Journal of Sustainability Science and Management (JSSM) is dedicated to following best ethical practices in publishing. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the Editorial Board. Any kind of unethical behaviour is not acceptable, and the Editorial Board does not tolerate plagiarism and abuse of AI tools in any form. Authors submitting articles to JSSM affirm that manuscript contents are original. JSSM strictly adhere to the guidelines in Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) codes of conduct.
To ensure publication ethics, authors are to:
1. Affirm Exclusivity
Manuscript must be ensured of its exclusivity, meaning that it is not published, or considered for publication, elsewhere. Authors are responsible to ensure that the manuscript is free from plagiarism, duplication and redundancy. Work involving recycled text and translation need to be ensured for exclusivity, by adhering to the requirements of JSSM.
2. Declare Authors’ Contribution
All authors must meet the authorship criteria with clear contributions to the manuscript. Those who do not meet the authorship criteria, but need to be acknowledged, can be disclosed in the Acknowledgement section. Details on the authors who have contributed to the work and the capacity of work that justify their contributions must be disclosed in the manuscript (refer to the template provided).
3. Declare Funding
Any sources of financial support for the research and manuscript preparation need to be disclosed. The official names of funding agencies should be used, and grant numbers should be provided where applicable. If applicable, authors should also describe the role of the funder(s) beyond providing financial support—for example, whether the funder was involved in research process, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit the article. Details of funding must be disclosed as Acknowledgement in the manuscript (refer to the template provided).
4. Declare Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest, whether actual or perceived, can affect professional judgement in publications, such as on the ability to present objectively. It could arise from various interests such as financial, personal, or political. Nevertheless, a clear declaration of any conflicts of interest can assist authors with conflict of interest to publish and encourage them to disclose the potential interests. Details on conflict of interest must be disclosed in the manuscript (refer to the template provided).
5. Adhere to Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Research
Authors must adhere to the guidelines applicable for the Ethical Conduct of Human and Animal Research in the research process and provides the details in the manuscript. Ethical Conduct Statements (including when no such requirement is needed) must be disclosed in the manuscript (refer to the template provided).
6. Ethical Conduct Statements
Studies involving human participants, data, or tissue must comply with international ethical standards. All clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible trials registry, in line with the World Health Organization and the Declaration of Helsinki. The trial registration number must be reported in the methodology section of the manuscript. Randomised controlled trials must comply with CONSORT guidelines, and submissions must include a completed checklist and flow diagram. Manuscripts should contain one or more of the following:
- The name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board with the approval/reference number, or justification if approval was waived;
- Confirmation that informed consent was obtained from all participants;
- Explicit consent for the publication of identifiable data, images, or voices; and
- Additional safeguards applied during the consent process for research involving vulnerable populations (e.g., children, elderly persons, individuals with disabilities, refugees, or minority groups)
7. Conducts involving consent
Consent forms are not submitted but must be retained by the authors and provided upon request. All identifiers must be anonymised, and technical images must exclude identifying features.
8. Ethics with animal research
Animal studies must adhere to the highest ethical standards and comply with relevant national, institutional, and international legislation such as ARRIVE guidelines. Authors must confirm prior approval from an appropriate animal care and use committee (or equivalent) and state the approving authority in the manuscript. Manuscripts should contain one or more of the following:
- The name of the approving ethics committee or institutional animal care and use committee, together with the approval/reference number; or justification if approval was waived.
- Sufficient details of study design, procedures, animal characteristics, and housing/husbandry conditions to ensure transparency, reproducibility, and adherence to ethical best practice.
- Research must follow the principles of the 3Rs: Replacement (seek alternatives to animal use), Reduction (use the fewest animals necessary), and Refinement (minimise discomfort, pain, and distress).
9. Describe usage of AI tools or technologies
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools or technologies need to be used responsibly. It can be used as a companion to the research process, rather than a replacement, with full responsibility for the accuracy of all content. Any use of AI is to be made in a manner that aligns with privacy, confidentiality, and compliance obligations, such as on the ownership of the content. Details on the use of AI in the research can be disclosed in the manuscript (refer to the template provided).
Authorship Restrictions: Large Language Models (LLMs), AI, or AI-assisted tools (e.g., ChatGPT) do not meet the requirements for authorship and cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.
Disclosure of AI Use: If generative AI tools were used in writing, drafting, generating code, or processing data, authors must explicitly state this in the “Materials and Methods” section or an “AI Disclosure Statement.” Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and ethical compliance of all content generated or modified by AI.
10. Avoid bias
Manuscript must be ensured to be free from bias, through careful screening made by the authors in its preparation. In terms of bias-free language, manuscript needs to be free from incitation of negative behaviour like hate, vulgarity, extreme language, intentional harm, unrest, discrimination and disapproval. Such mentions and its relevance to gender, age, racial and ethnic background, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic status are to be avoided. In terms of publication bias, which refers to the systematic underrepresentation in the publication, authors are requested to duly rectify the presence of bias which may include one of the following:
- Selection Bias: Authors should refrain being selective. This includes their decision on the direction of their findings, such as in favouring positive results over negative ones.
- Reporting Bias: Authors may be involved with selective reporting based on the perceived impacts or relevance to hot news, which may become obsolete as the matter resolves. Authors intending to submit such work need to be cautious on tones and approach to avoid misleading information.
- Citation Bias: Authors are advised to cite freely and appropriately but must be cautious not to cite with bias. For example, authors should not omit studies with negative findings or those that do not align with their research agenda. This practice ensures clarity where authors are aware about studies that have been carried out. The ability to declare comparable works is a transparent practice that indicate their understanding of the research topic.
11. Reporting errors
The publication process undertakes various stages of error checking, beginning from the plagiarism check to the peer-review process to ensure manuscripts do not contain incomplete, insufficient, misleading or inaccurate reporting. Nonetheless, error reporting is a practice that should be adopted by authors so that the manuscripts are presented in the highest quality possible. Errors could occur in one of the following post-production processes:
- In the production stage, authors are requested to check the galley proof. Authors may also want to update for a minor editorial, especially if doing so would make the manuscript more accurate.
- In post-production, errors which do not invalidate the scientific integrity of the article (e.g., author list errors, minor typographical mistakes in a table) will result in a formally published Correction notice that links directly to the original paper.
- Articles will be retracted if there is clear evidence of unreliable findings (e.g., data fabrication or honest massive error), plagiarism, redundant publication, or unethical research. Retraction notices will be clearly labelled, permanently linked to the original article, and made freely available to readers.
- The journal reserves the right to publish an Expression of Concern if there is an ongoing, inconclusive investigation into an article’s integrity or strong evidence of misconduct that the authors’ institution will not investigate.
As for reporting process of errors, the Authors or readers who identify a significant error should immediately contact the Editor-in-Chief. The editorial board will investigate the claim in accordance with COPE guidelines and determine whether a correction or retraction is warranted.
12. Data Integrity, Availability, and Reproducibility
- Data Transparency: Authors must ensure that data presented in the manuscript are accurate, complete, and unmanipulated.
- Data fabrication: Authors should not falsify, or carry out selective reporting because these are severe breaches of scientific integrity.
- Data Availability: To support research transparency and reproducibility, authors are encouraged (or required where applicable) to provide a Data Availability Statement indicating where and how the raw data supporting the results can be accessed.
