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ISSN: 3134-5379
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Editorial Policy

The detailed editorial, ethical, and procedural framework governing manuscript handling, peer review, and publication at AJARPP.

Purpose

This policy establishes the editorial, ethical, and procedural framework for the operation of AJARPP. It governs manuscript assessment, peer review, editorial conduct, ethical oversight, complaints, post-publication corrections, privacy, and conflict-of-interest management. This document is intended to serve as the master editorial policy for internal administration and as the primary reference text for public-facing policy pages.

Editorial Independence

  1. Editorial decisions shall be based only on originality, scholarly quality, methodological rigor, relevance to the journal's scope, clarity, and ethical compliance.
  2. No editorial decision shall be influenced by personal relationships, institutional pressure, financial interest, political preference, or the author's ability to pay charges.
  3. The journal's ownership and fee administration shall remain separate from editorial judgment.

Editorial Structure

  1. The journal shall operate through the Editor-in-Chief, Editors, Managing Editor, Editorial Board, reviewers, and the Editorial Office.
  2. The Editorial Board shall provide strategic and policy guidance and support the credibility and development of the journal.

Submission and Screening

  1. Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.
  2. Manuscripts must comply with AJARPP's published format and anonymization requirements for double-blind review.
  3. The editorial office or assigned editor shall conduct a preliminary screening for scope, completeness, minimum scholarly quality, and ethical concerns.
  4. Manuscripts may be desk rejected if they fall outside scope, fail basic quality standards, present serious ethical concerns, or are unsuitable for peer review.

Peer Review

  1. AJARPP operates a double-blind peer review system.
  2. Suitable manuscripts will ordinarily be sent to at least two reviewers with relevant expertise.
  3. Reviewers shall assess originality, quality, relevance, methodological soundness, ethical adequacy, and clarity.
  4. Reviewers must provide objective, respectful, confidential, and timely reports.
  5. Reviewer recommendations are advisory. Final decisions rest with the responsible editor and Editor-in-Chief.
  6. Reviews that are abusive, superficial, discriminatory, or compromised by conflict may be disregarded.

Author Responsibilities

  1. Authors must ensure that submitted work is original and accurate.
  2. All authors must have made a genuine scholarly contribution and approved the final manuscript.
  3. Authors must disclose conflicts of interest.
  4. Where applicable, authors must provide ethical approval and informed consent statements.
  5. Authors must obtain permission for any third-party copyrighted material used in the manuscript.

Authorship

  1. Authorship shall be limited to those who made substantial scholarly contributions.
  2. Gift, honorary, ghost, or purchased authorship is prohibited.
  3. Any post-submission change in authorship requires written justification and written agreement from all affected authors.
  4. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for confirming that all co-authors approve submission and revisions.

Plagiarism and Originality Assessment

  1. AJARPP screens submissions for plagiarism and unacceptable overlap.
  2. Similarity reports are screening tools and shall not be used mechanically as the sole basis for a decision.
  3. Editorial judgment must consider the type, source, and context of overlap, including references, quotations, methods language, and properly attributed material.
  4. Unacceptable plagiarism, deceptive paraphrasing, unattributed copying, or duplicate publication may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or referral.

Conflicts of Interest

  1. Authors, editors, reviewers, and board members must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.
  2. Conflicts may be financial, institutional, academic, professional, supervisory, collaborative, personal, or ideological.
  3. Where a conflict exists, the journal may require disclosure, recusal, reassignment, or other safeguards.
  4. Editors must not handle manuscripts where their objectivity may reasonably be questioned.

Editors Publishing in AJARPP

  1. Editors, including the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members, may publish in AJARPP.
  2. No editor may handle, influence reviewer selection for, or participate in the decision on a manuscript they authored or co-authored.
  3. A manuscript authored by an editor shall be assigned to another editor with no conflict of interest.
  4. A manuscript authored by the Editor-in-Chief shall be assigned to an independent senior editor or external guest editor with full decision authority.
  5. Editor-authored submissions shall undergo the same or stricter double-blind peer review and editorial scrutiny as all other submissions.
  6. If accepted, the published article should include a disclosure stating that the author held an editorial role in the journal and had no involvement in the editorial handling or decision on that manuscript.

Research Ethics

  1. Studies involving human participants, personal data, vulnerable groups, or sensitive contexts must comply with applicable ethical and legal standards.
  2. Authors must state ethical approval and informed consent where relevant.
  3. The journal may reject manuscripts where ethical concerns are serious or unresolved.

Data Integrity and Misconduct

  1. Fabrication, falsification, deceptive image manipulation, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, and misrepresentation of data are prohibited.
  2. AJARPP may request data, supporting files, or clarification where concerns arise.
  3. Allegations of misconduct may be investigated before or after publication.
  4. The journal may contact relevant institutions or responsible parties if necessary.

Confidentiality

  1. Manuscripts under review are confidential.
  2. Editors, reviewers, and staff must not disclose or misuse unpublished material.
  3. Reviewer identities and internal deliberations shall be protected except where disclosure is legally required or necessary in a formal ethics investigation.

Appeals and Complaints

  1. Authors may appeal editorial decisions in writing with clear grounds.
  2. Complaints concerning editors, reviewers, procedure, or publication ethics shall be investigated fairly and confidentially.
  3. Appeals and complaints shall be determined by an editor or committee not compromised by the issue in dispute.
  4. The decision after review shall ordinarily be final.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

  1. AJARPP shall maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.
  2. Corrections may be issued for material errors that do not invalidate the entire work.
  3. Expressions of concern may be issued where serious concerns exist but are unresolved.
  4. Retractions may be issued where findings are unreliable, misconduct is established, or the publication is seriously unethical.
  5. Such notices shall be clearly labeled and linked to the original article.

AI-Assisted Tools

  1. Authors may use AI-assisted tools only in ways that do not compromise originality, accuracy, confidentiality, legality, or accountability.
  2. AI tools may not be listed as authors.
  3. Material AI use affecting the substantive preparation of a manuscript should be disclosed.
  4. Editors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts to unauthorized third-party AI systems.

Privacy and Data Protection

  1. AJARPP processes personal data for submission, review, publication, communication, registration, and journal administration.
  2. Personal data shall be handled in line with applicable data protection requirements.
  3. Privacy inquiries and data update or removal requests may be directed to privacy@ajarpp.org unless the journal updates that contact.

Fees and Waivers

  1. AJARPP currently operates with article publishing charges and also provides waivers or discounts for authors with limited funding.
  2. Editorial outcomes must never depend on the payment or non-payment of fees.
  3. Waiver requests may be directed to waiver@ajarpp.org.

Policy Review

  1. This policy shall be reviewed periodically and updated as needed.