Publication Ethics

Creative: The Research Journal of Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, transparency, research ethics, and responsible scholarly publishing. The journal expects all parties involved in publication-including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher-to follow internationally accepted principles of ethical scholarly communication.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to Creative are expected to:

Submit original work that has not been published previously and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
Present research findings accurately, honestly, and transparently without fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or deliberate misrepresentation of data.
Properly acknowledge and cite all sources, ideas, data, methods, figures, and other materials derived from the work of others.
Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, and inappropriate text recycling.
Ensure that all individuals listed as authors have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work and have approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledge individuals or organizations that contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship.
Disclose all relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.
Clearly identify funding sources and the role, if any, of funders or sponsors in the research and publication process.
Obtain appropriate ethical approval, informed consent, institutional permission, or other authorization where research involves human participants, personal data, animals, or other ethically sensitive materials.
Maintain research records and, where appropriate and legally permissible, make underlying data available for verification or further scholarly investigation.
Promptly inform the Editor if a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in a submitted or published article and cooperate in correcting or retracting the work when necessary.

2. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should accurately reflect scholarly contributions to the research. Individuals should not be included as authors solely because of their institutional position, supervision, funding, personal relationship, or other non-scholarly considerations.

Guest, honorary, and gift authorship are unacceptable. Similarly, individuals who have made substantial contributions should not be intentionally excluded from authorship. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission.

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be appropriately justified and normally requires the agreement of all affected authors and approval of the journal.

3. Plagiarism and Originality

Creative maintains a strict policy against plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. Manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-detection tools before or during the editorial process.

A similarity report will not normally be treated as the sole basis for determining plagiarism. Editors will consider the nature, extent, source, context, and scholarly justification of any textual overlap.

Where plagiarism, fabricated citations, inappropriate duplication, or substantial unattributed copying is identified, the journal may reject the manuscript, request clarification or correction, or take appropriate post-publication action.

4. Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity, quality, fairness, and independence of the editorial process. Editors should:

Evaluate manuscripts primarily on scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, relevance, clarity, and contribution to knowledge.

Make editorial decisions without discrimination based on authors' nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, institutional affiliation, political views, or other irrelevant personal characteristics.
Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and information relating to authors and reviewers. Avoid using unpublished information obtained through submitted manuscripts for personal research or advantage without appropriate authorization.
Disclose and appropriately manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest. Select qualified and independent reviewers appropriate to the subject of the manuscript. Take reasonable action when credible concerns regarding research or publication misconduct are raised. Ensure that commercial, institutional, personal, or other interests do not improperly influence editorial decisions.

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for editorial standards and for ensuring that decisions are made consistently with the journal's policies.

5. Duties of Reviewers

Peer reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the scholarly quality of Creative. Reviewers are expected to:

Provide objective, constructive, evidence-based, and respectful evaluations. Accept review assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise and can complete the review within a reasonable period.
Treat manuscripts and associated materials as confidential documents. Not share, reproduce, distribute, or use unpublished material obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage. Identify relevant published work that authors may have overlooked when this is important to the evaluation of the manuscript.
Inform the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data irregularities, citation manipulation, or other potential misconduct. Declare any conflict of interest that could affect, or reasonably be perceived to affect, the impartiality of the review. Refrain from requesting citations to their own work or other publications unless those citations are genuinely relevant and academically justified.

6. Peer Review and Editorial Independence

Manuscripts considered suitable for the journal will undergo an appropriate peer-review process. The journal seeks to ensure that peer review is fair, timely, confidential, and academically rigorous. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly considerations and are independent of inappropriate commercial, institutional, or personal influence. Acceptance of a manuscript cannot be guaranteed on the basis of payment, institutional affiliation, personal relationship, or any other consideration unrelated to academic quality.

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relationships or interests that could reasonably influence their judgment. These may include financial interests, employment relationships, consultancy arrangements, institutional relationships, academic competition, personal relationships, or other relevant circumstances.

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication or participation in the editorial process; rather, it allows the journal to manage the matter transparently and appropriately.

8. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, interviews, surveys, experiments, clinical information, or other sensitive data should comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements. Where required, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent authority before conducting the research. Authors should provide information regarding ethical approval in the manuscript. Informed consent should be obtained where applicable, particularly when individuals may be identifiable in the publication.

9. Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and internationally recognized standards for animal welfare and ethical research. Authors should provide details of relevant ethical approval and demonstrate that reasonable measures were taken to minimize unnecessary harm or suffering.

10. Data Integrity, Fabrication, and Falsification

Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, misleading alteration, or deliberate misrepresentation of research data is unacceptable. Images, figures, tables, statistical results, and other research materials must not be manipulated in ways that could mislead readers regarding the research findings. Where appropriate, authors may be asked to provide underlying data or supporting documentation to facilitate editorial assessment or investigation.

11. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors should not submit substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Previously published work should not be republished as original research without legitimate scholarly justification, appropriate disclosure, and necessary permission. Authors must disclose closely related manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, reports, or other publications when these are relevant to determining the originality of the submitted work.

12. Citation Ethics

References should be selected because of their genuine scholarly relevance. Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation, coordinated citation practices, citation cartels, or the inclusion of irrelevant references intended primarily to increase citation counts. Editors and reviewers must not place inappropriate pressure on authors to cite particular publications.

13. Use of Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

Generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies must be used responsibly and transparently. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, or ethical compliance of scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to the journal, including material produced or revised with AI assistance. Where generative AI has been used substantially in preparing text, analysis, images, data, or other research materials, authors should disclose such use in accordance with the journal's instructions and applicable disciplinary standards.

AI-generated content must not be used to fabricate references, data, results, participants, evidence, or other research information.

14. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial procedures, peer review, publication ethics, or editorial decisions. Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly, confidentially, and without retaliation. An appeal against an editorial decision should provide clear scholarly grounds and relevant supporting information. An appeal does not automatically result in reconsideration or acceptance of a manuscript.

15. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, appropriate action may include:

publication of a correction or corrigendum;
publication of an editorial notice;
issuance of an expression of concern;
retraction of the article; or
other appropriate measures necessary to maintain the reliability of the scholarly record.

Retractions will not ordinarily result in the complete disappearance of the scholarly record; instead, the publication should be clearly identified as retracted where technically possible.

16. Handling Allegations of Research Misconduct

Allegations of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, unethical research, inappropriate authorship, peer-review manipulation, citation manipulation, or other forms of misconduct will be assessed carefully and fairly. The journal may request explanations, original data, ethical approval documentation, authorship information, or other relevant evidence. Where appropriate, the journal may communicate with authors' institutions, research ethics bodies, funders, or other responsible authorities. The journal will seek to distinguish genuine misconduct from honest error or legitimate differences in scholarly interpretation.

17. Confidentiality and Privacy

Editors and reviewers must protect confidential information obtained through manuscript submission and peer review. Personal information collected during submission and publication will be used only for legitimate editorial, publishing, communication, and scholarly purposes and handled in accordance with applicable requirements.

18. Publisher Responsibilities

Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology (SMUCT), as the publisher of Creative, supports editorial independence and is committed to protecting the integrity of the journal's scholarly record. The publisher will cooperate with editors in addressing ethical concerns, corrections, retractions, complaints, and allegations of misconduct and will not knowingly permit commercial or institutional interests to compromise legitimate editorial decisions.

19. Ethical Standards and Good Publishing Practice

The journal seeks to align its publication practices with internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing and research integrity, including guidance developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other relevant international standards and professional bodies.

All authors, reviewers, editors, and other contributors to Creative: The Research Journal of Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology are expected to uphold these principles and contribute to a publishing environment based on integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality, and respect for scholarly work.