Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Regional and Business Studies

Regional and Business Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal committed to the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal follows the core principles and best practice guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/core-practices

All parties involved in the publication process—editors, authors, and reviewers—are expected to adhere to these ethical standards. Any form of academic misconduct is unacceptable.

All submitted manuscripts are subject to plagiarism screening. Manuscripts with significant similarity or evidence of plagiarism will be rejected.

1. Duties of Editors

Editors and the Editorial Board are responsible for:

  • Making publication decisions based on the manuscript’s scientific merit, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope
  • Ensuring a fair, unbiased, and double-blind peer-review process
  • Guaranteeing confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and reviewer identities
  • Preventing conflicts of interest in editorial decision-making
  • Ensuring that editorial decisions are not influenced by the authors’ race, gender, nationality, religion, political beliefs, or institutional affiliation
  • Assigning manuscripts to qualified reviewers with appropriate expertise
  • Ensuring that unpublished material from submitted manuscripts is not used in editors’ own research without written permission from the authors
  • Taking appropriate action in cases of ethical complaints, in line with COPE guidelines
  • Issuing corrections, retractions, clarifications, or apologies when necessary

2. Duties of Authors

Authors are expected to ensure that:

  • Manuscripts are original, accurate, and based on genuine research
  • All sources are properly cited and plagiarism in any form is strictly avoided
  • The manuscript is not under consideration or published elsewhere
  • All listed authors have made significant contributions to the research and approve the final version of the manuscript
  • The corresponding author confirms full agreement among co-authors regarding submission and publication
  • Proper acknowledgement is given to contributors who do not meet authorship criteria
  • All permissions for third-party materials (e.g., images, figures, tables) have been obtained
  • Conflicts of interest and funding sources are fully disclosed
  • Authors comply with self-archiving policies where applicable
  • Any significant errors discovered after publication are reported promptly to the journal for correction or retraction

Plagiarism, data falsification, duplicate submission, and other forms of misconduct are considered unethical and will result in rejection or retraction.

3. Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

  • Assist editors in editorial decision-making and support authors in improving manuscripts
  • Decline review invitations if they lack expertise or cannot complete the review in time
  • Maintain confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts
  • Not use privileged information obtained through peer review for personal advantage
  • Provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based assessments
  • Report any suspected ethical issues, including plagiarism or duplicate publication
  • Evaluate manuscripts solely on academic merit, without bias related to authors’ personal or institutional characteristics
  • Declare any conflicts of interest and recuse themselves when necessary

4. Conflicts of Interest

All participants in the publication process must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence the research, review process, or editorial decisions.

5. Ethical Oversight

The journal adheres to COPE procedures in cases of suspected misconduct, including but not limited to:

  • plagiarism
  • duplicate publication
  • data fabrication or falsification
  • unethical authorship practices

Where necessary, the journal may issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions.

6. Data Integrity and Transparency

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research data are presented honestly and accurately. Fabrication, manipulation, or selective reporting of data is unacceptable.

7. Open Access and Licensing Awareness

Authors acknowledge that accepted manuscripts are published under the journal’s open-access license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), allowing sharing with attribution, but prohibiting commercial use and derivative works.

8. Final Statement

By submitting a manuscript to Regional and Business Studies, all parties confirm their commitment to ethical publishing practices consistent with COPE standards.