Procedures for Handling Publication Ethics Issues

Complaints and Appeals Policy

Jurnal Terapi Wicara (JAWARA) is committed to handling every complaint and appeal fairly, openly, promptly, and professionally. We follow the Core Practices and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authors, reviewers, readers, and others may submit a complaint about the editorial process, the conduct of editors or reviewers, the journal’s policies, or published content. Authors may submit an appeal against an editorial decision.

Procedure

  1. Send your complaint or appeal in writing to jurnalterapiwicara@gmail.com. Please include your name, the title of the manuscript, a description of the problem, and any supporting evidence.
  2. The editorial office will confirm that it has received your message within 10 working days.
  3. A person who was not involved in the decision or event in question will review the complaint.
  4. We will consider an appeal against an editorial decision only if the author can give a clear reason for it. Examples include a factual error in the review process, a detailed response to the reviewers’ comments, or evidence of a conflict of interest or bias. The journal may ask additional reviewers for their opinion.
  5. You will receive a written decision with the reasons within 30 working days. If we need more time, the editorial office will explain why.
  6. The decision made after an appeal is final. If your complaint is still not resolved, you may take it to the publisher or the institution that manages the journal, or ask COPE for advice.

We keep the identity of the person who submits a complaint or appeal confidential as far as possible. Submitting a complaint or appeal will not affect how the journal treats other manuscripts from the same person.

Handling Allegations of Research Misconduct

We follow the relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts for every allegation we receive, whether it concerns a manuscript under review or a published article:

  1. Receipt and initial assessment. You can send an allegation, with enough evidence, to jurnalterapiwicara@gmail.com. The Editor-in-Chief decides whether the allegation has enough grounds to be followed up. We protect people who report concerns in good faith. We do not tolerate accusations that are made on purpose without any basis.
  2. We handle the process confidentially. During the investigation, we do not discuss it with people who are not involved.
  3. The accused author has the chance to explain and to respond with their own evidence. The journal may use a similarity check, raw data, or expert opinion.
  4. Involving institutions. When needed, the journal asks the author’s institution or funder to investigate further, because the journal has no authority to impose ethical sanctions on individuals.
  5. Follow-up action. Depending on the outcome, the journal may reject the manuscript, ask for a correction, publish an expression of concern, or issue a correction or retraction in line with the COPE retraction guidelines. We may also inform the author’s institution. The author may be restricted from submitting manuscripts, or have a submission cancelled.
  6. Record keeping. We document the whole process carefully.

The journal applies this procedure consistently, regardless of the reputation, position, or background of the people involved.

Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest does not automatically mean that a rule has been broken, but it must be disclosed.

  1. Authors must include a statement about conflicts of interest and sources of funding in their manuscript. If there are none, they should write: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
  2. Reviewers must tell the editor about any conflict of interest before they accept a review. They must decline the review if their objectivity may be affected, for example because of a relationship with the author, competition, or a financial interest.
  3. Editors and editorial board members must step away from handling any manuscript that involves themselves, their colleagues, members of the same institution, or people with whom they have a personal or financial relationship. Another editor with no conflict will handle that manuscript. Manuscripts from editors or editorial board members are processed independently and reviewed to the same standard as all others.

If a conflict of interest is found after publication, we will deal with it through a correction or, if necessary, another action in line with COPE guidance. The journal’s sources of income, including author fees and sponsorship, do not influence editorial decisions.

Post-Publication Discussions

The journal encourages scientific discussion of published articles. Readers may send comments, responses, or criticism by letter to the editor or as a written comment to jurnalterapiwicara@gmail.com.

Guidelines

  1. Comments must be scientific, polite, and relevant to the article being discussed. They must include the sender’s name and affiliation.
  2. Suitable comments will be sent to the authors of the article so that they can respond.
  3. The editorial office may reject comments that attack individuals, are defamatory, are not relevant, or are promotional.
  4. Concerns about the validity of data, serious errors, or suspected ethical violations that arise from a discussion will be handled through the procedure for allegations of research misconduct described above.
  5. If a discussion reveals an error, the journal will publish a correction (erratum or corrigendum), an expression of concern, or a retraction, in line with COPE guidance. A retracted article will remain available with a clear notice on the HTML or PDF version.

These policies are adapted from the Core Practices and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and from the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, which are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. We have made changes to suit Jurnal Terapi Wicara. COPE and the other organizations do not endorse or approve this adaptation.