AIJANS.
Authors authorize the journal to publish their accepted work as its first formal scholarly publication and to disseminate the published article under the applicable licensing terms.
Publication does not require authors to transfer ownership of their copyright to the journal or its publisher.
The copyright of individual articles is distinguished from the rights associated with the journal website, institutional branding, software, and independently owned third-party materials.
Further information is provided in:
10. License
Articles published under the standard AIJANS licensing arrangement are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.
This license permits copying, redistribution, adaptation, and reuse for commercial and noncommercial purposes, subject to its conditions.
Users must provide appropriate attribution, identify the applicable license, indicate relevant modifications, and comply with the ShareAlike condition when sharing adapted material.
Where material is owned by third parties and excluded from the article's license, the relevant rights and permissions must be respected.
Licensing provisions concerning repositories, text and data mining, and AI-related computational processing are addressed in:
The official license terms are available from Creative Commons.
11. Archiving Policy
AIJANS recognizes the importance of preserving scholarly publications beyond the operational lifespan of any individual website or publishing platform.
The journal uses the Public Knowledge Project Preservation Network (PKP PN) for digital preservation of eligible journal content.
Long-term preservation is intended to support the continuing availability and integrity of the scholarly record, including circumstances in which normal access through the journal website is disrupted.
The journal's archiving arrangements and preservation responsibilities are described in:
12. Author Fees and Business Model
AIJANS is committed to transparency regarding its publishing costs, financial support, and any charges applicable to authors.
Authors must be able to obtain accurate information about applicable fees before submitting a manuscript.
Financial arrangements must remain separate from editorial evaluation and manuscript acceptance decisions.
Payment of any applicable fee does not guarantee publication and must not influence the scholarly assessment of a manuscript.
Detailed information concerning the journal's author fees, applicable financial arrangements, and publishing business model is provided in:
Author Fees and Business Model.
13. Advertising and Direct Marketing Policy
AIJANS maintains a clear distinction between advertising, promotional activities, and editorial decision-making.
Any advertising or promotional arrangement must not influence manuscript assessment, peer review, acceptance, rejection, or publication.
Advertising material, where accepted, must be identifiable and must not be presented as independently reviewed scholarly content.
Direct marketing activities, including invitations to submit manuscripts, must be accurate, appropriately targeted, professional, and non-misleading.
The journal does not guarantee manuscript acceptance through solicitation, sponsorship, advertising, or other promotional arrangements.
The detailed provisions governing advertising and direct marketing are available in:
Advertising and Direct Marketing Policy.
14. Governance Policy
AIJANS operates within the institutional publishing framework of Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat (LPPM), Universitas Andalas.
The journal distinguishes institutional management responsibilities from editorial decision-making authority.
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for safeguarding editorial independence and the integrity of editorial decisions, while the publisher supports the journal's institutional, administrative, technical, and operational requirements.
Editors and Editorial Board members must fulfill their assigned responsibilities professionally and manage relevant competing interests appropriately.
Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, scientific reliability, ethical considerations, and the journal's established policies rather than institutional, commercial, personal, or financial pressure.
Detailed governance arrangements are provided in:
15. Privacy Statement
AIJANS respects the privacy, confidentiality, and personal information of authors, reviewers, editors, registered users, and other individuals who interact with the journal.
Personal information is processed for legitimate publishing purposes, including user-account management, manuscript submission, editorial evaluation, peer review, scholarly publication, communication, and appropriate recordkeeping.
Confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, unpublished information, and restricted editorial records must be handled according to applicable confidentiality requirements.
The journal's Privacy Statement explains the categories of information processed, relevant processing purposes, permitted disclosures, security responsibilities, retention considerations, and procedures for privacy-related inquiries.
Further information is available in:
Additional Research and Publication Ethics Requirements
The following requirements apply across the policies listed above. They address ethical responsibilities that are particularly relevant to the disciplinary scope of AIJANS and should be read together with the detailed publication policies.
Ethical Oversight of Research
Authors must conduct and report research in accordance with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and relevant laws and regulations.
Where required, research involving human participants, animals, identifiable personal information, or other ethically sensitive materials must receive appropriate ethical review and approval before the research is conducted.
Authors must provide sufficient information concerning the ethical basis of their research, including approval details, informed consent, or documented exemption where applicable.
AIJANS may request supporting documentation when questions arise concerning research ethics compliance.
Research Involving Human Participants
Research involving human participants must respect autonomy, dignity, privacy, and participant welfare.
Authors must report the relevant ethical approval and informed consent procedures where required.
Where potentially identifiable information, photographs, or other personal materials are included in a publication, appropriate consent for publication must be obtained and documented.
Research exempt from ethical review must be supported by appropriate evidence of exemption where required by the journal's policies.
Research Involving Animals
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and disciplinary standards for animal welfare and ethical research.
Authors must report relevant ethical approvals or other applicable authorizations and should explain the measures taken to minimize unnecessary harm.
Experimental procedures must be described with sufficient detail to permit scientific and ethical assessment.
Environmental, Agricultural, and Field Research
Research involving field sampling, protected areas, biological resources, agricultural experiments, environmental interventions, or other regulated activities must comply with applicable permits, permissions, and ethical requirements.
Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions and reporting relevant approvals where appropriate.
Research involving local communities, traditional knowledge, or sensitive ecological information should be conducted and reported with appropriate respect for applicable legal, ethical, and community-related obligations.
Research Data Integrity and Reproducibility
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, completeness, and appropriate reporting of research data.
Data must not be fabricated, falsified, selectively manipulated, or presented in a misleading manner.
Research methods, analytical procedures, and relevant computational workflows should be described with sufficient detail to support scientific evaluation and, where reasonably possible, reproducibility.
Authors must provide data availability information according to the journal's submission requirements.
Where data cannot be shared publicly because of privacy, ethical, legal, intellectual property, or other legitimate restrictions, authors should explain the applicable limitations.
AIJANS encourages responsible data management and sharing consistent with applicable FAIR and CARE principles, where relevant.
Editors may request clarification, data documentation, analytical code, or other supporting materials when necessary to evaluate the reliability of submitted or published research.
Funding and Support Disclosure
Authors must disclose all relevant sources of funding and support associated with the research and preparation of the manuscript.
Funding declarations should identify relevant grants, institutional support, equipment, services, or other material contributions where applicable.
Where no funding was received, authors must provide an appropriate statement indicating that no funding was received for the study.
Funding disclosures do not replace the requirement to declare relevant competing interests.
Image Integrity and Scientific Visualization
Figures, photographs, microscopy images, graphs, maps, diagrams, and other scientific visual materials must accurately represent the research and must not mislead readers.
Image adjustments must not selectively remove, conceal, introduce, or misrepresent scientifically relevant information.
Where image processing materially affects the interpretation of results, the methods used must be appropriately documented.
AI-generated illustrations and conceptual visualizations must not be represented as authentic experimental evidence, laboratory photographs, field observations, or other empirical records.
Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, permissions, and appropriate disclosure of all visual materials included in their manuscripts.
Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence
AIJANS recognizes that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may support research, scientific writing, data processing, programming, visualization, and editorial workflows.
However, their use must not compromise scientific reliability, originality, confidentiality, intellectual property, or human accountability.
Authors must disclose substantive AI use according to the journal's applicable requirements and must independently verify AI-generated content incorporated into their manuscripts.
AI systems must not be listed as authors or coauthors.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, calculations, methodological descriptions, analyses, figures, and conclusions, including material prepared with AI assistance.
AI must not be used to fabricate research data, create nonexistent references, manipulate evidence deceptively, or conceal plagiarism.
When AI is used as part of a research method, the relevant methods, tools, validation procedures, and limitations must be reported sufficiently for scientific evaluation.
Editors and reviewers must protect confidential manuscript information and must not disclose restricted materials to external AI services without appropriate authorization and safeguards.
AI-assisted editorial tools must not replace independent scholarly judgment or human accountability for editorial decisions.
Post-Publication Scholarly Discussion
AIJANS recognizes that scholarly evaluation may continue after publication.
Readers and researchers may raise evidence-based questions about published methods, analyses, interpretations, or conclusions.
Constructive scholarly criticism should be distinguished from allegations of misconduct, although a discussion may reveal issues requiring formal assessment.
Substantial concerns about the integrity or reliability of a publication should be handled under the journal's relevant misconduct and post-publication correction procedures.
Complaints and Appeals
AIJANS recognizes the right of authors and other relevant parties to raise legitimate complaints concerning editorial conduct, procedural fairness, journal management, or departures from published policies.
Authors may also appeal editorial decisions when they identify relevant grounds for reconsideration, such as a material procedural error or significant information that was not previously considered.
Complaints and appeals must be handled impartially, with appropriate protection of confidentiality and the opportunity for relevant parties to respond.
Individuals directly implicated in a complaint must not exercise sole authority over the handling or resolution of that complaint.
Where a complaint concerns the Editor-in-Chief, an appropriately independent review arrangement should be established.
Detailed procedures are governed by the journal's Complaints and Appeals policy. Until that policy has a verified public URL, inquiries may be directed to the Editorial Office.
Responsibilities for Implementing Publication Ethics
Authors
Authors must conduct research responsibly, report findings honestly, acknowledge relevant contributions, disclose required information, and respond appropriately to editorial or post-publication inquiries.
Reviewers
Reviewers must provide objective and constructive evaluations, protect confidential information, disclose competing interests, and report credible concerns about research or publication integrity.
Editors and Editorial Board Members
Editors must evaluate manuscripts fairly, maintain editorial independence, protect confidential information, manage competing interests, and address credible allegations in accordance with the journal's procedures.
Publisher
The publisher supports the journal's governance, institutional responsibilities, publishing infrastructure, and ethical standards while respecting the independence of scholarly editorial decisions.
Policy Implementation and Review
AIJANS is committed to implementing its published policies consistently and reviewing them when necessary to reflect changes in scholarly publishing standards, research integrity practices, applicable regulations, and journal operations.
The journal's policies apply to relevant stages of manuscript submission, editorial evaluation, peer review, publication, and post-publication assessment.
Where a specific policy provides a more detailed procedure, that policy should be followed together with the general principles stated on this page.
Procedural questions or apparent inconsistencies between policies should be referred to the Editorial Office for clarification.
Editorial Office and Contact
Andalasian International Journal of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (AIJANS)
Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat (LPPM)
Universitas Andalas
Kampus Limau Manis
Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia
Email: aijans@unand.ac.id