Publication Ethics Statement – Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies

The editorial team of the Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies (HRPS) is committed to upholding the integrity of the work we publish and to ensuring the highest standards of ethics in publication of this journal. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the authors, the journal editors, and the peer reviewers.

 

Duties of Editors

The editors of HRPS should follow the ethical principles and practices of independence, integrity, transparency, confidentiality, objectivity, and the issue of competing interests. The editors and editorial team are committed to be accountable for everything published in this journal:

1) The editors are independently responsible for deciding which of articles submitted to the journal should be published in conjunction with editorial policies and editorial team.

2) The editors should ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased and timely. The manuscripts must be reviewed by at least two external and independent reviewers. 

3) The editors must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and must protect identities of reviewers and author(s) throughout the review process.

4) The editors should not be involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest, for example the papers they have written by themselves or by their family members, or they have personal stake in the publication of a manuscript.

5) The editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct.

6) The editors have a duty to act if they suspect misconduct or if an allegation of misconduct is brought to them. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers.

 

Duties of Peer Reviewers

Each manuscript submitted for publishing in the Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies undergoes a process of editorial review and double blind peer-review. The peer reviewers should follow the ethical principles and practices as follow.

1) The peer reviewers should only agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and which they can assess in a timely manner.

2) The peer reviewers should respect the confidentiality of a peer review process. They should not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review during or after the peer-review process, and privilege information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

3) The peer reviewers should be objective, unbiased and constructive in their reviews, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory and from making derogatory personal comments.

4) The peer reviewers should declare all potential conflicting or competing interests. If the reviewers are unsure about potential conflict of interests, they should consult with the journal editor before agreeing to review a paper.

5) The peer reviewers should respect a reasonable time-frame agreed to undertake the review. The reviewers must inform the editor promptly if they cannot fulfill a proposed or agreed time-frame of review process or if they require an extension. 

 

Duties of Authors

The author(s) who submit a manuscript for publishing with the Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies should to follow the ethical principles and practices of original submissions, accuracy, acknowledgement of information sources and of declaration of financial support and conflict of interests as follow:

1) The authors should adhere to publication requirement that a manuscript is author(s)’s original work and has not been previously published (in part or in full) or concurrently submitted for review process elsewhere. The authors should provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the hint of text-recycling or ‘self-plagiarism.’

2) The authors should take responsibility for their work and for the content of their publications. The authors should present their results and data accurately, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

3) If the manuscript build upon previously published work or the authors have used the work and/or the word of others, the authors should acknowledge the ideas by appropriately citing or quoting these works and the permission should be obtained where necessary.

4) The authors should conduct their research process in an ethical and responsible manner, including data collection, ensuring confidentiality of the participants, and their consent in the research, and the ethical treatment of the subjects (including animals).

5) The authorship of publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting. The corresponding authors should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

6) The authors should disclose all funding sources for the research and the paper writing process and potential conflict of interests that are directly or indirectly related to research such as research grants or funding, employment or consultancies, honoraria, professional and personal relationships, multiple affiliations, financial relationships and intellectual property rights.

7) The authors should respect confidentiality. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

8) When the authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, the authors are obliged to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper if deemed necessary by the editor.