Publication Ethic

Social Sciences Insights Journal (SSIJ, e-ISSN 3025-2687) is published by PT MID Publisher International, Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia. SSIJ follows the Core Practices and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. This statement applies to authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher.

Duties of the publisher

  • PT MID Publisher International provides the publishing platform, registers a Crossref DOI (prefix 10.60036) for every article, and ensures long-term preservation of all content.
  • The publisher does not take part in editorial decisions. Article processing charges and any other income have no influence on whether a manuscript is accepted.
  • The publisher supports the editors in investigating suspected misconduct and publishes corrections, expressions of concern and retractions when needed.
  • The publisher keeps the journal's policies, editorial board, fees and contact details accurate and up to date on this website.

Duties of editors

  • Decisions. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on every manuscript, based on the reviewers' reports and the handling editor's recommendation. Decisions rest on originality, methodological soundness, relevance to the journal's scope and clarity of writing.
  • Fair treatment. Manuscripts are judged on their content only. The authors' nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, institution or political views play no role.
  • Scope. Manuscripts outside the published Focus and Scope are declined at the initial check, without peer review.
  • Peer review. Every manuscript that passes the initial check is sent to at least two independent reviewers under a double-blind process. Editors select reviewers with relevant expertise and no conflict of interest.
  • Confidentiality. Editors do not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, other editors and the publisher, as needed.
  • No citation pressure. Editors and reviewers never ask authors to cite SSIJ or their own work unless the citation is clearly needed for scholarly reasons.
  • Conflicts of interest. Editors declare any conflict and step aside from the manuscript. Manuscripts written by members of the editorial team follow the procedure in the Conflict of Interest Policy.
  • Complaints and misconduct. Editors respond to every complaint and allegation, following the procedures below and the COPE flowcharts.

Duties of reviewers

  • Reviewers help the editor reach a decision and help authors improve their work.
  • Reviewers accept an invitation only if they have the expertise and can deliver the report within the requested time, normally 21 days.
  • Manuscripts under review are confidential. Reviewers must not share them, use their content, or upload any part of them to generative AI tools.
  • Reviews are objective and constructive. Personal criticism of the authors is not acceptable.
  • Reviewers point out relevant published work the authors have not cited. They do not request citations to their own work without a clear scholarly reason.
  • Reviewers decline if they have a conflict of interest, and report any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication or data problems to the editor.

Duties of authors

  • Originality. Authors submit only original work that is not published or under review elsewhere. Any use of others' words, data or ideas is properly cited. See the Plagiarism Policy.
  • Accurate reporting. Methods and results are reported honestly and in enough detail to be checked. Fabrication or falsification of data, quotations or sources is serious misconduct.
  • Data. Authors include a Data Availability Statement and keep their research data for at least five years after publication. The editor may request the data during review.
  • Authorship. Everyone listed as an author made a substantial contribution, took part in drafting or revising the manuscript, approved the final version and accepts responsibility for it. Author contributions are described with the CRediT taxonomy. Gift, guest and ghost authorship are not allowed. Changes to the author list after submission need written consent from all authors and approval from the editor.
  • Research with human participants. Studies involving people (surveys, interviews, observation, experiments) report approval from an institutional ethics committee, or explain why approval was not required. Authors confirm that informed consent was obtained and that participants' identities are protected. Extra care is expected for children and other vulnerable groups.
  • Funding and conflicts of interest. Authors disclose all funding sources and any competing interests. See the Conflict of Interest Policy.
  • Use of AI tools. Authors disclose any use of generative AI. See the AI Usage Policy.
  • Citations. Authors cite sources because they are relevant, and avoid excessive self-citation or agreements to cite each other's work.
  • Errors after publication. Authors who find a significant error in their published article inform the editor promptly and cooperate in correcting or retracting it.

Handling suspected misconduct

Misconduct includes plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, authorship manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, manipulation of peer review or citations, and paper-mill content.

  1. Anyone may report a concern to [editorial email], with supporting evidence. Anonymous reports are considered if the evidence is specific.
  2. The Editor-in-Chief acknowledges the report within 5 working days and assesses it using the relevant COPE flowchart.
  3. The authors are given the evidence and normally 14 days to respond.
  4. Where needed, the journal contacts the authors' institution or funder.
  5. Possible outcomes are: no action; a letter of guidance to the authors; rejection of the manuscript; a correction, expression of concern or retraction of a published article; and, in serious cases, a ban on submissions to SSIJ for up to three years.

Authors retain copyright and grant SSIJ the right of first publication. All articles are published open access under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Fees and business practices

  • SSIJ charges no submission or review fee.
  • An article processing charge (APC) of IDR 150,000 is charged only after a manuscript is accepted. Payment status is not shared with reviewers and has no effect on editorial decisions.
  • Authors who cannot pay may request a full or partial waiver when they submit. Waiver requests are decided by the publisher, not by the handling editor.
  • SSIJ does not publish paid advertising. Invitations to submit never promise acceptance or fast-track publication.

Peer Review Process · Plagiarism Policy · Retraction, Correction and Expression of Concern Policy · Conflict of Interest Policy · Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy · Appeals and Complaints Policy · Archiving Policy