Publication Ethics
American Journal of Qualitative Research (AJQR) publishes original and rigorous research findings and does not tolerate any kind of academic dishonesty or misconduct. All manuscripts submitted to AJQR should be original works of scholarship. AJQR does not tolerate any sort of data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, and improper author contribution.
1. DUTIES OF EDITORS
Publication Decisions
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be published. The Editor-in-Chief's decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based on its importance, originality, clarity, and its relevance to the scope of the journal.
Fair Play
The Editor-in-Chief and the reviewers evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the author’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, citizenship, or political ideology.
Confidentiality
The Editor-in-Chief and the editorial staff members must ensure that all material submitted to the journal remains confidential while under review. The Editor-in-Chief and the editorial staff must not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in the submitted manuscript must not be used by The Editor-in-Chief and the editorial staff members in their own research without the author's express written consent.
2. DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
The peer-review process assists the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial staff members in making editorial decisions and helps the author improve their manuscript.
Promptness
Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should contact the Editor-in-Chief so as to excuse himself from the review process.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review should be treated with strict confidentiality. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except when authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.
Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly, with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author. Any similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper should be reported to the Editor-in-Chief.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer review process must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscript.
3. DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Reporting Standards
The authors of manuscripts should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript. The manuscript should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the study. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Data Access and Retention
The authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their investigations for editorial review and should be prepared to provide public access to such data for a reasonable period of time after the publication of their paper.
Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written their original work entirely, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, it needs to be cited or quoted.
Anti-plagiarism Measures
In order to guarantee the originality and high quality of the published articles, the journal follows the established procedures in their evaluation and is a member of the CrossCheck service.
CrossCheck is an initiative established by CrossRef and iThenticate, whose aim is to provide publishers with professional support in preventing plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. A system is a high-quality tool for comparing documents against the largest database of academic content in the world, obtained from numerous publishers.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
The authors should not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Acknowledgement of Sources
The proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. The authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
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 contributions should be listed as co-authors.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are listed 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.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When the author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal as well as to cooperate with the Editor-in-Chief to retract or correct the paper.