Publication Ethics

Ethics Statement

IAFOR aims to ensure that best practice and ethical standards are maintained by journal editors, authors and reviewers. IAFOR editors and reviewers are required to assess manuscripts fairly and maintain confidentiality. Authors must ensure that research submitted to IAFOR journals is their own original work and is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.


Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film fully recognises that the publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. The journal is committed to the high ethical standards set forth in the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and aims to adhere to COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines. All editors on the journal and authors are provided with a copy of the COPE guidelines for authors and editors. Peer reviewers are also afforded a copy of COPE’s guidelines for peer reviewers.

Furthermore, the IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film is committed to publishing only original content, i.e., material that has neither been published elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere. The journal expects that its authors, editors and peer reviewers take great care in safeguarding against the following ethical violations.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication concerns the making up of research data and results, and recording or reporting them. Data falsification means the manipulating research materials, images, data, equipment, or processes. Falsification includes changing or omitting data or results in such a way that the research is not accurately represented.

Plagiarism

Manuscript submissions are checked with anti-plagiarism software for exact or near-exact matches in the public domain to satisfy the Editor that the submitted manuscript has not been plagiarised. However, when authors submit their manuscripts for consideration in the Journal, they declare that their work is not plagiarised. While the Editor makes reasonable efforts to determine the academic integrity of papers published in the Journal, ultimate responsibility for the originality of submitted manuscripts thus lies with the author.

Plagiarism takes place when one author deliberately uses another’s work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. Authors must always remember that crediting the work of others (including your advisor’s or your own previous work) is paramount. Authors should always place their work in the context of the advancement of the field, and acknowledge the findings of others on which you have built your research.

Duplicate Submission

Simultaneous submission occurs when a person submits a paper to different publications at the same time, which can result in more than one journal publishing that particular paper. Duplicate/multiple publication occurs when two or more papers, without full cross-reference, share essentially the same hypotheses, data, discussion points, and/or conclusions. This can occur in varying degrees: literal duplication, partial but substantial duplication, or even duplication by paraphrasing.

Conflict of Interest

When an investigator, author, editor, or reviewer has a financial/personal interest or belief that could affect his/her objectivity, or inappropriately influence his/her actions, a potential conflict of interest exists. Such relationships are also known as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties.

Improper Author Contribution

Naming authors on a scientific paper ensures that the appropriate individuals get credit, and are accountable, for the research. Deliberately misrepresenting a scientist's relationship to their work is considered to be a form of misconduct that undermines confidence in the reporting of the work itself.

Salami Slicing

Salami slicing involves breaking up or segmenting a large study into two or more publications. These segments are referred to as “slices” of a study. As a general rule, as long as the “slices” of a broken up study share the same hypotheses, population and methods, this is not acceptable practice. The same "slice" should never be published more than once. For more information on these policies please refer to the Elsevier Ethics Toolkit.