Publication and Research Ethics

Publication Ethics

Pena Dimas follows the principles of ethical scholarly publishing recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher are expected to uphold integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, transparency, fairness, and accountability throughout the submission, review, revision, acceptance, and publication processes.

To emphasize its commitment to publication ethics, Pena Dimas applies the following principles.

I. Authors who submit manuscripts to Pena Dimas declare that the submitted work is original, has not been published previously, and is not being considered for publication by another journal. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all data, statements, citations, references, tables, figures, photographs, and other materials included in the manuscript. Plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, inappropriate authorship, and other forms of academic misconduct are strictly prohibited.

II. All submitted manuscripts are evaluated objectively, fairly, independently, and confidentially. Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process by at least two independent reviewers with expertise relevant to the subject of the manuscript. The identities of the authors and reviewers are concealed from each other throughout the review process. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, clear, and academically justified comments.

III. Editors manage the editorial and peer-review processes independently, impartially, professionally, and confidentially. Editorial decisions are based on the manuscript’s relevance to the focus and scope of Pena Dimas, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, accuracy of evidence, quality of analysis, and contribution to knowledge and practice. Editors may reject a manuscript before external review when it falls outside the journal’s scope, does not comply with the author guidelines, lacks sufficient originality or contribution, contains serious methodological weaknesses, or raises significant ethical concerns. The final decision to accept, request revision, or reject a manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief or the responsible editor after considering the editorial assessment and reviewer recommendations.

Archiving

Pena Dimas is committed to maintaining the long-term availability and preservation of its published content. Published articles and their metadata are stored through the journal’s electronic publishing system and institutional server. Regular backups are conducted to minimize the risk of data loss and to support the restoration of published content when necessary.

Digital Object Identifier

Pena Dimas assigns a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to each published article. The DOI provides permanent identification, supports accurate citation, and helps maintain long-term access to published content.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Pena Dimas and its publisher, the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Islam Malang, are committed to implementing ethical scholarly publishing standards in accordance with relevant COPE principles and guidelines (Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers).

Duties of Editors

Fair Play and Editorial Independence

Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on their academic and ethical merits. Consideration is given to the relevance of the manuscript to the journal’s focus and scope, its originality and contribution, methodological quality, reliability of results, clarity of analysis, accuracy of references, and compliance with applicable ethical standards.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors’ race, gender, religion, nationality, political views, socioeconomic status, institutional affiliation, or other personal characteristics. The publisher respects the editorial independence of Pena Dimas and does not interfere with individual manuscript decisions.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts. Information concerning a manuscript may only be disclosed to the corresponding author, assigned reviewers, prospective reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher when necessary for the proper administration of the editorial process.

Unpublished information contained in submitted manuscripts must not be used for personal research, publication, financial benefit, or other personal purposes without the authors’ written permission.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, competitive, or collaborative relationship that may influence or reasonably be perceived to influence their judgment. An editor must withdraw from handling a manuscript when a conflict of interest exists, and the manuscript must be assigned to another qualified editor.

Publication Decisions

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment are reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. The decision to publish a manuscript is based on its academic quality, relevance, originality, methodological validity, reviewer recommendations, author responses, ethical compliance, and applicable legal requirements concerning copyright, privacy, plagiarism, and defamation.

Editors must not require authors to cite Pena Dimas, the editors’ publications, or other sources unless the requested references are directly relevant and academically necessary for the manuscript.

Handling Ethical Concerns

Editors must investigate credible allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, unethical treatment of participants, manipulated peer review, or other forms of publication misconduct.

When an ethical concern is substantiated, Pena Dimas may reject the manuscript or publish a correction, erratum, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice. Investigations will be conducted fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with relevant COPE guidance.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists editors in making publication decisions and helps authors improve the academic quality of their manuscripts. Reviewers are expected to evaluate the relevance, originality, methodology, accuracy of data, quality of analysis, measurability of outcomes, ethical compliance, relevance of references, and clarity of presentation.

Promptness

An invited reviewer who does not have the appropriate expertise or cannot complete the review within the specified period must promptly inform the editor and decline the invitation.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, copy, distribute, discuss, or use submitted materials for purposes unrelated to the peer-review process.

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, supporting files, reviewer reports, or confidential editorial information to publicly accessible or unsecured artificial intelligence platforms. This confidentiality obligation also applies to reviewers who decline an invitation.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively, professionally, and respectfully. Reviewer comments must be clear, specific, constructive, evidence-based, and relevant to the manuscript. Personal criticism, discriminatory statements, offensive language, or unsupported accusations against authors are not acceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited. They must notify the editor when they identify substantial similarity with another work, possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or irrelevant references, or a mismatch between a statement and the cited source.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must decline a review assignment when a financial, personal, professional, institutional, competitive, or collaborative conflict of interest may affect their objectivity. Information and ideas obtained through peer review must remain confidential and must not be used for personal advantage.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed, the methods used, the participants involved, the activities conducted, the results obtained, and the limitations of the work. The manuscript must contain sufficient information to allow editors, reviewers, and readers to understand and evaluate the reported program or activity.

Fabricated, falsified, manipulated, selectively reported, or knowingly inaccurate information constitutes unethical conduct and is unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors must retain relevant data and documentation supporting their manuscripts. Editors may request raw data, research instruments, attendance records, evaluation results, activity documentation, ethical approval, informed-consent documents, copyright permissions, funding information, or other supporting evidence.

Authors are expected to provide reasonable clarification or supporting documentation when requested by the editorial team, while respecting participant privacy, institutional policies, and applicable legal requirements.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original. The words, ideas, methods, data, figures, tables, photographs, and findings of other parties must be properly acknowledged and cited.

Plagiarism includes presenting another person’s work as one’s own, copying text without attribution, paraphrasing substantial content without citation, translating previously published material without acknowledgement, reusing previously published content without disclosure, and using data or findings produced by others without permission or attribution.

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software. The similarity percentage is used as an initial screening indicator and is not the sole basis for an editorial decision. Editors will also consider the nature, location, and significance of the similarities identified.

Multiple, Duplicate, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Manuscripts describing substantially the same data, activities, analysis, or conclusions must not be published in more than one primary publication.

Authors must disclose any related manuscript, report, conference paper, preprint, or previous publication that may overlap with the submitted work. Secondary publication may only be considered when it is academically justified, transparently disclosed, properly cited, and approved by the editors concerned.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, implementation, data collection, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the manuscript. All listed authors must approve the final version and accept responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work.

Individuals who provide technical assistance, administrative support, documentation, language editing, funding, or general supervision but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately. Guest authorship, honorary authorship, gift authorship, and ghost authorship are prohibited.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate authors are included, no inappropriate authors are listed, the authorship order has been agreed upon, and all authors approve the submission and publication of the manuscript. Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors must be accompanied by a written explanation and written approval from all authors.

Acknowledgement of Sources and Citation Ethics

Authors must cite all sources accurately, consistently, and appropriately. Each citation must directly support the statement to which it is attached.

Authors must not cite sources they have not examined, include irrelevant references merely to increase the number of citations, use fabricated or unverifiable references, deliberately omit important relevant literature, manipulate citations to increase personal or institutional citation counts, or attach citations to statements that are not supported by the cited source.

Information obtained privately through correspondence, discussions, peer review, or other confidential professional activities must not be used without permission.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial or nonfinancial interest that may influence or reasonably be perceived to influence the work. Potential conflicts may include employment, research funding, grants, consultancy, intellectual property, institutional relationships, personal or professional relationships, and other interests relevant to the submitted manuscript.

All sources of financial and institutional support must be acknowledged, including grant numbers where applicable. When no conflict of interest exists, the authors should include a statement declaring that they have no conflict of interest.

Human Participants and Informed Consent

Activities involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional policies, and legal requirements. Ethical approval must be obtained when required by the nature of the activity, the authors’ institution, the funding institution, or applicable regulations.

Authors must obtain informed consent when collecting or publishing personal data, interview responses, survey responses, identifiable quotations, photographs, video recordings, health-related information, or other confidential information.

Consent to participate does not automatically constitute consent to publish identifiable information. When children or vulnerable participants are involved, consent must be obtained from parents, guardians, or legally authorized representatives. Participant assent should also be obtained when appropriate.

Image and Documentation Integrity

Photographs, figures, tables, screenshots, and other visual documentation must accurately represent the reported activities or results. Images must not be manipulated in a manner that changes their meaning or misrepresents the actual activity.

Authors must obtain permission before publishing identifiable photographs of participants. Artificially generated images must not be presented as authentic documentation of community activities.

Peer-Review Process

Authors are expected to participate professionally and responsibly in the peer-review process. They must respond to reviewer comments systematically, submit revisions within the specified period, provide academic explanations when a recommendation is not adopted, and provide supporting documentation when requested.

All manuscripts must be submitted and processed through the Pena Dimas Online Journal System. Manuscripts submitted only through personal email, messaging applications, or other informal communication channels will not be processed as formal submissions.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, or ethical compliance of a manuscript.

Authors remain fully responsible for all AI-assisted content included in their manuscripts. The use of artificial intelligence for substantive purposes, including drafting, translation, summarization, coding, data analysis, or image generation, must be disclosed transparently.

Authors must verify the factual accuracy, calculations, citations, references, interpretations, translations, and conclusions generated or assisted by artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence must not be used to fabricate or falsify data, generate false activity documentation, create misleading images, produce fabricated references, conceal plagiarism, manipulate citations, or compromise participant privacy. Routine spelling and grammar checking that does not generate substantive content does not require detailed disclosure.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in a submitted or published article, they must promptly notify the editors and cooperate in correcting the scholarly record.

Authors must also cooperate when the editors receive credible information from another party regarding a significant error or ethical concern in their work.

Withdrawal, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

Authors may request manuscript withdrawal before acceptance by submitting a written explanation to the editor. After acceptance, withdrawal is permitted only in exceptional and justified circumstances and requires editorial approval.

Pena Dimas does not impose punitive manuscript-withdrawal charges. Publication fees that have already been paid are governed by the journal’s publicly stated publication-fee policy.

A correction or erratum may be published when an error affects the accuracy, metadata, authorship, citations, tables, figures, or interpretation of an article but does not invalidate its principal findings. The correction notice will identify and link to the original article and clearly explain the corrected information.

An expression of concern may be published when serious questions have been raised regarding an article but the investigation has not been completed or the available evidence remains inconclusive.

An article may be retracted when there is reliable evidence of serious plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, unethical research, manipulated peer review, fraudulent authorship, significant citation manipulation, unreliable findings caused by serious error, or other serious publication misconduct.

A retraction notice will identify the retracted article, explain the reason for retraction, remain permanently accessible, and be linked to the original article. The original article will remain available but will be clearly marked as retracted.

Duties of the Publisher

The Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Islam Malang, as the publisher of Pena Dimas, supports editorial independence and the integrity of the publication process.

The publisher is responsible for maintaining the journal’s publishing infrastructure, supporting transparent editorial and peer-review procedures, protecting confidential information, supporting investigations into publication misconduct, facilitating corrections and retractions, preserving published content, and ensuring that journal policies are publicly available and consistently implemented.

The publisher does not interfere with individual editorial decisions and will not knowingly encourage or permit unethical publication practices.

Open Access and Licensing

Pena Dimas provides immediate, free, and permanent online access to its published content.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Under this license, users may share and adapt published material for any purpose, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and Pena Dimas, a reference to the license is provided, any changes are clearly indicated, and adapted material is distributed under the same or a compatible license.

Authors retain copyright to their work and grant Pena Dimas the right of first publication. Third-party materials included in an article may be subject to separate copyright or licensing conditions.

Additionally, authors are encouraged to review the AI and Research Integrity, which outlines the appropriate use and disclosure of AI-assisted tools in manuscript preparation. Transparency in this area is essential to maintaining scholarly standards and ethical publishing practices.