Allegations of Research Error/Misconduct

Ettisal: Journal of Communication is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. To prevent malpractice, authors are expected to understand and strictly avoid all forms of research misconduct.

Plagiarism and Similarity Policy

Plagiarism refers to the use of another person’s ideas, text, data, images, or intellectual property without proper citation, attribution, or permission. This includes copying textual content verbatim, paraphrasing ideas without acknowledgment, or presenting someone else’s conceptual model or self-plagiarizing previously published works without disclosure. To ensure originality, all submitted manuscripts are screened using similarity detection software such as Turnitin or iThenticate. Ettisal enforces a strict similarity threshold, requiring an overall similarity index of below 20% (excluding references and quotes). Submissions exceeding this threshold are manually re-examined by the editorial team to distinguish between legitimate academic citations and unoriginal content.

Data and Research Misconduct

Ettisal strictly prohibits any form of data fabrication and falsification. Fabrication involves inventing data, survey responses, interview transcripts, or non-existent references to create a false empirical basis for conclusions. Falsification occurs when researchers manipulate data, images, graphs, or research processes to intentionally misrepresent findings, such as altering values or removing outliers solely to achieve desired statistical results.

Authorship and Conflicts of Interest

Authorship misconduct, including ghost, guest, or gift authorship, is unacceptable; all listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and writing process. Furthermore, authors must transparently disclose any financial, institutional, academic, or personal conflicts of interest that could be perceived as influencing the objectivity or credibility of their work.

Ethical Violations and Process Manipulation

Research involving human participants must adhere to established ethical standards, including obtaining informed consent, protecting confidentiality, and securing clearance from relevant institutional ethics boards. Ettisal also strongly condemns any attempts to manipulate the editorial or peer-review process, such as submitting fake reviewer credentials, concealing personal relationships with suggested reviewers, or engaging in duplicate/redundant submissions across multiple journals.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

In cases of suspected or alleged research misconduct—whether identified before or after publication—the editorial board follows the official guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). If misconduct is confirmed after investigation, Ettisal reserves the right to reject the manuscript, notify the authors' affiliated institutions, publish an official correction or retraction notice, and temporarily or permanently ban involved authors from future submissions.