Allegations of Misconduct

Journal Mestro takes all allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously and handles them following the COPE flowcharts.

What Constitutes Misconduct

• Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and duplicate or redundant publication.
• Fabrication or falsification of data, images, or results.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Authorship disputes, including ghost, gift, or guest authorship.
• Citation manipulation and peer-review manipulation.
• Breaches of research ethics.

Reporting

Concerns may be raised by anyone, including readers, reviewers, and authors, by emailing mestro@untagcirebon.ac.id with the article title, DOI (if published), and a description of the concern with supporting evidence. Reports are treated confidentially.

Investigation Procedure

1. The Editor in Chief acknowledges the report and makes an initial assessment.
2. If the concern is substantiated, the authors are contacted and asked to respond.
3. The editorial board reviews the evidence and the authors' response and may consult independent experts or the authors' institution.
4. The board decides on the outcome and informs the parties involved.

Possible Outcomes

• For manuscripts under review: rejection, and notification of the authors' institution in serious cases.
• For published articles: a correction, an expression of concern, or retraction (see Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal Policy).