The Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law is committed to publishing and widely disseminating high-quality content. The editorial operations of Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law must be governed by rigorous ethical standards that are both transparent and fair. We recognize that the scholarly publishing ecosystem is complex and includes editors, authors, reviewers, and publishers. We expect that all involved have a shared understanding and acceptance of the journal’s policies on publication ethics and malpractice. Our policies are closely aligned with COPE’s (Committee on Publication Ethics) Core Practices document, which can be accessed at: COPE Core Practices.
By submitting an article to the Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law, you agree to comply with the following publication ethics and malpractice statement.
Ethics for Authors
1. The ultimate responsibility for the content of the article rests with the author (or authors) of the article.
2. The article or part of it should not be submitted concurrently to another publication or for presentation at a conference or similar event. If this issue is identified, the article will be removed from the journal and will be dealt with the regulations.
3. The author should refrain from any kind of unethical research behavior in his research, such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, hiring others to conduct research, and mentioning his name as the author, resending his previous articles or part of them published in domestic or foreign publications.
4. The article should avoid any kind of plagiarism (from author's or others' works such as quoting a phrase or quoting a subject or stealing the idea of others without citation) and authors are obliged to correct the accuracy of their work before submitting the article to the journal. Rest assured (see Authors' Guide).
5. Authors are required to make clear any conflicts of interest that may affect the outcome of the research or the interpretation of their findings or that may conflict with the interests of other institutions or individuals.
6. If available, the financial resources of the research sponsor should be completely clear and transparent (refer to the authors' guide section for a conflict of interest declaration form).
7. If an author notices a significant mistake or negligence in his work at any stage (before or after the publication of the article), he is obliged to inform the journal immediately.
8. The corresponding author must register the names and information of all co-authors in the system at the same time as submitting the article.
9. It is possible to change the names of co-authors and corresponding authors with the approval and signature of all authors before the consequence of the review is determined. After accepting the article, it is not possible to change the names of authors, the order of authors, and corresponding authors.
10. It is necessary to sign the letter of commitment by all authors of the article and send it along with the article. The responsibility for the content of the article lies with all authors. (See the authors' guide for the form).
11. The article should avoid any kind of racial, ethnic, gender, or political discrimination.
12. To maintain the confidentiality of the evaluation process, authors should refrain from providing any information in the article that would lead to their recognition.
13. The use of tables, pictures, diagrams, and questionnaires developed by others in the article or research report requires reference to the original text.
14. Citing credible sources: The sources used in the article should be reliable and credible and dubious or unreliable sources should not be used or cited.
15. If the author (s) of the article decide to withdraw the article from the journal at any stage of the article review and before publication, this request must be sent to the journal with the signature and approval of all authors through the system. Authors are required to pay and reimburse all costs incurred in connection with the article.
16. After the publication of the article, the authors can request the removal of the article from the journal only if there are irreparable errors and mistakes in the article. This request must be submitted to the journal with the signature and approval of all authors and mentioning all the reasons for requesting the removal of the article. The editorial board will decide after reviewing the reasons. Also, after deleting the article, in the first current issue of the journal, the reasons for this will be announced to the scientific community by the editor.
Plagiarism
The article registration will inform all authors by sending an e-mail to the Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law website. It is evident that inserting the author’s name in the article is considered as his/her main role in writing the essay if the essay authors have no role in writing the essay and their name has not been mentioned. It is necessary to inform the received information by e-mail immediately. All the authors of the article are responsible for the origin of the work. All assessment rights for plagiarism checking in the journal are reserved.
Plagiarism has a variety of forms:
The journal editors will study plagiarism items for preserving the validity and the efforts of researchers without any overlook or indulgence based on the level of plagiarism then legally pursued as follows:
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed to the editor at the earliest stage possible. Readers should be informed about who has funded the research and the role of the funders in the research.
Ethical and legal duties of reviewers
1. The reviewers should assist the editor and members of the editorial board in accepting or rejecting the article by examining the content and quality of the article and contribute to improving the quality level of the article and the journal by sending corrections to the authors.
2. The reviewer should inform the editor of the publication of his decision to accept or reject the article immediately after reviewing the summary of it, (due to irrelevant subject to the reviewer's field of work, lack of time, etc.) and if the reviewer accepts, he should review the article in due time.
3. The reviewer should refuse to assess the article if it is outside the scope of his expertise.
4. The reviewer should respect the confidentiality of the evaluation process and should not share information about the article with others before, during, and after the review.
5. The reviewer should evaluate articles objectively, impartially and fairly, and avoid personal bias in his recommendations and judgments.
6. The review of articles should be based on sufficient scientific documentation and reasoning and should be clearly stated. the ethnic, national, racial, political, religious, and gender issues should be avoided in the review.
7. The reviewers are obliged to identify and review the sources referred to by the author.
8. The reviewers are obliged to inform the editor if they see any similarities or overlaps between the submitted work and another work.
9. The reviewers should not use information or ideas gained in the evaluation process for personal profits.
10. The reviewers are required to refrain from evaluating articles considered to be in conflict of interest, including common financial, organizational, personal, or any other affiliation with companies, entities, or individuals associated with the articles.
11. If the reviewer knows the identity of the authors, he should not enter into discussions and communication with them directly without the permission of the editor.
12. If the reviewers of the article find out that the article has been submitted to another publication or that the article is taken from the published or unpublished works of others, they should inform the editor.
13. The reviewers should refrain from using offensive, harsh or unscientific expressions in the review.
14. The reviewer should not leave the review of the article to another person without the permission of the editor.
Ethical and legal duties of editors
1. The editor of the journal is responsible for making the final decision in accepting or rejecting the submitted articles, and this is done with the cooperation of the editorial board and concerning issues related to copyright, plagiarism, etc., as well as the discretion of the reviewers.
2. Editors should constantly strive to improve the quality of the publication.
3. The editor should have the freedom and authority to perform the duties of an editor, including accepting or rejecting articles while maintaining scientific independence. In this regard, he should not be influenced by non-scientific and non-professional factors.
4. The editor's judgment of the articles should be based solely on scientific competence. Therefore, personal bias or consideration of nationality, gender, religion, and ethnic, racial, and political issues should not be considered as a criterion for rejecting and accepting articles.
5. The editor and the editorial board should not disclose information about the article except to the reviewers, authors, and editors.
6. The part of the articles that have not been published should not be used in the personal research of the editor or the editorial board.
7. Confidential information or ideas obtained through the evaluation of articles must be kept confidential and not used for personal profit.
8. The editor should always suggest and implement strategies to improve the quality of articles.
9. The editor should try to respond to the needs and questions and requests of the audience and authors.
10. The editor should be diligent in teaching research ethics to authors and audiences.
11. Ethical and rational standards should not be overshadowed by financial needs in the performance of editorial duties.
12. The editor should respect the corrections proposed by the reviewers and, in turn, the reasoned and logical answers of the authors.
13. The editor is obliged to select suitable reviewers for the articles in accordance with the title of each article and according to the specialized field.
14. The editor should be careful that the article is not subject to copyright or plagiarism.
Plagiarism
The article registration will inform all authors by sending an e-mail to the Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law website. It is evident that inserting the author’s name in the article is considered as his/her main role in writing the essay if the essay authors have no role in writing the essay and their name has not been mentioned. It is necessary to inform the received information by e-mail immediately. All the authors of the article are responsible for the origin of the work. All assessment rights for plagiarism checking in the journal are reserved.
Plagiarism has a variety of forms:
The journal editors will study plagiarism items to see the validity and the efforts of researchers without any overlook or indulgence based on the level of plagiarism then legally pursue as follows:
Conflict of Interests
The author should express the resources of the financial scheme in the text of the article and then apply to submit it. Each of the mentioned resources should be printed with the article. If the type of situation, which shows the contrast, is doubtful, it should be clarified; any item in the field of conflict of benefits should inform the editor or the publishing office. The corresponding author can recommend the probable reviewer for the article at the time of submitting the essay to the Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law. Authors must avoid any probable contrasts or actions in selecting the editors and reviewers. This kind of conflict of benefits is not only applied to the corresponding author but also includes all the co-authors of the article. The examples of conflicts of interest are as follows:
Authors should not introduce or name the reviewers who know them and have previously read the manuscript in some way and have put forward their hypothesis because this movement is contrary to the hidden assessment process of the article automatically. Manuscripts submitted by authors from our institution or our reviewers’ board should be reviewed by referees from outside. Articles submitted by reviewers and the Editorial Committee for review or revision and resubmission by the author if necessary.
Human rights
Authors are in charge of preserving and supporting privacy, human munificence, human freedom, and welfare, as well as research participants. The articles involved in human affairs (field studies, simulations, interviews) should be done according to human rights regulations.
Being up to date
Authors should act quickly and appropriately to revise and modify the articles. If an author cannot act before the deadline (maximum one month), he/she should contact the editor-in-chief for an extension or refusal from the assessment process at once.
Retractions
Articles may be retracted if there is evidence of unreliable data, ethical breaches, plagiarism, or duplicate publication. A Retraction will be issued where a major error (e.g., in the methods or analysis) invalidates the conclusions in the article, or where it appears research or publication misconduct has taken place (e.g., research without required ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, etc.). The journal Staff takes allegations of misconduct seriously. This includes fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate authorship, and unethical research. All allegations will be thoroughly investigated following COPE guidelines. Authors may be asked to provide raw data and explanations. Depending on the findings, actions may include correction, retraction, or reporting the misconduct to the author's institution.
The decision to retract an article will be made in accordance with both the journal policies and the COPE guidelines. The decision will follow a full investigation by the journal Editorial Staff in collaboration with the journal’s editorial team. Authors and institutions may request a retraction of their articles if they believe their reasons meet the criteria for retraction.
Retractions are issued to correct the scholarly record and should not be interpreted as punishments for the authors. The retraction process follows COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online with a retraction notice and an explanation. The COPE guidance can be found here. On rare occasions, when the interpretation or conclusion of an article is substantially undermined, it may be necessary for published articles to be retracted. The journal of Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law will follow the COPE guidelines in such cases. Retraction notices are indexed and bidirectionally linked to the original article. The original article is watermarked as retracted, and the title is amended with the prefix ‘Retraction: [article title]’.
Retraction will be considered in cases where:
Where the decision has been taken to retract an article, the journal will:
Open Access Policy
The journal of Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law provides immediate open access to its content. Our publisher, the University of Qom, abides by the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition of Open Access:
“By “open access” to [peer-reviewed research literature], we mean its free availability on the public Internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.”