Publication Ethics

The International Journal of Advances in Soft Computing and its Applications (IJASCA) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and academic excellence throughout the editorial and publication process.

The Journal follows the Core Practices and Principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adheres to internationally recognized ethical standards in scholarly publishing. These principles apply to authors, editors, reviewers, members of the Editorial Board, and the Publisher.

IJASCA is committed to ensuring that every submitted manuscript is evaluated fairly, objectively, confidentially, and solely on its scientific merit, regardless of the authors' nationality, gender, institutional affiliation, ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs.

The Journal maintains zero tolerance toward plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, citation manipulation, unethical research practices, and any other form of publication misconduct.

All manuscripts submitted to IJASCA must be original, unpublished, and must not be under consideration by another journal or publisher at the time of submission.

1. Editorial Standards and Authorship

IJASCA applies transparent editorial standards to ensure that authorship accurately reflects individual scholarly contributions.

All listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript and must approve the final version before submission.

Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not satisfy the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately in the Acknowledgements section.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

  • All eligible contributors are listed as authors.

  • No inappropriate ("guest", "gift", or "ghost") authorship exists.

  • All authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript.

  • All authors agree to the submission and publication of the manuscript.

Changes to the list or order of authors after submission or acceptance require written approval from all authors together with a satisfactory explanation, and remain subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief.

Author Contributions

Authors are encouraged to include a clear statement describing the contribution of each author (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, writing, supervision, funding acquisition).

Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all financial support, grants, institutional funding, sponsorship, or other sources of financial assistance that contributed to the research.

If no external funding has been received, authors should state:

"The authors received no external funding for this research."

2. Peer Review Policy

IJASCA operates a rigorous double-blind peer-review process to ensure fairness, scientific quality, confidentiality, and editorial independence.

Each manuscript undergoes the following stages:

  1. Initial editorial screening.

  2. Scope and formatting assessment.

  3. Similarity (plagiarism) screening.

  4. Assignment to an Academic Editor.

  5. Double-blind peer review by at least two independent expert reviewers.

  6. Editorial decision based solely on scientific merit.

  7. Revision (if required).

  8. Final editorial decision.

  9. Production and publication.

The identity of both authors and reviewers remains confidential throughout the review process.

Reviewer Selection

Reviewers are selected based on their scientific expertise, publication record, and research experience in the manuscript's subject area.

Authors may recommend potential reviewers during submission. However, the Editorial Office retains full discretion in selecting reviewers and is under no obligation to invite the suggested reviewers.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers are expected to:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively and constructively.

  • Maintain strict confidentiality.

  • Declare any actual or potential conflict of interest.

  • Decline invitations when insufficient expertise or conflicts exist.

  • Report suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research practices, or data manipulation.

Editorial Decisions

Editorial decisions are based exclusively on:

  • Originality

  • Scientific significance

  • Technical quality

  • Methodological rigor

  • Ethical compliance

  • Relevance to the journal scope

Commercial interests, institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, or personal relationships shall never influence editorial decisions.

3. Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

IJASCA is committed to protecting the integrity of the scholarly record.

The Journal investigates all suspected cases of publication misconduct in accordance with COPE recommendations and internationally accepted ethical practices.

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • Plagiarism

  • Duplicate publication

  • Simultaneous submission

  • Data fabrication

  • Data falsification

  • Citation manipulation

  • Image manipulation

  • Authorship manipulation

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest

  • Ethical violations involving human or animal research

Appropriate editorial action may include manuscript rejection, publication correction, article retraction, notification of the authors' institutions or funding agencies, and temporary or permanent restrictions on future submissions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

IJASCA recognizes the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in scholarly publishing and permits their responsible and transparent use.

AI tools may be used only to assist authors in improving language quality, grammar, readability, formatting, or translation.

Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, interpretation, and scientific validity of all submitted content.

Artificial Intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, since they cannot assume responsibility for the work or satisfy internationally accepted authorship criteria.

Whenever AI tools have been used beyond language editing, authors must disclose:

  • The name of the AI tool.

  • The purpose of its use.

  • The extent to which AI assisted in manuscript preparation.

AI-Assisted Figures

IJASCA permits the use of AI-assisted software to improve the presentation quality of figures, diagrams, flowcharts, and illustrations only when the original scientific concept and drawing have been created by the authors.

Acceptable uses include:

  • Improving image resolution.

  • Enhancing labels and annotations.

  • Improving typography and graphical layout.

  • Converting an author's original sketch into a publication-quality figure.

  • Improving visual clarity without changing the scientific meaning.

AI must not be used to generate scientific data, experimental results, medical images, graphs, or illustrations representing observations that were not originally produced by the authors.

Authors retain full intellectual property rights and scientific responsibility for all submitted figures.

The Editorial Board may request the original editable files or source drawings whenever verification is required.

4. Research Ethics

IJASCA is committed to ensuring that all published research complies with internationally accepted ethical principles governing research involving humans, animals, personal data, and culturally sensitive materials.

Authors are responsible for conducting their research ethically and in accordance with applicable national and international regulations before submitting their manuscripts.

4.1 Human Participants

Research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with internationally recognized ethical standards, including the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and any applicable national regulations.

Authors must confirm that:

  • Ethical approval was obtained from the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Ethics Committee, or equivalent authority before commencing the study.

  • Participants provided informed consent whenever required.

  • Participants' privacy, dignity, confidentiality, and legal rights have been fully protected.

  • Personally identifiable information has been removed unless explicit written permission for publication has been obtained.

The manuscript should clearly state the name of the approving ethics committee and, where applicable, the approval or reference number.

If ethical approval was not required, authors must provide a clear justification within the manuscript.

4.2 Animal Research

Research involving animals must comply with internationally accepted standards for animal welfare and applicable institutional and governmental regulations.

Authors should demonstrate that:

  • Animal experiments were approved by the appropriate ethics committee.

  • Animal suffering was minimized.

  • The minimum number of animals necessary to achieve scientifically valid results was used.

The Editorial Board may request additional ethical documentation whenever necessary.

4.3 Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must ensure that confidential information, personal data, patient records, institutional documents, photographs, videos, and other identifying materials are not published without appropriate authorization.

Any identifying information must either be removed or accompanied by documented written consent from the individual concerned.

4.4 Cultural Heritage and Sensitive Content

Research involving archaeological materials, cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, religious artifacts, historical documents, or culturally sensitive information should be conducted with appropriate legal authorization and cultural respect.

Authors should ensure that publication does not violate legal restrictions, cultural values, or intellectual property rights associated with such materials.

4.5 Reporting Standards

Authors should report their research accurately, transparently, and completely.

Manuscripts should include sufficient methodological details to allow independent researchers to understand, evaluate, and, where appropriate, reproduce the reported work.

Selective reporting, omission of significant findings, misleading interpretation of results, or manipulation of statistical analyses is considered unethical.

Authors are encouraged to follow internationally recognized reporting guidelines appropriate for their study design whenever applicable.

5. Editorial Responsibility, Corrections, Appeals, and Complaints

The Editorial Board of IJASCA is committed to maintaining the integrity, transparency, and reliability of the scholarly record throughout all stages of publication.

Editorial decisions are made independently and solely on the basis of scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal's scope.

Commercial interests, institutional affiliations, nationality, gender, race, religion, political opinions, or financial considerations shall not influence editorial decisions.

5.1 Editorial Independence

Editors exercise full editorial independence in evaluating submitted manuscripts.

Neither the Publisher nor any external organization may interfere with editorial decisions.

Editors who have conflicts of interest regarding a submitted manuscript will take no part in its editorial handling or decision-making process.

5.2 Conflicts of Interest

Editors, reviewers, and authors must disclose any actual, potential, financial, institutional, academic, or personal conflicts of interest that could influence the evaluation, interpretation, or publication of a manuscript.

When a conflict exists, appropriate editorial measures will be implemented to preserve objectivity and fairness.

5.3 Corrections

When errors that do not invalidate the scientific findings are identified after publication, IJASCA will publish an official correction (Erratum or Corrigendum) as appropriate.

Corrections will be permanently linked to the original published article to ensure transparency.

5.4 Retractions

Articles may be retracted when there is clear evidence of:

  • Research misconduct.

  • Fabrication or falsification of data.

  • Plagiarism.

  • Duplicate publication.

  • Serious ethical violations.

  • Major errors that invalidate the scientific conclusions.

Retraction decisions will follow internationally recognized publication ethics guidelines and will be communicated transparently to readers.

Retracted articles will remain accessible as part of the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as retracted.

5.5 Expressions of Concern

Where an investigation is ongoing and conclusive evidence is not yet available, the Journal may publish an Expression of Concern to alert readers until the investigation has been completed.

5.6 Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief.

Appeals should clearly explain the scientific or procedural basis for reconsideration.

The appeal will be reviewed independently, and the resulting editorial decision shall be final.

5.7 Complaints

IJASCA welcomes complaints concerning editorial procedures, peer review, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, or any aspect of the publication process.

Complaints should be submitted in writing to the Editorial Office and will be handled confidentially, fairly, and promptly in accordance with the Journal's internal procedures and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

5.8 Post-Publication Discussion

The Journal encourages constructive academic discussion of published articles.

Readers may submit scientifically supported comments or correspondence regarding published work.

Where appropriate, authors will be invited to respond, and both the comment and response may be published at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

5.9 Ethical Sanctions

Where violations of publication ethics are confirmed, IJASCA may take one or more of the following actions:

  • Issue a formal warning.

  • Reject the manuscript.

  • Publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction.

  • Suspend future submissions from the responsible author(s) for an appropriate period.

  • Notify the authors' institution, funding agency, or relevant authority when appropriate.

  • Take any additional editorial action considered necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

All investigations will be conducted fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with internationally accepted publication ethics standards.