Editorial Policies

International Peace University Journal is committed to maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards in academic publishing. The journal strictly adheres to the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure scientific integrity, content quality, and the protection of authors' and reviewers' rights.

1. Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The journal follows the core practices and guidelines set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Key responsibilities are distributed as follows:

Authors' Responsibilities: Authors must ensure the originality of their manuscripts, accuracy of data, and proper citation of prior literature. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is strictly prohibited. Authors must also disclose any potential conflicts of interest and all financial support sources.

Editors' Responsibilities: The editorial board handles all submitted manuscripts with complete confidentiality, fairness, and objectivity. Editorial decisions to accept or reject a manuscript are based solely on its academic merit, originality, and scope alignment, without regard to personal or institutional bias.

Reviewers' Responsibilities: Reviewers must treat all manuscripts received for review as confidential documents. They must decline to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest and are expected to provide constructive, fair, and timely evaluative feedback.

2. Plagiarism and Anti-Misconduct Policy

The journal implements a strict zero-tolerance policy against all forms of plagiarism, data falsification, and academic dishonesty (including text recycling and self-plagiarism):

Screening Tools: All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous electronic similarity screening using certified detection software (e.g., Turnitin / iThenticate) prior to the formal peer-review process.

Acceptable Thresholds: The overall similarity index must not exceed 20%, and similarity from any single published source must remain under 3% (excluding references, standard terminology, and methodology descriptions).

Sanctions: Any manuscript exceeding these thresholds or containing direct plagiarism will be rejected immediately. The editorial board reserves the right to report severe breaches to the author's affiliated institution in accordance with COPE protocols.

3. Peer Review Process

The journal adopts a rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review model to guarantee transparency, fairness, and scholarly rigor:

Anonymity: The identities of both the authors and the reviewers remain undisclosed throughout the entire evaluation and editorial workflow.

Review Stages:

- Initial Screening: Manuscripts are evaluated by the editorial desk for scope relevance, formatting compliance, and originality clearance.

- Expert Review: Suitable submissions are assigned to at least two independent subject-matter expert reviewers.

- Final Decision: In case of conflicting evaluations, the manuscript is referred to a third adjudicating reviewer for a conclusive assessment.

Timeline: The standard peer-review round typically requires 3 to 6 weeks from initial submission distribution.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI Policy

In line with global academic guidelines regarding emerging technologies, the journal establishes the following rules concerning generative AI (e.g., LLMs such as ChatGPT):

Authorship Criteria: AI tools and LLMs do not qualify for authorship under any circumstances, as they cannot assume legal or ethical accountability for scholarly integrity.

Disclosure Requirements: Authors are fully accountable for the validity and factual accuracy of their work. If AI tools are used for language enhancement, code generation, or data analysis assistance, authors must explicitly disclose this in a dedicated section titled "Declaration of Generative AI Use".

Reviewers and Editors: Reviewers and editors are strictly prohibited from uploading unpublished manuscripts or abstracts into public generative AI systems to safeguard copyright and intellectual property confidentiality.