Indonesian Journal of Community Empowerment (IJCE) is committed to maintaining the integrity, credibility, and reliability of the scholarly record. As a peer-reviewed journal published by the Faculty of Entrepreneurship, Universitas Garut, Indonesia, IJCE takes all allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously and is committed to addressing them through fair, confidential, transparent, and evidence-based editorial procedures.

IJCE follows the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in handling concerns related to research integrity, whether they arise before or after publication.

1. Definition and Scope of Research Misconduct

Research and publication misconduct encompasses practices that compromise the authenticity, accuracy, reliability, or ethical integrity of scholarly work. Such practices may include, but are not limited to:

• Fabrication: Inventing research data, observations, survey responses, interviews, or results that were never obtained.
• Falsification: Manipulating research materials, methods, datasets, statistical analyses, or findings in a manner that misrepresents the research.
• Plagiarism: Presenting another person’s ideas, words, data, or intellectual contributions without appropriate acknowledgment.
• Duplicate or Redundant Publication: Publishing substantially overlapping research without appropriate disclosure, justification, or cross-referencing.
• Authorship Misrepresentation: Including individuals who do not qualify for authorship, excluding legitimate contributors, or providing false authorship information.
• Peer Review Manipulation: Interfering with the independence or integrity of peer review, including the use of fabricated reviewer identities or fraudulent reviewer recommendations.
• Citation Manipulation: Intentionally manipulating citations to increase citation metrics or create a misleading impression of scholarly support.
• Undisclosed Ethical Violations: Conducting or reporting research without required ethical approval, participant consent, or appropriate safeguards for confidential information.
• Misrepresentation of Research Materials: Submitting fabricated references, misleading documents, or manipulated research evidence, including such materials produced or altered through digital or artificial intelligence tools.

The presence of an error, methodological disagreement, or differing scholarly interpretation does not automatically constitute misconduct. Each concern will be evaluated according to its nature, seriousness, supporting evidence, and possible impact on the scholarly record.

For community service publications, suspected misconduct may also include invented outreach activities; fabricated participant or beneficiary counts, attendance lists, photographs, interviews or impact indicators; misrepresentation of community partners’ participation; and the publication of identifiable participant information without an appropriate lawful or ethical basis.

Not every community engagement initiative requires the same form of institutional ethics review. Authors must nevertheless accurately state which permissions, participant-consent processes, institutional approvals and safeguarding measures were applicable, and provide supporting evidence where reasonably requested.

2. Reporting Allegations of Misconduct

IJCE welcomes credible concerns about the integrity of manuscripts submitted to the journal or articles already published.

Allegations may be submitted by authors, reviewers, editors, researchers, institutions, or members of the public. Reports should identify the manuscript or published article concerned, describe the suspected misconduct, and provide relevant evidence or supporting documentation where available.

IJCE will consider anonymous allegations when they contain sufficient information to allow a meaningful preliminary assessment. The journal will protect the confidentiality of complainants and other parties involved to the extent reasonably possible, while recognizing that some information may need to be shared to conduct a fair investigation.

3. Editorial Assessment and Investigation

Upon receiving an allegation, the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately designated editor will conduct an initial assessment to determine whether the concern falls within the journal’s responsibilities and whether further examination is warranted.

Where appropriate, the editorial investigation may involve the following steps:

1. Examining the manuscript, published article, supporting evidence, and relevant editorial records.
2. Requesting clarification, original data, research documentation, or a written explanation from the authors.
3. Consulting independent subject-matter experts or members of the Editorial Board who have no relevant conflicts of interest.
4. Seeking information from the authors’ affiliated institutions, research ethics committees, or funding organizations when a formal investigation is necessary.
5. Assessing whether the concern affects the reliability, validity, attribution, or ethical acceptability of the research.

Authors will normally be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to substantive allegations before a final editorial decision is made.

IJCE recognizes that research institutions are generally responsible for formal investigations into the conduct of their researchers, while the journal is responsible for determining the appropriate editorial action to protect the scholarly record.

4. Editorial Decisions and Corrective Actions

Depending on the findings and the stage of publication, IJCE may take one or more of the following actions:

• Requesting clarification or additional evidence from the authors.
• Requiring revisions or additional verification before publication.
• Suspending editorial consideration while substantial concerns are assessed.
• Rejecting a manuscript when serious ethical violations or unreliable findings are established.
• Publishing a correction when an identified error does not invalidate the main findings.
• Issuing an Expression of Concern when significant questions about a published article remain unresolved.
• Retracting a published article when its findings or scholarly record are seriously compromised.
• Referring substantiated concerns to relevant institutions or responsible authorities when appropriate.

Editorial decisions will be proportionate to the available evidence and guided by the seriousness of the issue, rather than by the identity, institutional affiliation, or academic standing of the individuals involved.

5. Fairness, Confidentiality, and Editorial Independence

IJCE is committed to ensuring that allegations are examined impartially. An allegation alone will not be treated as proof of misconduct.

Editors or reviewers with relevant conflicts of interest must not participate in evaluating the case. Where an allegation concerns the Editor-in-Chief, the publisher will designate an independent, unconflicted editor or appropriate editorial representative to oversee its assessment.

Confidential information will be disclosed only when reasonably necessary for the assessment, investigation, or implementation of an editorial decision.

IJCE will not knowingly penalize individuals for raising substantiated concerns in good faith. Reports made in bad faith or intended primarily to harass others may be handled in accordance with applicable editorial and institutional procedures.

6. Commitment to Research Integrity

IJCE aims to address research integrity concerns promptly and responsibly, while allowing sufficient time for a thorough examination.

The primary purpose of investigating alleged misconduct is to preserve the accuracy and trustworthiness of the published scholarly record, protect the legitimate interests of all parties, and maintain public confidence in academic research.

All corrective actions concerning published articles will be implemented in accordance with IJCE’s Correction and Retraction Policy.