1. Introduction

The Journal of Information System and Artificial Intelligence (JISAI) is a peer-reviewed and open-access scientific journal published by the Information Systems Study Program, Faculty of Information Technology, Universitas Mercu Buana Yogyakarta.

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement establishes the ethical standards expected from all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, editorial board members, reviewers, and the publisher.

This policy has been developed with reference to the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). JISAI is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, fairness, confidentiality, accountability, and high academic standards throughout the editorial and publication processes.

Editorial decisions shall be based solely on the scientific quality, originality, relevance, methodological validity, and contribution of the manuscript. Commercial interests, personal relationships, institutional affiliations, nationality, gender, religion, ethnicity, political views, or other personal characteristics shall not influence editorial decisions.

2. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

2.1 Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding whether a submitted manuscript should be accepted, revised, rejected, or withdrawn from the editorial process.

Editorial decisions shall be based on:

1. conformity with the journal’s focus and scope;
2. originality and scientific contribution;
3. methodological validity;
4. clarity and quality of presentation;
5. compliance with publication ethics;
6. recommendations provided by independent reviewers; and
7. the author’s response to editorial and reviewer comments.

The Editor-in-Chief may consult associate editors, section editors, reviewers, or the publisher before making a final decision.

2.2 Fair and Impartial Evaluation

Editors shall evaluate manuscripts solely on their academic and scientific merit without discrimination based on the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, institutional affiliation, disability, or political beliefs.

2.3 Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff shall maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts.

Information concerning a manuscript may only be disclosed to:

• the corresponding author;
• co-authors, where necessary;
• assigned reviewers;
• prospective reviewers;
• editorial board members involved in the decision;
• the publisher; or
• relevant institutions investigating suspected research misconduct.

Editors shall not upload an unpublished manuscript, review report, or confidential editorial document to an external generative artificial intelligence system that does not provide adequate confidentiality and data protection.

2.4 Conflict of Interest

Editors must disclose and avoid any conflict of interest involving the manuscript, authors, institutions, funding bodies, or research projects.

An editor shall not handle a manuscript when the editor:

• is an author or co-author of the manuscript;
• has a recent research collaboration with an author;
• works in the same department or institution as an author;
• has a personal, financial, professional, or competitive relationship with an author; or
• may receive direct benefit from the publication or rejection of the manuscript.

The manuscript shall be assigned to another qualified editor when a conflict of interest exists.

2.5 Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions shall remain independent from commercial, institutional, political, or personal influence. Advertising, sponsorship, publication fees, or other sources of revenue shall not affect editorial decisions.

2.6 Handling Suspected Misconduct

Editors shall take reasonable action when they receive credible evidence of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship manipulation, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflict of interest, unethical research, peer-review manipulation, or other publication misconduct.

Editors shall not automatically reject or retract an article solely on the basis of an allegation. Each case shall be evaluated fairly, confidentially, and objectively.

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

3.1 Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists editors in evaluating the quality, originality, validity, relevance, and scientific contribution of submitted manuscripts. Reviewer comments should also help authors improve their manuscripts.

JISAI applies a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of the authors and reviewers are concealed from each other.

3.2 Reviewer Competence and Promptness

A reviewer should only accept an invitation when the manuscript is within the reviewer’s area of expertise and the review can be completed within the specified period.

A reviewer who is unable to complete the review promptly or does not possess sufficient expertise shall notify the editor and decline the assignment.

3.3 Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not:

• share the manuscript with another person;
• use unpublished data or ideas for personal research;
• contact the authors directly;
• distribute review materials;
• disclose the content of the manuscript; or
• upload the manuscript to an external generative AI platform without editorial permission and appropriate confidentiality protection.

3.4 Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively, professionally, and constructively.

Reviewers should:

• identify the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript;
• provide clear and evidence-based comments;
• evaluate the appropriateness of the research method;
• assess whether the conclusions are supported by the results;
• identify relevant literature that has not been cited; and
• provide specific recommendations for improvement.

Personal criticism, insulting language, discriminatory statements, and unsupported accusations are unacceptable.

3.5 Identification of Ethical Problems

Reviewers should inform the editor when they identify:

• substantial similarity with another publication;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• potential fabrication or falsification;
• inappropriate image or data manipulation;
• missing ethical approval;
• undisclosed conflict of interest;
• citation manipulation; or
• other suspected publication misconduct.

3.6 Reviewer Conflict of Interest

Reviewers must decline an assignment when they have a financial, institutional, professional, collaborative, competitive, or personal conflict of interest involving the authors or the research.

 

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

4.1 Reporting Standards

Authors must present an accurate, complete, objective, and transparent account of the research conducted.

The manuscript must contain sufficient information concerning:

• research background;
• research objectives;
• research methods;
• data collection;
• data analysis;
• results;
• limitations;
• discussion;
• conclusions; and
• references.

Fabricated, falsified, manipulated, misleading, or knowingly inaccurate information constitutes unethical conduct and is unacceptable.

4.2 Originality

Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript is an original work.

Ideas, data, tables, figures, methods, statements, software, instruments, or words taken from another source must be properly acknowledged and cited.

Verbatim text must be presented as a quotation where appropriate and accompanied by a proper citation. Paraphrasing another author’s work without acknowledgment is also considered plagiarism.

4.3 Plagiarism Screening

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using recognised similarity-detection software.

JISAI generally requires an overall similarity level of no more than 15%, excluding the reference list, standard declarations, and other elements approved by the editor.

However, similarity percentages are not the only basis for determining plagiarism. Editors shall examine the location, context, source, and nature of the similarity. A manuscript may be rejected even when the similarity score is below 15% if substantial plagiarism is identified.

4.4 Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

Authors must not publish substantially identical research in more than one journal without appropriate disclosure, justification, and permission.

The following practices are prohibited:

• duplicate submission;
• duplicate publication;
• redundant publication;
• undisclosed translation of a previously published article;
• fragmentation of one study into several minimally different articles, commonly referred to as salami publication; and
• resubmission of previously published data as new research without proper citation and explanation.

4.5 Acknowledgment of Sources

Authors must appropriately cite all sources that influenced the research.

Authors must not:

• include references that have not been read or used;
• cite unrelated sources to increase citation counts;
• participate in coercive citation;
• excessively cite their own publications without scientific justification; or
• manipulate citations for personal, institutional, journal, or reviewer benefit.

5. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship shall be limited to persons who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript.

An author should have contributed significantly to one or more of the following:

1. conception or design of the study;
2. data collection;
3. data processing or analysis;
4. interpretation of the findings;
5. development of software or research instruments;
6. drafting the manuscript;
7. critical revision of the manuscript; and
8. approval of the final version.

All authors must:

• approve the submitted manuscript;
• accept responsibility for their contributions;
• agree to the order of authorship;
• approve the final version;
• provide complete and accurate metadata in OJS; and
• agree to the submission and publication of the article.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are listed and that no guest, gift, honorary, or ghost authors are included.

Contributors who do not satisfy the authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section after obtaining their permission.

6. Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, replace, or reorder authors must be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief.

The request must contain:

• a clear justification for the proposed change;
• the original authorship arrangement;
• the proposed authorship arrangement;
• an explanation of each author’s contribution; and
• written approval from all existing and proposed authors.

Authorship changes shall not be processed without the written agreement of all affected authors.

Requests submitted after acceptance shall be evaluated more strictly. Changes after publication will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and, when approved, shall be documented through a formal correction notice linked to the original article.

Authorship disputes that cannot be resolved by the journal may be referred to the authors’ institution because the journal is not authorised to determine legal or institutional ownership of authorship.

7. Fabrication, Falsification, and Data Manipulation

Authors must not fabricate, falsify, omit, alter, or manipulate data in a manner that misrepresents the research.

Prohibited practices include:

• creating data that were never collected;
• changing data to support a desired conclusion;
• omitting unfavourable observations without scientific justification;
• manipulating statistical results;
• presenting synthetic data as real data without disclosure;
• altering dates, locations, participant numbers, or experimental conditions;
• manipulating images in a misleading manner; and
• presenting unverifiable results as factual findings.

Editors may request raw data, research instruments, software code, documentation, laboratory records, or other supporting evidence when concerns arise.

8. Image, Figure, and Multimedia Integrity

Adjustments to figures or images are permitted only when they improve clarity without altering the meaning or interpretation of the data.

Authors must not:

• add or remove relevant objects;
• combine images from different experiments without disclosure;
• selectively enhance portions of an image;
• duplicate an image and present it as a separate result;
• alter contrast or brightness to conceal information; or
• reuse published images without proper attribution and permission.

Composite figures must be clearly identified, and all modifications must be described in the manuscript where relevant.

 

9. Conflicts of Interest and Funding Disclosure

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any relationship or interest that may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the research or editorial decision.

Potential conflicts include:

• research funding;
• employment;
• consultancy;
• share ownership;
• honoraria;
• patents;
• paid expert testimony;
• personal relationships;
• academic competition;
• institutional relationships; and
• political or ideological interests.

Authors must disclose all sources of financial and material support and explain the role of the funder in:

• research design;
• data collection;
• data analysis;
• interpretation;
• manuscript preparation; and
• the decision to publish.

When no conflict exists, authors should include the following declaration:

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

10. Research Involving Humans or Animals

Research involving human participants, personal data, clinical information, biological materials, or animals must comply with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and national regulations.

Where required, authors must provide:

• the name of the research ethics committee;
• ethical approval number;
• approval date;
• informed-consent statement;
• procedures for protecting participant confidentiality; and
• permission to publish identifiable information.

Information that can identify a participant must not be published without explicit written consent.

Research involving animals must explain the ethical approval, welfare procedures, housing, treatment, and measures taken to minimise harm.

11. Data Access, Retention, and Availability

Authors are responsible for preserving the data supporting their research findings.

Authors should retain research data and relevant documentation for a reasonable period after publication, subject to institutional, legal, ethical, contractual, and privacy requirements.

Editors may request authors to provide:

• anonymised raw data;
• coding sheets;
• questionnaires;
• interview protocols;
• statistical outputs;
• computer code;
• model configurations;
• research instruments; or
• other supporting documentation.

Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to deposit data and code in a trusted repository and include a Data Availability Statement in the manuscript.

Example:

Data Availability Statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

When data cannot be shared, the manuscript should explain the reason, such as participant privacy, ethical restrictions, confidentiality agreements, or intellectual-property limitations.

12. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Artificial intelligence tools, including generative AI and large language models, cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and ethical compliance of a manuscript.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to JISAI.

Authors who use AI tools in preparing a manuscript must disclose:

• the name and version of the tool;
• the purpose for which it was used;
• the part of the manuscript affected; and
• the steps taken to verify the output.

AI tools may be used for language improvement, coding assistance, data analysis, visualisation, or other research-related purposes when their use is transparent, lawful, methodologically appropriate, and verifiable.

Authors must not use AI to:

• fabricate references;
• generate false data;
• manipulate images deceptively;
• conceal plagiarism;
• create misleading findings;
• replace necessary expert judgment; or
• violate confidentiality, privacy, or intellectual-property rights.

Where AI contributes materially to the research method, its use must be explained in the methodology section.

13. Errors in Published Articles

Authors who discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article must promptly notify the journal.

The author must cooperate with the editor in determining whether the article requires:

• a minor correction;
• an author correction;
• an editorial correction;
• an expression of concern;
• an article replacement; or
• a retraction.

The journal may also initiate post-publication action when an error is identified by a reader, reviewer, editor, institution, publisher, or other party.

 

14. Corrections

A correction may be published when an error:

• does not invalidate the principal findings;
• does not constitute misconduct requiring retraction;
• affects the accuracy, clarity, metadata, authorship, affiliation, table, figure, or interpretation of part of the article; or
• requires a transparent update to the scholarly record.

The correction notice shall:

• clearly identify the original article;
• explain what has been corrected;
• be linked to the original article;
• be freely accessible; and
• indicate the date of correction.

The original article shall remain accessible, with a clear notice linking it to the correction.

 

15. Retractions

An article may be retracted when there is reliable evidence that:

• the findings are unreliable because of major error, fabrication, or falsification;
• substantial plagiarism has occurred;
• the article has been published elsewhere without proper disclosure;
• the article reports unethical research;
• the peer-review process was manipulated;
• authorship was fraudulently represented;
• copyright or legal rights were seriously violated; or
• the integrity of the article cannot be maintained.

A retraction notice shall:

• identify the retracted article;
• explain the reason for retraction;
• identify the party requesting the retraction where appropriate;
• be objective and non-defamatory;
• be linked to the original article;
• remain permanently accessible; and
• clearly mark the article as retracted.

Retracted articles shall not normally be deleted from the journal website. They shall remain part of the scholarly record with a visible retraction label, except when removal is required by law, court order, privacy protection, or serious public-safety considerations.

16. Expression of Concern

The editor may publish an expression of concern when:

• credible concerns have been raised;
• an institutional investigation is incomplete;
• evidence is inconclusive;
• the investigation is significantly delayed; or
• immediate notification to readers is necessary.

An expression of concern is not a final finding of misconduct. It is intended to alert readers while further investigation is conducted.

17. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other parties may submit complaints concerning:

• editorial procedures;
• reviewer conduct;
• publication delays;
• conflicts of interest;
• ethical violations;
• correction or retraction decisions;
• discrimination;
• confidentiality breaches; or
• other aspects of journal management.

An author may appeal an editorial decision by submitting:

1. the manuscript identification number;
2. a clear explanation of the grounds for appeal;
3. responses to the editor’s and reviewers’ comments; and
4. supporting evidence.

An appeal must address a procedural error, factual misunderstanding, or significant scientific issue. Mere disagreement with the editorial decision is not sufficient.

The appeal shall be evaluated by an editor who was not directly involved in the original decision whenever reasonably possible. The outcome of the appeal shall be communicated in writing and shall normally be considered final.

18. Procedure for Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Reports of suspected misconduct should be submitted in writing and supported by relevant evidence.

The journal will normally follow these steps:

1. acknowledge receipt of the allegation;
2. conduct a preliminary assessment;
3. determine whether the allegation falls within the journal’s authority;
4. preserve the confidentiality of the parties involved;
5. inform the corresponding author or relevant party when appropriate;
6. request an explanation and supporting documentation;
7. consult reviewers, editorial board members, the publisher, or independent experts when necessary;
8. contact the relevant institution or funding body when an institutional investigation is required;
9. evaluate the available evidence fairly;
10. make an editorial decision; and
11. publish a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other notice where necessary.

Anonymous allegations may be considered when they contain specific and verifiable evidence.

The journal shall distinguish allegations from proven misconduct and shall avoid defamatory language. Persons involved in an investigation shall be given a reasonable opportunity to respond.

19. Publisher Responsibilities

The publisher supports editorial independence and is responsible for maintaining the journal’s publication infrastructure, accessibility, security, and long-term scholarly record.

The publisher shall:

• protect editorial independence;
• support investigations of ethical concerns;
• maintain access to published articles;
• support correction and retraction procedures;
• prevent commercial influence on editorial decisions;
• maintain appropriate digital security;
• preserve publication records; and
• cooperate with institutions, indexing services, DOI registration agencies, and other journals when required.

20. Policy Review

This policy shall be reviewed periodically to ensure conformity with current ethical standards, technological developments, legal requirements, and recognised good practices in scholarly publishing.

Substantial amendments shall be identified by updating the Last updated date displayed at the beginning of this page.

 

21. Contact for Publication Ethics Concerns

Questions, complaints, appeals, suspected ethical violations, and requests for correction or retraction should be submitted to:

Editorial Office of JISAI
Journal of Information System and Artificial Intelligence
Information Systems Study Program
Faculty of Information Technology
Universitas Mercu Buana Yogyakarta

Email: jisai@mercubuana-yogya.ac.id

The email address and institutional contact above correspond to the contact information currently displayed on the JISAI website.