This statement, guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, defines the ethical responsibilities of everyone involved in publishing PERDIKAN: Journal of Community Engagement, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. These principles ensure the quality, integrity, transparency, and credibility of research in community engagement, empowerment, community-based research, and sustainable development. PERDIKAN is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and actively works to prevent malpractice and research misconduct.

PERDIKAN AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Reporting Standards

1. Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to PERDIKAN: Journal of Community Engagement are based on genuine community engagement activities and community-based research. All findings and conclusions must be accurate and supported by reliable evidence.
2. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, and integrity of all data, information, and results in their manuscripts. Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of data in any form is strictly prohibited.
3. Authors must confirm that the manuscript is original, has not been published before, and is not under consideration elsewhere during the review process.
4. Authors must properly acknowledge and cite all sources that significantly influenced their work, including published and unpublished materials, institutional documents, and personal communications, following the journal’s citation guidelines.
5. Authors must ensure that all listed authors have made substantial contributions to the work and have approved the final manuscript before submission.
6. Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could create a conflict of interest regarding the submitted work.
7. If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they must promptly notify the editor and cooperate to correct or retract the publication as needed.

Originality and Plagiarism

1. Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original and free from plagiarism.
2. When using the ideas, data, methods, words, or intellectual contributions of others, authors must provide proper acknowledgment through citation, quotation, or referencing.
3. Plagiarism in any form, including direct copying, paraphrasing without attribution, self-plagiarism, and duplicate publication, is unethical and strictly prohibited. Authors must also comply with the journal’s policy on the responsible and transparent use of artificial intelligence tools.
4. All manuscripts submitted to PERDIKAN may be screened for plagiarism using plagiarism-detection software. Manuscripts with substantial plagiarism or unethical textual overlap may be rejected, returned for revision, or retracted after publication.
5. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted materials—including figures, tables, photographs, and other third-party content—when required.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

1. Authors must not submit the same manuscript, or manuscripts describing substantially the same community engagement activities, data, findings, or analyses, to more than one journal or publication at the same time.
2. Manuscripts submitted to PERDIKAN must not have been previously published, in whole or in substantial part, in any other publication.
3. Authors must promptly inform the editor if a submitted or published manuscript may significantly overlap with another publication and must cooperate with the editorial team to resolve any concerns about duplicate or redundant publication.
4. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in manuscript rejection, withdrawal, retraction, or other corrective actions by the editorial board.

Authorship of the Paper

1. Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the community engagement activities or scholarly work described in the manuscript.
2. Individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of the work must be appropriately recognized as authors, subject to their participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approval of the final version.
3. All authors must have approved the final manuscript before submission and agree to be accountable for the work.
4. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are appropriately recognized and that no inappropriate individuals are listed as authors.
5. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria—such as those providing technical assistance, administrative support, or general supervision—should be appropriately acknowledged in the acknowledgments section with their permission.
6. Any changes to authorship—including additions, removals, or rearrangements after submission—must be approved by all authors and justified to the editor in writing.
7. The journal does not accept guest, honorary, gift, or ghost authorship. These practices are unethical and may result in the manuscript being rejected or retracted.

Data Access and Retention

1. Editors may request authors to provide original data, supporting documents, or other materials related to the manuscript for editorial assessment, verification, or research integrity investigations.
2. When research involves human participants, personal information, or sensitive community data, authors must ensure that data sharing and retention comply with ethical standards, informed consent agreements, and applicable data protection regulations.
3. Authors should clearly indicate any restrictions on data availability and explain when data cannot be shared due to confidentiality, privacy, legal, or ethical reasons.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

1. Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, or other relationships that could influence the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, or reporting of the work.
2. Any potential conflict of interest that may affect the objectivity, integrity, or credibility of the manuscript must be clearly declared.
3. Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest or sources of funding may lead to editorial action, including rejection, correction, or retraction of the article.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

1. If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate to correct or retract the paper.
2. If the editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, the author must promptly cooperate with the journal to correct or retract the paper or provide evidence supporting the accuracy of the original work.

Research Involving Human Participants

1. When reporting community engagement-based research involving human participants, authors must declare that the study was conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards and best practices. Authors must provide an appropriate informed consent statement consistent with the nature of the study and the requirements of the relevant ethics committee.
2. For non-interventional research, such as surveys, questionnaires, and social media studies, participants must be adequately informed, and anonymity must be guaranteed. Authors must obtain ethical approval or an official exemption from an appropriate ethics committee before conducting research involving human participants, where required by applicable institutional, national, or international regulations.
3. For studies involving vulnerable groups, additional ethical safeguards may be required. The editorial office may review submitted manuscripts for ethical compliance, and authors may be asked to provide supporting documentation upon request.

PERDIKAN EDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Fair Play

1. Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts solely on scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigor, relevance to the journal’s scope, and contribution to the fields of community engagement and development.
2. Editorial decisions are made without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, religion, political affiliation, institution, citizenship, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic of the authors.
3. Editors may accept, reject, or request revisions to a manuscript based on peer reviewer recommendations, manuscript quality, and suitability for publication in PERDIKAN: Journal of Community Engagement.
4. Editors are committed to a fair, impartial, and objective review process, treating all manuscripts equally regardless of the authors’ background, position, or reputation.
5. Editorial decisions are based exclusively on academic and ethical considerations, without influence from commercial interests, personal relationships, or external pressures.
6. Editors will take reasonable measures to ensure that all manuscripts undergo proper and unbiased evaluation according to the journal’s editorial policies and publication ethics.

Confidentiality

1. Editors and editorial staff must keep all submitted manuscripts confidential and may only share information with the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisors, and the publisher as necessary for the editorial process.
2. Editors must ensure that manuscripts are secure and that the identities of reviewers and authors are protected according to the journal’s peer-review policy.
3. Unpublished materials or data from a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors or editorial staff in their own work without the authors’ express permission.
4. Information obtained through submission, review, and editorial processes must be treated as confidential and may not be used for personal benefit or any other purpose without the authors’ explicit written consent.
5. Confidentiality obligations continue after a manuscript has been rejected, withdrawn, or published, except where disclosure is required by law, ethical investigations, or publication misconduct inquiries.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

1. Editors must avoid any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest in the editorial decision-making process. They must recuse themselves from handling or deciding on manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists due to competitive, collaborative, institutional, financial, professional, or personal relationships.
2. Any conflicts of interest identified during the editorial process must be disclosed and managed to preserve the integrity, transparency, and credibility of the journal.

PERDIKAN REVIEWERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

1. The peer-review process supports fair, objective, and informed editorial decisions regarding manuscript publication. Reviewers are responsible for providing constructive, evidence-based, and professional feedback that helps improve the quality and value of manuscripts before publication. Reviewers must provide objective evaluations and clear recommendations based on the manuscript’s originality, methodological soundness, ethical standards, relevance, and contribution to the fields of community engagement and community development.
2. Reviewers should promptly notify the editor if they identify substantial similarities or overlap between the manuscript under review and other published or submitted works. Any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, unethical research practices, or other forms of publication misconduct discovered during the review process must be immediately reported to the editor.
3. Comments and recommendations should be delivered in a respectful, constructive, and professional manner, avoiding personal criticism of the authors.

Promptness

1. Any reviewer invited by PERDIKAN who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or knows that a prompt review is not possible, must promptly notify the editors and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

1. All manuscripts received for review by PERDIKAN reviewers must be treated as strictly confidential documents.
2. Reviewers may not show, share, or discuss the manuscript or its contents with anyone, including through the use of artificial intelligence tools or platforms, except as explicitly authorized by the editor. This obligation to maintain confidentiality applies both during and after the review process and helps preserve the integrity and trust of PERDIKAN’s peer-review system.

Standards of Objectivity

1. Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is not acceptable. Reviewers should express their views clearly, with supporting rationale and evidence.
2. Reviewers must not use artificial intelligence tools or platforms to assist with any part of the review process, as this may compromise confidentiality and objectivity.

Acknowledgement of Sources

1. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited in the manuscript and ensure that any statement claiming prior observation, derivation, or argument is supported by an appropriate citation.
2. Reviewers must also alert the editor to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and any other published work of which they are aware.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

1. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage.
2. Reviewers should recuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, financial, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the manuscript.
3. Reviewers must also avoid using any information, data, or content from the manuscript—either directly or with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools—for any personal, professional, or research benefit.

PUBLISHERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

PERDIKAN: Journal of Community Engagement is committed to ensuring that commercial interests have no impact on or influence on editorial decisions. PERDIKAN will assist in communications with other journals when useful to authors and will work closely with all relevant divisions to establish standards for best practices in ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The journal is also prepared to provide specialized legal review and counsel if necessary.