Publication Ethics

The Editorial Board is responsible for deciding which manuscripts should be published and for preventing publication malpractice. Unethical behavior is unacceptable, and CEEJ does not tolerate plagiarism or other forms of publication misconduct.

1. Editors' Responsibilities

Publication Decisions. Editors are accountable for the content published in their journals and should consider the needs of readers and authors. Decisions to accept or reject manuscripts must be based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, relevance, and the reviewers' assessments.

Initial Assessment of Manuscripts. Editors must ensure that each submitted manuscript receives an initial assessment. Appropriate tools may be used to examine originality and determine whether the manuscript meets the journal's scope and publication standards.

Fair and Unbiased Review. Editors must ensure that peer review is fair, impartial, and timely. Manuscripts must be evaluated on their intellectual and scholarly merit, without discrimination based on the authors' sex, gender, race, religion, nationality, or other personal characteristics.

Confidentiality. Editors and editorial staff must not disclose information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than authorized individuals involved in the editorial and publication process, including the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest. Editors must manage potential conflicts of interest appropriately and require reviewers to disclose any competing interests before accepting a review assignment. Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for their own research without appropriate authorization.

2. Authors' Responsibilities

Reporting Standards. Authors must present their work accurately, clearly, and objectively. Manuscripts must follow the journal's author guidelines and provide sufficient information to support the reported findings.

Originality. Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original and properly acknowledge the work of others. Plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, and other forms of research misconduct are unacceptable.

Redundant or Duplicate Submission. Authors must not submit the same manuscript, or substantially similar manuscripts, to more than one journal simultaneously. Duplicate publication and concurrent submissions are considered unethical publication practices.

Acknowledgment of Sources. Authors must appropriately acknowledge all data sources, ideas, and publications that have contributed to their work. All sources must be cited accurately and consistently.

Authorship. Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, implementation, or interpretation of the study. All qualifying contributors must be listed as authors. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission.

Data Access and Retention. Authors should retain the research data underlying their manuscripts and provide access to relevant data for editorial assessment when reasonably requested, subject to applicable ethical, legal, and confidentiality requirements.

Errors in Published Work. If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in a submitted or published manuscript, they must promptly notify the editor and cooperate in correcting or retracting the article, as appropriate.

3. Reviewers' Responsibilities

Confidentiality. Reviewers must treat all manuscripts received for review as confidential documents. They must not share, reproduce, or use unpublished manuscript content for personal advantage without the editor's authorization.

Acknowledgment of Sources. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. They must notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and other published or submitted work of which they are aware.

Objectivity. Reviews must be conducted objectively and professionally. Reviewers should provide clear, evidence-based comments to support their assessments. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate.

Promptness. Reviewers must respond promptly to review invitations. If they cannot complete a review within the specified timeframe or lack the necessary expertise, they should inform the editor as soon as possible.

Conflicts of Interest. Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest involving the manuscript, its authors, or its funding sources. They should decline the review assignment when such conflicts could compromise their impartiality.

4. Manuscript Withdrawal and Post-Publication Changes

Manuscript withdrawal is strongly discouraged because it may waste the time and resources invested by authors, reviewers, and the publisher. Withdrawal requests will be considered only for compelling and justified reasons, subject to the following provisions:

1. Withdrawal is permitted only for compelling and unavoidable reasons. Acceptance by another journal is not, by itself, an acceptable justification for withdrawing a manuscript that remains under consideration by CEEJ.
2. Authors must submit a formal withdrawal request to the Editorial Office, signed by all authors, explaining the reasons for the request.
3. If the review process has exceeded six months, authors may request withdrawal without a withdrawal penalty.
4. Under the journal's stated policy, withdrawal of a manuscript that is still undergoing peer review incurs a penalty of IDR 250,000 per manuscript.
5. Under the journal's stated policy, withdrawal of a manuscript that has already been accepted for publication incurs a penalty of IDR 500,000 per manuscript.
6. Authors must not consider a manuscript withdrawn until they receive formal confirmation from the Editorial Office.

Requests to correct, retract, or otherwise modify a published article will be evaluated by the Editorial Board in accordance with publication ethics principles and the applicable journal policies.

5. Penalties for Publication Misconduct

Duplicate or Simultaneous Submission

If duplicate or simultaneous submission is suspected, the Editorial Board will investigate the case and provide the authors with an opportunity to clarify the circumstances. If intentional duplicate submission is confirmed, the following actions may be taken:

• The editorial and peer-review processes for the manuscript will be terminated.
• The decision and its reasons will be communicated to the relevant authors and, where appropriate, the reviewers and editorial board members.
• All authors involved may be prohibited from submitting manuscripts to the Community Education Engagement Journal (CEEJ) for a period of two years, subject to the journal's investigation and decision.