AETHERION: International Journal of Society, Education, and Development (IJSED) upholds the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing issued 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). Editors, reviewers, authors, and the publisher accept the duties below.

Duties of editors

Editors evaluate manuscripts on intellectual content alone, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, political views, or institutional affiliation. Editors keep submissions confidential and share information only with reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher as needed. Editors declare conflicts of interest and step aside from manuscripts where conflicts exist. Editors use no unpublished material from a submission in their own research without the author's written consent. Editors act on every report of misconduct.

Duties of reviewers

Reviewers support the editor's decision and help authors improve their work. Reviewers decline invitations outside their expertise or beyond their available time. Reviewers treat manuscripts as confidential documents, give objective and constructive comments, avoid personal criticism, point out relevant uncited work, report substantial overlap with other publications, and declare conflicts of interest.

Duties of authors

Authors submit original work and report data accurately. Authors cite all sources, avoid multiple or redundant submission, disclose funding and conflicts of interest, secure ethics approval and informed consent, keep raw data available for editorial review, take part in the peer review process, and report significant errors in their published work to the editor without delay.

Duties of the publisher

The publisher protects editorial independence, supports editors in handling misconduct cases, publishes corrections and retractions when needed, keeps fees transparent, and maintains long-term preservation of the journal's content.

Misconduct

The journal treats the following as misconduct: fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, citation manipulation, image manipulation, authorship misrepresentation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, manipulation of peer review, undisclosed use of generative AI, and research conducted without ethics approval or consent.

Handling of allegations

Anyone with concerns about a submission or a published article writes to the Editor-in-Chief with supporting evidence. The editor follows the COPE flowcharts, gives the authors a chance to respond, and acts in proportion to the case. Actions range from a request for explanation to rejection, correction, retraction, notification of the authors' institution or funder, and a ban on submissions for a set period. The journal investigates anonymous reports when the evidence warrants action.