Ethics Statement
Macrothink Institute (MTI) is committed to the integrity, transparency, and reliability of the scholarly record. MTI journals are guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance and the principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing. These standards apply to the publisher, editors, reviewers, authors, and guest editors throughout submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication.
1. Publisher
Editorial independence — MTI safeguards editorial independence. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit and are not influenced by advertising, commercial interests, author fees, or other external pressure.
Open access and transparency — MTI operates its journals under a Gold Open Access model. Access, copyright, licensing, author charges, waiver or refund arrangements, peer review, and other publication policies must be clearly stated and applied consistently.
Research integrity — MTI supports editors in investigating suspected plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, duplicate or redundant publication, authorship abuse, peer-review manipulation, paper-mill activity, and other misconduct. Cases are handled in accordance with COPE guidance.
Editorial systems and confidentiality — MTI maintains processes designed to protect confidential manuscript, reviewer, author, and editorial information and to preserve the integrity of editorial records.
Corrections and the scholarly record — MTI supports prompt and transparent corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other notices when needed. Correction and retraction notices will be linked prominently to the original article and include a clear reason and date of publication.
Complaints and appeals — MTI maintains a fair process for complaints and appeals concerning editorial procedures, publication ethics, or journal conduct. Complaints about an editor are handled by an appropriate person who was not directly involved in the disputed decision.
Conflicts of interest — MTI requires appropriate disclosure and management of competing interests involving authors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, and the publisher.
Digital preservation — MTI supports persistent identification and long-term preservation of published content and metadata through appropriate archiving and indexing arrangements.
2. Editors
Fair editorial decisions — Editors evaluate submissions on relevance, originality, methodological or scholarly soundness, clarity, and contribution to the journal’s scope. Decisions must not be affected by an author’s nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, political belief, institutional affiliation, or other personal characteristics unrelated to the work.
Peer review — Editors ensure that research articles receive independent peer review under the journal’s stated review model. Reviewers should have suitable expertise and should not have conflicts that could compromise an objective assessment.
Confidentiality — Editors must protect unpublished manuscripts, reviewer identities where the review model requires anonymity, and confidential information obtained during editorial work.
Conflicts of interest — Editors must disclose relevant competing interests and recuse themselves when impartial handling cannot reasonably be assured. Submissions from editors, editorial board members, or guest editors must be handled independently.
Integrity checks — Editors should act on credible concerns about plagiarism, data or image manipulation, undisclosed conflicts, authorship problems, unethical research, manipulated peer review, or other misconduct. Automated screening may support, but must not replace, editorial judgment.
Editorial independence from fees — Acceptance decisions must be independent of an author’s ability to pay an article processing charge. Payment is considered only after the editorial decision, except where administrative verification is necessary and does not affect that decision.
Post-publication action — Editors must consider credible concerns raised after publication and, where warranted, initiate correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other action in line with COPE guidance.
Use of AI/SI — Editors must not upload confidential manuscripts or peer-review material to public generative AI/SI services. AI/SI must not make final editorial decisions. Any approved editorial use of automated tools must remain under human oversight.
3. Reviewers
Confidentiality — Reviewers must treat manuscripts and review materials as confidential and must not share, reproduce, or use unpublished information for personal or professional advantage.
Objectivity and respect — Reviews should assess the work on its scholarly merits, provide specific and constructive comments, and avoid personal, discriminatory, or derogatory remarks.
Conflicts of interest — Reviewers must promptly disclose relationships or interests that could affect impartiality and decline the review when an appropriate independent assessment cannot be provided.
Timeliness — Reviewers should accept assignments only when they can provide a competent review within the requested period and should notify the editor promptly if circumstances change.
Research integrity — Reviewers should alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, data or image concerns, unethical research, or substantial similarity with other work known to them.
Citation requests — Reviewers must not request citations primarily to increase citations to themselves, their associates, a journal, or an institution. Suggested references must be academically relevant.
Use of AI/SI — Reviewers must not upload manuscripts or confidential review material to public generative AI/SI services or use generative AI/SI to produce the substantive review. Reviewers remain personally responsible for the content and integrity of their reports.
4. Authors
Originality and prior publication — Authors must submit original work, properly acknowledge the work of others, and disclose relevant prior dissemination. A manuscript must not be simultaneously submitted to more than one journal. Preprints are permitted where consistent with the journal’s submission policy.
Accuracy and research integrity — Authors must report methods, analyses, results, and limitations honestly. Fabrication, falsification, deceptive image manipulation, plagiarism, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are prohibited.
Authorship and contributorship — Authorship must reflect substantial scholarly contributions and accountability for the work. All listed authors must approve the submitted and final versions. Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately. Changes in authorship after submission require a justified request and editorial approval.
Conflicts of interest and funding — Authors must disclose financial and non-financial competing interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence the work and must identify relevant funding or other support.
Data and reproducibility — Authors should retain the data and materials necessary to support their findings and provide data, code, protocols, or other supporting materials when required by the journal, funder, discipline, law, or ethical approval. Restrictions based on privacy, confidentiality, legal, or ethical obligations should be explained.
Permissions and intellectual property — Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted or otherwise restricted material and for providing accurate attribution. Authors must comply with the journal’s copyright and open-license terms.
Errors after publication — Authors must promptly inform the journal of significant errors or integrity concerns discovered after publication and cooperate with any correction, retraction, or investigation.
Use of AI/SI and automated tools — AI/SI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, citations, analysis, and conclusions of their work. Material use of generative AI/SI in research or manuscript preparation must be disclosed. Generative AI/SI output should not be cited as an authoritative source.
5. Research Involving Humans, Animals, and Biological Materials
Human participants — Research involving human participants must have appropriate ethics review or approval where required and must comply with applicable laws, institutional requirements, and recognized ethical standards. Authors must state the approving body and approval or exemption information in the manuscript where applicable.
Informed consent and privacy — When research involves identifiable human participants or personal information, authors must obtain appropriate informed consent and protect privacy and confidentiality. Identifying information or images must not be published without appropriate consent unless a lawful and ethically justified exception applies.
Animal research — Research involving animals must have appropriate ethical approval where required and must follow applicable animal-welfare laws and recognized standards for humane care and use. Authors should report the approving body and relevant approval information.
Biological materials and field research — Research involving biological samples, genetic resources, protected species, or regulated field collection must comply with applicable permits, access and benefit-sharing requirements, biosafety rules, and institutional or national regulations.
Reporting standards — Authors should follow recognized discipline-specific reporting guidelines where applicable and provide enough methodological information to support evaluation and reproducibility.
6. Guest Editors and Special Issues
Editorial oversight — The Editor-in-Chief retains responsibility for all special issues. Guest editors must follow the same ethics, peer-review, confidentiality, and conflict-of-interest standards as journal editors.
Independent review — Special-issue submissions receive the same quality control and independent peer review as regular submissions. Papers authored by guest editors or other individuals involved in the issue must be handled independently.
Scope and solicitation — Special issues must remain within the journal’s stated scope. Invitations and calls for papers must accurately describe the journal, editorial process, fees, and publication conditions.
7. Handling Misconduct and Post-Publication Issues
Concerns may be raised before or after publication. MTI journals assess allegations fairly, confidentially, and without presuming misconduct. Editors may request explanations, original data, ethics documentation, authorship information, or other relevant records and may contact institutions or other journals when appropriate. Actions may include rejection, correction, retraction, expression of concern, removal only in exceptional circumstances, or other measures necessary to protect the scholarly record. Where practicable, affected parties are given an opportunity to respond. COPE guidance is used when investigating and resolving publication-ethics cases.
Please submit complaints, allegations, or reports of suspected misconduct to journal@macrothink.org