Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Jurnal Kesehatan Pengabdian Masyarakat (JKPM) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, and responsible scholarly communication. The journal follows internationally recognized principles of ethical scholarly publishing and refers to the guidance and best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement applies to all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the journal management. All parties are expected to act with integrity, transparency, fairness, accountability, and respect for intellectual property.

1. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based on the academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and peer-review results of submitted manuscripts. Editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial interests, financial considerations, institutional relationships, personal relationships, political interests, or other non-academic factors.

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity and independence of the editorial decision-making process.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original and accurately report the work conducted. Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

the manuscript has not been previously published in its entirety;
the manuscript is not simultaneously submitted to or under consideration by another journal;
all individuals who have made substantial contributions to the work are appropriately recognized as authors or contributors;
all listed authors have made significant contributions to the work and have approved the final version of the manuscript;
all sources and relevant previous work are appropriately cited;
the data and results presented are accurate and not fabricated, falsified, or manipulated;
the manuscript complies with applicable research ethics requirements;
conflicts of interest are disclosed;
funding sources and relevant institutional support are disclosed; and
any errors identified after publication are promptly reported to the journal.

Authors must not engage in plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, citation manipulation, fabrication, falsification, image manipulation intended to misrepresent findings, or other forms of research or publication misconduct.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be based on substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, implementation or data collection, analysis or interpretation of data, drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approval of the final version, and accountability for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged as contributors.

All authors are collectively responsible for ensuring that the author list is accurate and that all authors have approved the submitted manuscript.

Any changes to authorship after submission require a clear justification and the agreement of all affected authors. The Editor-in-Chief may request written confirmation from all authors before approving any change.

4. Plagiarism and Originality

JKPM considers plagiarism and unauthorized use of another person's ideas, words, data, figures, or other intellectual property without appropriate acknowledgment to be unethical.

All submitted manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism or substantial textual similarity using appropriate similarity-detection tools. The journal may reject manuscripts or take further action when plagiarism or unacceptable similarity is identified.

Similarity screening results are considered together with editorial assessment and are not interpreted solely on the basis of a similarity percentage.

5. Redundant, Duplicate, and Concurrent Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Manuscripts that substantially overlap with previously published or submitted work must be transparently disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Duplicate or redundant publication is considered unethical when substantially the same data, findings, or content are published or submitted without appropriate justification and disclosure.

If legitimate secondary publication is considered, it must comply with accepted scholarly publishing principles and be transparently disclosed to the journal.

6. Research Misconduct

JKPM considers fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, manipulation or inappropriate presentation of data, unethical research practices, and other forms of research misconduct to be serious violations of publication ethics.

When an allegation of misconduct is received, the journal will assess the concern and may request clarification or supporting documentation from the authors or their affiliated institution. Where appropriate, JKPM may follow relevant COPE guidance in investigating and responding to allegations of research or publication misconduct.

Depending on the findings, actions may include rejection of a manuscript, correction of the published record, retraction, notification of the author's institution, or other appropriate measures.

7. Ethical Oversight

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research involving human participants, personal data, vulnerable groups, or other ethically sensitive activities has received appropriate ethical approval or oversight where required.

When applicable, manuscripts should provide information regarding ethical approval, informed consent, participant protection, confidentiality, and other relevant ethical considerations.

For community engagement activities involving individuals or communities, authors should ensure that participation is conducted ethically and that the rights, privacy, dignity, safety, and confidentiality of participants are protected.

The journal may request evidence of ethical approval or other relevant documentation when necessary.

8. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their judgment.

Authors should disclose relevant conflicts of interest in the manuscript. Reviewers should decline the review assignment when a conflict of interest may compromise their objectivity.

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest and should assign the manuscript to another qualified editor where appropriate.

9. Funding and Financial Disclosure

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support, grants, institutional support, or other forms of funding that contributed to the work.

Funding information should be reported transparently, including the role of the funder, where applicable.

Financial support for the journal does not influence editorial decisions or the outcome of peer review.

10. Data Sharing and Reproducibility

Authors are expected to maintain sufficient records and supporting information to allow their research or community engagement activities to be appropriately evaluated and, where applicable, reproduced.

Where ethically and legally permissible, authors are encouraged to make relevant supporting data, materials, instruments, or other research resources available to facilitate transparency and reproducibility.

Data involving personal, confidential, or sensitive information must not be shared in a manner that compromises participant privacy or violates applicable ethical or legal requirements.

Upon reasonable request, authors may be asked to provide supporting information or clarification to enable verification of published findings.

11. Peer Review Ethics

JKPM uses a double-blind peer-review process, in which author and reviewer identities are concealed from each other.

Each eligible manuscript is evaluated by three independent reviewers with relevant expertise. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, confidential, and evidence-based assessments.

Reviewers must:

maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts;
not use unpublished information for personal or professional advantage;
disclose potential conflicts of interest;
provide fair and constructive comments;
avoid personal or discriminatory criticism; and
notify the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, or other ethical concerns.

Reviewers must not share, copy, distribute, or use manuscript content without authorization.

12. Editorial Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone other than authorized reviewers, editorial personnel, or other individuals involved in the evaluation and publication process.

Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal advantage without the authors' permission.

13. Complaints and Appeals

JKPM provides authors and other stakeholders with an opportunity to raise legitimate complaints or appeal editorial decisions.

Complaints should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Office through the official contact information provided on the journal website. Complaints should include sufficient information and supporting evidence to enable appropriate assessment.

Appeals should provide a clear justification and should address a substantive issue concerning the editorial decision or review process.

Complaints and appeals are handled fairly, objectively, confidentially, and in a timely manner. Where appropriate, the journal may refer to relevant COPE guidance when handling complaints and appeals.

14. Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Notices

JKPM is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the published scholarly record.

When significant errors are identified in a published article, the journal may publish an appropriate correction, clarification, or other editorial notice.

Articles may be retracted when there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable because of major errors, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unethical research practices, or other serious forms of misconduct.

Corrections and retractions will be clearly identified and linked to the original article whenever possible. The original publication record will be maintained transparently to preserve the integrity of the scholarly literature.

15. Post-Publication Discussions

JKPM welcomes responsible scholarly discussion concerning published articles. Readers and researchers who identify substantive concerns, errors, methodological issues, or other matters affecting the interpretation or integrity of a published article are encouraged to contact the Editorial Office.

Depending on the nature of the concern, the journal may publish a correction, clarification, editorial note, or other appropriate post-publication response.

Post-publication discussions must be evidence-based, professional, and respectful.

16. Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Permission must be obtained for the use of copyrighted material where such permission is required.

Published articles are made available under the journal's stated open-access licensing terms.

17. Citation Practices

Authors, reviewers, and editors must not manipulate citations to artificially increase citation counts or influence journal metrics.

Citations should be relevant, accurate, and necessary to support the scholarly argument. Excessive self-citation, coercive citation, reciprocal citation arrangements, and citation practices intended primarily to manipulate metrics are not acceptable.

18. Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of manuscripts submitted to JKPM.

The use of artificial intelligence or generative AI tools in manuscript preparation must not replace the authors' responsibility for the scholarly content. Where AI tools have been used in a manner that constitutes a substantive contribution to the manuscript, authors should disclose such use in accordance with the journal's applicable policy.

AI tools must not be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or accountability of scholarly work.

Authors must carefully verify AI-assisted content, particularly references, factual statements, data interpretation, and quotations, before submission.

19. Editorial Actions in Cases of Misconduct

When credible concerns regarding research or publication misconduct arise, JKPM will assess the available evidence and take appropriate action. The journal may request explanations, original data, ethical approval documents, authorship statements, or other relevant evidence.

Where necessary, the journal may communicate with the authors' institutions or other relevant organizations and may follow applicable COPE flowcharts and recommendations.

The journal's response will be proportionate to the nature and severity of the concern and will prioritize the integrity of the scholarly record.

20. Commitment to Ethical Publishing

All authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process are expected to uphold the principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality, respect for intellectual property, and responsible research and publication practices.

JKPM reserves the right to take appropriate editorial action when ethical or publication standards are violated, while ensuring that concerns are handled fairly and in accordance with recognized scholarly publishing practices.

Jurnal Kesehatan Pengabdian Masyarakat (JKPM)