Publication Ethics

The International Journal of Marketing and Business Management (IJMBM) believes that its publication is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. The policy ensures that all stakeholders - authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher - adhere to the best practices of scholarly publishing. This Publication Ethics policy serves the purpose of clarifying the ethical responsibilities of all the stakeholders to ensure the content of the journal is original, transparent and to academic integrity principles.

Responsibilities of Authors

Articles by authors to be published in IJMBM must be original work, free of plagiarism, and not now or previously published elsewhere in whole or in part. Authentic account of the research done by the authors must be represented in the article, and source, data and ideas upon which the work is based must be given proper attribution. Authorship should reflect substantial contributions to the study's conception, design, execution, or interpretation. Authors should only include those involved, except in instances where they make substantial contributions to the design and implementation or if they give substantial final approval of the work.

Authors must ensure that all data presented in the article is original and free from fabrication, falsification, or manipulation. If discrepancies or errors are found during the review or publication process they should be reported and corrected as soon as possible. Finally, authors should also disclose any potential conflict of interest, e.g., financial, personal or professional relations that could be perceived as influencing the research or the interpretation of the research. They should also prove that if the article in question deals with research made on Human and/or Animal subjects, the subject had been approved by the institution and followed the ethical rules for performing that research.

It is unethical and will lead to the rejection of the article if duplicate submissions are made by authors to submit a same article to multiple journals at the same time. After an article has been accepted to publication, the authors are not allowed to try to publish the same research anywhere else, unless there have been major new information or changes. In addition, Authors ensure that the property permits are obtained for all third party content, including text, tables, or images, used in their submission.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

The peer review process depends on reviewers who bring necessary expertise, critical feedback and constructive suggestion to authors. They must read articles impartially and confidentially based only on the quality of the research, methodology, and relevance of content to the readership who subscribe to the journal. It is considered unethical for them to disclose the information in the article for any gain whatsoever and share the same with others without the permission of the authors.

Articles only should be reviewed by reviewers who are experts on the topic. Reviews may become delayed or lack constructive, specific feedback. This should be positive feedback meant to improve the article, not personal attacks and the kind that defames. Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest; failure to do so may result in disciplinary action. Reviewers also need to alert the editorial team for ethical misconduct, for example plagiarism, authorship dispute or data manipulation.

Responsibilities of Editors

The editor is central to the process of the literature’s integrity in the peer review and publication process. The review process must be fairly managed, impartially, and transparently by editors. Academic quality, relevance, and contribution to the field of the articles should be evaluated without regard to the gender, nationality, ethnicity or institutional affiliation of the authors. Editors must ensure that the peer review process is rigorous, involving qualified and unbiased reviewers.

Editors are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all articles submitted to the journal, protected from disclosure to third parties and from cooptation for their own or any other journal’s purposes. But they will also have to disclose any possible conflicts of interest, and decide on publication of a finding only for reasons of academic merit. The decision of editors should be made within a very short period of time and communicated with the authors in clear terms, with reasons for the acceptance, revision and rejection of the article.

Editors have to investigate cases of ethical misconduct and take the necessary action. This may include contacting the authors for clarification, consulting readers or when necessary conducting interviews with external experts. If issues such as errors, data manipulation, or plagiarism are identified post-publication, editors must take corrective actions, including issuing corrections, retractions, or clarifications.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher guarantees that the journal will comply with such ethical standards and undertake to guarantee integrity of the whole publication procedure. The editorial team works together with the publisher, so that best practices in peer review, publication ethics and transparency are used. It is also charged with making sure that published content can be accessed free of charge by anyone in the journal’s open access platform so that the work can be made available to the world.

The publisher ensures that the submission, review, and publication processes are ethical, transparent, and streamlined for authors. In case of ethical or misconduct, the publisher helps the editorial team out by way of resolving, if problem arises according to established ethical guidelines, for instance, those provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This means actions like retracting or correcting articles if needed, and taking authorship disputes or allegations of misconduct seriously by investigating them properly.

But the publisher also has an important role in making sure your published content lasts long into the future, by archiving an article system to keep these articles available even after they're printed. Additionally, the publisher is responsible for maintaining records of all correspondence, decisions, and actions related to article publication, and that the entire process is kept documented for transparency and accountability.

Handling Ethical Violations

If sanctioned, IJMBM does so on the basis of ethical protocol and without compulsion. The editorial team expects any party involved in the publication process who becomes aware of a potential ethical issue should report this to the editorial team. If the editor suspects misconduct, or similar, the editor will then launch an inquiry in a fair and impartial manner, using COPE guidelines and based on the seriousness of the case.

If plagiarism is suspected, authors must provide evidence of originality, such as drafts or datasets, and the article may undergo plagiarism detection. The editor may ask the author to supply data if suspicious data fabrication or manipulation is suspected. A published article may be retracted, or the paper may be rejected, if the issue is not resolved or found to be important.

The editor will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure publication of the Information without any further delay whether or not the Conflict of Interest would be regarded as one that would have justified withdrawal of the Article from publication, had it been identified prior to publication. The journal adheres to COPE and other international guidelines to address ethical violations appropriately.

International Journal of Marketing and Business Management is committed to an ethical publishing environment. Journal adheres to highest standards of publication ethics to maintain integrity transparency and fairness of all research publication. By adhering to strict ethical standards, the journal ensures transparency, integrity, and credibility in advancing knowledge in marketing and business management.