Publication Ethics & Conflict of Interest Policy

The Journal of Indonesian Comparative of Syari'ah Law (JICL) is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, publication ethics, transparency, and accountability. This policy establishes the ethical responsibilities of authors, editors, reviewers, and the journal publisher throughout the scholarly publishing process.

JICL adheres to the principles of responsible scholarly publishing and refers to the relevant guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publication process are expected to act honestly, fairly, and professionally to preserve the integrity and reliability of the scholarly record.

1. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to JICL must ensure that their work meets the journal's standards of originality, academic integrity, and responsible research.

Authors are responsible for the following:

Originality and proper attribution. Submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly work. Ideas, arguments, data, and text derived from other sources must be appropriately acknowledged through accurate citation and referencing.
Accuracy and integrity. Authors must ensure that their research findings, arguments, sources, and supporting evidence are presented accurately. Fabrication, falsification, and deliberate misrepresentation of research materials are prohibited.
Exclusive submission. A manuscript submitted to JICL must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time. Authors must disclose any relevant overlap with previously published or concurrently disseminated work.
Authorship and contributions. All listed authors must have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work, participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approved the final version, and accepted responsibility for their contributions. Individuals who do not meet the applicable authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately rather than listed as authors.
Disclosure of conflicts of interest. Authors must disclose financial, professional, personal, or institutional relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their research or its interpretation.
Ethical compliance. Where applicable, authors must comply with relevant research ethics requirements, including ethical approval, informed consent, privacy protection, and the responsible treatment of human participants or sensitive information.
Corrections after publication. Authors must promptly inform the editor if they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work and cooperate in correcting the scholarly record.

2. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring that editorial decisions are fair, independent, timely, and based on scholarly merit.

Editors must:

Evaluate manuscripts according to their academic quality, relevance to the journal's scope, originality, and compliance with publication ethics, without discrimination based on the author's identity, institutional affiliation, nationality, religion, gender, or other irrelevant personal characteristics.
Maintain editorial independence and make decisions based on scholarly considerations rather than commercial, personal, or institutional interests.
Ensure that submitted manuscripts are handled confidentially and that information obtained during editorial assessment is not used for personal advantage.
Select qualified reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the manuscript and who can provide objective and constructive assessments.
Manage conflicts of interest by disclosing relevant relationships and arranging alternative editorial handling when necessary.
Take credible allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously and handle them in accordance with the journal's applicable policies and relevant COPE guidance.
Maintain appropriate records of editorial decisions, peer-review reports, and investigations, while respecting confidentiality and applicable data-protection requirements.
Publish corrections, Expressions of Concern, or retractions when warranted to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers contribute to the quality and integrity of scholarly publication by providing objective, confidential, and evidence-based assessments.

Reviewers must:

Accept review assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise and can complete the assessment within the agreed timeframe.
Inform the editor promptly if a conflict of interest exists or if they cannot provide an impartial assessment.
Treat manuscripts and related information as confidential and refrain from sharing, reproducing, or using unpublished material without appropriate authorization.
Assess manuscripts objectively and provide clear, constructive, and academically justified comments.
Identify relevant published work that has not been properly acknowledged and inform the editor of substantial similarities or possible ethical concerns.
Avoid personal criticism, discriminatory remarks, or requests for unnecessary citations intended to increase the reviewer's or another party's citation count.
Refrain from contacting authors directly about confidential aspects of the review unless authorized by the editor.

4. Peer-Review Integrity

JICL applies a peer-review process intended to ensure that submitted manuscripts are evaluated fairly and independently by qualified reviewers.

The identities of authors and reviewers are handled in accordance with the journal's declared peer-review model. Participants must respect the confidentiality of the review process and must not manipulate reviewer identities, review reports, editorial recommendations, or other aspects of the evaluation process.

Editors are responsible for taking reasonable steps to identify and address suspected peer-review manipulation or other irregularities that could compromise editorial decisions.

Further information on the journal's review model and procedures is provided in its Peer Review Policy.

5. Publication Misconduct

JICL does not tolerate practices that compromise academic integrity or the reliability of scholarly publication. Such practices may include plagiarism, inappropriate self-reuse, duplicate or redundant publication, fabrication or falsification of data, citation manipulation, authorship misconduct, peer-review manipulation, and other serious violations of publication ethics.

All parties involved in the publication process are expected to report credible concerns about potential misconduct to the editorial office.

An allegation of misconduct does not, by itself, establish that a violation has occurred. The journal will assess allegations fairly and determine appropriate editorial action based on the available evidence and relevant responses.

Detailed procedures for reporting, assessing, investigating, and responding to suspected misconduct are set out in the journal's Allegations of Research Misconduct Policy.

6. Complaints and Appeals

JICL provides a mechanism for authors and other relevant parties to submit complaints concerning editorial decisions, peer-review procedures, or alleged breaches of publication ethics.

Complaints and appeals must be submitted to the editorial office with a clear explanation of the concern and, where available, supporting information.

The editor or an appropriately designated editorial representative will assess the complaint impartially. Where the complaint concerns the editor's own conduct or presents a conflict of interest, an independent editor or another appropriate representative should handle the matter.

The journal will consider appeals on their merits and will communicate its decision within a reasonable period, taking into account the nature and complexity of the case.

7. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

JICL is committed to preserving the accuracy and reliability of its published scholarly record.

When significant errors or concerns are identified after publication, the journal will assess their nature and impact and take appropriate action in accordance with relevant publication ethics guidance.

Possible actions include:

Correction: issued when a published article contains an error that requires formal correction but does not warrant retraction.
Expression of Concern: issued when serious questions about an article's reliability or ethical compliance remain unresolved and a public notice is warranted.
Retraction: issued when the applicable criteria for retraction are met, including circumstances in which the findings or conclusions are unreliable or serious publication misconduct has been established.

Editorial actions will be based on the available evidence and the need to protect the scholarly record, rather than solely on whether an author admits wrongdoing.

Correction, Expression of Concern, and retraction notices will clearly explain the reasons for the action and will be linked to the original article, as appropriate. The original publication record will be maintained transparently in accordance with the journal's procedures.

8. Research Ethics and Legal Compliance

Authors must comply with applicable legal requirements and recognized ethical standards relevant to their research methods and subject matter.

Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, confidential records, or other ethically sensitive materials must comply with the relevant requirements for ethical approval, consent, privacy, and data protection, where applicable.

For legal scholarship and normative legal research, authors must accurately identify and cite legislation, judicial decisions, official documents, and scholarly sources. Authors must not misrepresent legal authorities, fabricate references, or knowingly distort the meaning of primary or secondary sources.

Where research involves human participants or empirical data, authors should provide information about relevant ethical approval or explain the applicable ethical basis when formal approval is not required.

9. Publisher Responsibilities

The publisher supports the editorial independence of JICL and provides the administrative and technical conditions necessary for responsible scholarly publishing.

The publisher and editorial team will cooperate, where appropriate, in addressing credible ethical concerns, preserving publication records, correcting the scholarly record, and maintaining transparent publication policies.

Commercial, financial, or institutional considerations must not improperly influence editorial decisions concerning the acceptance, rejection, correction, or retraction of manuscripts.

10. Policy Implementation and Review

This Publication Ethics policy applies to authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process of JICL.

The journal may revise this policy periodically to reflect developments in publication ethics, applicable legal requirements, and relevant guidance from COPE and other recognized scholarly publishing organizations.

By submitting a manuscript to JICL, authors acknowledge their responsibility to comply with the journal's publication ethics requirements and related editorial policies.

Conflict of Interest Policy

The Journal of Indonesian Comparative of Syari'ah Law (JICL) is committed to maintaining the integrity, independence, and fairness of its editorial and peer-review processes. All parties involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and the publisher, are expected to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their scholarly judgment or editorial decisions.

1. Definition of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest arises when personal, financial, professional, institutional, academic, or other interests could compromise, or reasonably be perceived to compromise, the objectivity and independence of research, peer review, or editorial decision-making.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct. However, failure to disclose a relevant conflict may undermine the transparency and credibility of the publication process.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must disclose any relevant conflicts of interest when submitting a manuscript. Such conflicts may include financial relationships, research funding, employment, consultancy, personal relationships, institutional interests, or other circumstances that could influence the research or its interpretation.

Authors must also disclose relevant sources of funding and explain the role of funders in the research, where applicable.

If no relevant conflict of interest exists, authors should provide a statement declaring that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the conflict-of-interest declarations of all co-authors are accurately communicated to the editorial office.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. These may include close personal relationships, recent collaborations, financial interests, institutional relationships, direct academic competition, or other circumstances that could affect impartiality.

Reviewers who cannot provide an objective and independent assessment must decline the invitation or promptly inform the editor so that alternative arrangements can be made.

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished information for personal, professional, or financial advantage.

4. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and must not participate in editorial decisions where their impartiality may reasonably be questioned.

When a conflict arises, the editor concerned must withdraw from handling the manuscript, and the journal should assign the manuscript to an independent editor who can make decisions without undue influence.

Editors must ensure that manuscripts authored by themselves, close collaborators, or individuals with whom they have relevant personal or institutional relationships are handled through an independent editorial process.

5. Disclosure and Management Procedures

Relevant conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the editorial office as early as possible, preferably at the time of submission or before a reviewer accepts an assignment.

The editorial team will assess the disclosed information and determine appropriate measures, which may include reassignment of editorial responsibilities, appointment of an alternative reviewer, additional disclosure in the published article, or other measures necessary to protect the integrity of the publication process.

Disclosure does not automatically result in rejection. Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, relevance, and compliance with the journal's policies.

6. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If a potential undisclosed conflict of interest is identified, the journal may request an explanation from the relevant party and assess the circumstances fairly.

Depending on the findings and the stage of publication, appropriate action may include reassignment of the manuscript, rejection, publication of a correction or disclosure statement, or other editorial measures consistent with the seriousness of the matter and the journal's publication ethics policies.

7. Commitment to Editorial Independence

JICL is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal's scope, research integrity, and the results of the peer-review process. Conflicts of interest must be disclosed and managed transparently so that they do not improperly influence editorial decisions.

This policy should be read together with JICL's Publication Ethics, Peer Review Process, and Allegations of Research Misconduct policies.