Ethical Guidelines: COPE, ICMJE and DOAJ
Ethical Guidelines: COPE, ICMJE and DOAJ
IJCIE has adopted three external frameworks. This page states which parts of each we apply and how an author or reader can hold us to them.
1. COPE Core Practices
The Committee on Publication Ethics publishes Core Practices and a set of decision flowcharts for handling suspected misconduct. IJCIE applies them as follows:
- Allegations of misconduct. Any allegation, whether about a submitted or a published article, is investigated by the Editor-in-Chief using the relevant COPE flowchart. The corresponding author is always given the opportunity to respond before a conclusion is reached.
- Authorship and contributorship. Disputes are resolved between the authors and, where necessary, their institutions; the journal does not adjudicate authorship but will not publish while a dispute is open.
- Complaints and appeals. A documented route exists for both, with defined timelines.
- Data and reproducibility. Editors may require the data or code underlying a result before a decision is made.
- Post-publication corrections. Corrections, expressions of concern and retractions are issued when warranted, are linked to the original article and are never removed.
Reference: publicationethics.org/core-practices.
2. ICMJE Recommendations
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors defines criteria that IJCIE applies to engineering research:
- Authorship criteria. All four ICMJE conditions must be met: substantial contribution to conception, design, acquisition, analysis or interpretation; drafting or critically revising the work; approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Contributors who do not meet all four are acknowledged, not listed as authors.
- Conflict of interest disclosure by every author, reviewer and editor.
- Protection of research participants. Studies involving humans require the approval of a named ethics committee and informed consent; studies involving animals require the approval of the relevant institutional committee. The approval reference must be stated in the manuscript.
- Overlapping publication. Duplicate submission and redundant publication are not permitted; deposit of a preprint is not considered prior publication.
Reference: icmje.org/recommendations.
3. DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice
The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, maintained jointly by DOAJ, COPE, OASPA and WAME, require that a journal publish clear, findable information about itself. IJCIE meets each requirement on this website:
| Requirement | Where it is published |
|---|---|
| Name, ISSN and ownership | About the Journal; footer of every page |
| Peer review process | Peer Review Policy; Editorial Workflow |
| Editorial board with affiliations | Editorial Board |
| Copyright and licensing | Copyright and Licensing Policy; stated on every article |
| Author fees | Revenue Sources and APC |
| Process for identifying and dealing with misconduct | Article Correction, Retraction and Misconduct Policy |
| Publication schedule and access | Publication Schedule; Open Access Policy |
| Archiving | Archiving and Preservation Policy |
| Revenue sources | Revenue Sources and APC |
| Direct marketing | Editorial Policies, section 10 |
Reference: doaj.org/apply/transparency.
Reporting a concern
Concerns about a submitted or published IJCIE article, or about the conduct of an editor or reviewer, should be sent to info@ijcie.com with as much documentation as possible. Correspondence is treated in confidence and acknowledged within five working days.
