Publication Ethics and Misconducts

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published biannually by the Faculty of Law, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Cirebon, Indonesia. The journal provides an academic platform for the publication of original research articles and scholarly discussions in various fields of legal studies.

This statement outlines the ethical principles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, the Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board, reviewers, and the publisher. These principles are developed in accordance with internationally recognized standards of publication ethics, particularly the principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of scholarly articles in FOCUS: Jurnal of Law plays an important role in advancing legal knowledge, strengthening academic integrity, and promoting the dissemination of reliable scientific research. Published articles reflect the quality of research conducted by authors and their respective academic institutions.

As a peer-reviewed journal, FOCUS: Jurnal of Law is committed to maintaining transparency, fairness, accountability, and integrity throughout the editorial and publication processes.

The Faculty of Law, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Cirebon, as the journal's publisher, recognizes its responsibility to uphold ethical publishing standards and ensure the independence of editorial decisions. Commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, or other external influences must not interfere with the evaluation, acceptance, or rejection of manuscripts.

All parties involved in the publication process are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions

The editors of FOCUS: Jurnal of Law are responsible for determining which submitted manuscripts are suitable for publication.

Editorial decisions must be based on the originality, scientific quality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution of the manuscript to legal scholarship.

The editors must consider the journal's editorial policies, reviewers' recommendations, and applicable legal requirements concerning defamation, copyright infringement, plagiarism, and research integrity.

The Editor-in-Chief may consult other editors or reviewers before making the final publication decision.

Complaints and Appeals

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law recognizes the importance of handling complaints and appeals fairly, transparently, and responsibly.

Complaints may concern editorial decisions, alleged ethical misconduct, conflicts of interest, inappropriate reviewer conduct, citation manipulation, peer-review irregularities, or other matters relating to the publication process.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted to the editorial office and evaluated by the appropriate editorial personnel.

Where necessary, the Editorial Board may refer to COPE guidelines to ensure that complaints are addressed through an objective and impartial process.

Fair Play

Editors must evaluate submitted manuscripts solely on their academic merit, originality, relevance, and contribution to the development of legal studies.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors' race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliation, political beliefs, or personal background.

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law welcomes scholarly contributions addressing legal issues at national and international levels, including constitutional law, criminal law, civil law, administrative law, international law, Islamic law, customary law, environmental law, human rights law, and other relevant areas of legal scholarship.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts.

Information concerning a manuscript must not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, assigned reviewers, potential reviewers, relevant editorial advisers, and the publisher when necessary for the editorial process.

All unpublished manuscripts and related communications must be treated as confidential documents.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Editors must not use unpublished information, research findings, or ideas contained in submitted manuscripts for their own research or personal benefit without the author's explicit written consent.

Editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may compromise their impartiality.

When a conflict of interest arises, the editor concerned should withdraw from the evaluation process and delegate editorial responsibilities to another qualified editor.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the scientific quality and credibility of FOCUS: Jurnal of Law.

Through the journal's double-blind peer-review process, reviewers assist editors in assessing the originality, relevance, methodology, argumentation, and scholarly contribution of submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers are expected to provide constructive comments and recommendations that help authors improve the academic quality of their work.

Promptness

Reviewers who consider themselves unqualified to evaluate a manuscript or are unable to complete the review within the required period must promptly inform the editor.

Reviewers should accept assignments only when they possess the necessary expertise and sufficient time to conduct a thorough and objective evaluation.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.

Reviewers must not disclose, distribute, reproduce, or discuss manuscript content with unauthorized individuals without prior permission from the editor.

Information obtained during the review process must not be used for personal or professional advantage.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively, professionally, and constructively.

Reviewers should evaluate the academic substance of manuscripts rather than the personal characteristics of their authors.

Personal criticism, discriminatory comments, and unsupported judgments are unacceptable.

All recommendations should be supported by clear academic reasoning and relevant evidence.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant scholarly publications, legal materials, or other authoritative sources that have not been appropriately cited by the authors.

Any previously published findings, arguments, interpretations, or concepts must be properly acknowledged.

Reviewers should notify the editor if they identify substantial similarities, possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, or significant overlap between a submitted manuscript and other published works.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest arising from personal, professional, institutional, financial, or academic relationships involving the authors or their affiliated institutions.

Reviewers must decline assignments when such conflicts could compromise the independence and objectivity of their evaluations.

Confidential information obtained during peer review must not be used for personal research or other purposes without proper authorization.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors submitting manuscripts to FOCUS: Jurnal of Law must present accurate, original, and academically responsible research findings.

Research articles must provide clear explanations of their objectives, methodologies, findings, analyses, and conclusions.

For legal research, authors are expected to present arguments supported by relevant legal provisions, judicial decisions, scholarly literature, and other appropriate sources.

Research data, legal interpretations, and supporting evidence must be accurately represented.

Fabrication, falsification, deliberate misrepresentation, or manipulation of research findings constitutes unethical academic conduct and is strictly prohibited.

Data Access, Retention, and Reproducibility

Authors should maintain relevant research data, supporting documents, legal materials, and other evidence used in preparing their manuscripts.

When appropriate and legally permissible, authors may be requested to provide supporting data or documentation to the Editorial Board for verification.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research methods and findings are sufficiently transparent to permit scholarly evaluation and verification.

The disclosure of research data must comply with applicable legal requirements, confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rights, and personal data protection principles.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to FOCUS: Jurnal of Law represent original scholarly work.

When authors use ideas, arguments, information, data, or words originating from other sources, appropriate citations and acknowledgements must be provided.

Plagiarism, including the unauthorized reproduction of another author's work, improper paraphrasing, and the presentation of previously published ideas as original contributions, is prohibited.

Self-plagiarism, involving the inappropriate reuse of an author's previously published material without proper acknowledgement, is also unacceptable.

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law uses Turnitin as a similarity detection tool to support the identification of potential plagiarism.

Manuscripts identified as containing plagiarism or serious violations of research integrity may be rejected following editorial evaluation.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Authors must not submit manuscripts that have already been published or are simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Publishing substantially identical research findings in more than one journal without appropriate justification, disclosure, and acknowledgement constitutes unethical publication practice.

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts comply with the journal's originality requirements and submission policies.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors must properly acknowledge all sources that have contributed significantly to their research.

Citations must be provided when referring to legal theories, statutory provisions, judicial decisions, academic publications, research findings, or other relevant materials.

Proper citation practices are essential to maintaining academic transparency, preventing plagiarism, and recognizing the intellectual contributions of other scholars.

All references must be presented consistently in accordance with the citation and referencing guidelines established by FOCUS: Jurnal of Law.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research.

All individuals who have made significant contributions should be appropriately recognized as co-authors.

Individuals who have contributed to the research without meeting the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged as contributors when appropriate.

The corresponding author must ensure that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Guest authorship, honorary authorship, and the deliberate exclusion of legitimate contributors are considered unethical publication practices.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal interests that could influence the interpretation or presentation of their research findings.

All sources of research funding, grants, sponsorships, or other financial support must be appropriately acknowledged.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that conflicts of interest do not compromise the credibility, objectivity, or transparency of their research.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When authors discover significant errors, inaccuracies, or misleading information in their published articles, they must promptly inform the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board.

Authors must cooperate with the journal in implementing appropriate corrective measures, including the publication of corrections or retractions when necessary.

Maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record is a shared responsibility of authors and journal editors.

Ethical Oversight

Authors must ensure that research involving human participants, confidential information, sensitive personal data, or other ethically significant materials complies with relevant legal and ethical requirements.

Where applicable, authors should obtain the necessary research permissions, informed consent, or ethical approval before conducting their studies.

Research involving interviews, surveys, case studies, or personal information must respect participants' privacy, confidentiality, and legal rights.

For legal research involving confidential judicial records, institutional documents, or protected information, authors must explain the ethical and legal considerations relevant to the collection, use, and disclosure of such materials.

Authors must also identify and appropriately address potential ethical risks associated with their research.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship practices, peer-review manipulation, and other violations of academic integrity.

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law is committed to promoting ethical scholarly communication and maintaining the reliability of its published research.

Allegations of misconduct should be evaluated fairly, objectively, and confidentially, with due consideration of relevant evidence and the rights of all parties involved.

Investigation of Research Misconduct

When suspected misconduct is reported, the Editorial Board should conduct an initial assessment to determine whether the allegation is credible and falls within the scope of research or publication misconduct.

The preliminary assessment should consider the nature of the allegation, supporting evidence, and any potential conflicts of interest involving the individuals concerned.

If the allegation warrants further examination, the corresponding author should be contacted and given an opportunity to provide clarification, supporting documentation, or a formal response on behalf of the authors.

The Editorial Board may consult independent experts, reviewers, or relevant institutions when additional assessment is required.

Investigations should be conducted in accordance with recognized principles of publication ethics, including applicable COPE guidance.

Editorial Actions and Sanctions

If misconduct is confirmed during the manuscript evaluation process, the Editorial Board may reject the submitted manuscript.

When misconduct is identified after publication, appropriate editorial actions may include:

1. Publishing a correction to address errors that do not invalidate the overall findings.

2. Issuing an expression of concern when serious questions about research integrity remain unresolved.

3. Retracting a published article when its findings or publication process are substantially compromised by misconduct.

4. Notifying the authors' affiliated institutions or other relevant parties when further investigation is necessary and justified.

Any correction, expression of concern, or retraction should be clearly documented and, where applicable, linked to the original publication.

Editorial actions should be proportionate to the nature and severity of the misconduct and should aim to preserve the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record.

Responsibilities of Authors and Institutions

Authors are expected to cooperate fully with editorial investigations and provide accurate explanations or supporting documentation when requested.

Academic institutions may be requested to investigate allegations involving their researchers when institutional involvement is necessary.

The Editorial Board, authors, and relevant institutions share responsibility for responding appropriately to concerns about research integrity and ensuring that corrective actions are implemented when justified.

FOCUS: Jurnal of Law remains committed to maintaining responsible editorial practices, supporting ethical legal scholarship, and preserving public confidence in academic publishing.

Further Information

For further information regarding publication ethics, editorial policies, or allegations of research misconduct, authors and readers may contact:

Editorial Office-FOCUS: Jurnal of Law
Faculty of Law, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Cirebon
Jl. Perjuangan No. 17, Karyamulya, Kesambi, Cirebon, West Java 45131, Indonesia
Email: focus.law@untagcirebon.ac.id
Website: https://jurnal.publikasi-untagcirebon.ac.id/index.php/focus