Research Misconduct and Post-Publication Policy

Reog: Journal of Ecoethnoscience Education is committed to protecting the integrity, accuracy, transparency, reliability, and permanence of the scholarly record. This policy establishes the journal's procedures for handling allegations of research or publication misconduct, significant errors, ethical concerns, and post-publication scholarly discussion.

This policy should be read together with the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, which establishes the general ethical principles applicable to Authors, Editors, Reviewers, Editorial Board members, editorial staff, and the Publisher.

Reog refers, where applicable, to guidance issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and relevant Crossref/Crossmark guidance concerning the maintenance of the scholarly record.

1. General Principles

Allegations of misconduct and post-publication concerns will be assessed fairly, objectively, proportionately, and as confidentially as reasonably possible. Allegations will not be treated as established misconduct before appropriate assessment or investigation.

Authors and other relevant parties will normally be given a reasonable opportunity to provide clarification, documentation, or a response. Persons with a relevant Conflict of Interest must not determine the outcome of the case.

Where necessary, the journal may consult independent Reviewers, subject experts, statisticians, research-integrity experts, ethics experts, legal advisers, institutions, research ethics committees, funders, or other relevant authorities.

Editorial actions will be proportionate to the nature, severity, available evidence, and potential effect of the issue on the reliability or integrity of the work. Financial or commercial considerations must not determine whether action is required to protect the scholarly record.

2. Allegations of Research Misconduct

Research or publication misconduct includes, but is not limited to, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, data or image manipulation, unethical authorship practices, undisclosed Conflicts of Interest, duplicate submission, redundant publication, misrepresentation of ethical approval or consent, and other serious violations of research or publication ethics.

Concerns may be reported by Authors, readers, Reviewers, Editors, institutions, research participants, whistleblowers, funders, or other relevant parties. Reports should, where possible, identify the manuscript or article concerned, describe the issue clearly, and provide relevant evidence or supporting information.

Anonymous or confidential allegations may be considered when they contain sufficiently specific, credible, and relevant information to permit meaningful assessment.

When a credible concern is received, the journal may conduct an initial assessment, request clarification or supporting documentation, examine relevant evidence, consult independent experts, and communicate with the Authors or other relevant parties.

Where appropriate, Reog may contact the Authors' institution, research ethics committee, funder, research-integrity office, or other competent authority for clarification, documentation, or formal investigation.

The journal may suspend peer review, editorial decision-making, acceptance, production, or publication while a serious ethical or research-integrity concern is being assessed.

Depending on the findings and publication status of the manuscript or article, editorial actions may include clarification, revision, rejection, Withdrawal, Correction, Erratum, Corrigendum, Expression of Concern, Retraction, Article Removal, Article Replacement, or referral to an appropriate institution or authority.

3. Publication Status and Post-Publication Changes

For the purpose of this policy, an article is considered published when it has been made publicly available by Reog as an official scholarly publication, including publication as Article in Press, Online First, Ahead of Print, or the Version of Record.

Assignment or registration of a DOI alone does not necessarily mean that a manuscript has been publicly published.

Once an article has been publicly published, it becomes part of the scholarly record and must not be silently deleted, overwritten, or replaced. Significant changes must be documented transparently through the appropriate post-publication process.

4. Correction, Erratum, Corrigendum, and Expression of Concern

Correction

A Correction may be issued when a published article contains a substantive error or omission that requires correction for the accuracy of the scholarly record but does not invalidate the main findings or conclusions, and responsibility for the error is mixed, unclear, or not appropriately classified specifically as an Erratum or Corrigendum.

Erratum

An Erratum may be issued when a substantive error was introduced primarily during the journal's editorial, copyediting, typesetting, metadata, production, or publication process and does not invalidate the main findings or conclusions.

Corrigendum

A Corrigendum may be issued when a substantive error or omission originated primarily from the Author(s) or the originally submitted manuscript, but the error does not invalidate the main findings or conclusions.

Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when there are substantial concerns regarding the integrity, reliability, or ethical status of a published article, but an investigation is ongoing, the available evidence remains inconclusive, or a final determination cannot yet be made.

Corrections, Errata, Corrigenda, and Expressions of Concern are handled through editorial assessment. Independent expert review may be used when scientific, methodological, statistical, technical, ethical, or other specialized assessment is required.

Formal Corrections, Errata, Corrigenda, and Expressions of Concern will clearly identify the Original Article, explain the nature of the issue or correction, and be linked to the Original Article. These formal post-publication notices will be published as separate records with their own DOI.

The Original Article will normally remain accessible with its original DOI and publication history.

5. Withdrawal

Withdrawal applies primarily to manuscripts that have not yet been publicly published by Reog.

A Withdrawal request may be submitted in writing by any Author and must include a clear reason for the request. The journal may request clarification, confirmation, or approval from all Authors before processing the request, particularly where the manuscript has entered peer review, revision, acceptance, or production, or where the request may affect the rights or responsibilities of other Authors.

Once an article has been publicly published as Article in Press, Online First, Ahead of Print, or the Version of Record, concerns will normally be handled through Correction, Erratum, Corrigendum, Expression of Concern, Retraction, Article Removal, Article Replacement, or another appropriate post-publication action rather than Withdrawal.

Administrative provisions concerning Author-initiated Withdrawal are described in the Publication Fees Policy.

6. Retraction

A Retraction may be issued when a published article is found to be seriously unreliable or should no longer be regarded as part of the reliable scholarly literature.

Grounds for Retraction may include serious errors that invalidate the findings or conclusions, fabrication or falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, serious data or image manipulation, unethical research, fraudulent peer review, serious authorship or publication misconduct, or other major ethical or research-integrity problems.

Retraction decisions are based on editorial or research-integrity assessment and available evidence. The journal may consult independent experts, institutions, research ethics committees, or other relevant authorities where necessary.

A Retraction Notice will be published and linked to the Original Article. The notice should clearly identify the article, state that it has been retracted, and explain the reason sufficiently to inform readers while distinguishing established findings from unresolved allegations.

The Original Article will normally remain accessible to preserve the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as RETRACTED, unless exceptional legal, privacy, confidentiality, safety, or other serious circumstances require Article Removal.

7. Article Removal

Article Removal is an exceptional measure and is not a routine alternative to Correction or Retraction.

Removal may be considered when continued public availability of the full text creates serious legal, privacy, confidentiality, copyright, health, safety, security, or similar risks, including circumstances involving a court order or other binding legal requirement.

Where possible, bibliographic metadata, DOI, title, Authors, and the article landing page will remain available. The full text may be removed or restricted and replaced by a notice explaining, to the extent legally and ethically permissible, why the content is no longer publicly available.

8. Article Replacement

Article Replacement may be considered in exceptional circumstances where the changes required to a published article are too extensive to be adequately addressed through a Correction, Erratum, or Corrigendum and a replacement version is necessary to maintain an accurate scholarly record.

Article Replacement must not be used merely to improve writing, update ordinary information, add new results, change an Author's preference, or silently rewrite a previously published article.

The journal will determine whether Replacement, Retraction, Correction, or another action is most appropriate. Independent expert assessment may be obtained where substantial scientific, methodological, statistical, ethical, or technical changes are involved.

The Original Article will remain traceable and will be clearly linked to the replacement record. Where appropriate, it may be identified as REPLACED or RETRACTED AND REPLACED.

9. Comments and Criticism

Reog supports responsible post-publication scholarly discussion through Comments and Criticism.

Comments and Criticism may address methodology, statistical analysis, theoretical interpretation, scientific reasoning, limitations, reproducibility, replication, interpretation of findings, clarification, or other substantive academic matters concerning a published article.

Substantive Comments and Criticism will undergo editorial screening and may undergo independent peer review depending on their scholarly and technical content.

Allegations of fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unethical research, authorship misconduct, peer-review manipulation, or other serious ethical violations should normally be reported confidentially to the Editorial Office for preliminary assessment rather than presented as established facts in a public scholarly comment.

Where a submission contains a possible misconduct allegation, the Editor may determine that the matter should proceed as scholarly discussion, a research-integrity case, or both through appropriately separated processes.

10. Author Response

Authors of the Original Article may be invited to submit an Author Response to substantive Comments and Criticism.

Author Responses should remain professional, evidence-based, and focused on the scholarly issues raised.

An Author Response will undergo editorial assessment and may undergo independent peer review when it introduces new data, new analyses, substantial technical arguments, or new scholarly claims.

Published Comments and Criticism and Author Responses will normally receive their own DOI and will be linked to the relevant Original Article.

11. Minor Updates

Minor changes that do not materially affect meaning, interpretation, scholarly credit, reliability, conclusions, or important bibliographic metadata may be corrected without issuing a formal Correction.

Examples may include minor typographical errors, punctuation or formatting corrections, minor display problems, or repair of broken hyperlinks.

Minor updates do not normally require a separate DOI or formal Crossmark update. Where the significance of a proposed change is uncertain, the Editor may seek independent expert advice.

12. Publication Fees and Administrative Charges

Administrative or production charges associated with Author-requested Withdrawal, post-publication changes, Corrections, Corrigenda, Article Replacement, or other administrative services are governed by the Publication Fees Policy.

Actions required because of an error made by the journal or Publisher, or actions necessary for ethical, legal, scientific, research-integrity, or scholarly-record reasons, may be processed without charge according to the applicable Publication Fees Policy and editorial assessment.

Payment status must not influence editorial decisions or prevent the journal from taking action necessary to correct or protect the scholarly record.

13. Crossmark and the Scholarly Record

Reog uses DOI metadata and, where applicable, Crossmark to improve the transparency and discoverability of significant post-publication changes.

Significant post-publication notices will be linked to the Original Article and, where appropriate, published as separate records with their own DOI.

Relevant updates will be registered through Crossref/Crossmark in accordance with applicable metadata requirements and the Crossmark and Post-Publication Update Policy.

14. Policy Review

Reog periodically reviews this policy to maintain consistency with relevant publication ethics standards, scholarly publishing best practices, Crossref/Crossmark requirements, applicable laws and regulations, technological developments, and the operational needs of the journal.

The journal may revise this policy in response to developments in guidance issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Crossref/Crossmark, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), or other relevant scholarly publishing organizations and authorities.

Where a case is not specifically addressed by this policy, the Editor may exercise professional editorial judgment while considering appropriate external guidance, available evidence, independent expert opinion where necessary, and the principles of fairness, transparency, proportionality, confidentiality, editorial independence, and protection of the scholarly record. The Publisher may provide appropriate administrative, technical, legal, or operational support within its non-editorial role.

Until a revised policy is formally adopted, the current approved version remains applicable.

15. Related Policies

References and Standards