Misconduct Policy

Misconduct Policy

JAFESS is committed to the objective preservation of the historical research record. The journal strictly prohibits any form of empirical data manipulation, research fraud, or unethical reporting. As a Diamond Open Access journal, upholding absolute scientific integrity is paramount to maintaining public and institutional trust.

Definitions

Data Fabrication: The invention or creation of completely fictitious data, statistics, survey responses, econometric results, or participant records that did not actually occur in the execution of the study.

Data Falsification: The deliberate manipulation, selective omission, or fraudulent alteration of genuine research materials, equipment, processes, sample sizes, variables, or statistical values to skew data trends or deceptively achieve statistical significance.

Image and Graphic Manipulation: The unauthorized electronic alteration, duplication, or fraudulent editing of data visualizations, charts, graphs, or conceptual frameworks. This includes altering chart axes or scales to exaggerate a correlation, omitting contradictory data points from visual matrices, or manipulating structural equation models (SEM) to hide missing pathways.

Allegation Handling & Investigation Process

In accordance with COPE Core Practices, any internal or external allegations of data or image fraud will trigger an immediate, formal investigation by the Editorial Board.

Data Verification: To resolve complaints, authors may be required to supply original, raw, anonymized data files, code scripts, or software outputs to the Editorial Office for verification. Failure to provide raw data upon request may result in immediate rejection or retraction.

Confidentiality: All allegations of research misconduct will be handled with the strictest confidentiality. The identity of whistleblowers will be protected throughout and after the investigative process.

Pre-Publication Action: Confirmed misconduct identified during peer review results in immediate desk rejection and formal institutional notification of the authors' home university or funding body. Also see Funding Policy.

Post-Publication Action: Confirmed misconduct in a published paper will trigger formal disciplinary action. The issuance of formal expressions of concern, errata, or retractions will be executed strictly in accordance with the established JAFESS Corrections, Alerts, and Retractions Policy.

Reporting Misconduct

Anyone who suspects research misconduct, data tampering, or graphic fraud in a JAFESS submission or published article should formally report their concerns along with supporting evidence to the Editorial Office at [email protected]