Education & Social Sciences

1.1 Editorial Independence

IJESS maintains editorial independence in the evaluation and publication of scholarly work. Editorial decisions are based on academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, and contribution to the journal's scope rather than commercial, personal, institutional, or political considerations.

1.2 Initial Manuscript Assessment

All submitted manuscripts are subject to an initial editorial assessment. The editorial team considers the manuscript's relevance to the journal's scope, originality, basic academic quality, ethical requirements, and compliance with submission guidelines.

Manuscripts that do not meet essential requirements may be returned to authors or declined before peer review.

1.3 Peer Review and Decisions

Manuscripts considered suitable may be sent for peer review in accordance with the journal's peer-review procedures. Editorial decisions may include acceptance, revision, or rejection.

Editors may request revisions when additional clarification, methodological explanation, restructuring, or correction is necessary.

1.4 Fair and Non-Discriminatory Treatment

IJESS evaluates manuscripts without discrimination based on nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, institutional affiliation, academic position, or other personal characteristics.

1.5 Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, author correspondence, and other unpublished information. Such information must not be used for personal or professional advantage.

1.6 Editorial Conflicts

Editors must disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest. Where an editor has a personal, professional, financial, or institutional relationship with an author or manuscript, another qualified editor may be assigned where appropriate.

2.1 Definition of Plagiarism

IJESS considers plagiarism to be the presentation of another person's words, ideas, data, arguments, images, or intellectual contributions as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment.

Plagiarism may occur through direct copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, inadequate citation, or the reuse of substantial previously published material without proper disclosure.

2.2 Similarity Screening

Submitted manuscripts may be examined using appropriate similarity-detection tools. Similarity reports are considered as part of the editorial assessment and are not, by themselves, proof of plagiarism.

Editors may examine the context, source, amount, and nature of the identified material before determining whether further action is necessary.

2.3 Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are original and that all sources are appropriately acknowledged. Quotations, paraphrased material, data, figures, and ideas obtained from other sources must be properly cited.

2.4 Duplicate and Self-Plagiarism

Submitting substantially identical work to multiple journals simultaneously is not acceptable. Reuse of an author's previously published material must be appropriately identified and justified.

Where previously published material is reused without appropriate acknowledgment or permission, the journal may consider the matter under its publication-integrity procedures.

2.5 Action in Cases of Plagiarism

Where substantial plagiarism or other serious originality concerns are identified before publication, the manuscript may be rejected.

If significant plagiarism is discovered after publication, IJESS may take appropriate action, including correction, retraction, or publication of an editorial notice, depending on the circumstances.

3.1 Ethical Conduct of Research

IJESS expects all research published in the journal to be conducted responsibly, honestly, and in accordance with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and relevant laws and regulations.

3.2 Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants should receive appropriate ethical review or institutional approval where required. Researchers must respect participants' dignity, rights, safety, confidentiality, and privacy.

Where informed consent is required, it should be obtained before participation and documented appropriately.

3.3 Vulnerable Participants

Researchers involving children, individuals with limited decision-making capacity, or other potentially vulnerable groups should apply additional safeguards appropriate to the research context.

3.4 Data Integrity

Authors must report research findings accurately. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation of data, inappropriate alteration of results, or deliberate misrepresentation of research findings is unacceptable.

Authors should retain appropriate research records and supporting documentation and should be able to provide clarification when legitimate questions concerning the research arise.

3.5 Ethical Approval and Disclosure

Where applicable, manuscripts should identify the relevant ethics committee or institutional review process and provide approval information. Authors should also disclose relevant consent procedures and other ethical safeguards.

The editorial team may request additional information where concerns regarding research ethics arise.

4.1 Permitted Use of AI

IJESS recognizes that artificial intelligence and generative AI tools may be used to assist with activities such as language improvement, translation, formatting, coding, or other appropriate research-support tasks.

The use of AI must not compromise academic integrity, originality, confidentiality, or research quality.

4.2 Author Responsibility

Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscripts, regardless of whether AI tools were used during preparation.

Authors must carefully verify AI-assisted content, particularly factual claims, references, quotations, calculations, and interpretations.

4.3 Prohibited Uses

AI tools must not be used to fabricate or manipulate research data, create false references, manufacture evidence, misrepresent research findings, or produce deceptive academic content.

Authors should not rely on AI-generated information without appropriate verification.

4.4 AI and Authorship

AI systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot accept responsibility for research, disclose conflicts of interest, approve the final manuscript, or participate in scholarly accountability.

Only individuals who meet the journal's authorship requirements may be identified as authors.

4.5 Disclosure of AI Use

Where generative AI has made a substantive contribution to the preparation of a manuscript, authors should disclose its use appropriately. Routine spelling, grammar, or formatting assistance may not require extensive disclosure unless otherwise requested by the journal.

4.6 AI Use by Reviewers and Editors

Reviewers and editors must protect the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts. Confidential manuscript material should not be entered into external AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, or author rights.

5.1 Information Collected

IJESS may collect information necessary to operate its editorial and publishing activities, including names, email addresses, institutional affiliations, professional information, manuscript details, reviewer information, and correspondence.

5.2 Purpose of Information Use

Personal information is used for legitimate journal-related purposes, including manuscript submission, peer review, editorial communication, publication administration, and responding to inquiries.

5.3 Confidentiality and Protection

IJESS takes reasonable measures to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or misuse.

Access to personal information should be limited to individuals who require it for legitimate editorial, administrative, technical, or publishing purposes.

5.4 Disclosure to Third Parties

Personal information is not intentionally disclosed to unauthorized third parties except where disclosure is necessary for legitimate journal operations, required by applicable law, or necessary to address serious ethical or legal concerns.

5.5 Manuscript and Reviewer Confidentiality

Submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and unpublished research information are treated as confidential and should not be disclosed without appropriate authorization.

5.6 User Responsibility

Users should avoid providing unnecessary sensitive personal information through the journal website, submission system, or correspondence.

6.1 Withdrawal Before Publication

Authors may request withdrawal of a manuscript before publication by contacting the editorial office. The request should normally be made by the corresponding author and should provide a reasonable explanation.

6.2 Withdrawal During Peer Review

Authors may request withdrawal while a manuscript is under review. However, where substantial editorial or peer-review work has already been undertaken, the editorial team may review the circumstances before confirming the withdrawal.

6.3 Withdrawal Due to Ethical Concerns

IJESS may withdraw a manuscript when significant concerns arise concerning plagiarism, duplicate submission, fabricated or falsified data, authorship disputes, ethical approval, legal issues, or other serious publication-integrity matters.

6.4 Withdrawal After Acceptance

A request to withdraw an accepted manuscript may receive additional editorial consideration because the manuscript may already have entered production or publication processes.

6.5 Published Articles

A formally published article is normally not treated as an ordinary withdrawal. If a serious problem is identified after publication, the journal may use an appropriate post-publication mechanism, such as a correction, retraction, or expression of concern.

7.1 Commitment to Publication Integrity

IJESS is committed to promoting honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, and responsible conduct throughout the publication process.

All participants in scholarly publishing are expected to act professionally and to raise legitimate concerns when research or publication misconduct is suspected.

7.2 Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must submit original work, accurately report their research, properly acknowledge sources, disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and ensure that all listed authors have made appropriate contributions.

Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals.

7.3 Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers should provide objective, constructive, and confidential assessments. They should disclose conflicts of interest and should not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional benefit.

7.4 Responsibilities of Editors

Editors should make fair and evidence-based editorial decisions, protect confidentiality, manage conflicts of interest, and respond appropriately to credible allegations of misconduct.

7.5 Misconduct and Investigations

Potential misconduct may include plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, manipulation of the peer-review process, or undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Where credible concerns arise, IJESS may conduct an appropriate editorial inquiry and may request explanations or supporting documentation from the authors or relevant parties.

7.6 Post-Publication Integrity

When a published article is found to contain a significant error or integrity concern, IJESS may issue a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other appropriate notice depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue.

8.1 Definition

A conflict of interest exists when personal, professional, financial, academic, institutional, or other relationships could influence—or reasonably appear to influence—an individual's judgment concerning a manuscript.

8.2 Authors

Authors should disclose relevant actual or potential conflicts of interest at the time of submission. Such conflicts may include financial relationships, employment, consultancy, personal relationships, institutional interests, or other relevant circumstances.

8.3 Editors

Editors must identify and appropriately manage conflicts of interest. An editor with a significant conflict concerning a manuscript should not participate in its evaluation or final editorial decision where alternative arrangements are possible.

8.4 Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any relationship or circumstance that could interfere with impartial evaluation. Where a significant conflict exists, the reviewer should decline the assignment.

8.5 Disclosure Does Not Automatically Prevent Publication

The existence of a conflict does not necessarily mean that a manuscript cannot be considered for publication. Disclosure allows the journal to assess and manage the situation transparently.

8.6 Undisclosed Conflicts

If a relevant conflict is identified after publication, IJESS may assess the circumstances and, where appropriate, publish a correction, disclosure statement, or other editorial notice.

IJESS expects all authors, reviewers, editors, and publishing partners to contribute to a scholarly environment founded on academic integrity, transparency, fairness, confidentiality, responsible research, and respect for intellectual contributions.

These policies may be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, research practices, technology, ethical expectations, and applicable requirements.