Publication Ethics

MURNI: Multidisciplinary Review of Nusantara Innovation is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal committed to academic integrity, research quality, transparency, accountability, and ethical responsibility throughout the scholarly publishing process. MURNI publishes original scholarly research, reviews, and critical studies addressing multidisciplinary issues related to innovation, knowledge development, society, culture, education, science, technology, social sciences, humanities, and the diverse intellectual and developmental contexts of Nusantara and beyond.

This Publication Ethics Policy applies to all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. The policy is developed in accordance with the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and internationally recognized best practices in scholarly publishing.

The primary purpose of this policy is to safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record, ensure fair, transparent, and accountable editorial processes, prevent unethical research and publication practices, and protect the rights and interests of authors, reviewers, editors, the publisher, readers, research participants, and the wider academic community.

General Principles of Publication Ethics

MURNI is committed to maintaining integrity, objectivity, transparency, accountability, and editorial independence throughout all stages of the editorial and publication processes.

Every manuscript is evaluated fairly and without discrimination based on the author's identity, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, institutional affiliation, academic status, social background, or intellectual perspective. Editorial decisions are based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, methodological rigor, validity of evidence, clarity of argument, and potential contribution to knowledge.

MURNI maintains the confidentiality of manuscripts throughout the editorial and peer-review processes and takes appropriate measures to prevent plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, citation manipulation, duplicate or redundant publication, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research practices, and other forms of academic and publication misconduct.

The journal is committed to addressing allegations of ethical misconduct objectively, proportionately, transparently, and fairly. Where necessary, MURNI may publish corrections, errata, expressions of concern, or retractions to preserve the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the scholarly record.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors of MURNI are responsible for managing the editorial process and making decisions regarding manuscripts submitted for consideration. Publication decisions must be based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and academic contribution.

Editors must perform their responsibilities objectively and independently and must not allow commercial, political, personal, institutional, or author-related interests to influence editorial decisions.

Fairness

Editors must evaluate manuscripts solely on the basis of their academic and intellectual merit. No manuscript shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliation, academic status, social background, or the author's academic or intellectual orientation.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and all information obtained during the editorial process.

Information concerning a manuscript may only be disclosed to individuals directly involved in the editorial process, including the authors, reviewers, editors, editorial staff, and publisher, where appropriate.

Editors must not use unpublished information, research data, arguments, methodologies, or other materials contained in a submitted manuscript for their own research or personal benefit without the author's explicit written permission.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must be made independently of commercial, financial, political, institutional, or personal interests.

The publisher must respect the editorial independence of the journal and must not interfere with decisions concerning the acceptance, revision, rejection, or publication of manuscripts.

Selection of Reviewers

Editors must select reviewers who possess appropriate expertise and relevant academic competence in the subject matter of the manuscript.

Reviewers should be selected based on their scholarly qualifications, methodological expertise, objectivity, availability, and absence of conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose and appropriately manage any professional, academic, financial, personal, institutional, or other relationship that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their editorial judgment.

Editors must recuse themselves from decision-making when a conflict of interest exists and should assign the manuscript to another qualified editor who has no relevant conflict.

Handling Allegations of Ethical Misconduct

When an allegation of research or publication misconduct arises, the editor shall conduct an initial assessment and, where appropriate, seek clarification from the author(s), reviewer(s), institution(s), or other relevant parties.

Depending on the findings, MURNI may request clarification or correction, require revision, reject the manuscript, issue a correction or erratum, publish an expression of concern, retract a published article, or take other appropriate measures necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer review is an essential component of the scholarly quality-assurance process. Reviewers assist editors in evaluating the quality, validity, originality, methodological soundness, and scholarly contribution of submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers are expected to provide fair, evidence-based, constructive, and professional feedback that may help authors improve the quality, clarity, and rigor of their work.

Competence and Timeliness

Reviewers should accept a review assignment only when they possess sufficient expertise relevant to the manuscript and are able to conduct the review objectively and within the required timeframe.

If a reviewer lacks the appropriate expertise or is unable to complete the review within the specified period, the reviewer should promptly inform the editor and decline or withdraw from the assignment.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.

Reviewers must not share manuscripts or their contents with third parties without permission from the editor. Reviewers must not discuss manuscripts with authors or other individuals outside the authorized review process.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information, data, methods, arguments, or ideas obtained through peer review for personal, academic, or professional advantage.

Objectivity and Constructive Evaluation

Reviews must be conducted objectively, critically, professionally, and constructively.

Reviewers should provide clear explanations and scholarly justification for their evaluations and recommendations.

Personal attacks, discriminatory statements, derogatory comments, or inappropriate criticism unrelated to the scholarly quality of the manuscript are unacceptable.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published works that have not been appropriately cited by the authors.

Reviewers should also inform the editor if they identify substantial similarities between the manuscript under review and another published or unpublished work of which they have legitimate knowledge.

Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must decline an assignment if they have a professional, academic, financial, personal, competitive, collaborative, or institutional relationship that could reasonably compromise the objectivity of their assessment.

Reviewers must not use the peer-review process to obtain personal advantage, promote inappropriate citation of their own publications, or influence the manuscript for competitive or personal purposes.

Use of Artificial Intelligence by Reviewers

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, portions of manuscripts, research data, tables, figures, supplementary materials, or other confidential information to generative AI systems or third-party platforms when such use may compromise the confidentiality, security, or intellectual property of the manuscript.

Where AI-assisted technologies are permitted by the journal for specific review-related purposes, reviewers remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, confidentiality, and quality of their evaluation and must comply with all applicable MURNI policies.

Responsibilities of Authors

Originality

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts constitute original scholarly work and have not been substantially published elsewhere.

Authors must appropriately acknowledge and cite all sources used in developing the research, including ideas, theories, data, arguments, figures, tables, methodologies, and textual material originating from other works.

Accuracy and Integrity of Data

Authors must present research findings, data, methods, and interpretations accurately and transparently.

Authors must not engage in data fabrication, data falsification, deceptive manipulation of results, inappropriate manipulation of images or tables, misleading statistical practices, citation manipulation, or deliberate presentation of inaccurate information.

Where appropriate, authors should be prepared to provide supporting data, research instruments, analytical procedures, or other relevant materials to the editor for verification.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable, including the unauthorized use or presentation of another person's ideas, words, data, figures, tables, concepts, or argumentative structure without appropriate attribution.

MURNI may use similarity-detection software as one of the tools for identifying potential plagiarism or inappropriate textual overlap.

A similarity report alone does not constitute definitive evidence of plagiarism or automatically determine an editorial decision. Editors must evaluate the nature and context of the similarities identified. Legitimate similarities arising from quotations, references, commonly used terminology, standard methodological descriptions, or other academically justified material must be distinguished from plagiarism.

Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

Authors must not publish substantially the same research in multiple publications without legitimate scholarly justification and appropriate disclosure.

Authors should avoid redundant publication or inappropriate fragmentation of research findings into multiple manuscripts solely to increase publication output.

Authorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual or scholarly contributions to the research, including contributions to its conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or substantial preparation and revision of the manuscript.

All individuals who meet the journal's authorship criteria must be appropriately credited, while individuals who have not made substantial contributions should not be listed as authors.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

all qualifying authors are included in the author list;
no individual who does not qualify for authorship is improperly included;
all authors have approved the final version of the manuscript;
all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript to MURNI; and
all authors are aware of and accept responsibility for their respective contributions.

Any change to authorship after submission must be approved by all authors and may require formal approval from the editor.

Funding Sources

All sources of financial support for the research must be transparently disclosed.

Authors should disclose the role of funding organizations in the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decision, where applicable.

If the research received no specific funding, authors should state this transparently in the appropriate section of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, its interpretation, or its publication.

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not necessarily imply that the research is inappropriate. Transparency enables editors, reviewers, and readers to evaluate potential influences appropriately.

Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects

Research involving human participants, animals, vulnerable populations, personal data, or sensitive information must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and relevant national or international regulations.

Where required, authors must obtain ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee or authorized institution before conducting the research.

For research involving human participants, authors must ensure that informed consent has been obtained in accordance with applicable ethical standards. Where appropriate, consent for publication of identifiable information must also be obtained.

Data Access and Retention

Authors should retain relevant research data and supporting materials for a reasonable period following publication.

Where feasible and consistent with ethical, legal, confidentiality, privacy, and intellectual-property requirements, authors should make supporting data available for verification or legitimate scholarly purposes.

For research involving confidential, personal, or sensitive data, access must be managed in accordance with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation must be conducted responsibly and transparently.

AI systems, including generative AI tools, cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, or ethical aspects of scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscripts, including the accuracy of statements, validity of data, originality of arguments, accuracy of references and citations, and compliance with copyright and ethical requirements.

Any substantive use of AI-assisted technologies in writing, translation, analysis, data processing, coding, or other aspects of manuscript preparation should be disclosed transparently where required by the journal.

Authors must not use AI technologies to fabricate research data, generate fictitious references, create unverifiable citations, manipulate research findings, or otherwise produce misleading scholarly content.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher of MURNI is responsible for supporting the editors in maintaining the integrity, accessibility, and continuity of the scholarly record.

The publisher shall:

support editorial independence;
provide appropriate publishing and editorial infrastructure;
facilitate the implementation of publication ethics standards;
ensure transparency of journal policies and procedures;
support the appropriate handling of allegations of research and publication misconduct;
facilitate the publication of corrections, errata, expressions of concern, and retractions where necessary;
support the preservation and accessibility of published scholarly content; and
ensure that commercial, financial, political, or other external interests do not improperly influence editorial decisions.

The publisher shall work collaboratively with the editorial team to ensure that MURNI's publishing practices remain consistent with recognized international standards of scholarly publishing.

Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct

MURNI takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Potential misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

plagiarism;
data fabrication;
data falsification;
inappropriate image manipulation;
citation manipulation;
duplicate or redundant publication;
simultaneous submission;
inappropriate authorship;
ghost authorship;
guest or honorary authorship;
undisclosed conflicts of interest;
breaches of confidentiality;
abuse or manipulation of the peer-review process;
unethical research involving human or animal participants;
research conducted without required ethical approval;
misuse of personal or sensitive data;
falsification of ethical approval or consent;
fabricated references or citations; and
irresponsible use of artificial intelligence to generate misleading scholarly content.

All allegations shall be assessed and handled proportionately, taking into account the available evidence and the rights and interests of all parties involved.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

When addressing allegations of misconduct, MURNI may:

record and assess the allegation;
conduct an initial editorial inquiry;
request clarification or supporting documentation from the author(s) or relevant parties;
consult additional editors, reviewers, methodological experts, or other appropriately qualified individuals;
contact the relevant institution or competent authority where necessary;
request an institutional investigation where appropriate; and
take corrective or disciplinary action based on the available evidence.

Editorial decisions shall be based on evidence and established publication ethics principles while respecting confidentiality, objectivity, proportionality, due process, and the right of relevant parties to provide an explanation or response.

Corrections, Errata, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

MURNI is committed to maintaining the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the scholarly record after publication.

Correction or Erratum

A correction or erratum may be published when an error is identified in a published article and the error does not invalidate the principal findings or conclusions but requires correction to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the scholarly record.

Expression of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when substantial concerns arise regarding the integrity, reliability, or ethical status of a published article, but an investigation is ongoing or the available evidence is not yet sufficient to justify retraction.

Retraction

An article may be retracted when there is clear and sufficient evidence that the publication contains serious problems that undermine the reliability or integrity of the scholarly record.

Reasons for retraction may include, but are not limited to:

fabricated or falsified data;
serious methodological or ethical violations;
substantial plagiarism;
duplicate or redundant publication;
unethical research practices;
serious authorship misconduct;
major undisclosed conflicts of interest;
manipulation of the peer-review process; or
other circumstances that substantially compromise the reliability of the published article.

When an article is retracted, MURNI shall publish a clear retraction notice linked to the original article. The original publication should remain accessible where appropriate, with the retraction status clearly indicated to preserve transparency and traceability.

Complaints and Appeals

MURNI provides a mechanism through which authors and other relevant parties may submit complaints or appeal editorial decisions.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted professionally and must include clear reasons, relevant evidence, and sufficient information for the matter to be evaluated.

Appeals shall be considered by an editor or appropriate editorial representative who has no conflict of interest in the matter.

Appeal decisions shall be based on the journal's policies, the available evidence, the scholarly merits of the case, and principles of academic objectivity, fairness, and due process.

Complaints and appeals must not be used to exert personal, academic, political, institutional, or commercial pressure on editors or reviewers.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all materials included in their manuscripts, including figures, tables, photographs, instruments, datasets, quotations, and excerpts created by others, are used lawfully and in accordance with applicable copyright and intellectual-property requirements.

Where permission is required, authors must obtain authorization from the relevant copyright holder before publication.

MURNI's copyright, licensing, and publication policies shall be communicated clearly and transparently to authors and readers in accordance with the journal's open-access publishing model.

Transparency and Academic Integrity

MURNI is committed to transparency throughout the scholarly publishing process.

Information concerning editorial procedures, peer review, authorship, funding, conflicts of interest, research ethics, data availability, AI use, copyright, and post-publication corrections or retractions should be communicated clearly and made accessible to authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders.

MURNI does not guarantee acceptance of manuscripts based on an author's academic position, institutional affiliation, reputation, personal relationship, or other non-scholarly considerations.

All manuscripts are subject to the journal's established editorial screening and peer-review procedures.

Commitment to the Scholarly Record

MURNI regards scholarly publishing as an essential component of developing, evaluating, and preserving reliable knowledge.

Accordingly, MURNI is committed to:

maintaining the integrity of all published articles;
promoting responsible and ethical research practices;
ensuring fair and transparent editorial procedures;
safeguarding editorial independence;
protecting the confidentiality of peer review;
respecting the rights and responsibilities of authors and reviewers;
addressing allegations of research and publication misconduct appropriately;
correcting errors transparently;
issuing expressions of concern or retractions when necessary;
promoting responsible use of artificial intelligence in scholarly communication; and
preserving and maintaining the accessibility and reliability of the scholarly record.

MURNI will periodically review and update this Publication Ethics Policy to ensure continued alignment with developments in scholarly publishing, emerging research practices, technological developments, and internationally recognized publication ethics standards, including the best-practice guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).