Publishing Ethics

The Editorial Board of the Free University Journal of Asian Studies adheres to the principles of publication ethics adopted by the international community as reflected in the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

To avoid unfair practices in publishing activities (plagiarism, presentation of false information, etc.), provide high-quality scientific publications, and ensure public recognition of the author’s scientific results, each member of the Editorial Board, author, reviewer, and publisher must comply with ethical standards, norms, and rules and take all reasonable measures to prevent their violations.

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board of the Free University Journal of Asian Studies consists of a group of Georgian and foreign scholars who are associated with the Free University Center for the Study of Arab Countries and the Islamic World and participate in its activities. The Editorial Board meets when necessary regarding the scientific journal’s development. The members of the Editorial Board are professors of Georgian and foreign universities, experienced researchers, and experts. Their experience is beneficial for the journal. When resolving complicated issues, if any problems arise, after a thorough discussion with the members of the Editorial Board, the final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. The members of the Editorial Board usually perform advisory functions, and their participation is extremely valuable for the development of the journal.

DUTIES OF THE EDITOR

Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief of the Free University Journal of Asian Studies is solely and independently responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published. The decision about publishing materials is based on the following main criteria: compliance of the manuscript with the journal’s subject matter; relevance, novelty, and scientific significance of the submitted article to researchers and readers; clarity of presentation; reliability of results and completeness of conclusions. The quality of the research and its relevance are the basis for the decision to publish it.

Peer Review

The Editor shall ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely. Research articles must typically be reviewed by at least two external and independent reviewers, and where necessary, the Editor should seek additional opinions.

The Editor shall select reviewers who have suitable expertise in the relevant field and shall follow best practices to avoid the selection of fraudulent peer reviewers. The Editor shall review all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and suggestions for self-citation made by reviewers in order to determine whether there is any potential for bias. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles.

Fair Play

The Editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

The Editorial policies of the journal should encourage transparency and complete, honest reporting, and the Editor should ensure that peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.

Journal Metrics

The Editor must not attempt to influence the journal’s ranking by artificially increasing any journal metric. In particular, the Editor shall not require that references to that (or any other) journal's articles be included except for genuine scholarly reasons, and authors should not be required to include references to the Editor’s own articles or products and services in which the Editor has an interest.

Confidentiality

The Editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and all communications with reviewers unless otherwise agreed with the relevant authors and reviewers.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an Editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. 

Competing Interests

The Editor must not be involved in decisions about papers which s/he has written him/herself or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the Editor has an interest. Further, any such submission must be subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, peer review must be handled independently of the relevant author/Editor and their research groups.

Vigilance over Published Record

The Editor should work to safeguard the integrity of the published record by reviewing and assessing reported or suspected misconduct (research, publication, reviewer, and editorial).  

Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration to the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies.

An Editor presented with convincing evidence of misconduct should arrange the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other correction to the record, as may be relevant.

DUTIES OF REVIEWERS

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the Editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of the scientific method. In addition to the specific ethics-related duties described below, reviewers are asked generally to treat authors and their work as they would like to be treated themselves and to observe good reviewing etiquette.

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and decline to participate in the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share the review or information about the paper with anyone.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Ethical Issues

A reviewer should be alert to potential ethical issues in the paper and bring these to the attention of the Editor, including any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which the reviewer has personal knowledge. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation.

Standards of Objectivity and Conflict of Interest

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Reviewers should be aware of any personal bias they may have and take this into account when reviewing a paper. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Reviewers should consult the Editor before agreeing to review a paper where they have potential conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships connected to the papers.

If a reviewer suggests that an author includes citations to the reviewer’s (or their associates’) work, this must be for genuine scientific reasons and not with the intention of increasing the reviewer’s citation count or enhancing the visibility of their work (or that of their associates).

DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Originality and Acknowledgement of Sources

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted and permission has been obtained where necessary.

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the reported work and that give the work appropriate context within the larger scholarly record. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source.

Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal of primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

In general, an author should not submit for consideration in another journal a paper that has been published previously, except in the form of an abstract, as part of a published lecture or academic thesis, or as an electronic preprint.

Publication of some kinds of articles (e.g., translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. The author and Editor of the journal must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

Confidentiality

Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors.

Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the paper (e.g., language editing), they should be recognized in the acknowledgments section.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider (at their discretion) the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been submitted, and the author must clearly flag any such request to the Editor. All authors must agree with any such addition, removal, or rearrangement.

Authors take collective responsibility for the work. Each individual author is accountable for ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Competing Interests

Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation of the manuscript.

All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed, as should the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include employment, membership, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.

Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal Editor and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper if deemed necessary by the Editor. If the Editor learns from a third party that a published work contains an error, it is the obligation of the author to cooperate with the Editor, including providing evidence to the Editor where requested.

Image Integrity

It is not acceptable to enhance, obscure, move, remove, or introduce a specific feature within an image.

Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Manipulating images for improved clarity is accepted, but manipulation for other purposes could be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly.

Authors should provide the original images as supplementary material with the article.