All parties involved in the publication of articles in the American Journal of Islam and Society (AJIS) must adhere to the ethical standards endorsed by the Committee on Publication Ethics.

 

Editor’s Responsibilities

Publication decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The editor will evaluate manuscripts without regard to the authors' ethnic origin, race, sexual orientation, gender, religious belief, political philosophy, or citizenship. The decision will be based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, the study’s validity, and its relevance to the journal's scope. Current jurisdictional legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism should also be considered.

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Submissions that disclose unpublished information will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author’s explicit written consent.

  

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Contribution to editorial decisions

The process of peer-review offers the opportunity for the editor and the editorial board to make revisions or emendations and may also help the author improve the paper.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or who knows that its prompt review will be impossible, should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts that are submitted for review must be considered confidential. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify cases in which relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should point out whether observations or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the respective source. Reviewers will notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers.

 

Authors’ Responsibilities

Reporting standards

 Original research submitted by authors should accurately reflect the work that has been performed and should concisely and objectively discuss its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention

Authors could be asked to provide the raw data of their study, together with the paper, for editorial review, and should be prepared to make the data publicly available, if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data center), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality, plagiarism, and acknowledgment of sources

Authors will submit only entirely original works and will appropriately cite or quote the work and words of others. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Publications cited by authors should be those that were the most influential in the outcome of the work reported. 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. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publications

In general, papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Manuscripts that have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by one journal should not be submitted to other publications while the manuscript is under review. Journals that publish creative works may make exceptions to the previously published rule; please consult the editor. By submitting a manuscript, however, the authors retain the intellectual rights to the content.

Authorship of the paper

Author(s) attribution should include only those who have contributed significantly to the design, conception, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All who have made substantive contributions should be listed as co-authors.

The corresponding author ensures that only contributing co-authors are included in the author list. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in form of an erratum.