Publication Ethic

The Journal of Soil Science and Environment (Jurnal Ilmu Tanah dan Lingkungan) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics. The journal's publication ethics and editorial practices are guided by the principles and best-practice recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process to uphold the principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality, and respect for intellectual property.

The journal follows relevant COPE Core Practices, guidelines, and flowcharts when addressing ethical issues and publication-related concerns, including allegations of research misconduct, authorship disputes, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, peer-review concerns, corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

Ethical Principles

The Journal of Soil Science and Environment applies the following fundamental principles of ethical scholarly publishing:

  • Integrity — research and publication activities must be conducted honestly and responsibly.

  • Originality — submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly contributions and must not contain plagiarism or inappropriate duplication.

  • Transparency — authors and other participants must disclose relevant information concerning authorship, funding, conflicts of interest, research ethics, and other matters that may affect the integrity of the publication.

  • Accountability — authors, editors, and reviewers are responsible for fulfilling their respective roles in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

  • Fairness and Impartiality — editorial and peer-review decisions must be based on scientific merit, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution to knowledge.

  • Confidentiality — unpublished manuscripts and information obtained during the editorial and peer-review process must be treated confidentially.

  • Respect for Intellectual Property — copyright, appropriate attribution, citation, and other intellectual property rights must be respected.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submitted manuscripts are original, scientifically sound, and ethically conducted.

Authors must:

  1. Present their research accurately and honestly;

  2. Avoid fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and other forms of research misconduct;

  3. Properly acknowledge and cite the work of other researchers;

  4. Ensure that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship requirements;

  5. Provide an accurate CRediT Author Contribution Statement, where applicable;

  6. Disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest;

  7. Declare all relevant sources of funding and research support;

  8. Comply with applicable research ethics requirements;

  9. Obtain appropriate permission for copyrighted third-party material;

  10. Ensure that the manuscript is not simultaneously submitted to another journal;

  11. Cooperate with reasonable editorial investigations concerning research or publication integrity; and

  12. Notify the journal promptly if a significant error is identified in a published article.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the quality, integrity, fairness, and independence of the editorial process.

Editors should:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively and fairly;

  • Base editorial decisions on scientific quality, originality, relevance, and methodological rigor;

  • Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;

  • Select qualified and appropriate peer reviewers;

  • Manage conflicts of interest appropriately;

  • Avoid using unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for personal or professional advantage;

  • Investigate credible allegations of research or publication misconduct;

  • Follow appropriate COPE guidance when handling ethical concerns;

  • Take appropriate corrective action when errors or misconduct are identified; and

  • Maintain the accuracy and integrity of the published scholarly record.

Editors should not discriminate against authors on the basis of nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, ethnicity, religion, political views, or other irrelevant personal characteristics.

Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers are expected to contribute to the integrity and quality of the journal through objective and constructive assessment.

Reviewers should:

  • Provide fair, objective, and constructive evaluations;

  • Maintain confidentiality concerning the manuscript and review process;

  • Declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest;

  • Decline the review when they cannot provide an impartial assessment;

  • Identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited;

  • Alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, or other ethical concerns; and

  • Avoid using information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, financial, or competitive advantage.

Authorship and Contributor Roles

Authorship must reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript.

The journal does not permit guest authorship, gift authorship, ghost authorship, or inappropriate exclusion of qualified contributors.

The journal encourages the use of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to provide a transparent description of individual contributions.

Detailed requirements are provided in the journal's Authorship Policy and CRediT Policy.

Plagiarism and Similarity Checking

The journal considers plagiarism and inappropriate duplication to be serious violations of publication ethics.

JITL uses Turnitin as a similarity-detection tool to assist the editorial team in identifying potentially overlapping or duplicated content.

A similarity report is not, by itself, evidence of plagiarism. The editorial team evaluates the nature, extent, location, and context of identified similarities before determining the appropriate editorial action.

Manuscripts containing inappropriate or substantial unattributed similarity may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected, depending on the circumstances.

Detailed requirements are provided in the journal's Plagiarism Policy.

Research Misconduct

The journal takes allegations of research misconduct seriously and follows relevant COPE guidance when handling such concerns. Detailed requirements are provided in the journal's allegations of research misconduct.

Credible allegations may be investigated by the editorial office. Where appropriate, the journal may request clarification from authors, consult independent experts, or refer serious cases to the relevant institution or authority.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the research, peer-review process, editorial decision, or publication.

Conflicts of interest will be assessed and managed appropriately in accordance with the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy and relevant COPE guidance.

Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, animals, protected environments, sensitive ecosystems, or other ethically regulated subjects must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, permits, and laws.

Where applicable, authors should provide information concerning ethical approval, research permits, informed consent, or other relevant ethical requirements.

Data and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to provide sufficient information concerning research methods, data, analysis, and materials to support the transparency and reproducibility of their work where appropriate.

Research data must not be fabricated, falsified, manipulated, or selectively presented in a misleading manner.

Where applicable, authors should provide an appropriate Data Availability Statement.

Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

The use of artificial intelligence and generative AI tools in manuscript preparation must comply with the journal's AI and Generative AI Policy.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or ethical aspects of published research.

Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including content produced or assisted by AI tools.

Copyright and Licensing

Copyright of articles published in the Journal of Soil Science and Environment is held by IPB University.

Published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), unless otherwise stated on the individual article.

Authors and users must comply with the applicable copyright and licensing conditions when reproducing, distributing, or adapting published material.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

The journal is committed to maintaining an accurate and reliable scholarly record.

When an error is identified after publication, the journal may publish an appropriate correction.

When there is a substantial concern regarding the reliability or integrity of a published article that cannot yet be resolved, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern.

When an article is found to contain serious problems that substantially compromise its reliability or integrity, the journal may retract the article.

The journal will follow relevant COPE guidance when considering and implementing corrections, Expressions of Concern, and retractions. Detailed requirements are provided in the journal's Post-Publication Discussion.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may submit complaints or appeals concerning editorial decisions, publication procedures, or ethical matters.

The journal will handle legitimate complaints and appeals fairly, objectively, and confidentially, and will follow relevant COPE guidance where applicable.

Confidentiality

All unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and other confidential information obtained during the publication process must be handled confidentially.

Such information must not be used for personal, professional, financial, or competitive advantage.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly and scientific considerations and must not be influenced by commercial interests, financial relationships, institutional pressure, personal relationships, or other inappropriate considerations.

The journal is committed to maintaining editorial independence and protecting the integrity of the peer-review and publication process.

Commitment to COPE Principles

The Journal of Soil Science and Environment uses the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as an important reference for responsible publication practices and the handling of publication ethics concerns.

The journal's editors, authors, and reviewers are expected to act consistently with applicable COPE principles and guidance throughout the research, submission, peer-review, and publication processes.

For further information regarding publication ethics and responsible scholarly publishing, readers and authors may consult the official Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) resources.