Publication Ethics
The Journal of Child and Youth Psychology is committed to ethics, transparency, impartiality, and research integrity as fundamental principles of scholarly publishing. The journal's editorial processes are guided by the publication ethics principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed jointly by COPE, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
The journal expects authors, editors, reviewers, and all other parties involved in the publication process to comply with accepted standards of research and publication ethics.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
1. Originality and Simultaneous Submission
Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original and must not have been previously published. A manuscript must not be under consideration by more than one journal at the same time.
Dividing research based on the same dataset, study, or experiment into multiple publications without sufficient scientific distinction or original contribution, or submitting redundant publications, is considered unethical.
2. Authorship and Contributions
All individuals listed as authors must have made meaningful and direct scholarly contributions to the work. Authors are expected to have contributed to the conception or design of the study, its conduct, analysis or interpretation of data, and/or the drafting or substantive scholarly revision of the manuscript.
All authors should review and approve the final version of the manuscript prior to publication.
Providing funding, collecting data, offering technical assistance, or providing general supervision alone does not qualify an individual for authorship. Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged, with their contributions appropriately described.
All authors share responsibility for authorship order and other authorship-related matters.
3. Studies Derived from Theses, Projects, and Other Academic Work
If a manuscript is derived from a graduate thesis, scientific research project, conference presentation, or other academic work, this information must be clearly disclosed.
Such disclosures should be provided in the fields requested by the journal and, where applicable, on the title page.
4. Citation, Plagiarism, and Textual Similarity
Authors are responsible for accurately and completely citing all sources used in their work. The use of another person's ideas, expressions, data, figures, tables, or other material without appropriate attribution is unacceptable.
Substantial reuse of authors' own previously published material without appropriate citation or disclosure may also constitute an ethical concern.
Submissions may be screened using text-similarity detection software. A similarity score alone is not regarded as evidence of plagiarism or as an automatic criterion for acceptance or rejection. Editors assess the nature and extent of overlapping text and whether sources have been appropriately cited. Manuscripts containing ethically unacceptable levels of unattributed overlap or plagiarism may be rejected.
5. Data Integrity
Fabrication, falsification, distortion, selective reporting, or presentation of data or findings in a misleading manner constitutes a violation of research integrity.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the data they report. Where necessary, editors may request raw data, analysis outputs, research materials, or other supporting documentation to enhance transparency and allow verification of the research.
6. Ethics Approval and Research Ethics
Research requiring ethics committee review must receive appropriate approval before the study is conducted. Where a study is exempt from ethics review, information concerning the relevant exemption should be provided when applicable.
For studies requiring ethics approval, the name of the approving committee, the date of approval, and the approval or decision number must be reported as required by the journal.
Research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with applicable national and international ethical principles.
7. Research Involving Children, Adolescents, and Vulnerable Populations
Special attention must be given to protecting the rights, safety, privacy, and well-being of children, adolescents, and other vulnerable populations participating in research.
Depending on the nature of the study, the age of participants, and applicable legal and ethical requirements, informed consent should be obtained from a parent or legal guardian where required, together with the voluntary assent of the child or adolescent in a developmentally appropriate manner.
Participants' rights to decline participation or withdraw from the research without penalty must be respected.
8. Privacy and Protection of Personal Data
Authors are responsible for protecting the privacy of research participants. Information that may directly or indirectly identify an individual should not be published unless scientifically necessary.
Where publication of identifiable images, case information, or personal data is necessary, appropriate consent or permission must be obtained from the individual or, where applicable, their legal representative.
9. Conflicts of Interest and Funding
Authors must disclose any financial, commercial, legal, academic, personal, or other relationships that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the conduct, interpretation, or publication of the research.
Where no conflict of interest exists, this should be explicitly stated.
Any financial support, research grant, project funding, or institutional support should be disclosed together with relevant funding information.
10. Reporting Errors
If authors identify a significant error, inaccuracy, or misleading information in a manuscript under evaluation or in a published article, they are expected to contact the editorial office promptly and cooperate in any necessary corrective action.
Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
1. Editorial Independence and Impartiality
Editorial decisions are based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, methodological adequacy, and relevance to the journal's aim and scope.
Editorial decisions are not influenced by authors' gender, age, institutional affiliation, academic title, nationality, ethnicity, religion, political views, or similar personal characteristics.
2. Confidentiality
Editors must keep information concerning submitted manuscripts and related documents confidential. Such information may only be shared with individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process.
3. Conflicts of Interest
Where an editor has a personal, academic, institutional, or financial conflict of interest concerning a submission, the editor should recuse themselves from the evaluation and decision-making process. The manuscript should be handled by an independent editor.
4. Reviewer Selection and Integrity of Peer Review
Editors are responsible for selecting reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject and methodology of the manuscript and for ensuring that peer review is conducted fairly, independently, and within a reasonable timeframe.
Reviewer reports constitute an important component of editorial assessment; however, final responsibility for acceptance or rejection rests with the editors.
5. Handling Allegations of Misconduct
Editors take allegations of plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, redundant publication, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and other forms of research or publication misconduct seriously.
Where necessary, authors may be asked to provide explanations or supporting documentation, and relevant institutions may be contacted. The journal follows publication-ethics approaches recommended by COPE when addressing such concerns.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
1. Confidentiality
Reviewers must treat manuscripts and all related information received for peer review as confidential. Manuscript content must not be shared with third parties or used for personal or academic advantage.
2. Objective and Constructive Review
Reviews should be based on scholarly considerations and expressed in an objective, clear, constructive, and respectful manner.
Personal criticism and comments unrelated to the scientific evaluation of the manuscript are inappropriate.
3. Double-Blind Peer Review
The journal follows a double-blind peer-review model. Reviewers should avoid including information in review files or comments that may directly or indirectly reveal their identity.
4. Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers who believe that they have a conflict of interest involving the authors, their institutions, or the research should inform the editor and decline the review when appropriate.
5. Timeliness
Reviewers are expected to complete their evaluations within the requested timeframe. A reviewer who is unable to complete a review on time or does not possess sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript should inform the editor as soon as possible.
6. Reporting Suspected Ethical Concerns
If reviewers suspect plagiarism, redundant publication, data irregularities, ethics approval problems, or any other research or publication ethics issue, they should confidentially report the concern to the editor.
Publication Misconduct, Corrections, and Retractions
The journal may investigate ethical concerns whether they arise during manuscript evaluation or after publication.
Depending on the nature of the concern and the available evidence:
- a manuscript under evaluation may be rejected;
- an acceptance decision may be reconsidered before publication;
- authors may be asked to provide explanations or supporting documentation;
- a correction may be issued for a published article;
- an expression of concern may be published where appropriate;
- an article may be retracted where the reliability or integrity of the scholarly record has been seriously compromised;
- relevant institutions or competent authorities may be contacted when necessary.
Corrections, retractions, and other post-publication actions are handled transparently with the primary aim of preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.
