Ethics and Policies

Publication Ethics

GPH-International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in academic publishing. We adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and ensure that all stakeholders—including authors, reviewers, and editors—follow ethical principles that uphold the integrity of research and scholarly publishing.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

  • Originality & Plagiarism: Authors must submit original work that has not been published or under review elsewhere. Any use of previously published material must be properly cited. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are strictly prohibited.
  • Authorship Criteria: All individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research must be listed as authors. Guest authorship, ghostwriting, and honorary authorship are not permitted.
  • Data Accuracy & Transparency: Authors must ensure that data is accurate, complete, and reproducible. Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of research data is a serious violation.
  • Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Authors must disclose any financial or personal conflicts of interest that may influence their research. Funding sources must be acknowledged.
  • Ethical Approval & Compliance: Research involving human or animal subjects must comply with ethical guidelines and be approved by the relevant ethics committee.
  • Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submissions: Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously is considered unethical and is not permitted.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential and must not share or discuss them with others.
  • Objectivity & Fairness: Reviews should be objective, unbiased, and constructive, providing helpful feedback without personal criticism.
  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers must notify editors if they identify missing citations or detect similarities with other published works.
  • Timely Review Process: Reviewers must complete reviews within the assigned deadline or inform the editorial office if they are unable to do so.
  • Conflicts of Interest: If a reviewer has any conflict of interest (financial, institutional, or personal), they should decline the review.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

  • Fair & Unbiased Decisions: Editors must evaluate manuscripts solely on academic merit without discrimination.
  • Confidentiality: Editors must maintain confidentiality about the review process and author identities.
  • Handling of Ethical Violations: Editors are responsible for addressing plagiarism, falsification of data, and ethical misconduct following COPE guidelines.
  • Retractions & Corrections: If errors or misconduct are found in published papers, editors will take corrective actions such as issuing retractions, errata, or corrigenda.

Misconduct Handling

Misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • Plagiarism or self-plagiarism in a submitted/published manuscript
  • Fabrication or falsification of research data
  • Unethical authorship practices
  • Duplicate submission of the same work to multiple journals

If an ethical violation is reported:

  • The editorial team will initiate an investigation and gather evidence.
  • The author will be notified and given an opportunity to respond.
  • If the misconduct is confirmed, corrective actions may include manuscript rejection, retraction of published work, or notification to the author's institution.

Corrections & Retractions

The journal follows COPE Retraction Guidelines in case of significant errors or ethical violations. Corrections will be issued through:

  • Erratum: If the error was introduced by the publisher.
  • Corrigendum: If the error was introduced by the authors.
  • Retraction: If the published work contains serious ethical violations or incorrect data that affects the study’s conclusions.

Authorship Changes

Any requests for authorship changes (adding or removing an author) must be:

  • Approved by all co-authors
  • Accompanied by a valid reason
  • Reviewed by the editorial office

If a dispute arises, the issue may be referred to the author's institution for resolution.

Plagiarism Policy

The journal uses plagiarism detection tools to screen all submissions. Any manuscript found to have high similarity scores without proper citation will be immediately rejected.

Contact Us

For ethical concerns or misconduct reporting, contact us at: editor@gphjournal.org