Ethical Principles

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Reporting

US Journal adopts the policies of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). The journal follows international practices in its “COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" as well as its Anti-Plagiarism and Open Access Policies.

The journal's editorial board follows best practices in ethical behavior and is committed to upholding the standards of publication ethics. The journal takes all possible measures against any ethical violations and malpractices. Editors, reviewers, and authors are obliged to comply with these standards of ethical behavior.

Editor Responsibilities

  • The editor(s) evaluates the manuscripts without any discrimination or prejudice.
  • The editor(s) ensures that the manuscripts undergo a fair double-blind peer review.
  • The editor(s) protects the confidentiality of all information regarding the submitted articles until the article is published.
  • The editor(s) is responsible for the content and overall quality of the journal. 
  • The editor(s) has/have full authority over all editorial content of the journal and the timing of its publication.
  • The editor(s) does not allow any conflict of interest between the author(s), editor(s) and reviewer(s).
  • The editor-in-chief monitors the referee assignment process. He/she determines the field editors and ensures a transparent and accountable reviewer assignment and evaluation process.
  • The editor(s) takes the submitted publication into the evaluation process unless the editor identifies significant problems.
  • The editor(s) may replace referees who do not fulfill their refereeing duties within the given deadlines.
  • The editor should not change the referee's decision unless the editor detects vexed issues.
  • The editor(s) ensures that the refereeing process is carried out by scientific rules and scientific ethics.
  • The editor(s) do not allow rude refereeing.
  • The Editor-in-Chief decides which articles to publish, considering the work's validity and originality, its importance for readers and researchers, and the referee reports. The Editor-in-Chief may consult other editors or referees in making this decision.
  • Editors follow the COPE Flowcharts in handling cases of suspected misconduct in cases of reported or identified unethical behavior or conflict of interest, even if they occur after the publication date. (Examples of misconduct include ethical problem(s), republication, plagiarism, fabricated data, change of authorship, undisclosed conflict of interest, unfair or gift authorship.)
  • The editor(s) will publish a correction, disclaimer, and statement of concern if the ethical concern is justified.
  • If the editor(s) determine or learn from a third party that a published article contains a significant error or inaccuracy, editor(s) may take due precautions such as immediate correction of the article, withdrawal of the article, or requesting relevant evidence from the author(s) regarding the accuracy of the article and when deemed necessary by the editor(s) the article will be withdraw from the journal .

Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Invited reviewers should accept or decline the offer to review manuscripts promptly so that alternate reviewers can be contacted and the review can proceed quickly.
  • Referees should review manuscripts within the allotted time and upload the referee report to the system. Click on the link for a sample referee report.
  • If it is not possible to complete the review in the allotted time, they should request a reasonable amount of additional time or discontinue the review.
  • Manuscript reviews are conducted objectively and observations are clearly stated with arguments that encourage authors to use the manuscript for improvement.
  • Reviewers should identify overlaps or similarities between the article under review and other published or unpublished work.
  • If they have a conflict of interest due to collaborations, competitive relationships, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions, they should disclose this to the editors immediately and decline the invitation to review.
  • All articles received for review are confidential documents and should not be shown or discussed with others unless authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.
  • Unpublished articles and their contents may not be used for research purposes by reviewers or editor(s) without the written permission of the author(s). This applies to all reviewers, including those who decline the invitation to review.

Author Responsibilities

At the stage of uploading the article to the journal, the responsible author must attach the "Copyright and Declaration Form" to the page of the International Journal of Politics, signed and converted to PDF.

Duplicate, Concurrent, Multiple Submissions and Publication

Articles describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Therefore, authors should not submit for consideration an article that has already been published in another journal. Simultaneous submission of an article to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable.

Conditions to become an article author

The author

  1. made substantial contributions to the conception, design, conduct, data collection, or analysis/interpretation of the study,
  2. drafted the article or revised it for content, and
  3. have seen the final version of the manuscript, approved it, and agreed to submit it for publication.

Individuals who have made significant contributions to the manuscript (e.g., technical assistance, writing and editing assistance, general support), but who do not meet the criteria for authorship, should not be listed as authors but should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section after obtaining their written permission to be named. Ensure that the corresponding author and co-authors (as defined above) are listed and that others are not included in the list of authors. Confirm that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors should disclose at the earliest possible stage any conflicts of interest that might affect the conclusions or interpretations in the article. All sources of financial support for the study should be disclosed.

Major errors in published articles

If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they are obligated to notify the journal editor(s) and work with the editor(s) to correct the article in the form of an erratum or corrigendum, or to withdraw the article.

 Intellectual Property Rights

US Journal supports COPE’s intellectual property procedures in case of intellectual property protection and infringement. It also appeals to the necessary jurisdictions and relevant institutions.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Authors should exercise caution when using artificial intelligence tools. In particular, documents, tables, graphics, images, etc., produced by artificial intelligence carry the risk of copyright infringement. In addition, such productions may constitute plagiarism. Reproducing, summarizing, or creating mixed forms of written texts, photographs, paintings, etc., artworks, graphics, and paintings whose author and source are known, with artificial intelligence tools is considered a violation of intellectual property, copyrights, and the plagiarism policy of the journal. Authors who use AI tools in their work should clearly indicate in which parts of the work and in what way they use these tools.

Since submitted manuscripts are considered confidential documents, the editor(s) and referees should not upload all or part of the manuscript to a generative AI tool, as this may violate the authors' privacy and property rights and data confidentiality, and if the manuscript contains personally identifiable information. The journal follows COPE's AI-Writing policy on the use of AI.

Complaints and Objections

Complaints and objections from authors or readers should be carefully evaluated by the editor(s) and a reasoned response given. COPE guidelines will be followed in this process.

Unethical behavior

If you have any questions about this content or any other ethical responsibility, please contact "US Journal" at intpoljournal@gmail.com.

Disclaimer

The publisher, editors and editorial board are not responsible for the views expressed by the authors and the scientific and legal content of the articles published in the journal. Authenticity, reading of manuscripts and legal consequences related to errors are the responsibility of the author(s).