Allegations of Misconduct
Allegations of Misconduct
IMJ is committed to preventing research misconduct and utilizes all available means to ensure that miscounted research is not published. While there is no standard definition of research misconduct, the Council of Editors (COPE) broadly defines it in three categories of actions and conducts. IMJ uses this definition of misconduct in dealing with the issue and strictly follows the COPE flowchart in handling research misconduct. In addition, IMJ has assurance policies for each component of research misconduct, including:
- Mistreatment of research subjects
- Falsification and Fabrication of data
- Piracy and Plagiarism
Protection of Animal Rights
IMJ does not publish manuscripts that do not declare a statement about the protection of animal rights. The journal requires a statement declaring that research has been reviewed by an institutional review board either in the material method section or acknowledgment section of the manuscript. IMJ encourages authors to report the registry number of the council certification.
Falsification and Fabrication of Data
Fabrication is making up data without actually collecting or synthesizing scientific data. Falsification is manipulating research material to reach a favorable result. Fabrication and falsification can occur at any stage of research, including during manuscript processing, where misuse of citation can occur. IMJ tries to identify any fabrication or falsification at all levels of manuscript processing, from initial screening to comprehensive evaluation of a revised manuscript and even after a manuscript has been published. Reporting any fabrication and falsification is an ethical duty of authors, co-authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. In any event of falsification or fabrication, IMJ reserves the right to retract or withdraw the fabricated or falsified article. IMJ strictly follows the COPE flowchart in dealing with fabrication and falsification.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author publishes their own idea, data, or text in different journals where no need for such duplication exists. IMJ uses all means to detect plagiarism. A similarity of more than 20% in the text of a manuscript will be returned to the author as a matter of quality assurance, asking them to remove the similarities and reduce the chance of plagiarism. IMJ strictly follows the COPE flowchart in dealing with plagiarized articles.