Publication Ethics

Effective date: 7 Oktober 2026

Last reviewed: 7 oktober 2026


Policy owner: Editorial Board, Jurnal Fisika Unand

Review cycle: At least once every two years, or earlier when a related policy, applicable requirement, or journal procedure materially changes.

 

Description

Jurnal Fisika Unand (JFU) is committed to maintaining integrity, accountability, fairness, transparency, scientific rigor, and accuracy throughout the scholarly publishing process.

This page serves as the central reference for the ethical principles governing manuscripts submitted to, reviewed by, accepted by, and published in JFU. Detailed requirements and operational procedures are provided in the related policy pages listed below.

The journal’s publication ethics requirements apply to authors, contributors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, Editorial Board members, journal staff, and other parties involved in submission, peer review, editorial decision-making, production, publication, and post-publication activities.

JFU publishes theoretical, computational, experimental, and applied research in classical and modern physics. Ethical requirements are applied according to the nature of the research, including where manuscripts involve human participants, identifiable clinical information, medical images, animals, radiation, hazardous materials, environmental sampling, research data, scientific images, software, computational methods, or artificial intelligence.

 

Ethical and Publishing Framework

JFU develops and applies its editorial and publication policies with reference to internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing.

 

Committee on Publication Ethics

JFU uses the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as its primary professional reference for publication ethics, editorial integrity, authorship, peer review, competing interests, allegations of misconduct, complaints and appeals, and correction of the scholarly record.

COPE’s Core Principles emphasize accountability, fairness, justice and equity, integrity, rigor and accuracy, stewardship, and transparency.

Reference to COPE guidance does not constitute a statement that JFU is a COPE member unless such membership is separately confirmed and publicly verifiable.

 

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

For manuscripts involving medical physics, medical imaging, human participants, patients, identifiable clinical information, health-related data, or other relevant biomedical contexts, JFU refers, where applicable, to the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Relevant ICMJE recommendations may be applied to authorship and contributorship, disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships, protection of research participants, informed consent, access to research data, scientific misconduct, corrections, overlapping publication, and responsible use of artificial intelligence.

Because JFU is a physics journal, ICMJE recommendations are applied only where they are relevant to the subject, research design, participants, data, or reporting requirements of a manuscript.

 

Budapest Open Access Initiative

JFU’s open-access model is informed by the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

 

JFU provides immediate public access to published articles. Copyright ownership and the specific rights to copy, distribute, adapt, or otherwise reuse published material are governed by the copyright statement and Creative Commons license displayed on each article.

Detailed access and reuse arrangements are provided in the Open Access Policy and the Copyright, Licensing and Third-Party Material Policy.

 

Application of External Guidance

COPE, ICMJE, and BOAI serve as professional reference frameworks. JFU’s binding responsibilities and operational procedures are defined by:

  1. the policies published on the JFU website;
  2. applicable policies and requirements of Universitas Andalas;
  3. applicable Indonesian laws and regulations;
  4. ethical approvals, permits, funding conditions, and institutional obligations associated with the research; and
  5. the copyright and licensing terms stated on each published article.

Where external guidance conflicts with applicable law or a binding institutional requirement, JFU will seek appropriate institutional or legal advice before taking action.

 

Policy

  1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must submit original, accurate, and honestly reported work.

Authors are responsible for:

  1. acknowledging all relevant sources, ideas, words, data, methods, images, software, and other research materials;
  2. ensuring that all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
  3. obtaining the approval of all authors for the submitted manuscript, author order, contribution statement, material revisions, and final version;
  4. providing accurate funding, competing-interest, data-availability, ethics, consent, and generative-AI declarations;
  5. obtaining ethics approval, informed consent, consent for publication, permits, and safety authorization where applicable;
  6. maintaining the integrity of research data, code, images, laboratory records, instrument records, and other supporting materials;
  7. obtaining permission for third-party material where required;
  8. disclosing related preprints, theses, conference papers, repository versions, and other prior dissemination;
  9. ensuring that the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal; and
  10. cooperating with reasonable editorial enquiries before and after publication.

Authors must not engage in fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, deceptive image or data manipulation, duplicate or redundant publication, authorship manipulation, peer-review manipulation, citation manipulation, or other practices that compromise research or publication integrity.

Authors must promptly notify the Journal Office if they identify a significant error, omission, authorship problem, undisclosed competing interest, ethical concern, or reliability issue affecting a submitted or published article.

Detailed requirements are provided in the related policies on authorship, competing interests, research data, ethical oversight, generative AI, copyright, plagiarism, and publication misconduct.

 

  1. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, constructively, confidentially, and within their areas of competence.

Reviewers must:

  1. disclose relevant financial and non-financial competing interests;
  2. decline an assignment when impartiality, competence, timeliness, or confidentiality cannot be maintained;
  3. protect manuscripts, data, images, supplementary materials, and editorial correspondence from unauthorized access or disclosure;
  4. avoid using unpublished information for personal, professional, financial, academic, or competitive advantage;
  5. identify suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data or image concerns, ethical problems, invalid methods, or other integrity issues;
  6. avoid personal criticism, discriminatory language, citation coercion, and unsupported requests;
  7. distinguish essential corrections from optional suggestions; and
  8. complete the review within the agreed period or promptly notify the editor when this is not possible.

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, data, images, reviewer reports, or confidential editorial material to public or third-party generative-AI services that do not provide adequate confidentiality, security, and data-use protection.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. Final editorial authority remains with the designated non-conflicted editor.

Detailed requirements are provided in the Peer Review Policy, Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests Policy, and Generative AI Policy.

 

  1. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must make decisions based on scholarly merit, methodological and analytical soundness, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

Editors must:

  1. conduct editorial processes fairly, consistently, confidentially, and without improper discrimination;
  2. disclose and manage actual, potential, or perceived competing interests;
  3. recuse themselves from manuscripts where impartial decision-making may be compromised;
  4. protect confidential submission and peer-review information;
  5. select qualified, independent, and appropriate reviewers;
  6. take reasonable steps to verify reviewer identities and expertise;
  7. prevent reviewer manipulation, authorship manipulation, citation coercion, and other forms of publication-process abuse;
  8. give affected parties a reasonable opportunity to respond to material concerns;
  9. distinguish honest error and legitimate scientific disagreement from misconduct;
  10. evaluate allegations without presuming misconduct before the available evidence has been assessed;
  11. maintain appropriate editorial, disclosure, review, and decision records; and
  12. correct the published record when material errors or integrity concerns are established.

Submissions authored by an editor, guest editor, Editorial Board member, journal staff member, or close institutional colleague must be handled independently.

The author-editor must not select reviewers, access confidential review information, participate in internal editorial discussion, or influence the editorial decision.

Detailed requirements are provided in the Editorial Governance and Independence Policy and Peer Review Policy.

 

  1. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by:

  1. an author’s institutional affiliation;
  2. an author’s status or seniority;
  3. the author’s ability to pay an Article Processing Charge;
  4. an APC waiver or discount request;
  5. sponsorship, advertising, or commercial interests;
  6. personal relationships;
  7. institutional pressure; or
  8. political or promotional considerations.

Administration of APC payments, waivers, discounts, and refunds must be separated from scholarly assessment and editorial decision-making.

The Editor-in-Chief and designated editors retain authority over academic decisions, subject to JFU’s published policies on competing interests, complaints, appeals, misconduct, and correction of the scholarly record.

 

  1. Peer-Review Integrity

JFU uses double-anonymous peer review for Original Research Articles.

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject or methodological expertise.

Peer review must be:

  1. confidential;
  2. independent;
  3. constructive;
  4. timely;
  5. free from undisclosed competing interests;
  6. protected from identity, recommendation, and citation manipulation; and
  7. conducted without misuse of unpublished information.

Suspected fabricated reviewer identities, compromised peer review, citation coercion, reviewer impersonation, or coordinated manipulation will be assessed under the Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Policy.

Detailed procedures are provided in the Peer Review Policy.

 

  1. Confidentiality and Personal Information

Manuscripts, reviewer identities, reviewer reports, editorial comments, personal information, and unpublished research materials must be accessed only by persons who require them for legitimate editorial, technical, administrative, integrity, or legal purposes.

Editors, reviewers, journal staff, and other authorized parties must not disclose confidential information outside the authorized editorial process.

Personal information collected through the journal website and submission system is processed in accordance with the JFU Privacy Statement and Personal Data Protection Policy.

Detailed confidentiality requirements are provided in the Peer Review Policy, Privacy Statement and Personal Data Protection Policy, and Editorial Governance and Independence Policy.

 

  1. Integrity of the Scholarly Record

JFU is responsible for maintaining the accuracy, transparency, accessibility, and reliability of its published record.

Where a published article contains a material error, omission, unreliable finding, ethical problem, attribution problem, or misleading information, JFU may issue:

  1. a dated change note;
  2. a formal correction;
  3. an expression of concern;
  4. a retraction; or
  5. an exceptional removal notice where required because of a serious legal, privacy, security, or safety concern.

Post-publication action is intended to protect and correct the scholarly record, not to punish authors.

Published content will not be silently replaced when a permanent correction or another formal notice is required.

Detailed procedures are provided in the Corrections, Retractions and Post-Publication Discussion Policy.

 

  1. Open Access and Responsible Reuse

JFU provides immediate public access to its published articles.

The journal’s approach to public accessibility is informed by the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Specific reuse rights are determined by the Creative Commons license stated on each published article.

Unless otherwise stated, articles published by JFU are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Open access does not remove the requirement to:

  1. credit the authors;
  2. identify JFU as the original publisher;
  3. provide a link to the applicable license;
  4. indicate whether changes were made;
  5. respect separate reuse conditions applying to third-party material; and
  6. obtain permission for uses not permitted by the applicable license.

Detailed requirements are provided in the Open Access Policy and Copyright, Licensing and Third-Party Material Policy.

 

  1. Reporting Ethical Concerns

Concerns relating to a submitted or published work may be reported to the Journal Office.

Email: jfu@sci.unand.ac.id

Recommended subject line:

Publication Ethics Concern: [manuscript ID, article DOI, or article title]

A report should:

  1. identify the manuscript or article;
  2. describe the concern clearly;
  3. identify the relevant text, data, image, method, record, or conduct;
  4. include supporting evidence where available; and
  5. disclose any relevant competing interest of the complainant.

JFU will assess concerns on their substance. Anonymous reports may be considered when they contain sufficiently specific and verifiable information.

Good-faith complainants, respondents, reviewers, editors, witnesses, and journal staff must not be subjected to retaliation through the journal’s processes.

Reports concerning the Editor-in-Chief will be referred to an independent senior editor or a publisher-appointed officer who was not involved in the matter.

Detailed procedures are provided in the Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Policy and Complaints and Appeals Policy.

 

  1. Related Policies

The following policies form part of the JFU publication ethics framework. Each page contains detailed requirements, responsibilities, and operational procedures applicable to its subject.

  1. Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Procedures for receiving, assessing, referring, documenting, and resolving concerns about research or publication misconduct.
  2. Authorship and Contributorship Requirements for authorship criteria, CRediT roles, acknowledgments, corresponding-author responsibilities, authorship changes, and disputes.
  3. Complaints and Appeals Procedures for complaints concerning journal processes and appeals against editorial decisions.
  4. Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests Requirements for disclosure, recusal, independent handling, and corrective action involving financial and non-financial competing interests.
  5. Research Data, Code, Materials and Reproducibility Requirements for Data Availability Statements, repositories, software, code, scientific images, supporting materials, methodological transparency, and reproducibility.
  6. Ethical Oversight of Research Requirements relating to ethics approval, informed consent, medical images, animals, radiation, safety, permits, privacy, and sensitive research.
  7. Peer Review Policy Procedures for editorial screening, reviewer selection, double-anonymous peer review, confidentiality, revisions, decisions, and review integrity.
  8. Plagiarism and Text Recycling Policy Definitions and procedures relating to plagiarism, inappropriate text reuse, duplicate publication, and contextual assessment of similarity reports.
  9. Generative AI Policy Requirements for responsible use and disclosure of generative AI by authors, reviewers, editors, and journal staff.
  10. Corrections, Retractions and Post-Publication Discussion
    Procedures for change notes, corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, exceptional removals, and post-publication comments.
  11. Copyright, Licensing and Third-Party Material Requirements for copyright ownership, non-exclusive publication rights, Creative Commons licensing, permissions, and third-party content.
  12. Open Access Policy Principles governing immediate public access and reuse of published content.
  13. Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy Arrangements for preservation, backup, repository deposit, harvesting, versioning, and long-term accessibility.
  14. Privacy Statement and Personal Data Protection
    Requirements governing the collection, use, disclosure, retention, protection, correction, and deletion or anonymization of personal information.
  15. Editorial Governance and Independence Requirements relating to ownership, editorial authority, appointments, recusals, oversight, business separation, and editorial independence.

 

Technical Operational Steps

  1. The Journal Office conducts an initial technical and integrity screening of each submission.
  2. The Editor-in-Chief assigns a handling editor who has no relevant competing interest.
  3. The handling editor assesses the manuscript’s relevance to the journal’s scope, readiness for peer review, and compliance with applicable ethical and editorial requirements.
  4. Manuscripts that pass editorial screening normally undergo double-anonymous peer review in accordance with the JFU Peer Review Policy.
  5. The designated non-conflicted editor makes the editorial decision after considering the manuscript, reviewer reports, author responses, required declarations, and complete editorial record.
  6. Concerns involving authorship, competing interests, research data, ethical oversight, peer review, plagiarism, generative AI, or another integrity matter are referred to the applicable detailed JFU policy.
  7. A credible concern is recorded, assigned to a non-conflicted editor, handled confidentially, and communicated to the affected party for a reasonable response.
  8. If a concern relates to the Editor-in-Chief, the Journal Office refers the matter to an independent senior editor or a publisher-appointed officer who was not involved in the matter.
  9. JFU may request supporting records or contact an institution, ethics committee, funder, repository, publisher, another journal, or competent authority where verification or formal investigation is required.
  10. Confirmed errors or integrity concerns affecting published content are addressed under the Corrections, Retractions and Post-Publication Discussion Policy.
  11. Complaints and appeals are handled by a person who was not the sole decision-maker in the matter being challenged.
  12. Editorial, complaint, appeal, and integrity records are retained in accordance with the applicable detailed policy and institutional requirements.
  13. Material changes to this page are dated and published on the JFU website.
  14. This page is reviewed at least once every two years and earlier whenever a related policy, applicable requirement, or journal procedure materially changes.