Publication Ethics

The Asia-Pacific Journal of Ecology and Biology Education (APJEBE) is guided by the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and expects authors, reviewers, and editors to follow them. COPE's flowcharts are used when handling cases. This statement is the journal's own policy; it does not imply endorsement by COPE.

Duties of authors

  • Originality and plagiarism. Submissions must be original and properly cite the work of others. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and text recycling, is unacceptable. Manuscripts are screened with similarity-checking software before review.
  • Duplicate and redundant publication. Authors must not submit the same work to more than one journal at a time, or publish the same findings in more than one place without a clear reference to the earlier version.
  • Data integrity. Fabrication, falsification, and inappropriate manipulation of data or images are research misconduct. Authors should keep their raw data and provide it to the editors on request.
  • Acknowledging sources and funding. Cite all sources that informed the work, and declare every source of funding and support.
  • Reporting errors. An author who finds a significant error in a published article must tell the editors promptly and cooperate in publishing a correction or retraction.

Authorship and contributorship

Authorship is limited to people who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of the work, who drafted or critically revised it, who approved the final version, and who agree to be accountable for it. Others who contributed, for example with field assistance or language editing, belong in the acknowledgements.

  • All authors must be listed at submission, with their affiliations. The corresponding author confirms that every author has seen and approved the submission.
  • Changes to the authorship list after submission (adding, removing, or reordering authors) require a written request from the corresponding author, with the reason and the agreement of every author, including anyone removed. The editors may ask for clarification before approving.
  • Ghost, guest, and gift authorship are not acceptable. Authors are encouraged to describe each person's contribution (for example, using the CRediT taxonomy) and to provide an ORCID iD.

Use of AI tools

AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Authors must disclose in the manuscript any substantial use of generative AI, state what it was used for, and remain responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the content. Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts to generative AI tools.

Conflicts of interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must declare any financial, personal, institutional, or professional relationship that could reasonably be seen as influencing their work. Authors' declarations are published with the article. Reviewers and editors with a conflict step aside from the manuscript concerned.

Editors' own manuscripts. Editors and members of the editorial board may submit to the journal. They are excluded from every stage of handling their own manuscripts, including those of relatives and close collaborators, and have no access to the review of those manuscripts in the editorial system. Another editor with no conflict handles the review, and the published article carries a statement that the author is an editor of the journal.

Data, reproducibility, and ethical oversight

  • Authors are encouraged to deposit the data underlying their findings in a public repository and to include a data availability statement. If data cannot be shared, the reason must be given.
  • Research involving people, such as studies with students and teachers, must report approval by an ethics committee or an explanation of why approval was not required, and informed consent where appropriate. Consent from parents or guardians is expected for studies involving minors.
  • Research involving animals, plants, or protected areas must comply with national and international rules, including relevant permits for collection, sampling, and field access. Permit numbers and the issuing authority should be reported.
  • The editors may decline or retract work they judge to have been carried out or reported unethically.

Intellectual property

Authors keep the copyright to their work and license it under CC BY 4.0. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any third-party material such as figures, tables, or images. The journal takes allegations of plagiarism and copyright infringement seriously and handles them as described under Allegations of misconduct below.

Duties of editors

  • Decisions on manuscripts are based on scientific merit, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope, without regard to the authors' gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political views, or institution.
  • Editors keep manuscripts and reviewer identities confidential, and do not use unpublished material in their own research without the author's written consent.
  • Editors act promptly on credible reports of misconduct, and keep records of their decisions and of the reasoning behind them.

Duties of reviewers

  • Reviewers treat manuscripts as confidential, give objective and constructive reviews, and do not use ideas from a manuscript under review for personal advantage.
  • Reviewers decline invitations when they have a conflict of interest or cannot review in time.
  • Reviewers should tell the editors if they notice substantial similarity to other work, or any sign of misconduct.

Allegations of misconduct

Anyone may raise a concern about a submitted or published article, or about the conduct of an author, reviewer, or editor, by writing to editor@mandalariset.com with the details and any evidence. Allegations are treated as confidential and are handled by an editor who has no conflict of interest.

  1. The editorial office acknowledges the concern within 5 working days.
  2. The editor assesses whether the concern is credible and follows the relevant COPE flowchart. The authors are asked to respond. Where appropriate, the authors' institution, funder, or a relevant authority is informed and asked to investigate.
  3. The outcome depends on the findings and may be: no action, a request for clarification or additional data, a correction, an expression of concern, a retraction, or a notice to the authors' institution and, where relevant, a ban on future submissions.
  4. Accusations are not made public until an investigation has reached a conclusion, except where a prompt expression of concern is needed to protect readers.

The journal acts on every credible allegation whether it concerns a submitted or a published article, and regardless of how much time has passed since publication. Anonymous reports are considered if they are specific and supported by evidence.

Post-publication discussion and corrections

Readers are welcome to comment on and question published work by writing to the editorial office. Substantive critiques may, at the editors' discretion, be published as a letter or commentary, with a reply from the authors. Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions follow the Corrections and Retractions policy.

Journal management

  • The journal is owned and published by Penerbit Buku Mandala Riset Indonesia. The names and affiliations of the editors are listed on the Editorial Team page.
  • The editors have full independence over editorial decisions. The publisher does not interfere with decisions on individual manuscripts.
  • Publication decisions are never influenced by commercial considerations, advertising, or any fees.
  • The journal's contact information is public, and the editorial office can be reached at editor@mandalariset.com.