Society information

Publication Ethics

1. Publication and authorship:

Multicultural Education Review (MER) publishes original and rigorous research findings. It is important to avoid data fabrication, plagiarism, and improper author contribution. As a vital contribution to the development of a useful and coherent network of knowledge about/for multicultural education, the publication of an article in MER should be a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Manuscripts submitted to MER for publication should support and embody the scientific method.

In multi-authored manuscripts, it is important that all authors that have made a significant contribution to the manuscript are listed. Those who have provided support but have not contributed to the research should be acknowledged in the “acknowledgements” section. Authorship issues fall into three main types: (a) the exclusion of a contributor from the list of authors, (b) the inclusion of a person who has not contributed to the manuscript or does not wish to be associated with the research, and (c) the order of the authors on the manuscript that does not properly reflects the level of contribution that each author has made to the manuscript.

MER adheres to the AERA Code of Ethics to ensure high-quality publications, public trust in research findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. The KAME, the publisher of MER, has been working closely with other research associations such as the NAME and the IAIE to set and refine international standards on ethical issues in scholarly publication of research in multicultural education or related fields.

2. Authors’ responsibilities:

Authors submitting manuscripts to MER should warrant the following:

The manuscript is original. Authors confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original, acknowledging and citing content reproduced from other sources. In addition, authors maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript; further, they provide access to these data on reasonable request, for sharing and further use by others.

The manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere, and is not under consideration with any other publication. Where portions of the content overlap with published or submitted content, authors acknowledge and cite those sources. Permission has been cleared for any third party material included. It is authors’ responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.

Authorship has been agreed prior to submission, and no one has been “gifted” authorship or denied credit as an author. Further, it is authors’ responsibility to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could be considered or viewed as exerting an undue influence on her/his duties or responsibilities at any stage of the publication process.

In case of submitting a multi-authored manuscript, one of the authors should be identified as the “corresponding author,” who is responsible for (a) ensuring that all authors are identified on the cover page of the submitted manuscript, (b) notifying the editorial office of any changes to the authorship, and (c) warranting and indemnifying the publisher on behalf of all co-authors. Although such instances are very rare, in the event a co-author has included content in her/his portion of the manuscript that infringes the copyright of another otherwise in violation of the authors’ responsibilities described above, the corresponding author will be the sole author indemnifying the publisher and the editor of the journal against such violation.

Even after the publication of their research, authors should notify the editorial office if a significant error is identified in their publication. Wherever necessary, authors should cooperate with the editorial office to publish an erratum/addendum or to retract the publication.

3. Reviewers’ responsibilities:

Reviewers, upon agreeing to review a manuscript, should understand that they play a vital role in improving the quality of the published article by judging the quality of the manuscript objectively in a timely manner, while respecting the intellectual independence of the authors.

Reviewers should disclose to the editors any actual or potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, the authors, and/or the funders that could bias their opinions of the manuscript. Reviewers should recuse themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if the potential for bias exists. Reviewers should not use knowledge of the work they are reviewing before its publication to further their own interests.

Reviewers are responsible for alerting the editors to any published content that appears substantially similar to the manuscript under review.

Reviewers should maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editors. Reviewers should discard the manuscript upon completing the review; they should not use the manuscript for any further purposes.

4. Editorial responsibilities:

The editors of MER should give unbiased consideration to all submitted manuscripts, judging each on its merits without discrimination on grounds of the race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or political philosophy of the authors. The editors should champion freedom of expression.

The editors have complete responsibility and authority to accept/reject an article. They should recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest related to manuscripts under consideration. Other editorial staff members who participate in editorial decisions should provide the editors with a current description of their financial interests or other potential conflicts.

The editors should ensure that all material submitted to MER remains confidential while under review. Further, to help reviewers objectively validate the suitability of manuscripts for publication, the editors are responsible for preserving the anonymity of reviewers.

If the editors are presented with convincing evidence that the main substance or conclusion of a published article is erroneous, the editors should promote the publication of corrections or retractions.

5. Publishing ethics issues:

The editorial board of MER assures the authors that they will monitor the publishing ethics and that they will maintain the academic integrity of the journal. Moreover, they will preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards, and they will always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed. No plagiarism and no fraudulent data will be accepted.