Publication Ethics

Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Research (JEPR) aims to serve as a trusted peer-reviewed platform for the dissemination of scholarly work in education and pedagogy, with particular emphasis on elementary education, early childhood education, and guidance and counseling. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles, theoretical studies, and other scholarly works within its focus and scope, including teaching and learning, curriculum and instructional practices, literacy and numeracy education, educational technology and learning media, assessment and evaluation, early childhood education and development, guidance and counseling, socio-emotional development, educational psychology, teacher professional development, inclusive educational practices, and innovative pedagogical approaches.

All manuscripts submitted to JEPR must be original, must not have been previously published in any language, and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. The following statement outlines the ethical responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers involved in the publication process and is guided by the principles and best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

 

Responsibilities of Authors

• Reporting Standards: Authors must present a truthful and accurate account of their original research, together with an objective discussion of its significance and implications. Data and results must be reported honestly and must not involve fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, or inappropriate manipulation. Manuscripts should provide sufficient methodological detail and appropriate references to enable other researchers to understand, evaluate, and, where applicable, replicate the study. Fraudulent or knowingly misleading statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. All submissions must comply with the journal's author guidelines and focus and scope.
• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their submitted manuscripts are entirely original. When authors use the words, ideas, data, figures, or other materials of others, these sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited. Direct quotations must be clearly identified and properly referenced. Plagiarism in any form is considered unethical and unacceptable.
• Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal. Authors should also avoid publishing substantially similar or redundant versions of the same research without appropriate disclosure and justification. Where multiple publications arise from the same research project, their relationship must be clearly explained and relevant prior publications properly cited. Concurrent submission is considered unethical and unacceptable.
• Acknowledgment of Sources: Authors must appropriately acknowledge all sources that have contributed to the development of the research. Publications, datasets, instruments, theoretical perspectives, and other intellectual contributions relevant to the study should be properly cited.
• Authorship: Authorship must accurately reflect substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the manuscript. Individuals who have made significant scholarly contributions should be listed as authors, while those whose contributions do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately. All listed authors must review and approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. All sources of financial support and research funding must also be clearly acknowledged.
• Research Ethics and Participant Protection: Research involving human participants, including children, students, teachers, parents, counselors, or other educational stakeholders, must comply with applicable ethical standards. Where required, authors must obtain ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and secure informed consent or assent from participants and/or their legal guardians. The privacy, confidentiality, dignity, and welfare of research participants must be protected.
• Correction of Errors: If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their submitted or published work, they must promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate in correcting, clarifying, or retracting the article where necessary.
• Safety and Potential Risks: Authors must clearly identify any procedures, interventions, materials, or activities that may involve potential risks to participants or other parties and explain the appropriate safeguards implemented during the research.

 

Responsibilities of Editors

• Publication Decisions: Editors are responsible for deciding whether submitted manuscripts should be accepted, revised, or rejected based on their scholarly quality, methodological rigor, originality, ethical compliance, relevance to the focus and scope of JEPR, peer-review reports, and recommendations from the editorial board. Editorial decisions must also comply with applicable legal requirements concerning copyright, plagiarism, defamation, and research ethics.
• Manuscript Review: Editors must conduct an initial assessment of submitted manuscripts to determine their suitability for the journal, including their relevance to elementary education, early childhood education, guidance and counseling, or closely related pedagogical practices. Manuscripts that pass the initial screening should be subjected to an appropriate peer-review process. Editors are responsible for selecting qualified reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the subject matter of the manuscript and who have no known conflicts of interest.
• Fairness and Editorial Independence: Manuscripts must be evaluated solely on their scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological quality, and contribution to the field, without discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, institutional affiliation, political views, or other personal characteristics of the authors. Editors must maintain editorial independence and integrity in all publication decisions.
• Confidentiality: Editors must protect the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and must not disclose information about a submission to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and publisher where appropriate. Personal and research data must be handled in accordance with applicable ethical and data protection principles.
• Conflict of Interest: Editors must not use unpublished information disclosed in submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal benefit without the authors' explicit written permission. Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have financial, professional, personal, institutional, or collaborative conflicts of interest.
• Handling Ethical Concerns: Editors must take appropriate action when ethical concerns are raised regarding a submitted or published manuscript. Allegations involving plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, unethical research practices, or other forms of misconduct should be investigated fairly and in accordance with recognized publication ethics principles.

 

Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, distribute, discuss, or use unpublished information contained in a manuscript for personal advantage or research purposes without authorization from the editor and authors.
• Relevance and Scholarly Quality: Reviewers should evaluate whether the manuscript is relevant to the journal's focus and scope and whether it makes a meaningful scholarly contribution to elementary education, early childhood education, guidance and counseling, or related educational and pedagogical practices. Reviewers should assess the clarity of the research problem, theoretical foundation, methodology, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions.
• Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately acknowledged by the authors and should inform the editor of any substantial similarities between the manuscript under review and other published or submitted works of which they are aware. Suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, or other ethical concerns should be reported confidentially to the editor.
• Objectivity: Peer reviews must be conducted objectively, professionally, and constructively. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate. Reviewers should provide clear, evidence-based comments that assist authors in improving their manuscripts and help editors make informed publication decisions.
• Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, institutional, personal, financial, or other relationships with the authors or the research. Reviewers should decline the review if such conflicts could compromise or appear to compromise their impartiality.
• Timeliness: Reviewers who accept an invitation to review are expected to complete their evaluations within the timeframe specified by the journal. If a reviewer is unable to complete the review promptly or lacks sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript, the reviewer should notify the editor as soon as possible.