Publication Ethics

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity in accordance with the principles and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This policy applies to editors, peer reviewers, authors, and the publisher to ensure the integrity, transparency, fairness, and accountability of the scholarly publishing process.

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi  adapts COPE's principles and guidance to establish ethical standards for manuscript submission, peer review, editorial decision-making, authorship, research integrity, competing interests, and post-publication discussion. The publisher is responsible for supporting the editorial process and ensuring the timely and regular publication of journal content without compromising editorial independence or the integrity of published articles.

1. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

  1. The Editor-in-Chief and editorial team are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts published in Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi meet the journal's standards of academic quality, research integrity, and publication ethics.
  2. Editors must ensure that authors comply with the journal's submission requirements, manuscript preparation guidelines, and applicable publication ethics policies.
  3. Editors may consult the Journal Manager, other editors, peer reviewers, and relevant experts when making editorial decisions.
  4. Editors must evaluate manuscripts objectively and fairly, without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, race, political affiliation, religion, gender, age, seniority, or institutional affiliation.
  5. Editors must decline editorial assignments when a competing interest could compromise, or reasonably be perceived to compromise, their impartiality.
  6. Editors must maintain the confidentiality of the peer-review process by ensuring that manuscripts submitted for review do not contain author-identifying information when double-anonymous peer review is applied.
  7. Editorial decisions must be communicated to authors in a timely manner and, where applicable, accompanied by relevant reviewer comments, excluding confidential, personal, defamatory, or otherwise inappropriate remarks.
  8. Editors should consider reasonable requests from authors to exclude particular reviewers, provided that the requests are supported by valid reasons and do not undermine the integrity of peer review.
  9. When editors identify or suspect plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, authorship disputes, duplicate publication, or other ethical violations, they must follow appropriate COPE guidance and take reasonable steps to investigate the concerns.
  10. Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer identities, editorial correspondence, and other non-public information.
  11. Editors must not use unpublished information obtained through manuscript handling for personal, professional, or financial advantage.
  12. Editors must ensure that corrections, Expressions of Concern, retractions, and other necessary publication notices are handled transparently to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.
  13. Editors must maintain editorial independence and must not allow commercial, institutional, personal, or other external pressures to improperly influence publication decisions.

2. Ethical Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

  1. Peer reviewers must provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based evaluations of manuscripts to assist editors in making informed editorial decisions and to help authors improve their work.
  2. Reviewers must complete evaluations within the agreed timeframe and promptly notify the editor if they are unable to meet the deadline or lack the expertise required to assess the manuscript.
  3. Reviewers must treat all manuscripts and related communications as confidential and must not share, distribute, or discuss unpublished material without editorial authorization.
  4. Reviewers must decline review assignments when they have a competing interest or a personal, professional, financial, collaborative, or competitive relationship that could compromise their impartiality.
  5. Reviewers must inform the editor of substantial similarities, overlaps, possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other potential ethical concerns identified during the review process.
  6. Reviewers must support their assessments with clear reasoning and appropriate evidence and must not make personal, discriminatory, defamatory, or unsupported comments about authors.
  7. Information, data, methods, and ideas obtained through peer review must remain confidential and must not be used for personal, professional, or financial gain.
  8. Reviewers must not contact authors directly about a manuscript under review unless explicitly authorized by the editor.
  9. Reviewers must disclose any competing interests that may affect their evaluation and must not allow such interests to influence their recommendations.
  10. Reviewers should alert the editor if they identify potential research misconduct, questionable data, unethical research practices, or other concerns affecting the reliability or integrity of a manuscript.

3. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

  1. Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original, have not been published previously in substantially the same form, and are not under consideration by another journal, except where prior dissemination has been disclosed and explicitly permitted by the journal.
  2. Authors must ensure that they have the necessary rights and permissions to submit and publish the manuscript and that no conflicting copyright transfer or publication agreement prevents publication in Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi.
  3. Authors must accurately report their research methods, data, analyses, results, and conclusions and must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or selectively misrepresent research findings.
  4. Authors must acknowledge all sources appropriately, follow the journal's reference and citation guidelines, and avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and redundant publication.
  5. Authors must comply with Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi's manuscript preparation requirements, submission procedures, and applicable ethical standards.
  6. Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals. Any related manuscripts, previous publications, preprints, or overlapping research outputs must be disclosed when relevant.
  7. Authors must provide accurate information about research funding, ethical approval, informed consent, data availability, and other applicable research requirements.
  8. Authors must disclose financial and non-financial competing interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence their research or its interpretation.
  9. Authors must cooperate with reasonable editorial requests for original data, supporting documentation, research protocols, or other information necessary to assess the validity and integrity of their work.
  10. If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in a submitted manuscript, they must promptly notify the editor and cooperate in correcting or withdrawing the manuscript, as appropriate.
  11. After publication, authors who discover a significant error must immediately inform the editorial office and cooperate with the journal in issuing a correction, Expression of Concern, retraction, or other appropriate notice when necessary.
  12. Authors must not withdraw a manuscript solely to avoid legitimate editorial scrutiny or an ongoing ethical investigation. Withdrawal requests during peer review must be submitted in writing, with an explanation, and are subject to editorial confirmation. The journal may continue an investigation into suspected misconduct where necessary to protect research integrity.
  13. All authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission before publication.
  14. Authors must ensure that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria and that all individuals who qualify for authorship are appropriately credited.

4. Authorship Criteria and Contributions

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi considers authorship a formal acknowledgment of substantial intellectual contributions to scholarly work. Authorship must reflect genuine contributions and accountability for the published research.

4.1. Criteria for Authorship

An individual qualifies as an author when they have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data; or the development of other essential intellectual components of the research, and have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.

All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript, agree to its submission for publication, and accept accountability for their contributions. They must also cooperate in addressing questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.

4.2. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi does not permit guest authorship, gift authorship, ghost authorship, misrepresentation of individual contributions, or unauthorized changes to the author list.

Individuals who provide technical assistance, administrative support, language editing, funding acquisition, or general supervision without meeting the authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately rather than automatically listed as authors.

4.3. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with the editorial office, ensuring that all co-authors have approved the manuscript, confirming the accuracy of authorship information, and coordinating responses to editorial queries.

The corresponding author must ensure that all authors have disclosed relevant competing interests and that any required declarations are complete and accurate.

4.4. Changes to Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must include a written justification and agreement from all affected authors. The editorial process may be suspended while the request is assessed.

If an authorship dispute cannot be resolved by the authors, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may refer the matter to the relevant institution or research organization. The journal will not independently determine disputed contributions when institutional investigation is necessary.

After publication, an authorship change will be considered only when adequately justified and supported by appropriate documentation. Approved changes will be communicated through a correction or other suitable publication notice.

4.5. Use of Artificial Intelligence in Authorship

AI tools, including generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Authors who use AI tools in manuscript preparation, research analysis, image generation, or other substantive research activities must disclose their use where applicable, identifying the tool and describing its role. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, validity, and integrity of all submitted content, including AI-assisted material.

5. Allegations of Research Misconduct

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously and handles them fairly, confidentially, and consistently with relevant COPE guidance.

5.1. Forms of Research Misconduct

Research or publication misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

  1. Fabrication: inventing data, results, participants, or research procedures and presenting them as genuine.
  2. Falsification: manipulating research materials, methods, data, images, or results in a way that misrepresents the research.
  3. Plagiarism: using another person's ideas, words, data, or intellectual work without appropriate acknowledgment.
  4. Self-plagiarism and redundant publication: reusing previously published material or reporting substantially overlapping work without appropriate disclosure and acknowledgment.
  5. Duplicate or simultaneous submission: submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals in violation of publication policies.
  6. Authorship misconduct: engaging in ghost, guest, or gift authorship, misrepresenting contributions, or making unauthorized authorship changes.
  7. Citation manipulation: engaging in inappropriate citation practices intended to inflate citation counts or improperly influence citation metrics.
  8. Image or data manipulation: altering or selectively presenting research evidence in ways that compromise the reliability of the findings.
  9. Peer-review manipulation: attempting to compromise the independence or integrity of the peer-review process.
  10. Undisclosed competing interests: failing to disclose relevant interests that may influence the research or its interpretation.
  11. Other serious ethical violations: including the misappropriation of research, breaches of research ethics, or misuse of confidential information obtained through peer review.

Honest errors, methodological disagreements, and differences in scholarly interpretation do not automatically constitute misconduct. Each allegation must be evaluated based on the available evidence and the circumstances of the case.

5.2. Reporting Allegations

Authors, reviewers, readers, editors, institutions, and other concerned parties may report suspected misconduct to the Editor-in-Chief or the Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi editorial office.

Reports should identify the manuscript or article concerned, describe the suspected misconduct, and provide supporting evidence where available. Anonymous reports may be considered when sufficient information is provided to permit an initial assessment.

5.3. Assessment and Investigation

Upon receiving an allegation, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi will conduct an initial assessment to determine whether the concern falls within the journal's responsibilities and whether sufficient evidence is available for further consideration.

The journal may review relevant documents, manuscript versions, data, correspondence, and other supporting materials. Where appropriate, the authors or other relevant parties will be invited to respond.

If an allegation is serious, cannot be resolved through editorial assessment, or requires formal investigation, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may refer the matter to the relevant institution, employer, research organization, or other competent authority. The journal recognizes that formal investigations into research misconduct generally fall within the responsibilities of the relevant institutions.

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi will document relevant communications and decisions and maintain confidentiality to the extent possible while ensuring a fair process.

5.4. Possible Outcomes

Depending on the evidence and the stage of publication, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may:

  • Dismiss an allegation that is unsupported or not substantiated;
  • Request clarification, additional data, or corrections;
  • Reject a manuscript when serious ethical violations are established;
  • Suspend editorial processing while an investigation is ongoing;
  • Publish a correction when the published record requires amendment;
  • Publish an Expression of Concern when substantial concerns remain unresolved and readers need to be alerted;
  • Retract a published article when its findings are unreliable or the publication record is seriously compromised; or
  • Notify relevant institutions, publishers, or other affected journals when appropriate.

The journal will take action proportionate to the nature and severity of the issue and its effect on the integrity of the scholarly record. Allegations will not be treated as established facts before appropriate assessment.

6. Conflict of Interest

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions, peer review, and published research are not improperly influenced by financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other competing interests.

A conflict of interest exists when an individual's relationships or interests could reasonably be perceived to influence their judgment concerning the conduct, evaluation, reporting, or publication of research.

6.1. Types of Conflicts of Interest

Competing interests may include financial relationships, employment, consultancy, research funding, honoraria, stock ownership, patents, personal relationships, recent collaborations, institutional affiliations, professional rivalries, or strong intellectual commitments that could affect impartial judgment.

The existence of a competing interest does not automatically constitute misconduct. However, relevant interests must be disclosed and appropriately managed.

6.2. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence their research or its interpretation. Authors must also disclose funding sources and, where applicable, the role of funders in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and decision to publish.

If no relevant competing interests exist, authors should include the statement:

"The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that declarations accurately reflect the circumstances of all co-authors.

6.3. Responsibilities of Editors and Reviewers

Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant competing interests and decline assignments when their impartiality may be compromised.

An editor with a competing interest must not participate in the handling or decision-making of the affected manuscript. The manuscript must be assigned to an independent editor.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or financial advantage.

6.4. Management of Conflicts of Interest

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may request additional disclosures, assign independent editors or reviewers, introduce additional editorial oversight, or require publication of a competing-interest statement.

If an undisclosed competing interest is identified after publication and materially affects the interpretation or reliability of the article, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi will assess whether a correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction is warranted.

7. Post-Publication Discussion Policy

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi encourages constructive, evidence-based scholarly discussion of articles after publication. Such discussions contribute to the development of knowledge, clarification of research findings, identification of limitations, and maintenance of the integrity of the scholarly record.

Post-publication discussions are handled in accordance with relevant COPE principles of fairness, transparency, editorial independence, and accountability.

7.1. Scope of Discussion

Post-publication discussions may address the validity or interpretation of published findings, research methods, data, analyses, reproducibility, study limitations, alternative interpretations, errors, omissions, citation accuracy, research ethics, or other matters of scholarly relevance.

Submissions may take the form of a letter to the editor, scholarly commentary, formal critique, or another format accepted by the editorial team.

7.2. Submission Requirements

Individuals submitting a post-publication discussion must identify the article concerned, preferably by title, author, publication year, and DOI or article URL. Submissions must present a clear scholarly argument supported by appropriate evidence and references.

All submissions must maintain a professional and respectful tone, disclose relevant competing interests, and avoid unsupported accusations, defamatory statements, personal attacks, or other inappropriate content.

7.3. Editorial Assessment

All post-publication discussions are subject to editorial assessment before publication. The editor will evaluate their relevance, scholarly merit, factual basis, ethical compliance, and suitability for Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi.

Where necessary, the editor may seek independent peer review or expert advice. The journal may reject submissions that lack sufficient evidence, duplicate existing discussions without justification, contain unsupported allegations, or fail to meet scholarly and ethical standards.

7.4. Right of Reply

When a post-publication discussion raises substantive concerns about a published article, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may invite the original author or authors to respond.

The original authors will be given a reasonable opportunity to address the issues raised. The discussion and response may be published together or separately, depending on the editorial decision and the circumstances.

The publication of a critique does not automatically establish that the original article is invalid, and an author's response does not automatically resolve the concerns raised. Editorial decisions will be based on evidence and appropriate ethical procedures.

7.5. Handling Substantive Concerns

When a discussion identifies a potential error, ethical violation, or concern affecting the reliability of a published article, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi will assess the matter under its research misconduct and publication ethics procedures.

Depending on the findings, the journal may request clarification or additional documentation, seek independent expert advice, request relevant data, or refer the matter to the appropriate research institution.

Where necessary, Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may publish a correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction. Such notices will be clearly identified, linked to the affected article, and made accessible to readers, with an explanation of the action to the extent appropriate.

7.6. Editorial Independence and Transparency

Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi will not suppress legitimate scholarly criticism merely because it challenges the findings or conclusions of an article published in the journal.

However, post-publication discussions must comply with scholarly integrity, professional conduct, and applicable legal requirements. The journal reserves the right to reject or moderate submissions that violate these standards while maintaining transparency regarding substantive actions affecting the scholarly record.

Where feasible, accepted discussions, author responses, and related editorial notices will be linked to the original article through the journal's publication platform.

7.7 Access to Post-Publication Discussion

Readers, researchers, and other interested parties who wish to submit comments, questions, or scholarly discussions concerning articles published in Jurnal Interaksi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi may contact the editorial team by email at jurnalinteraksi@umsu.ac.id. Submissions should identify the published article concerned and provide a clear explanation of the issues raised, supported by relevant evidence or references where applicable. All submissions will be assessed by the editorial team for scholarly relevance, accuracy, and compliance with the journal's publication ethics policy. Where appropriate, the journal may invite the original authors to respond and may publish the discussion and response to facilitate constructive scholarly exchange.