Publication Ethics

SALIK: Studies in Advancing Learning, Ideology and Knowledge is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal committed to academic integrity, research quality, transparency, and ethical responsibility throughout the scholarly publishing process. SALIK publishes scholarly studies addressing learning, education, ideology, knowledge, Islamic studies, the social sciences and humanities, as well as intellectual and societal development from multidisciplinary perspectives.

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 and transparent editorial processes, prevent unethical publication practices, and protect the interests of authors, reviewers, editors, the publisher, readers, and the wider academic community.

General Principles of Publication Ethics

SALIK is committed to maintaining integrity, objectivity, transparency, 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, background, institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, beliefs, or academic perspective. Editorial decisions are based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and academic contribution.

SALIK 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 publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and other forms of academic and publication misconduct.

The journal is committed to addressing allegations of ethical misconduct in an objective, proportionate, transparent, and fair manner in accordance with established publication ethics principles. Where necessary, SALIK may publish corrections, errata, expressions of concern, or retractions to preserve the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors of SALIK are responsible for making editorial 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, 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 their editorial decisions.

Fairness

Editors must evaluate manuscripts solely on the basis of their academic and intellectual merit, without discrimination based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliation, academic status, social background, or the author's academic orientation.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts. Information concerning a manuscript may only be disclosed to individuals directly involved in the editorial process, such as the corresponding author, reviewers, relevant editors, and the publisher, as appropriate.

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

Selection of Reviewers

Editors must select reviewers who possess appropriate expertise and relevant academic competence in the subject matter of the manuscript and who have no conflicts of interest that could compromise the objectivity of their assessment.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves from the editorial decision-making process when they have any professional, academic, financial, personal, or other relationship that could reasonably be perceived as compromising their objectivity toward a particular manuscript.

In such circumstances, the manuscript should be reassigned to another editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

Handling Allegations of Ethical Misconduct

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

Based on the findings of the investigation, SALIK may take appropriate action, including requesting clarification, requiring revision, rejecting the manuscript, publishing a correction or erratum, issuing an expression of concern, retracting the article, or taking other 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, and scholarly contribution of submitted manuscripts. Reviewers are also expected to provide constructive feedback that may help authors improve the quality and clarity of their work.

Competence and Timeliness

Reviewers should accept an assignment only when they possess sufficient expertise relevant to the subject matter of the manuscript and are able to conduct the review objectively.

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

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.

Reviewers must not share manuscripts with third parties without the editor's permission, discuss the contents of manuscripts with others, use information obtained through the review process for personal advantage, or use unpublished data or ideas for their own research.

Objectivity and Constructive Evaluation

Reviews must be conducted objectively, critically, professionally, and constructively. Personal, discriminatory, derogatory, or otherwise inappropriate comments that are unrelated to the scholarly quality of the manuscript are unacceptable.

Reviewers should clearly articulate the rationale underlying their criticisms, comments, and recommendations.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited by the authors.

Reviewers should also notify the editor if they identify substantial similarities between the manuscript under review and any other published article or manuscript of which they are aware.

Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must decline an assignment if they have a conflict of interest arising from academic, professional, financial, personal, competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the author(s), institution(s), or organization(s) associated with the manuscript.

Reviewers must not exploit the peer-review process for personal advantage, inappropriate citation enhancement, or the promotion of their own work or that of colleagues without legitimate scholarly justification.

Use of Artificial Intelligence by Reviewers

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, portions of manuscripts, research data, tables, figures, or other confidential information to generative AI systems or third-party services when doing so may compromise the confidentiality or security of the manuscript.

Where the use of AI-assisted technologies in peer review is permitted, reviewers remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, and quality of their evaluations and must comply with SALIK's confidentiality and ethical requirements.

Responsibilities of Authors

Originality

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

Any use of ideas, data, arguments, figures, tables, or text from other sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited.

Accuracy and Integrity of Data

Authors are required to present their research data and findings accurately and transparently. Authors must not engage in data fabrication, data falsification, misleading manipulation of results, inappropriate manipulation of images or tables, statistical manipulation, citation manipulation, or the deliberate presentation of inaccurate information.

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

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable, including the use of another person's ideas, wording, data, figures, tables, or argumentative structure without appropriate attribution and citation.

SALIK may use similarity-detection software to assist in identifying potential plagiarism or inappropriate textual overlap.

A similarity report is not, by itself, considered sufficient evidence of plagiarism or grounds for an editorial decision. Each similarity report must be evaluated substantively by the editor in its appropriate context. Legitimate similarities arising from quotations, reference lists, commonly used terminology, standard methodological descriptions, or other academically justified material must be distinguished from plagiarism.

Duplicate Publication and Simultaneous Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal or publish substantially the same research more than once without legitimate scholarly justification.

Authors must also avoid redundant publication or the inappropriate fragmentation of a single research project into multiple publications for the purpose of artificially increasing publication output.

Authorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research, including its conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the manuscript.

All individuals who meet the criteria for authorship must be appropriately credited as authors, while individuals who do not meet those criteria should not be listed as authors.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all qualifying authors are included, that no inappropriate authors are listed, that all authors have approved the final version of the manuscript, and that all authors have agreed to its submission to SALIK.

Any changes to the authorship of a manuscript after submission must receive the consent of all authors and may require approval from the editor.

Funding Sources

All sources of financial support for the research must be transparently disclosed in the manuscript. Authors should also disclose the role of funding bodies in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and manuscript preparation, where applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose all conflicts of interest that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the findings, interpretation, or evaluation of the research.

Conflicts of interest may include financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relevant relationships associated with the research or its publication.

Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects

Research involving human participants, animals, vulnerable groups, personal data, or sensitive information must comply with applicable ethical standards and regulations.

Where required, authors must provide information regarding ethical approval obtained from an appropriate ethics committee or authorized institution.

For research involving human participants, authors must ensure that informed consent has been obtained in accordance with applicable ethical standards, including consent for publication where necessary.

Data Access and Retention

Authors should retain relevant research data for a reasonable period and, where feasible and consistent with ethical, legal, and privacy requirements, make supporting data available for verification purposes.

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

Use of Artificial Intelligence

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

AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy of the article, originality of the work, validity of the data, accuracy of citations, compliance with copyright requirements, and all statements contained in the manuscript.

Any substantive use of AI in writing, analysis, translation, data processing, or other aspects of manuscript preparation should be transparently disclosed in accordance with the journal's policy and the nature of the research.

Authors must not use AI systems to generate fabricated research data, fictitious references, unverifiable citations, or any other misleading scholarly content.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

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

The publisher shall support editorial independence, provide adequate publishing infrastructure, facilitate the implementation of publication ethics standards, ensure transparency of journal policies, and assist in the appropriate handling of allegations of ethical misconduct.

The publisher shall also support the publication of corrections, errata, expressions of concern, and retractions when necessary and shall promote the accessibility and preservation of published scholarly content.

The publisher must not allow commercial, financial, political, or other interests to influence editorial decisions.

Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct

SALIK takes all allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Misconduct may include plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, simultaneous submission, inappropriate authorship, ghost authorship, guest authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, breaches of confidentiality, abuse of the peer-review process, research conducted without required ethical approval, and the use of AI to generate misleading information or research content.

All allegations will be 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, SALIK may record and assess the allegation, conduct an initial inquiry, request clarification from the author(s) or relevant parties, undertake additional investigation, and involve other editors, reviewers, methodological experts, or appropriately qualified individuals where necessary.

In certain cases, SALIK may contact the relevant institution or competent authority to obtain further information or request an appropriate investigation.

Editorial decisions will be based on the available evidence while respecting confidentiality, objectivity, proportionality, due process, and the right of all parties to provide an explanation or response.

Corrections, Errata, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

SALIK is committed to maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record after publication.

Correction or Erratum

A correction or erratum may be published when an error does not affect the principal conclusions of an article but requires correction to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the published record.

Expression of Concern

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

Retraction

An article may be retracted when there is sufficient evidence that it contains serious ethical violations, unreliable data, fabricated or falsified findings, substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research practices, or other serious problems that undermine the reliability of the scholarly record.

When an article is retracted, a retraction notice will be published and linked to the original article so that the publication history remains transparent and traceable.

Complaints and Appeals

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

Complaints and appeals should be submitted professionally and should include clear reasons and relevant supporting evidence.

Appeals will be considered by an editor or editorial representative who has no conflict of interest in the matter. Decisions concerning appeals will be based on the journal's policies, the available evidence, and principles of academic objectivity and fairness.

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

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all materials used in their manuscripts, including figures, tables, instruments, or excerpts from works created by others, are used lawfully and in accordance with applicable copyright requirements.

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

SALIK's copyright and licensing policies shall be communicated transparently to authors and readers in accordance with the journal's publishing model.

Transparency and Academic Integrity

SALIK is committed to transparency throughout the scholarly publishing process.

Information regarding editorial procedures, peer review, authorship, conflicts of interest, funding, research ethics, the use of AI, and post-publication corrections or retractions should be communicated clearly and made accessible to authors and readers.

SALIK does not guarantee acceptance of manuscripts based on an author's academic status, position, institutional affiliation, reputation, or personal connections. All manuscripts are subject to the journal's established editorial and peer-review procedures.

Commitment to the Scholarly Record

SALIK regards scholarly publishing as an essential component of building and maintaining a trustworthy body of knowledge.

Accordingly, SALIK is committed to maintaining the integrity of all published articles, correcting errors transparently, responding appropriately to allegations of ethical misconduct, safeguarding editorial independence, protecting the confidentiality of the peer-review process, respecting the rights of authors and reviewers, promoting responsible research practices, and keeping its publication ethics policies aligned with evolving international standards.

SALIK will periodically review and update its publication ethics policy to ensure continued alignment with developments in scholarly publishing and the best-practice guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).