Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Purpose

Islamic Sciences is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity and responsible scholarly publishing. The journal expects authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the editorial board to follow accepted principles of research and publication ethics.

This policy explains how the journal deals with matters such as authorship, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, peer review, research misconduct, corrections, complaints, retractions, and the use of AI-assisted tools.

The policy applies to manuscripts submitted to the journal as well as to articles already published.

Islamic Sciences follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when dealing with publication misconduct, authorship disputes, complaints, corrections, retractions, and related ethical concerns.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made on the basis of the academic quality of a manuscript, its originality, relevance to the journal’s scope, soundness of argument and methodology, ethical compliance, and the comments received during peer review.

Decisions are not influenced by an author’s nationality, institutional affiliation, religious background, political views, gender, personal relationships, or financial considerations.

The publisher provides administrative and technical support to the journal, while responsibility for academic and editorial decisions remains with the editorial team.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are expected to submit work that is original, accurate, properly referenced, and prepared according to accepted academic standards.

Authors should:

  • Submit original work that is not under consideration by another journal

  • Cite sources accurately and appropriately

  • Check quotations, translations, page numbers, Qur’anic references, Hadith references, legal sources, and historical claims

  • Avoid plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and duplicate publication

  • Give authorship only to those who have made a genuine scholarly contribution

  • Disclose relevant funding and conflicts of interest

  • Obtain ethical approval, consent, or permission where required

  • Disclose significant use of AI-assisted tools where relevant

  • Respond to editorial queries and cooperate during review, revision, or investigation

By submitting a manuscript to Islamic Sciences, authors agree to follow the journal’s academic and ethical requirements.

Authorship

Authorship should be based on genuine contribution to the research, analysis, writing, interpretation, or revision of the manuscript.

All listed authors should approve the manuscript before submission and should also approve the final version accepted for publication.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for ensuring that the information provided about all authors is accurate.

Any request to add, remove, or change the order of authors after submission should be properly explained and normally requires the agreement of all affected authors.

Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism

All manuscripts submitted to Islamic Sciences must be original.

Plagiarism may include copying text without acknowledgement, using another person’s ideas without citation, presenting translated material as original work, reusing substantial parts of previously published work without disclosure, or presenting fabricated or AI-generated material as genuine scholarship.

The journal may use similarity-checking software or other methods where appropriate.

A similarity percentage alone does not determine whether a manuscript is accepted or rejected. Reports are reviewed by the editorial team in context.

Duplicate Submission and Previous Publication

Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

Work that has already been formally published elsewhere will not normally be considered.

Material based on a thesis, conference paper, working paper, or repository version may be considered where this is clearly disclosed and where the submitted manuscript represents a properly developed scholarly article.

Fabrication, Falsification, and Misrepresentation

Fabrication or falsification of data, sources, evidence, quotations, interviews, translations, archival material, historical information, or references is considered serious misconduct.

Where questions arise about the reliability of evidence, the journal may ask authors to provide supporting documents, source details, permissions, interview records, archival references, or other relevant information.

Research Evidence and Source Integrity

Research in Islamic Studies and related disciplines often relies on a wide range of evidence, including classical texts, manuscripts, archival documents, translations, legal sources, interviews, historical records, and religious texts.

Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of the evidence on which their arguments are based.

Sources, translations, quotations, references, and historical claims should not be selectively altered or presented in a misleading way.

Citation and Reference Ethics

References should be used because they are relevant to the argument or evidence presented in the article.

Practices such as unnecessary citation padding, coercive citation, citation cartels, invented references, misleading quotations, and unverified AI-generated citations are not acceptable.

Particular care should be taken with Qur’anic verses, Hadith references, classical Islamic texts, legal material, historical sources, and translated works.

The editorial team may ask authors to correct or verify references before publication.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members should disclose any conflict of interest that could reasonably affect their academic judgment.

A conflict may be financial, professional, institutional, supervisory, personal, academic, or competitive.

Declaring a conflict does not automatically prevent a person from participating in the publication process. The purpose is to allow the journal to manage the situation fairly and transparently.

Where necessary, another editor or reviewer may be appointed.

Ethical Approval and Human Participants

Research involving human participants, interviews, private communications, personal information, institutional records, or fieldwork should follow appropriate ethical standards.

Authors should obtain informed consent, institutional permission, or ethical approval where required.

Confidential or identifiable information should not be published without proper authorization.

Research dealing with sensitive religious, sectarian, legal, or community matters should be presented carefully and in appropriate academic language.

Use of AI-Assisted Tools

AI-assisted tools cannot be listed as authors.

Authors remain responsible for everything contained in their manuscripts, including arguments, references, translations, quotations, data, and factual claims.

Where AI tools have been used substantially in writing, translation, data analysis, image generation, reference preparation, or another important part of the research process, authors should disclose their use where appropriate.

AI tools must not be used to invent references, fabricate evidence, manipulate research findings, or replace genuine scholarly work.

Any references, translations, summaries, or factual claims produced with the assistance of AI should be checked independently by the author.

Editors and reviewers should also take care not to upload confidential manuscripts or review material to public AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to provide fair, confidential, constructive, and academically informed evaluations of manuscripts.

Reviewers should:

  • Accept manuscripts only where they have suitable expertise

  • Keep manuscripts and review reports confidential

  • Declare relevant conflicts of interest

  • Avoid personal or disrespectful criticism

  • Support criticism with clear academic reasons

  • Point out serious ethical or scholarly concerns where noticed

  • Complete reviews within the agreed period or inform the editor where more time is required

  • Avoid using unpublished material for personal benefit

  • Not share manuscripts with another person without permission from the journal

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for managing manuscripts fairly and protecting the integrity of the journal’s editorial process.

They should assess submissions according to academic merit and scope, select appropriate reviewers, maintain confidentiality, manage conflicts of interest, consider reviewer comments carefully, and communicate decisions clearly.

Editors are also responsible for responding appropriately where concerns about plagiarism, authorship, peer review, research misconduct, or other ethical matters are raised.

A manuscript may be rejected before external peer review if it clearly falls outside the journal’s scope or does not meet basic academic, ethical, or technical requirements.

Peer-Review Manipulation

Any attempt to manipulate the peer-review process is considered misconduct.

This may include the use of false reviewer identities, fabricated review reports, fake reviewer accounts, undisclosed conflicts, or attempts to improperly influence reviewers or editorial decisions.

Where manipulation is suspected, the journal may stop the review process, request clarification, reject the manuscript, consult members of the editorial board, or take other appropriate action.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, editors, and institutions may raise concerns with the journal regarding a manuscript, published article, or editorial process.

Complaints should clearly explain the issue and, where possible, provide relevant evidence.

Concerns may relate to plagiarism, authorship, duplicate publication, citation practices, research integrity, conflicts of interest, peer review, editorial conduct, AI misuse, or the accuracy of the published record.

Authors may also appeal an editorial decision where they believe there has been a significant procedural error, misunderstanding, conflict of interest, or academic issue that justifies reconsideration.

Simply disagreeing with a reviewer’s opinion will not normally be sufficient grounds for an appeal.

Depending on the circumstances, the journal may uphold the original decision, seek an additional review, invite revision, issue a correction, publish an expression of concern, retract an article, or determine that no further action is required.

Corrections and Retractions

The journal may take action after publication where an important error or ethical concern is identified.

Depending on the seriousness of the issue, the journal may publish:

  • A correction

  • An addendum

  • An editorial note

  • An expression of concern

  • A retraction

  • Updated article metadata

A correction may be issued where an error needs to be fixed but the main findings of the article remain reliable.

Retraction may be considered where the findings are unreliable, plagiarism is serious, publication has been duplicated, evidence has been fabricated, peer review has been manipulated, or another major ethical problem affects the integrity of the article.

A retracted article is normally kept as part of the scholarly record with a clear notice explaining its status rather than being silently removed.

Withdrawal Before Publication

Authors may request withdrawal of a manuscript before publication.

The request should normally be made in writing and include the manuscript title, submission number where available, the reason for withdrawal, and confirmation from all authors where appropriate.

The journal may also withdraw a manuscript from consideration where serious ethical problems are identified, duplicate submission is discovered, an authorship dispute remains unresolved, required declarations are not provided, or authors fail to respond to important editorial queries.

Handling Suspected Research Misconduct

Where misconduct is suspected, the journal will consider the seriousness and nature of the concern before deciding what action is appropriate.

The journal may ask authors for an explanation, review records and source material, seek advice from reviewers or editorial board members, request an independent opinion, or contact the relevant institution where necessary.

Possible outcomes may include rejection, withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, or retraction.

The journal aims to deal with such matters fairly, confidentially, and in proportion to the issue involved.

Confidentiality

Submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff should not disclose unpublished material or information about a manuscript except where this is necessary for the legitimate editorial process.

In exceptional circumstances, information may need to be shared where required by law, institutional investigation, serious misconduct proceedings, or the need to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Record Keeping

The journal may retain appropriate records relating to submitted and published manuscripts, including submission files, author information, reviewer reports, editorial decisions, correspondence, declarations, permissions, corrected proofs, similarity reports, DOI information, revised manuscripts, and post-publication notices.

Maintaining these records helps the journal respond to queries, explain editorial decisions, and preserve continuity and accuracy in the publication process.

Commitment to Publication Ethics

Islamic Sciences expects authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and other contributors to act responsibly and in good faith throughout the publication process.

Where a serious academic or ethical concern is identified, the journal may take whatever editorial action is reasonably necessary to protect the integrity of the published scholarly record.