Publication Ethics

Socratika: Journal of Progressive Education and Social Inquiry is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal published by South Sulawesi Education Development (SSED). This publication ethics statement describes the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher.

Socratika is committed to maintaining the integrity, transparency, fairness, and quality of scholarly publishing. The journal’s ethical policies are developed with reference to the principles and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of scholarly articles is an essential part of developing a credible and accountable body of knowledge. Published articles reflect the quality of the authors’ work, the institutions supporting the research, the peer-review process, and the journal’s editorial management. Therefore, all parties involved in publication must comply with accepted standards of ethical conduct.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

South Sulawesi Education Development (SSED), as the publisher of Socratika, is responsible for:

• Protecting the integrity and independence of the editorial process
• Supporting fair, transparent, and timely editorial management
• Ensuring that commercial interests and publication fees do not influence editorial decisions
• Maintaining the journal website, published content, metadata, and digital records
• Supporting investigations into suspected research or publication misconduct
• Publishing corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern when necessary
• Cooperating with authors, reviewers, editors, institutions, and other publishers in resolving ethical issues
• Protecting intellectual property, confidentiality, and editorial records

Duties of Editors

1. Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for making the final decision regarding the publication of submitted manuscripts. Decisions are based on the manuscript’s academic merit, originality, relevance to the journal’s focus and scope, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and reviewers’ recommendations. Editors may consult other editors or reviewers when necessary.

2. Fair and Impartial Evaluation

Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on their scholarly content without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, political philosophy, institutional affiliation, disability, or other personal characteristics of the authors.

3. Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts. Information concerning a manuscript may only be disclosed to the corresponding author, assigned editors, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher when required for the publication process.

4. Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose any personal, professional, institutional, academic, or financial conflict of interest. An editor must not handle a manuscript when an objective decision cannot be ensured. Manuscripts submitted by editorial board members must be managed by another qualified editor, and the submitting editor must not participate in reviewer selection or the final decision.

5. Unpublished Materials

Unpublished data, arguments, or ideas contained in a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors for personal research or advantage without the authors’ explicit written permission.

6. Response to Ethical Concerns

Editors must respond appropriately to credible allegations of plagiarism, duplicate publication, authorship manipulation, citation manipulation, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research, or other misconduct. Investigations may continue even when allegations are raised after publication.

Duties of Reviewers

1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists editors in making informed editorial decisions and helps authors improve the academic quality, clarity, accuracy, and relevance of their manuscripts.

2. Expertise and Promptness

A reviewer who does not have sufficient expertise to evaluate a manuscript or cannot complete the review within the requested period must promptly inform the editor and decline the assignment.

3. Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, reproduce, distribute, discuss, or disclose manuscript content without permission from the editor. Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts to external systems or services that cannot guarantee confidentiality.

4. Objectivity

Reviews must be objective, constructive, respectful, and supported by clear academic arguments. Personal criticism, insulting language, discriminatory comments, and unsupported accusations against authors are unacceptable.

5. Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant scholarly works that have not been appropriately cited. Reviewers must also notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and other published or submitted works of which they are aware.

6. Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must not evaluate manuscripts when they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, financial, institutional, supervisory, personal, or other relationships with the authors or institutions associated with the manuscript.

7. Reporting Suspected Misconduct

Reviewers must notify the editor when they identify suspected plagiarism, duplicate submission, fabricated or falsified data, manipulated images, inappropriate citations, unethical research procedures, or other possible violations of publication ethics.

Duties of Authors

1. Reporting Standards

Authors must provide an accurate, complete, and objective account of the research conducted. The manuscript must contain sufficient information, methodological detail, data description, analysis, and references to allow readers to understand and, when appropriate, reproduce the study. Fraudulent, misleading, or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable.

2. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original. Ideas, data, words, images, tables, or other materials originating from other sources must be properly quoted, cited, and acknowledged. Plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism and inappropriate paraphrasing, constitutes unethical publication behavior.

3. Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Publishing the same research in more than one primary publication without appropriate disclosure and justification is unacceptable.

4. Data Accuracy, Access, and Retention

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their research data. When reasonably requested, authors should be prepared to provide supporting data for editorial examination, subject to ethical, legal, confidentiality, privacy, and intellectual property restrictions. Research records should be retained for an appropriate period after publication.

5. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the study. All listed authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission. Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible co-authors are included, no ineligible person is listed, author information is accurate, and all authors approve the final version. Changes to authorship after submission require a written explanation and agreement from all affected authors.

6. Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors must appropriately acknowledge publications and other sources that influenced the research. Citations must be relevant, accurate, and not added solely to manipulate citation counts or satisfy inappropriate requests.

7. Funding and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose all sources of research funding, institutional support, and financial or non-financial relationships that could influence the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript. If no conflict exists, authors should provide an appropriate statement.

8. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, personal data, or vulnerable populations must comply with relevant ethical standards and applicable regulations. Authors must obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee when required and secure informed consent from participants. Identifying information must not be published without explicit consent.

9. Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with relevant institutional and national ethical standards. Authors must state the approval obtained from the appropriate ethics or animal-care committee when applicable.

10. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, or ethical compliance of a manuscript. Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content. Any substantive use of artificial intelligence tools in preparing, translating, analysing, or editing a manuscript must be transparently disclosed when relevant.

11. Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in a submitted or published article, they must promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief and cooperate in correcting, revising, or retracting the article as appropriate.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Socratika takes all credible allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously, regardless of whether they are raised before or after publication. The journal may request explanations, original data, ethical approval documents, authorship statements, or other supporting evidence from the parties involved.

Investigations will be conducted fairly, confidentially, and without prejudging the outcome. When appropriate, the journal may consult the publisher, editorial board, research institutions, ethics committees, funding bodies, or other journals. Possible actions include rejection, correction, retraction, expression of concern, notification of relevant institutions, or other measures necessary to protect the scholarly record.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Socratika is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of published content. When a significant error or ethical problem is identified, the journal may publish a correction, retract the article, or issue an expression of concern, depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue. Notices will be clearly linked to the original article and will explain the reason for the action.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, and readers may submit reasoned complaints or appeals concerning editorial procedures, ethical issues, or publication decisions. Appeals must provide clear academic or procedural grounds and supporting evidence. Appeals are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or another editor who was not directly involved in the original decision. Submission of an appeal does not guarantee that the editorial decision will be changed.

Editorial Independence and Publication Fees

Editorial decisions are independent of the publisher’s commercial interests and the payment of publication fees. The Article Processing Charge is only requested after a manuscript has been officially accepted. Payment does not influence peer review, editorial decisions, or guarantee acceptance.