Allegations of Misconduct

At SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH (SMJI), we are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and upholding publication regulations to ensure impartial and unbiased actions. We adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards publication misconduct and are dedicated to safeguarding intellectual property rights. Any form of publication misconduct, including but not limited to plagiarism, misrepresentation of authorship, data falsification, fabrication, or manipulation in citations, is strictly prohibited. Honest errors or differences in opinion are not considered misconduct. SMJI takes every measure to prevent and address unethical or unlawful practices.

Plagiarism Policy

Definition of Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the re-use of another person’s research work, ideas, or words without proper acknowledgment of the original author and source. As stated in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th Ed.), plagiarism is "A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work."

Instances of Plagiarism Include:

  • Submitting someone else’s work as one's own.
  • Attributing one's name to another person’s research work.
  • Copying words or ideas from a source without proper citation.
  • Failing to use quotation marks for a direct quote.
  • Providing incorrect information about the source of a quotation.
  • Paraphrasing text without proper acknowledgment of the source.

Policy on Plagiarism:

  • SMJI strictly prohibits the submission of research papers containing plagiarized, copied, or pirated material.
  • Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, SMJI reserves the right to retract the manuscript.

Plagiarism Detection:
SMJI employs Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) to screen submissions for plagiarism, ensuring compliance with our policy.

Anti-Plagiarism Declaration:
By submitting a manuscript to SMJI, authors certify that:

  • They understand plagiarism is both illegal and unethical.
  • They have properly acknowledged all contributions and cited sources.
  • They accept full responsibility for the content of their manuscript, including any incomplete or erroneous references.

Misrepresentation of Authorship

Definition:
Misrepresentation of authorship refers to the inclusion of an author who has not made a substantial contribution to the research.

Authorship Criteria:
All listed authors must meet the following criteria:

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the research, or data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
  2. Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for significant intellectual content.
  3. Approval of the final version to be published.
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work to ensure its accuracy and integrity.

Policy:

  • Honorary or gift authorship is not acceptable.
  • Authors should not include individuals who have not made substantial contributions.

Complaints and Appeals

Commitment to Fair Resolution:
SMJI treats complaints as opportunities for improvement and is committed to resolving them impartially and transparently. We adhere to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for handling complaints and appeals.

Submitting a Complaint:

  • Complaints should be emailed to editor@ijellh.com with a clear description of the issue.
  • Complaints will be acknowledged within five business days via email.

Investigation Process:

  • An unbiased committee will investigate the complaint.
  • A notice will be sent to the concerned individual within 30 days of the complaint.
  • The individual will have 30 business days to respond.
  • Based on the investigation, the committee will take appropriate actions, including rejection, withdrawal, retraction, or removal of the manuscript from publication.

Appeals:

  • Appeals against committee decisions can be sent to publisher@smartmovesonline.org with a detailed explanation.
  • The appeal will be reviewed, and appropriate actions will be taken.

Manuscript Retraction Policy:

  • Under the Smart Moves General IJELLH Policy, we reserve the right to remove any published paper from our website if we receive a complaint from readers or whistleblowers concerning plagiarism or any other issue.

  • We are not obligated to formally notify authors when a paper is removed. While we do our best to inform authors via email, sometimes technical glitches, spam filters, or other issues can prevent emails from being delivered. It's an author's responsibility to regularly check the status of their published papers.Even though we try to send official email notifications, authors can't claim they weren't notified as a reason to dispute or reinstate a paper. This policy is in effect, and authors are expected to follow it.

Ensuring Ethical Integrity

At SMJI, we are dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of academic publishing. This Allegations of Misconduct Policy reflects our commitment to ethical scholarship, ensuring fairness, transparency, and integrity in all our procedures.