The IBAD Journal of Social Sciences fully adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and Guidelines. The journal upholds clear ethical standards and policies, along with a rigorous peer-review process, to support the inclusion of high-quality scholarly work in the field of academic publishing.

When ethical issues are identified, the journal is committed to investigating them and taking appropriate measures to safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record and the safety of research participants. Submitted manuscripts must comply with the editorial and ethical policies of the journal as outlined on this webpage. The journal is guided by the principles of impartiality, transparency, and consistency in all of its policies.

Authors reporting studies involving human participants or human data must declare that their research was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (revised in 2013). According to Article 23 of this declaration, approval from a local Institutional Review Board (IRB) or another appropriate ethics committee must be obtained prior to commencing the research, in order to confirm compliance with national and international guidelines. Manuscripts must clearly state that research and publication ethics have been observed throughout the study. For more information, please visit: https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/

In studies requiring ethics committee approval, the Ethics Statement section of the manuscript must include detailed information about the approval (name of the committee, date, and approval number). This information should also be provided in the Methods section and on either the first or last page of the article. 

Example:

“To assess the compliance of this study with ethical principles, approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of … University on … (Protocol No: …), confirming that the study adheres to ethical standards.” OR “This article does not involve any procedures with human participants; therefore, ethics committee approval was not required.”

For non-interventional studies (e.g., surveys, questionnaires, or social media research), all participants must be fully informed about whether anonymity is ensured, the purpose of the research, how their data will be used, and whether participation involves any risks. As with all research involving human participants, ethics committee approval should be obtained from an appropriate board before conducting the study. If ethics approval is not required, this must be explicitly stated. For more information on our ethics approval requirements, please visit the Ethics Permission Policy page.

For studies involving human participants or human data, manuscripts must include a statement regarding informed consent. Authors should provide this information in a dedicated “Informed Consent” section of the manuscript. In some cases, verbal informed consent (e.g., for ethnographic studies) may be acceptable. If verbal consent is used, a copy of the text provided to participants during the consent process must be submitted during manuscript submission. If informed consent is not required, this must be explicitly stated. For any manuscript containing identifiable participant information (such as personal data, photographs, or videos), written informed consent must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardians/representatives) prior to submission. At the time of submission, a blank copy of the consent form (without participant names or signatures) must be provided. Example: “Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.” OR “Informed consent was not required for this article.”

Identifiable participant information unrelated to the research should not be included. Initials or other personal identifiers should not appear in any images. Participant information should be anonymized wherever possible; for example, do not include age, ethnicity, or occupation details that are not relevant to the study’s results. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with these requirements.

The Editorial Board may request additional documentation if necessary. Manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editorial Board, and, if requested, authors must provide documentary evidence, including signed consent forms and related ethics committee documentation. If a study involves vulnerable or sensitive groups, the manuscript will undergo additional editorial review. Upon request, authors must provide documentary proof, including blank consent forms and relevant ethics committee or institutional approvals.

Publication Ethics

IBAD Journal of Social Sciences fully adopts the principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In its policies, the journal adheres strictly to the guidelines published by COPE, which are publicly available.

The editors of this journal apply rigorous ethical policies and standards, along with a thorough peer-review process, to ensure the inclusion of high-quality scholarly work in academic publishing. Unfortunately, cases such as plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, and inappropriate authorship may occasionally arise. The journal treats all publication ethics violations very seriously and maintains a zero-tolerance policy in such cases.

Authors submitting manuscripts to the IBAD Journal of Social Sciences must comply with the following principles: (For detailed information, please visit the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy page.)
- All facts that could be perceived as potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed in the manuscript prior to submission. Authors must present research findings accurately and provide an objective discussion of their significance.
- Data and methods used in the research must be reported in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to replicate the study.
- Raw data should preferably be publicly archived by the authors prior to manuscript submission. Authors must have raw data readily available to reviewers and editors upon request. Authors are responsible for ensuring that raw data are preserved in their entirety for a reasonable period after publication.
- Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals is not permitted.

Authors must promptly notify the editors if errors or inaccuracies are identified after publication so that appropriate corrective action can be taken. Please refer to the Published Article Updates Policy. Manuscripts must not contain previously published material. If previously published figures or images are included, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish under a CC-BY or CC-BY-NC license. For more information, see the Copyright Policy page.

Plagiarism, data falsification, and image manipulation are unacceptable. Plagiarism includes using text, ideas, images, or data from any source—including the author’s own previous work—without proper citation. Reuse of text from another source must be clearly cited. If the design, structure, or language of a study is inspired by previous work, these sources must be explicitly referenced.
- All manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using similarity-detection software such as iThenticate, Turnitin, or intihal.net. If plagiarism is detected during peer review, the manuscript may be rejected. Plagiarism identified after publication will be investigated and handled according to journal policies.
- Image files must not be altered or adjusted in ways that could misrepresent the information provided in the original image. Improper modifications include:  a) Adding, enhancing, moving, or removing features from the original image; b) Grouping images that should be presented separately; or c) Changing contrast, brightness, or color balance to obscure, remove, or enhance certain information.

The journal’s editors and reviewers must adhere to the following principles: (For detailed information, please visit the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy page.)
- All participants involved in the peer-review process—including the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Board Members, Guest Editors, and reviewers, in collaboration with the Journal Secretariat—are responsible for overseeing the integrity of the journal’s editorial process.
- If any participant in the peer-review process has ethical concerns regarding a manuscript under review, or becomes aware of a potential ethical issue after publication, they must contact the Journal Secretariat as soon as possible. The Editorial Board will conduct an investigation in accordance with COPE guidelines.
- Prior to and during the peer-review process, the Journal Secretariat and Editorial Board perform several checks. Nonetheless, any concerns raised by reviewers or editors must still be reported to the Secretariat. The Editorial Board’s checks include: a) Verification of ethics approvals and permissions for research involving human participants. b) Plagiarism and duplicate publication checks, and obtaining permissions from copyright holders for previously published figures or images. c) Compliance, ethical, and research integrity checks according to journal guidelines.

When making recommendations or final acceptance decisions for a manuscript, reviewers and editors should consider the following: (For detailed information, please visit the Reviewer Instructions page.)
- All information that could be perceived as a potential conflict of interest must be disclosed, and authors must declare any conflicts related to their work prior to submission.
-Authors must present research findings accurately and provide an objective discussion of their significance.
- Data and methods used in the research must be described in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to replicate the study.
- The manuscript must be consistent with the journal’s Aims and Scope.
- The manuscript should have received sufficient feedback and evaluation from qualified reviewers in the relevant field.

During the review process, if irregular image manipulation is detected and confirmed, the manuscript may be rejected. If such manipulation is detected after publication, the article may be corrected or retracted.

Authors are expected to adhere to the highest standards of ethical publishing. The Editorial Board will investigate any allegations of publication misconduct and, if necessary, contact the authors’ institutions or funding bodies. If misconduct is confirmed, appropriate actions will be taken to correct or retract the publication.

For detailed information on ethical principles authors must follow and the measures the Editorial Board may take, please visit the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy page.