Pen Academic is committed to adhering to the ethical principles and scientific integrity that underpin academic publishing. Any kind of publication misconduct is considered a serious ethical violation as it damages both scientific progress and academic trust. In this context, the practices described below are considered as ‘publication misconduct’ and are strictly not tolerated by Pen Academic Journals:
1. Plagiarism
The use of all or part of another work without proper attribution is considered plagiarism. This includes quoting without acknowledging the source and appropriating ideas or data.
2. Data Fabrication and Falsification
The production of untrue data (fabrication) or the deliberate alteration, concealment or manipulation of existing data (falsification) is strictly prohibited.
3. Duplicate Submission / Publication
It is not acceptable to submit the same work to more than one journal at the same time or to republish a previously published article.
4. Author Misconduct
It is considered unethical to include people who should not be included in the list of authors (gift authorship), to exclude people who have contributed, or to manipulate the author ranking.
5. Abuse of the Referee Process
It is a serious ethical violation for reviewers to continue to review despite having a conflict of interest, to misuse author information, or to manipulate the process for personal or institutional benefit.
6. Concealment of Conflicts of Interest
All financial, commercial, personal or institutional interest relationships that may be influential in the research process or publication phase should be clearly declared. Otherwise, this situation is considered an ethical violation.
All authors, editors and reviewers are expected to comply with this policy. If publication misconduct is detected, the necessary investigation is initiated in accordance with the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines and appropriate sanctions (rejection, withdrawal of the article, notification of the author, etc.) are applied.
Pen Academic Journals strictly adheres to ethical principles to protect the credibility of the scientific publication process and stands against any kind of misconduct.