The International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR) is committed to maintaining the integrity, transparency and quality of the scholarly record. The journal expects authors, editors and reviewers to follow recognised standards of responsible research and publication. IJSSR is guided by the core practices and ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when considering questions of publication ethics and research integrity.

These principles apply to all manuscripts submitted to the journal and to all articles published by IJSSR.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of the work they submit. A manuscript must present the research honestly and must not contain fabricated, falsified or deliberately misleading information.

Authors must ensure that:

• the manuscript is original and has not been published elsewhere in substantially the same form;
• the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal at the same time;
• all sources, quotations, ideas, data, tables, figures and other material taken from previous work are properly acknowledged;
• all persons listed as authors have made a genuine scholarly contribution to the work;
• all authors have approved the submitted version and agree to its publication;
• relevant sources of funding and potential conflicts of interest are disclosed; and
• any significant error discovered after submission or publication is promptly reported to the journal.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for ensuring that all co-authors are informed about the submission, revisions and final publication.

2. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis or interpretation of the work and who accept responsibility for the content of the article.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should, where appropriate, be acknowledged separately.

Guest, gift and honorary authorship are not acceptable. Similarly, individuals who made a substantial scholarly contribution must not be deliberately omitted from the author list.

Requests to add, remove or rearrange authors after submission will be considered only where there is a legitimate reason and may require written agreement from all authors.

3. Originality, Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

IJSSR expects submitted manuscripts to represent original scholarly work. Plagiarism, inappropriate paraphrasing, unattributed copying, misuse of another person’s ideas or data, and substantial duplication of previously published material are not acceptable.

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software. A similarity percentage alone does not determine whether plagiarism has occurred; the nature, source and context of the similarity are also considered by the editorial team.

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Previous publication or substantial overlap with another work must be disclosed to the editor.

Cases involving plagiarism are handled in accordance with the journal’s Plagiarism Policy and the circumstances of the individual case.

4. Research Data, Fabrication and Falsification

Research findings must be reported accurately. Fabrication of data, manipulation or falsification of results, deceptive alteration of images or records, and selective reporting intended to misrepresent findings constitute serious misconduct.

Authors should retain the data and supporting material underlying their research for an appropriate period and should be prepared to provide relevant information to the journal where reasonably required for editorial assessment or investigation.

Where possible and appropriate, authors are encouraged to make research data available in a recognised repository or provide sufficient information to support verification and reproducibility. Legitimate legal, ethical, confidentiality and privacy restrictions may apply.

5. Ethical Oversight and Research Participants

Research involving human participants, personal or sensitive information, surveys, interviews, identifiable records or other ethically sensitive material must comply with applicable institutional, national and disciplinary ethical standards.

Where formal ethics approval is required, authors should obtain approval from the appropriate ethics committee or institutional review body and provide relevant information in the manuscript.

Informed consent must be obtained where required. Information that could identify an individual should not be published without appropriate consent unless there is a lawful and ethically justified basis for doing so.

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional and national standards for animal welfare and research ethics.

6. Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors, editors and reviewers must disclose relationships or interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their judgement.

These may include financial, professional, institutional, academic or personal relationships.

Authors must disclose relevant sources of research funding and, where appropriate, the role of the funder in the design, conduct, analysis or reporting of the research.

A disclosed conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication, but it must be managed transparently.

7. Use of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

Authors remain fully responsible for all material submitted to IJSSR, including content produced or assisted by artificial intelligence or other automated tools.

Artificial intelligence systems and large language models cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, originality or integrity of a scholarly work.

Authors should disclose substantive use of generative AI in preparing or analysing the work where such use goes beyond routine language correction, spelling, grammar, formatting or similar editorial assistance.

AI-generated information must be independently verified by the authors. Artificial intelligence should not be cited as an authoritative source of factual or scholarly information.

Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality and should not upload unpublished manuscripts or confidential review material to public generative-AI systems. Editorial decisions remain the responsibility of human editors.

8. Responsibilities of Editors

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

Manuscripts are assessed on their scholarly quality, originality, relevance to the journal’s scope and compliance with journal policies. Decisions must not be influenced by an author’s nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, religion, political views or other irrelevant personal characteristics.

Editors must:

• protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
• avoid using unpublished material for personal advantage;
• disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest;
• select suitably qualified and independent reviewers;
• ensure that the journal’s peer-review policy is followed;
• consider allegations of misconduct objectively and confidentially; and
• take reasonable action when credible concerns arise about submitted or published work.

The final editorial decision is made independently of any Article Processing Charge or other payment associated with publication.

9. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers contribute to editorial decisions and help authors improve the quality of their manuscripts.

Reviewers must:

• provide objective, constructive and evidence-based comments;
• treat manuscripts and review material as confidential;
• decline a review where they lack appropriate expertise or cannot complete it responsibly;
• disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest;
• avoid personal criticism of authors;
• identify relevant published work that may have been overlooked where appropriate; and
• inform the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data concerns or other possible ethical problems.

Reviewers must not use unpublished ideas, information or data obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.

10. Research and Publication Misconduct

IJSSR takes credible allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously. Misconduct may include plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, manipulated images, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, inappropriate authorship, peer-review manipulation or other serious breaches of research integrity.

When a concern is raised, the journal will assess the available information fairly and confidentially. Authors may be asked to provide an explanation, original data, documentation or other relevant evidence.

Where appropriate, the journal may seek information from an author’s institution, employer, research organisation or other responsible body.

Depending on the evidence and the stage of publication, an outcome may include rejection, request for correction, publication of a correction or notice, retraction, or another action necessary to protect the scholarly record.

Allegations will not be treated as proven misconduct until they have been appropriately considered.

11. Corrections, Retractions and the Published Record

IJSSR is responsible for maintaining the reliability of its published record.

Where a published article contains an error that does not invalidate its main findings, an appropriate correction may be issued. Where findings are seriously unreliable because of error or misconduct, or where other substantial ethical or legal concerns arise, the journal may consider retraction or another appropriate editorial notice.

Retraction is an editorial measure intended to correct the scholarly record and is not used simply to remove inconvenient findings.

Notices relating to corrections, withdrawals or retractions should remain clearly linked to the affected article wherever appropriate.

Author-requested corrections, withdrawals and related administrative procedures are governed separately by the journal’s Withdrawal and Correction Policy. Actions necessary to address research misconduct or protect the integrity of the scholarly record are determined on editorial and ethical grounds.

12. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, readers, reviewers or other interested parties may raise a complaint concerning the journal’s editorial process, publication ethics or a published article.

Complaints should provide sufficient information to identify the manuscript or article concerned and clearly explain the issue.

Authors may also appeal an editorial decision where they believe that a material error occurred during the editorial or peer-review process. An appeal should explain the grounds for reconsideration and provide relevant supporting information.

Where practicable, a complaint or appeal will be considered by an editor who was not directly responsible for the matter under review. Complaints involving the Editor-in-Chief will be referred to the publisher or another appropriate person who is not directly involved in the matter.

Submitting an appeal does not guarantee that an editorial decision will be changed.

13. Intellectual Property and Permissions

Authors are responsible for ensuring that material included in their manuscript does not unlawfully infringe copyright or other intellectual property rights.

Permission must be obtained where required for copyrighted figures, photographs, tables or substantial extracts belonging to third parties.

Copyright ownership and reuse permissions for IJSSR articles are governed by the journal’s Copyright Terms and Licensing Terms.

14. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based on scholarly and ethical considerations and are independent of commercial considerations.

Payment of an Article Processing Charge, eligibility for any discount or waiver, institutional affiliation, sponsorship or other financial consideration does not guarantee acceptance and must not influence peer-review or editorial decisions.

15. Post-Publication Concerns and Discussion

Readers and researchers are encouraged to report substantive concerns relating to published work.

Where a concern may affect the accuracy, reliability or integrity of an article, the journal will review the matter and may seek a response from the authors. Where necessary, the journal may publish an appropriate correction, clarification, editorial notice or retraction.

Reasoned scholarly criticism will be considered on its academic merits.

16. Reporting Ethical Concerns

Questions, complaints or allegations relating to publication ethics may be submitted to the IJSSR editorial office at ijssr.in@gmail.com.