Publication Ethics

IJES : Indonesian Journal of Environmental Sustainability is a peer-reviewed open access journal published online twice a year by the Center for Environmental Studies, Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh. This statement sets out the ethical duties of everyone involved in publishing: authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. It follows the Core Practices and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Duties of authors

  • Originality. Submit only original work that has not been published and is not under review elsewhere; cite all sources (see Plagiarism Policy).
  • Data. Report data accurately; fabrication, falsification, and manipulation of data or images are not acceptable (see Data Availability).
  • Authorship. List as authors only those who meet the Authorship criteria.
  • Declarations. Include statements on author contributions, funding, conflicts of interest, and use of AI (see AI Policy).
  • Research ethics. For studies involving humans or animals, state the ethical approval (committee, number, and year) or the basis for exemption (see Research Ethics).
  • Errors. Inform the editor promptly of any significant error found in the submitted or published work and cooperate in correcting it.

Duties of editors

  • Decisions. Decide on manuscripts only on the basis of academic merit, relevance to the scope, and reviewers' reports, free from undue influence by the publisher, sponsors, or commercial interests.
  • Fair play. Evaluate manuscripts without regard to the authors' race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, institution, or political views.
  • Confidentiality. Disclose information about a manuscript only to the authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as needed.
  • Conflicts of interest. Do not handle manuscripts where a conflict exists; manuscripts by members of the editorial team are handled by another editor (see Conflict of Interest).
  • Unpublished material. Do not use material from a submitted manuscript in their own research without the authors' written consent.

Duties of reviewers

  • Contribution. Help the editor reach a decision and help authors improve their work through objective, constructive, and substantive comments.
  • Promptness. Decline an invitation if not qualified or unable to finish the review within three weeks.
  • Confidentiality. Treat the manuscript as confidential; do not share it or enter it into AI tools (see AI Policy).
  • Conflicts of interest. Declare any conflict and decline the review when one exists.
  • Acknowledgement of sources. Point out relevant published work that has not been cited and any substantial similarity with other work.

Duties of the publisher

  • Support editorial independence and ensure that advertising, reprints, or other revenue have no influence on editorial decisions.
  • Ensure long-term access to published content (see Archiving).
  • Work with editors to handle suspected misconduct and to publish corrections and retractions when needed.

Complaints and appeals

Complaints about the editorial process, for example delays, the handling of a manuscript, or the conduct of an editor or reviewer, can be sent to ijes.uin@ar-raniry.ac.id with the subject line "Complaint".

  1. The Managing Editor acknowledges the complaint within 7 days.
  2. The Managing Editor looks into the matter, consults the people involved, and sends a written decision within 30 days of the acknowledgement.
  3. A complaint about the Managing Editor is handled by the Editor in Chief, on the same timeline.

Appeals against decisions on manuscripts follow the procedure in the Peer Review Process.

Intellectual property and journal management

Authors keep the copyright of their articles, which are published under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence (see Copyright and License). The ownership and management of the journal are described on the Ownership and Management page.

Handling misconduct

Suspected misconduct, whether raised before or after publication, is handled under the Research Misconduct policy, following COPE flowcharts. Concerns can be sent to ijes.uin@ar-raniry.ac.id.

Related: Peer Review Process · Correction and Retraction · Post-publication Discussion