Policies Document

POLICIES OF JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND PRACTICES

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 Plagiarism Screening Policy

Journal of Information Management and Practices is published by Department of Economics, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan has membership of Turnitin a database to help the editors verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. All submitted manuscripts are scanned with Turnitin to calculate the similarity index or plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when an author attempts to pass off someone else work as his or her own. Duplicate publication, sometimes called self-plagiarism, occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to salami-slicing, where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper.

Plagiarism Policy of JIMP

  1. Journal of Information Management and Practices  (JIMP) is committed to promote and disseminate the original research work relating to the field of economic sciences.
  2. Plagiarism comes in several forms for that reason, Plagiarism in any form cannot be tolerated by JIMP at any stage as it shows unethical publishing behavior.
  3. All selected manuscripts will be screened for plagiarism by using Turnitin software.
  4. The manuscript in which the plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of the plagiarism. A manuscript with less than 19% similarity index can be accepted for publication.
  5. If the manuscript has plagiarism < 15%, the manuscript will be given an ID and the manuscript is sent to review process.
  6. If the manuscript has plagiarism 15-30%, the manuscript will be given an ID and the manuscript is sent back to author for content revision.
  7. If the plagiarism is detected more than 30%, it is found that the authors are very unlikely to revise the manuscript and submit the revised version. However, authors are welcome to do the required revisions and submit the manuscript as a new submission.

In the case of suspected plagiarism in a published article:

  1. A specific process is followed to manage a case of plagiarism. The JIMP follows the guidelines contained in the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).
  2. The person who advised us of the situation is informed about the process to be followed.
  3. The articles are compared to check the degree of copying.
  4. All Editors of the JIMP are informed and asked for their comments.
  5. The corresponding author of the article in question is contacted with documentary evidence of the case of plagiarism and is asked for a response.
  6. If the authors are found guilty of plagiarism
    1. The editor of the journal in which the original plagiarized article was published, and the authors of the plagiarized article are informed.
    2. The JIMP publishes an official retraction of the paper.
    3. The online version of the JIMParticle is withdrawn from the OJS host site, and
    4. The JIMP will not publish any article by any of the authors concerned for a period of 5 years

Review Policy

JIMP  follows a double-blind peer-review process. Where the reviewers are not shared any details of the authors such as their names or affiliations and review reports are also shared anonymously with authors.

The virtue of a double-blind peer-review system is that it ensures that manuscripts evaluation is purely based on the quality of the content. It enables reviewers to assess the manuscripts in an unbiased manner and let them look if the content is original, valid, and has some significance.

Generally, the manuscripts are scientifically reviewed by at least two experts. They assess if the submitted article is sound, comprehensive, and have no replication of other published works. If reviewers recommend the manuscript as suitable for publication in review reports editorial team reaches a final decision.

Ethics and Malpractice Policy

Ethical Policy

Journal of Information Management and Practices follows rigorous ethical standards for publishing articles. JIMP ethics and malpractice statement is conceptualized on Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Author (s) are solely responsible for the originality and reliability of the research outcomes and must comply following rules.

  • Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work.
  • The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.
  • Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
  • Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.
  • Data and findings of the research shall be provided only if they are real and reliable.
  • Authors should ensure that they have written and submit only entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited.
  • Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited.
  • Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
  • The contribution of other works shall be acknowledged and referred appropriately. Data sources and supporting evidence must be cited accurately in the text and references section.
  • Findings of highlighted research issue must be original.
  • Any manuscript shall not be submitted if it is already published or sent for publication in another journal. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.
  • Only persons should be listed as authors who are able to take public responsibility for the content and
  1. Made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and
  2. Drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and
  • Have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication
  • All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author, but should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section after their written permission to be named as been obtained.
  • The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.
  • Information obtained privately (from the conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source.
  • Authors should not use information obtained in the course of providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.
  • There shall be no violation of copyrights in the text, tables, graphics and formulas of the manuscript.
  • Authors are obliged to participate in the peer-review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, patient consents and copyright permissions.
  • JIMP strictly condemns breach of research ethics and copyright infringement in submitted articles. Authors are responsible for any kind of manifestations of plagiarism in their manuscript and the editorial board takes rigorous steps to prevent such violations.
  • The authors are accountable for the accuracy of provided information i.e., facts, personal, geographical, companies, organizational and institutional names etc.
  • The opinions expressed in research articles are by the authors that do not necessarily suggest the viewpoints of the editorial board. Therefore, no obligation is imposed on the JIMP editorial team in this context.

Handling of Misconduct and Complaints

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work. The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

Conflict of Interest Policy

The editorial committee is responsible to avoid any conflict of interest in the research publications that may affect the interpretation of results and assessment by the reviewers. In case of any potential conflict of interest, the author (s) shall provide a clear statement about bearing the responsibility. They shall disclose the possible conflicts of interests that can influence the decision about the publication of the manuscript.

Manuscripts will not be considered by the editorial board for review if competing interests arise from the collaborative or competitive connections of any of the author (s) or relevant institutions. It is desired that all contributors shall disclose conflicting interests while submitting the manuscript. If there is any such revelation after the research is published, corrections or expression of interest and retraction will be issued where needed.