Ethical Guidelines

At Forefront in Sociology & Political Sciences, we are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in the publication of scholarly articles. As an open-access journal, we uphold the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and fairness in all aspects of the publication process. These ethical guidelines apply to authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers involved in the journal.

1. Research Integrity and Ethics

Honesty in Research: Authors are expected to present original, truthful, and accurate data. Fabricating or falsifying data is strictly prohibited.
Plagiarism: Any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, is unacceptable. Authors must properly cite the work of others and acknowledge any sources of influence. All submitted manuscripts will undergo plagiarism detection checks.
Ethical Treatment of Research Participants: Authors must adhere to ethical guidelines for research involving human subjects. This includes obtaining informed consent from participants and ensuring their confidentiality. Studies involving vulnerable populations should be treated with the highest level of ethical care.
Data Availability: Authors are encouraged to share data and supplementary materials that support their findings. If data is not shared, authors should provide valid reasons for withholding data.
Animal Research: Research involving animals must comply with relevant laws and guidelines, ensuring humane treatment and care.

2. Authors' Responsibilities

Authorship: All individuals listed as authors should have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, or writing of the manuscript. All contributors who meet the authorship criteria should be included as authors, and no one who has not contributed substantially should be listed.
Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that could be perceived to influence their work. This includes funding sources, affiliations, or any other relationships that might influence the manuscript.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Authors must properly acknowledge all funding sources, collaborators, and sources of data, and should ensure that citations and references are complete and accurate.
Ethical Approval: Authors must include ethical approval for research that involves human or animal subjects. Manuscripts that do not meet ethical approval standards will not be accepted for publication.
Data Privacy: Authors must ensure the confidentiality of sensitive data. If research involves confidential or proprietary information, authors must secure the necessary permissions before sharing.
Retractions: In the case of errors or misconduct discovered after publication, authors are expected to cooperate with the editorial team to correct or retract their work if necessary.

3. Reviewers' Responsibilities

Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents. They should not share, discuss, or use the information contained in a manuscript for personal or professional gain prior to publication.
Objectivity: Reviews should be based on the merit of the manuscript. Reviewers should evaluate the manuscript based on its scientific rigor, methodology, relevance, and contribution to the field, without bias toward the authors.
Constructive Feedback: Reviewers should provide constructive, clear, and helpful feedback that will assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Personal criticism of authors should be avoided.
Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that may affect their ability to provide a fair and unbiased review. If a conflict of interest is identified, the reviewer should recuse themselves from the review process.
Timeliness: Reviewers are expected to complete their reviews in a timely manner to ensure the efficient processing of manuscripts.

4. Editors' Responsibilities

Fairness and Impartiality: Editors should make decisions based solely on the quality, significance, and relevance of the manuscript to the journal's scope. Personal or professional relationships should not influence editorial decisions.
Confidentiality: Editors must treat all submissions as confidential and should not disclose any details of the manuscript or review process to anyone outside the editorial team.
Conflict of Interest: Editors should disclose any conflicts of interest they have regarding the authors or their work. If such conflicts exist, the editor should recuse themselves from making the final decision on the manuscript.
Maintaining the Review Process: Editors should ensure that each manuscript is reviewed in a timely manner by appropriate experts in the field. The editorial team must facilitate a fair and transparent peer review process.
Publication Ethics: Editors must ensure that no unethical practices (e.g., falsification of peer review, plagiarism) occur within the review or publication process. If any misconduct is detected after publication, editors should take appropriate action to correct or retract the work.
Publication Decision: The final decision to accept or reject a manuscript is made by the editor, based on the reviews and the overall quality of the work. Editors should also provide clear and justifiable reasoning for their decisions.

5. Publisher's Responsibilities

Publication Integrity: As the publisher, we ensure that all editorial processes are carried out ethically and in accordance with the highest standards of academic publishing.
Open Access: We support open access publishing, ensuring that all published articles are freely available to the public. We aim to enhance the dissemination and visibility of research findings to a global audience.
Compliance with Standards: The publisher adheres to industry standards, such as the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines, and ensures that all policies and procedures are consistent with the best practices in academic publishing.
Transparency: We are committed to providing full transparency in the review and publication process. We will provide authors with clear guidance on ethical guidelines, publication procedures, and expectations throughout the process.
Plagiarism Detection: The publisher implements plagiarism detection software to prevent academic misconduct and ensure that all published work is original.

6. Handling of Ethical Misconduct

In cases where ethical misconduct is suspected or detected, the editorial team will take the following steps:

Investigation: The editorial team will investigate any allegations of research misconduct, plagiarism, or ethical violations. This includes interviewing the authors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process.
Retraction: If a published article is found to contain unethical content, the article will be retracted. A formal statement of retraction will be published, clearly explaining the reasons for the retraction.
Correction: If errors are found in a published article (e.g., data errors, citation errors), a correction will be issued, and the article will be updated to reflect the changes.
Appeals Process: If an author disagrees with the decision of the editorial team, they have the right to appeal. The appeal will be reviewed by a senior member of the editorial board who will provide a final decision on the matter.