The Nsukka Journal of Religion and Cultural Studies (NJRCS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and preventing any form of malpractice. The publisher, Editor-in-Chief, members of editorial team, authors, peer reviewers, and the journal itself are expected to adhere to the following ethical guidelines.
Compliance with Ethical Guidelines
The Publisher, Editor-In-Chief, members of editorial team and reviewers of the Nsukka Journal of Religion and Cultural Studies (NJRCS) are expected to conduct themselves ethically in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing.
Authorship and Data Integrity
- Authors submitting manuscripts to NJRCS are expected to have made significant contributions to the research output as stipulated in the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).
- Since NJRCS do not accept any form of plagiarism, authors should make sure that their research output is original and cited properly.
- Authors should avoid submitting the same manuscript under consideration in NJRCS to multiple journals simultaneously.
- Authors should make sure that the data provided is accurate and describe their research methods accurately.
- Authors should note that NJRCS considers fabrication or manipulation of data a serious ethical violation.
Journal Integrity
The Publisher, Editor-In-Chief, and members of the Editorial Team play an important role in maintaining the integrity of the journal. This responsibility is upheld by following the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in their Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Should any member of the editorial team come across an allegation of research misconduct related to a published paper, it is crucial that they follow the recommended procedures to address such issues effectively. After a thorough investigation to validate any ethical concerns raised, appropriate actions like issuing corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other relevant notices may be posted on the NJRCS’s website.
Peer Review Process
The Nsukka Journal of Religion and Cultural Studies (NJRCS) considers peer review process as a very important aspect that ensures the quality and integrity of published research. Hence, reviewers should ensure that they provide constructive and objective feedback without any bias or conflict of interest. NJRCS’s Editors are entrusted with the responsibilities of selecting competent reviewers and making fair decisions based on their recommendations.
Conflicts of Interest
It is compulsory for authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence their objectivity. Conflicts of interest may include personal or financial relationships, and/or academic competition. Failure to intentionally disclose this on the journal’s disclosure form is regarded as misconduct.
Measures to Prevent Misconduct
In the Nsukka Journal of Religion and Cultural Studies, (NJRCS) the publisher, Editor-In-Chief, and Editorial Board members should ensure that they take adequate measures to prevent the publication of articles involving misconduct. This includes activities such as plagiarism, Ai generated content, citation manipulation, and data fabrication.
Copyright Retention by Authors
Authors of articles published in NJRCS retain their copyright for their work, except for third-party images and other materials added by the publisher that may be subject to copyright from their respective owners. Authors are responsible for obtaining appropriate copyright release permissions for any copyrighted materials used in their manuscripts before submitting them to NJRCS. More so, authors are required to grant full permission to NJRCS to publish their contents, which includes storing, displaying, copying, and reusing it.
Retraction Policy
In the Nsukka Journal of Religion and Cultural Studies (NJRCS), contributing authors can decide to publish a retraction if they discover a significant error in their research paper. The Editor-in-Chief or the publisher of NJRCS can also initiate a retraction process on a published work if a major error is identified based on the COPE Guidelines for Retracting Articles and other ethical recommendations.
Correction Process for Minor Errors
Minor errors that do not significantly affect the integrity of the research data or hinder a reader’s understanding of the published work, and do not contain scientific inaccuracies or omissions, will be corrected. In this case, the original work will be taken down, and will be replaced with a corrected version. The date when the correction is implemented will be clearly indicated on the corrected article.
Timeline for Corrections
Replacement of an article with its corrected version is only applies to articles published within one year of its initial publication date. If corrections are required for articles published more than a year ago, a Note of Correction will be embedded in such articles rather than by replacing the original content.