Research and Publication Misconduct Policy

Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan is unequivocally committed to upholding the integrity of the scholarly record and ensuring the highest standards of publication ethics. This policy outlines our procedures for addressing allegations of research and publication misconduct. We adhere to the Core Practices and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in handling all such allegations. Our goal is to ensure a fair, thorough, and transparent process for all parties involved, safeguarding the trustworthiness of scholarship in environmental health, sanitation, water and air quality management, vector and rodent control, food safety and hygiene, and environmental toxicology.

Definition and Description

Research and publication misconduct compromises the integrity of scientific inquiry and the public health record. Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan defines misconduct in line with established ethical guidelines, health research regulations, and COPE standards. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Fabrication: Inventing data or experimental results (such as falsified laboratory assays, fabricated water/air quality measurements, fictitious microbiological culture counts, or invented community survey responses) and reporting or recording them.

  • Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment calibration, field testing environments, or analytical procedures; or selectively altering, omitting, or misrepresenting laboratory outputs, chemical/biological parameters, and statistical analyses so that the findings do not accurately reflect the actual research.

  • Plagiarism: The appropriation of another person’s ideas, field methodologies, measurement protocols, data, or text without giving appropriate attribution. This includes self-plagiarism, duplicate submission, and redundant publication.

  • Authorship Issues: Inappropriate attribution of authorship, such as gift, ghost, or guest authorship; altering author lists without valid justification; or denying authorship credit to researchers or field technicians who made substantial intellectual and scientific contributions to the study.

  • Citation Manipulation: Practices intended to artificially inflate citation counts or misrepresent the scientific relevance and context of cited literature, including coercive citation requests by editors or reviewers.

  • Undeclared Conflicts of Interest: Failure by authors, reviewers, or editors to disclose financial, professional, or commercial ties (e.g., industry consulting, environmental consultancy contracts, corporate sponsorships, patent interests, or regulatory affiliations) that could inappropriately bias scientific evaluation.

  • Breach of Research Ethics & Bioethics: Violations of ethical standards in health and environmental research involving human participants, community cohorts, or biological specimens (e.g., conducting community trials, occupational health interventions, or biological sampling without informed consent, valid Institutional Review Board/Health Research Ethics Committee [KEPK] approval, or proper participant confidentiality safeguards).

  • Environmental & Biosafety Violations: Conducting field or laboratory research without adhering to national biosafety, biosecurity, and safe disposal standards for hazardous chemical reagents, toxic waste, pathogenic isolates, or clinical specimens.

  • Peer Review Manipulation: Subverting the peer-review process, such as submitting fabricated reviewer contact details, coordinating reciprocal review rings, impersonating established experts, or improperly influencing editorial decisions.

Allegations of misconduct can arise at any stage of the publication lifecycle (pre-publication, during peer review, or post-publication) or relate to the physical conduct of the study itself. Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan investigates allegations regardless of their source, which may include authors, peer reviewers, editors, readers, institutional officials, or whistleblowers.

Policy Principles

  • Commitment to Investigate: Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan takes all allegations of potential research and publication misconduct seriously, investigating each claim thoroughly and impartially in accordance with COPE flowcharts and guidelines.

  • Confidentiality: Confidentiality is strictly maintained for all parties involved throughout the inquiry. The identity of whistleblowers will be protected, and details will be disclosed solely to individuals directly involved in the investigation or as mandated by institutional or legal procedures.

  • Fairness and Objectivity: The journal guarantees an unbiased investigation. Accused individuals are presumed innocent until substantiated evidence demonstrates otherwise and will always be afforded a fair opportunity to respond to specific claims.

  • Timeliness: While ensuring thoroughness, the editorial team strives to conduct investigations expeditiously, keeping relevant parties informed of progress and milestones where appropriate.

  • Cooperation: Full cooperation is expected from all participants, including authors, peer reviewers, and designated institutional representatives (such as university or polytechnic ethics boards).

  • Protection of Whistleblowers: The journal enforces strict standards to ensure that individuals raising genuine concerns in good faith are protected from professional retaliation within the journal’s remit.

  • Scope: This policy governs all manuscripts submitted to or published in Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan, and applies equally to authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff.

Technical Procedures and Implementation

Reporting an Allegation

  • Allegations of misconduct must be submitted in writing directly to the Editor-in-Chief of Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan via the official editorial contact email or through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform.

  • Submissions must be accompanied by specific documentation and verifiable evidence (e.g., manuscript ID/title, detailed descriptions of the alleged infraction, comparative text analyses, raw laboratory logbooks, instrument output logs, or field survey data). Anonymous allegations will be reviewed provided they present verifiable and tangible evidence.

Initial Assessment

  • Upon receipt, the Editor-in-Chief (or a designated ethics editor/subcommittee) conducts an initial evaluation to verify whether the claim is credible, sufficiently substantiated, and within the scope of publication and scientific ethics.

  • Allegations that lack concrete evidence, constitute subjective scientific or methodological debate, or fall outside the journal’s remit will be dismissed, with a clear written notification provided to the complainant whenever possible.

Investigation Process

  • Formal Inquiry: If the initial assessment confirms credible grounds, a formal inquiry is initiated following appropriate COPE flowcharts. The Editor-in-Chief oversees the inquiry, assisted by members of the editorial board or independent subject-matter specialists in environmental health.

  • Notification to Accused: The corresponding author or accused individual will be formally notified of the specific claims, provided with supporting materials (preserving complainant confidentiality where warranted), and given a clear timeline (typically 14 to 30 days) to submit a formal written rebuttal and supporting evidence.

  • Evidence Gathering: The panel reviews relevant documents, including raw analytical datasets, laboratory notebooks, calibration logs, ethical clearance certificates issued by recognized ethics committees (KEPK), signed consent forms, reviewer reports, and editorial correspondence.

  • Consultation & Institutional Liaison: For complex ethical matters, the journal may seek guidance directly from COPE or institutional authorities. If the inquiry involves severe field-level misconduct, biological hazard issues, or institutional breaches, the journal may notify and collaborate with the authors' affiliated institution(s) (e.g., Poltekkes, universities, research institutes) or funding bodies, awaiting their formal findings while retaining the editorial right to impose interim protective measures.

Outcomes and Actions

Following the conclusion of an investigation, Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan takes proportionate action in accordance with COPE protocols:

  • No Misconduct Found: If allegations prove unfounded, all parties are notified, and the case is closed. If public or community accusations occurred, the journal may issue a statement confirming the validity of the work.

  • Minor Misconduct or Inadvertent Error: For minor infractions (e.g., unintentional textual overlap without attribution, or minor omissions in data presentation/instrument calibration details):

    • Issuing a formal advisory letter to the authors.

    • Requesting an official correction (Erratum or Corrigendum) to rectify the published record.

  • Serious Misconduct: Where serious violations are confirmed (e.g., data fabrication, pervasive plagiarism, unauthorized research without ethical clearance, biosafety violations, or fraudulent peer review):

    • Immediate rejection of a manuscript under review.

    • Formal Retraction of a published article, with a persistent retraction notice linked via Crossref DOI and permanent watermarking of the online PDF.

    • Issuance of an Expression of Concern if substantial doubt persists while institutional proceedings remain pending or inconclusive.

    • Notification of the findings to the authors’ institutions, employers, or health research oversight committees.

    • Imposition of a formal submission ban on the implicated authors for a defined period (e.g., 1 to 5 years).

Appeals

Authors or affected parties wishing to appeal an editorial determination regarding misconduct may submit a formal written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief within 30 days of the decision notice. The appeal must present substantive new evidence or demonstrate procedural irregularity. The case will be re-evaluated by an independent review committee formed from senior editorial board members and external ethics advisors.

Record Keeping and Preventative Measures

  • Confidential Records: Sanitasi: Jurnal Kesehatan Lingkungan maintains secure, confidential digital records of all complaints, inquiries, correspondence, and final decisions within its editorial archive.

  • Proactive Prevention: The journal minimizes the risk of misconduct by:

    • Subjecting all submissions to mandatory similarity checks via plagiarism detection software (e.g., Turnitin) prior to peer review.

    • Enforcing double-blind peer review and rigorous reviewer identity verification.

    • Requiring formal ethics statements, ethical clearance registration numbers (KEPK/IRB), participant consent verifications, and conflict of interest disclosures for every empirical study involving human subjects or environmental risk zones.

    • Providing clear ethical guidance and editorial updates to reviewers and authors across environmental health disciplines.

This policy is reviewed periodically to reflect international best practices in scholarly publishing, national standards for scientific integrity, and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.