Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The International Journal of Non-Profit Sector Empowerment adheres to the recommendations by COPE (Committee On Publication Ethics) standards for the ethics of scientific publications. This means that, in order to publish in the journal, the Editorial Board expects authors to adhere to the standards for authors. In summary:

Authors:

- The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.

- Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

- Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.

- Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere.

- Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.

- The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.

- Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed.

Editors:

Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit (importance, originality, study's validity, clarity) and its relevance to the journal's scope, without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. Decisions to edit and publish are not determined by the policies of governments or any other agencies outside of the journal itself. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content. An editor may not use unpublished information in the editor’s own research without the express written consent of the unpublished author.

Editors (in conjunction with HAPSc) will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior will be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. If, on investigation, the ethical concern is well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern or another note as may be relevant will be published in the journal. The Editorial Board considers publication malpractice and plagiarism serious offences. Among other, failing to include proper quotations or to give the appropriate credits will cause the automatic rejection of the submitted papers.

Reviewers:

Any manuscript received for review is treated as a confidential document. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review are required to be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviews are expected to be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving their submitted manuscript. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be difficult should notify the editor and excuse themself from the review process. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, and/or other relationships or connections with any of the authors or institutions connected to the manuscript.