Publication Ethics and publication malpractice statement

The publishing of an academic paper means that publishers, editors, and authors work together to generate content for articles in scientific journals. The handling of ethical problems related to academic journals is no exception, and the publishing of ethical issues often gives rise to or involves legal issues. As the first step in addressing any potentially serious problems, editors and the publishing department will discuss these issues.

These discussions will happen before taking any further action, and legal advice will be sought if applicable with issues regarding potential defamation, breach of contract, or copyright infringement. Our expectation is that all parties will have a common understanding and acceptance of the statement on publishing ethics and malpractice. Here are our declarations for researchers starting their research or writing papers.

Adherence to COPE Principles

The journal affirms its commitment to COPE and its Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Editorial decisions and ethical procedures are aligned with COPE recommendations.

> COPE

Relationship to Other Journal Policies

This Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement functions in conjunction with the journal’s other formal policies. Matters related to copyright and licensing, peer review procedures, and archiving practices are governed by their respective policies established by the Asian Society of Human Services (ASHS). Contributors, reviewers, and editors are expected to adhere to those policies in addition to the ethical principles described herein.

> Peer Review Policy

> Copyright and Licensing Policy

> Archiving Policy

> Advertising and Direct Marketing Policy

Editorial Responsibilities

The editorial team ensures fair and unbiased evaluation of all submissions. Decisions are based solely on academic merit, relevance, and originality, independent of the authors’ background or institutional affiliation. Editors maintain confidentiality throughout the review process and avoid handling manuscripts in cases of potential conflicts of interest. They are responsible for initiating investigations when concerns are raised about potential ethical issues.

Author Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that:
- The work is original and has not been published elsewhere, in whole or in part.
- All listed authors meet the authorship criteria, and no one meeting the criteria is excluded.
- The order of authorship reflects the actual level of contribution, and agreement among all author has been reached prior to submission. Corresponding author responsibilities include:
- Ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript prior to submission.
- Managing communications regarding post-publication inquiries and corrections.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers contribute to the quality of the journal by providing objective, constructive, and timely evaluations. They must treat manuscripts as confidential documents and may not use unpublished material for personal benefit. Reviewers are expected to identify relevant literature not cited by the authors and to report any concerns regarding research integrity or ethical violations.

Conflict of interest/competing interest

The journal requires full disclosure of any actual or potential conflicts of interest from authors, editors, reviewers, and journal owners. Conflicts may include financial relationships, academic or personal connections, institutional affiliations, or any situation that could influence judgment. All disclosed conflicts are reviewed by the editorial office, and appropriate measures—such as changing editors or reviewers—may be taken to ensure integrity and impartiality.

Authorship

Authorship refers to the public acknowledgment of an individual's substantial intellectual contribution to a published work. Authorship implies responsibility and accountability for the integrity of the research and its reporting. Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship but contribute in other ways (e.g., funding acquisition, administrative support) shall be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section, not listed as authors.

Authorship criteria

Authorship must reflect substantial and identifiable intellectual contributions to the research. The journal adopts authorship principles consistent with COPE and the ICMJE criteria. An individual qualifies as an author only if all of the following conditions are met:
- Substantial contribution: Significant involvement in the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of results.
- Manuscript Preparation: Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
- Final Approval: Approval of the final version of the manuscript to be published.
- Accountability: Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Handling of Ethical Concerns

When concerns arise regarding the validity, integrity, or ethical aspects of a published work, the journal conducts an impartial and thorough investigation. All procedures follow COPE recommendations, ensuring fairness, transparency, and documentation of each stage. Depending on the findings, the journal may issue a Correction, an Expression of Concern, a Retraction, or, in exceptional circumstances, an Article Removal.

Correction

A Correction is issued only when an error is identified that does not undermine the main conclusions of the article. The notice clearly describes the nature of the error and the specific changes made. The original article remains publicly accessible, and a Correction notice (Erratum on J-STAGE) is linked to the article to ensure full transparency.

Expression of concern

An Expression of Concern is issued when serious doubts arise but the investigation cannot be completed promptly, and in accordance with COPE recommendations, it will be issued without delay when a timely conclusion cannot be reached. The notice alerts readers to unresolved concerns and is replaced or updated when the investigation concludes.

Article Removal

An Article removal is reserved for exceptional circumstances in which the full text cannot remain publicly accessible, such as legal orders, violations of privacy, or serious defamation. In such cases, the article is removed and replaced with a notice explaining the reasons and context for the removal. Decisions follow the COPE guidelines on article removal. When complete removal is technically difficult on external portal platforms, the editorial office will make every reasonable effort to implement the required action and will consider appropriate alternative measures when necessary.

Post-Publication Discussion and Critique

The journal recognizes post-publication discussion as an important part of academic dialogue. Readers may submit inquiries or criticisms concerning published articles to the editorial office. The editor-in-chief reviews whether the issue raises substantive concerns. Authors may be invited to respond, and the journal may publish comments or replies. If the matter cannot be resolved promptly and appears to affect the reliability of the work, an Expression of Concern may be issued in line with COPE guidance.

Ethical considerations

In clinical research involving human subjects, a statement confirming review and approval by a research ethics committee is required to ensure appropriate ethical consideration and scientific validity in accordance with the aims of the Declaration of Helsinki. This requirement is essential to protect the dignity and human rights of the individuals participating in the study. If approval from a research ethics committee is missing, or if information regarding participant consent is not provided, the peer review process will be suspended until the author supplies the necessary documentation. If the author’s institution does not have its own research ethics committee, the author may request review by another institution or may apply for ethical review through the Ethics Committee of the Asian Society of Human Services (ASHS).

Changes in authorship

Any changes to authorship (addition, removal, or reordering) after initial submission require:
- A written explanation of the reason for the change.
- Signed consent from all current and proposed authors.
- Approval by the Editor-in-Chief. Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, no additions, deletions, or changes to the authorship will be permitted.

Addressing authorship issues

If any of the following problems occur, the editorial office should deal with them as much as possible.
1. At the time of submitting, the author arbitrarily creates an email address for the any of the co-authors.
2. Submission without the permission of a co-author.
3. A co-author's name is excluded from the paper.
4. At the time of revision, the first author or correspondence author will change a co-author without the consent of all the authors.

The journal requires that the author submit their manuscript using the submission form. In addition to attaching to the manuscript, the submission form must answer to the category of the paper, the affiliations and email addresses of all authors, the invoice address, duplicate publications, and the confirmation of native speaker including authorship. If submitted without the permission of a co-author, a complaint may come from a co-author who received the acceptance email for the manuscript submission. In this case, it is required to check the situation with all authors and to not proceed with peer review until the issue is resolved.

In addition, if some authors are excluded when the revised paper was resubmitted, it is necessary to check with all the authors at the time of the previous submission to see if they have agreed to the change of author. Furthermore, when adding an author, it is confirmed whether not all authors agree.

Authorship removal for a published paper

Authorship represents a public acknowledgment of substantial intellectual contributions to a research work. Removing an author after publication has significant implications for the transparency of research and the reliability of the scholarly record. The journal does not, in principle, accept requests for removal of authorship after publication. Exceptions may only be considered in rare and exceptional cases, such as:
- Proven involvement in research misconduct or ethical violations.
- Clear evidence that an author was mistakenly included despite not meeting authorship criteria.

Any such request must be accompanied by written consent from all authors, including the individual concerned, and is subject to the final decision of the Editor-in-Chief. If approved, an authorship correction notice will be published to ensure transparency of the scholarly record.

Duplicate publication

If a paper is published and later found to be redundant, the editor should follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts and consider working with the publisher to retract the duplicate paper. The following types of prior publication are not regarded as duplicate or redundant publication:
- Abstracts or posters presented during sessions at conferences
- Results presented at meetings (e.g., to inform investigators or participants about findings)
- Results in databases or clinical trials registries (data without interpretation, discussion, context, or conclusions in the form of tables and text to describe data/information)
- Dissertations and theses in university archives

Fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation

When research data is collected or presented as images, any alterations made to these images may misrepresent the data. The author should be careful to avoid image alterations that could result in falsification, forgery, or incorrect representation of the data.

Quotation

If the author quotes other studies in their manuscript, it is necessary to clearly distinguish them from the author’s own findings. When using a similar methodology as previous research in Materials and Methods, it is necessary to either rewrite it with a slight change each time, or it must be clearly stated that the previous research is cited and conforms to the existing methodology. In addition, unauthorized citations from internet sites should be avoided. When quoting previous research indirectly, care must be taken not to misrepresent the author’s intentions to the reader. Furthermore, the author must be careful not to cite only the part that is convenient for them, ignoring the context before and after the quoted part.

Copyright

When creating and using a derivative work by copying or modifying another person’s work, consent must be obtained from the copyright holder of the work. Copyright law allows publicized works to be “ln line with fair practice” and to be cited in the work “within the reasonable limits of the press, criticism, research and other citations”.

Defamation

Editors must be careful not to use words that could lead to defamation or legal proceedings in the drafts and peer-reviewed reports, or communication submitted. Defamatory terms used for companies, organizations, or individuals must not appear in published papers and must be removed from all peer-reviewed reports and communicated to the authors. If it makes sense, the editor should seek advice from the publishing department in ASHS.

Registration of clinical trials

The World Health Organization and the Declaration of Helsinki state that registrations of all clinical trials should be performed prior to subject enrollment. Editors must require clinical trials to be registered in publicly accessible databases and request them to be registered.

Complaints concerning the journal’s publication ethics will initially be handled by the editor responsible for the journal. The editor will review the complaint and respond to the concerns raised. Feedback obtained through this process will be shared with relevant stakeholders to support ongoing improvements to the journal’s procedures and practices.

Published 1, March, 2022
Last updated 8, December, 2025

Contact

Office, Asian Society of Human Services
Email: [email protected]