Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Diwan Al-Ma'rifah Journal for Applied and Human Sciences is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, transparency, and professional responsibility. This statement applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and all parties involved in the publication process.

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate submission, redundant publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical authorship practices, manipulation of the peer-review process, or any other form of research and publication misconduct.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must:

• Submit original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal.
• Present research findings accurately and honestly.
• Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and inappropriate data manipulation.
• Cite all sources accurately and acknowledge the work of others.
• Include as authors only those who made substantial contributions to the research.
• Obtain the approval of all co-authors before submission.
• Disclose all sources of funding, institutional support, and potential conflicts of interest.
• Obtain ethical approval and informed consent when research involves human participants, animals, personal data, or sensitive information.
• Retain relevant research records and provide data when reasonably requested by the editors.
• Notify the journal promptly if a significant error is discovered after submission or publication.
• Cooperate with requests for correction, clarification, or retraction when necessary.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must:

• Evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and constructively.
• Maintain the confidentiality of all submitted materials.
• Avoid using unpublished information for personal or professional benefit.
• Declare any conflict of interest and decline the review when impartiality may be affected.
• Complete reviews within the agreed period.
• Identify relevant published work that has not been cited.
• Refrain from personal criticism, discriminatory comments, or unsupported accusations.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must:

• Make decisions based on scientific quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, and compliance with the journal’s policies.
• Evaluate submissions without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, political views, institutional affiliation, or personal relationships.
• Protect the confidentiality of authors and reviewers.
• Avoid conflicts of interest and assign manuscripts to another editor when necessary.
• Ensure that peer review is fair, independent, and properly conducted.
• Investigate credible allegations of misconduct.
• Correct, withdraw, or retract published material when serious errors or ethical violations are confirmed.
• Preserve editorial independence and resist commercial, institutional, political, or personal pressure.

Research Involving Human Participants or Animals

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and obtain approval from a recognized ethics committee where required. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained and that privacy, confidentiality, and dignity were protected.

Research involving animals must comply with relevant institutional and national regulations governing animal care and welfare. Authors must provide details of ethical approval when applicable.

Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

All submissions may be screened using plagiarism-detection software such as Turnitin, Plagiarism Checker X, or other approved tools.

The overall similarity index should not exceed 20%. However, the journal evaluates the nature and source of the similarity, not only the numerical percentage. Unattributed copying may lead to rejection or other editorial action even when the overall similarity score is below 20%.

Authorship and Contributor Responsibility

Authorship must be limited to individuals who made substantial intellectual contributions to the work. Gift authorship, honorary authorship, guest authorship, and ghost authorship are prohibited.

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged with their permission. Any change to the author list after submission requires a written explanation and the approval of all affected authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, academic, or institutional relationship that could influence, or appear to influence, their judgment.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict may result in rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the seriousness of the matter.

Complaints and Allegations of Misconduct

The journal treats complaints and allegations seriously, fairly, and confidentially. Where necessary, the editorial team may request explanations, supporting documents, raw data, ethical approvals, or institutional clarification.

No final action will be taken before the relevant parties are given a reasonable opportunity to respond, except where immediate action is necessary to protect participants, readers, or the integrity of the scholarly record.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal may publish:

• A correction when an error affects part of an article but does not invalidate its main conclusions.
• An expression of concern when serious questions remain unresolved.
• A retraction when findings are unreliable, misconduct is confirmed, ethical requirements were violated, or the article substantially duplicates previously published work.

Retracted articles will remain identifiable in the academic record and will be clearly marked with the reason for retraction.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently and are not influenced by advertising, sponsorship, commercial interests, personal relationships, institutional pressure, or political considerations.

The journal reserves the right to take appropriate action whenever misconduct, serious error, or unethical behavior is identified before or after publication.