IJTIMES, published by KG Publication, is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal aligns its practices with the Core Practices and Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and with the Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
📋 1. Authorship and Contributorship
The journal applies ICMJE authorship criteria and the CRediT contributorship taxonomy. Full details, including the prohibition of ghost, gift, and guest authorship, the requirement for all authors to approve the submitted manuscript, and the procedure for authorship changes during review, are on the Authorship and Contributorship page.
⛔ 2. Conflicts of Interest
All authors, reviewers, and editors must declare any personal, financial, institutional, or intellectual interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence their conduct in relation to a manuscript. Detailed expectations for each role are on the Conflicts of Interest page.
🔎 3. Originality and Similarity Screening
Every submission is reviewed for originality as part of the editorial screening process. Submissions with substantial unattributed similarity to other works are returned to the authors or rejected. The journal applies the COPE flowcharts for suspected plagiarism in a submitted or published manuscript.
Text recycling refers to the reuse of substantial portions of an author's own previously published text without appropriate attribution. Citation manipulation refers to the inclusion of citations that artificially inflate citation metrics. Manuscripts found to contain manipulated citations will be rejected or retracted.
🚫 4. Redundant and Overlapping Publication
IJTIMES does not publish manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere or that are currently under consideration by another journal. Conference papers may be developed into journal submissions only if the journal version includes substantial new content beyond the conference paper; this development must be declared at submission and the prior conference paper must be cited.
📷 5. Data Fabrication, Falsification, and Image Manipulation
The fabrication or falsification of data, results, or images is research misconduct and is grounds for immediate rejection. Where misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal proceeds to retraction in accordance with COPE guidelines. Selective enhancement, deletion, or addition of features within an image is not acceptable.
🤖 6. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools
Authors are required to declare any use of generative AI in the preparation of a manuscript. Full details are on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools by Authors page. Reviewers are required to comply with the confidentiality and disclosure rules on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools by Reviewers page. AI tools cannot be listed as authors under any circumstances.
📊 7. Data Availability and Reproducibility
Authors must include a Data Availability Statement in every manuscript and, where applicable, make analysis code available alongside the data. The journal's full expectations are on the Data Availability and Reproducibility Policy page.
⚖ 8. Ethical Conduct of Research
Research involving human participants must have been reviewed and approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board, and authors must state the approval reference and the date in the manuscript. Research involving animals must comply with relevant national and institutional regulations.
📄 9. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
The journal handles post-publication concerns in line with the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Three forms of notice are used:
- Correction notice (corrigendum or erratum): for honest errors that affect the interpretation or accuracy of the article but do not invalidate its findings.
- Expression of concern: where there is well-founded but inconclusive concern about the integrity or reliability of an article.
- Retraction: where the findings of an article are unreliable due to error, fabrication, falsification, or substantial misconduct.
📢 10. Allegations of Misconduct
Allegations of misconduct concerning a submitted or published manuscript may be raised in confidence with the Editor-in-Chief at editor@ijtimes.com. The journal takes all allegations seriously and applies the relevant COPE flowcharts. Allegations are investigated regardless of the seniority of the parties involved or the time elapsed since publication.
💬 11. Complaints and Appeals
Complaints about editorial process may be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief at editor@ijtimes.com. Complaints that cannot be resolved at editor level may be escalated to COPE.
🏢 12. Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team on the basis of scholarly merit alone. KG Publication has no role in editorial decisions on individual manuscripts. The full statement is on the Editorial Independence page.
This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement is effective from 26 April 2026. The journal reviews this statement annually.