Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics Statement

EJCEE upholds the standards of scholarly publishing ethics set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This statement binds everyone involved: authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher (Equaril).

Duties of Authors

  • Originality. The manuscript must be the authors' own original work, not previously published, and not under consideration by another journal.
  • Truthful reporting. Activity data, documentary photographs and reported outcomes must be accurate. Fabrication, falsification or manipulation of evidence is a serious breach.
  • Authorship. Only those who contributed substantially to the design, implementation, analysis or writing may be listed as authors. Gift authorship (naming a person who did not contribute) and ghost authorship (omitting a contributor) are both prohibited.
  • Recognition of partners. Community partners, village institutions and target communities must be named in the acknowledgements. Where a partner contributed substantially to the design of the programme, authorship should be considered.
  • Citation. Sources must be cited accurately. Excessive self-citation, and citation added at the request of any party (coercive citation), are prohibited.
  • Conflicts of interest and funding. Funding sources and any financial or institutional relationship capable of influencing the reporting must be disclosed.
  • Correction. An author who discovers a significant error after publication must notify the editor promptly so that a correction or retraction can be issued.

Ethics Towards Partners and Human Subjects

Because community engagement always involves people, EJCEE requires the following. These are conditions of submission, not recommendations.

  • Partner consent. The manuscript must state that partners were aware of and consented to the activity and to its publication. The editor may request a signed partner statement.
  • Consent for use of images. Photographs showing identifiable individuals may be published only with permission. Children's faces must be obscured unless written consent from a parent or guardian exists.
  • Protection of personal data. Names, addresses, health conditions or economic circumstances of individuals must not be published without consent; use initials or aggregate figures.
  • Dignity in description. Partners must be written about as people with agency, never as objects that are "backward", "deficient" or "technologically illiterate".
  • Ethics approval. Health-related activities and clinical interventions require an ethics committee approval number to be stated.

Duties of Editors

  • Decide on publication solely on the basis of scholarly merit, without regard to the authors' race, gender, religion, nationality, institutional affiliation or political views.
  • Preserve the confidentiality of manuscripts and the identity of reviewers.
  • Avoid conflicts of interest; an editor who is an author on a manuscript takes no part in handling its review.
  • Act on allegations of misconduct following COPE flowcharts, including publication of a corrigendum, an expression of concern, or a retraction.
  • Keep decisions on fee waivers entirely separate from editorial decisions.

Duties of Reviewers

  • Review objectively, promptly and constructively.
  • Maintain confidentiality and make no personal use of the manuscript's content.
  • Disclose conflicts of interest and withdraw where appropriate.
  • Report to the editor any indication of plagiarism or duplicate publication.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

  • Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authorship carries responsibility, which software cannot hold.
  • Use of AI for language editing, translation or writing assistance must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements, naming the tool and the nature of the assistance.
  • Permitted uses: improving linguistic clarity without altering content, grammar checking, translation support, organising non-scientific text.
  • Prohibited uses: generating core content, methods, analysis or conclusions; producing data, documentary images or outcomes that did not occur; writing substantive sections such as results and discussion. Using AI to fabricate evidence constitutes fabrication and leads to rejection or retraction.
  • Editors and reviewers must not upload manuscripts to public AI services.

Handling of Allegations

Complaints may be sent to ejcee@equaril.com marked "ETHICS COMPLAINT". The editorial office acknowledges receipt within five working days, follows the relevant COPE flowchart, gives the authors an opportunity to respond, and protects the identity of the complainant. Where an allegation is substantiated, the outcome is published.

Retraction

An article may be retracted for plagiarism, fabrication, duplicate publication, an error fatal to its conclusions, or an ethical violation against partners. Retracted articles remain accessible but are clearly marked "RETRACTED" with a notice explaining the reason, so that the scholarly record stays intact rather than being quietly erased.