Research Ethics Regulations – Asia Pacific Association of Language, Culture, and Education (APALCE)

Asia Pacific Journal of Language, Culture, and Education

[ISSN: 3092-362X / DOI: 10.23403]

Journal & Manuscript enquiries: journal@apalce.org

[Research Ethics Regulations]

Enacted: January 8, 2026

Chapter 1. General Provisions

Article 1. Purpose

These Regulations establish the principles, standards, and procedures of research and publication ethics applicable to APJLCE in order to promote integrity, fairness, transparency, accountability, and trust in scholarly publishing.

Article 2. Basis and Scope

These Regulations are established in accordance with the bylaws of APALCE and the Editorial Board Regulations of APJLCE.

These Regulations apply to authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, guest editors where applicable, and any other persons participating in the editorial and publication process of APJLCE.

These Regulations apply to all recognized submission categories of the journal.

Article 3. Definitions and Shared Terms

For the purposes of these Regulations, Association means APALCE, Journal means APJLCE, and Board means the Editorial Board of APJLCE.

The recognized submission categories are Research Articles; Short Articles / Research Notes; Scholarly Forum / Discussion Papers / Trend Essays; and Book Reviews.

Research misconduct includes plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, unjustified authorship attribution, duplicate submission, redundant publication, citation manipulation, and other serious ethical violations as defined in these Regulations.

Article 4. General Principles of Research Integrity

All persons subject to these Regulations shall observe honesty in research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting; originality in authorship and scholarship; transparency regarding sources, prior dissemination, funding, and conflicts of interest; fairness and confidentiality in peer review and editorial decision-making; and accountability for the integrity of published and unpublished work.

Chapter 2. Duties of Authors, Reviewers, and Editors

Article 5. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors shall ensure that their submissions are original, accurate, and ethically sound and shall comply with the Call for Papers, Journal Submission Guidelines, Editorial Board Regulations, and these Research Ethics Regulations.

Authors shall cooperate with editorial requests for clarification, documentary support, source information, or other procedures needed to verify the integrity of a submission.

The corresponding author shall ensure that all listed co-authors have approved the submitted version and agree to its submission to APJLCE.

Authors shall disclose prior dissemination, funding, conflicts of interest, ethical approval or consent procedures where relevant, and substantive use of generative AI tools in accordance with journal policy.

Article 6. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers shall accept assignments only when they have the relevant expertise and can complete the review within the requested time.

Reviewers shall evaluate submissions fairly, impartially, and solely on scholarly grounds, without discrimination based on nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, religion, political position, academic school, personal relationship, or other irrelevant factors.

Reviewers shall treat manuscripts, supplementary files, editorial correspondence, and review outcomes as confidential documents and shall not use unpublished material for personal advantage.

If a reviewer identifies a conflict of interest, possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or falsified data, unethical research practice, or another serious concern, the reviewer shall promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief or handling editor.

Article 7. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and Board members shall evaluate submissions on the basis of scholarly merit, originality, relevance, rigor, and ethical compliance.

Editors and Board members shall preserve confidentiality, avoid conflicts of interest, recuse themselves where appropriate, and ensure that peer review is conducted fairly, independently, and in a timely manner.

Editors and Board members shall take reasonable steps to identify and address ethical problems before and after publication and shall not use unpublished materials obtained through editorial work for personal research or advantage.

Chapter 3. Research Misconduct and Related Ethical Violations

Article 8. Research Misconduct

Plagiarism means presenting another person’s ideas, words, data, arguments, interpretations, images, tables, or other intellectual contributions as one’s own without proper acknowledgment. This includes unauthorized reproduction, close paraphrase without citation, translation without acknowledgment, and misleading reuse of one’s own prior work.

Fabrication means making up data, sources, evidence, interviews, examples, observations, or results that did not in fact exist.

Falsification means manipulating research materials, equipment, processes, data, analyses, citations, or results so that the research record is distorted.

Unjustified authorship attribution means denying authorship to a person who made a substantial scholarly contribution or granting authorship to a person who made no substantial scholarly contribution.

Citation manipulation means adding or omitting citations in a misleading way or otherwise distorting the scholarly record for personal, institutional, or editorial advantage.

Other serious ethical violations include concealment of conflicts of interest, misrepresentation of ethical approval or consent, unauthorized use of copyrighted or confidential material, false statements to the journal, and deliberate interference with peer review or editorial procedures.

Article 9. Duplicate Submission, Prior Dissemination, and Related Publications

A manuscript submitted to APJLCE shall not be under review elsewhere at the time of submission.

Authors shall disclose any prior dissemination or related publication of the work, including conference papers, proceedings papers, theses, dissertations, reports, working papers, preprints, or publications in another language.

Prior dissemination does not automatically disqualify a submission, but nondisclosure may constitute an ethical violation.

The Board shall determine whether overlap is acceptable in light of transparency, originality, and scholarly value.

Article 10. Authorship, Acknowledgement, Human Participants, Data, Permissions, and Conflicts of Interest

A person shall be listed as an author only if that person has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work, has approved the final submitted version, and is willing to accept responsibility for the work.

Contributions that do not meet the standard for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately where relevant.

Authors shall ensure that research involving human participants, personal data, interviews, classroom observation, recordings, or other protected material has been conducted in accordance with applicable ethical and legal standards.

Authors are responsible for obtaining any required permissions to reproduce previously published or copyrighted material and for disclosing relevant conflicts of interest.

Article 11. Use of Generative AI

If generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, DALL·E, Midjourney, or similar systems are used in the preparation of a submission, such use must be clearly disclosed in accordance with the Journal Submission Guidelines.

Authors remain fully responsible for the factual accuracy, originality, legality, and integrity of all submitted material. Generative AI tools shall not be listed as authors or co-authors.

Undisclosed or misleading use of generative AI that materially affects the content of the submission may be treated as an ethical violation.

Chapter 4. Investigation and Sanctions

Article 12. Research Ethics Committee

APJLCE shall maintain a Research Ethics Committee for the review of serious ethical concerns and alleged violations of these Regulations.

The Committee shall ordinarily consist of the Editor-in-Chief as Chair, selected Editorial Board members, and any additional members or advisors designated by the Board where necessary.

Where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, the Committee shall designate another appropriate member to chair the matter.

Article 13. Reporting and Preliminary Assessment

Allegations of ethical violation may be raised by reviewers, editors, Board members, readers, informants, or other relevant parties and should, where possible, be supported by specific evidence or grounds.

Upon receipt of a report, the Editor-in-Chief or the Research Ethics Committee shall conduct a preliminary assessment to determine whether the allegation is credible, falls within the scope of these Regulations, and requires further action.

Manifestly unfounded or unsupported allegations may be dismissed at the preliminary stage, with reasons recorded.

Article 14. Investigation Procedure and Due Process

Where a matter proceeds beyond preliminary assessment, the Research Ethics Committee shall review the relevant materials and conduct such inquiry as it deems appropriate.

The person whose conduct is under review shall ordinarily be informed of the substance of the allegation and shall be given a reasonable opportunity to submit an explanation, response, clarification, or supporting material.

The Committee may review the submission, related publications, reviewer reports, editorial records, similarity reports, correspondence, and other relevant material.

Proceedings shall be conducted fairly, impartially, and confidentially.

Article 15. Decision, Measures, and Sanctions

Where a violation is established, the Committee shall report its findings and recommended action to the Board and, where necessary, to the President or another appropriate governing body of the Association.

Possible measures include rejection of the manuscript, return for correction or clarification, suspension or termination of the review process, publication of a correction or clarification, publication of an expression of concern, retraction, removal in exceptional legal or ethical circumstances, temporary prohibition on submission to APJLCE, and notification to the relevant institution or funding body where justified by the seriousness of the case.

In serious cases involving plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, or other grave misconduct, a submission ban of up to five years or more may be imposed depending on the circumstances.

Article 16. Post-Publication Ethics and Recordkeeping

Ethical responsibility continues after publication. If credible evidence of serious error, plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, authorship abuse, or other misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal may undertake post-publication review and issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction as appropriate.

The journal shall maintain appropriate records relating to ethical complaints, investigations, decisions, and actions taken. All persons involved in ethical review procedures shall preserve confidentiality except where disclosure is necessary for due process, correction of the scholarly record, institutional notification, or legal compliance.

Addendum

Article 1. Effective Date

These revised Research Ethics Regulations shall take effect on the date of approval by the Association and shall supersede the previous Research Ethics Regulations of APJLCE.