Ethics and Disclosure

The International Journal of Family Enterprise, Leadership and Entrepreneurship (IJOFELE) is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in research and publication. The following policies provide clear, actionable guidelines for authors, reviewers, and editors to ensure integrity, transparency, and accountability.

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1. Research Ethics

Authors are required to follow ethical research practices and adhere to relevant regulations.

• Human Research:
  • Obtain informed consent from all participants, ensuring they fully understand the research’s purpose and implications.
  • Secure ethics approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent body.
  • Maintain participant confidentiality by anonymizing identifiable data and protecting sensitive information.
• Animal Research:
  • Follow ethical guidelines for the humane treatment of animals, including adhering to the principles of Replacement (using alternatives to animals where possible), Reduction (minimizing the number of animals used), and Refinement (enhancing animal welfare).
  • Provide detailed documentation of ethical approval for all animal research studies.
• Data Integrity:
  • Ensure that all research data is accurate, reproducible, and verifiable.
  • Prohibit data fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of results.

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2. Ethics in Publishing

The journal adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to ensure ethical publishing practices.

• Plagiarism:
  • All submissions must be original, with a similarity index below 10%. Manuscripts identified with plagiarism will be rejected, and severe cases may be reported to the authors’ institutions.
• Duplicate Submission:
  • Manuscripts must not be submitted to or published in other journals while under review by IJOFELE.
• Authorship:
  • Authors listed on the manuscript must have significantly contributed to the research, including its conception, execution, or interpretation.
  • Any changes to the author list post-submission must be approved by all listed authors and the editorial team.
  • Corresponding authors must ensure compliance with journal policies and submission requirements.
• Third-party Material:
  • Authors must obtain permission for any material (e.g., figures, images, supplementary materials) not originally created by them and include proper attribution.

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3. Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence the research outcomes or interpretation.

• Required Declaration:
  • Authors must include a statement such as:
    • *”The authors declare no competing interests.”
    • Or: “The authors disclose the following competing interests: [details].”
  • A completed Declaration of Interests Form must accompany the submission.

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4. Inclusive Language

All manuscripts must use respectful and inclusive language, avoiding stereotypes, cultural assumptions, and discriminatory expressions.

• Use gender-neutral pronouns (e.g., “they/their” instead of “he/she”).
• Ensure content is inclusive of all ages, genders, races, ethnicities, and disabilities.
• Avoid jargon or idioms that may exclude non-native English speakers.

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5. AI Usage Disclosure

Generative AI tools may only be used for language enhancement and must not replace the authors’ intellectual contributions.

• Acceptable Use: Grammar and readability improvements under human supervision.
• Unacceptable Use: Generating or modifying research data, figures, or analyses.

Required Statement:

• Include a disclosure in the manuscript, e.g., “The authors used [AI Tool Name] for language refinement. All content was reviewed and validated by the authors.”

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6. Peer Review Process

The journal employs a double-blind peer review system to ensure unbiased and thorough evaluation.

• Initial Review:
  • Manuscripts are screened by editors for relevance, quality, and ethical compliance.
• Review Process:
  • At least two expert reviewers evaluate each manuscript.
  • Possible decisions: Accept, Accept with Minor/Major Revisions, or Reject.
• Reviewer Responsibilities:
  • Provide constructive and unbiased feedback.
  • Maintain confidentiality of the manuscript’s content.
  • Disclose any conflicts of interest.

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7. Data Sharing and Transparency

Authors must include a Data Availability Statement to promote transparency and reproducibility.

• Examples:
  • *”Data supporting this study are available in [Repository Name] with DOI [xxxx].”
  • “All relevant data are included within the manuscript and supplementary materials.”
• Encouragement for Repositories: Authors are encouraged to deposit data in trusted repositories like Mendeley Data, Figshare, Zotero, or Zenodo.

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8. Licensing and Copyright

IJOFELE is an open-access journal, ensuring global accessibility under Creative Commons licenses.

• Creative Commons Options:
  • CC BY: Unrestricted use with proper attribution.
  • CC BY-NC: Non-commercial use with attribution.
  • CC BY-NC-ND: Non-commercial use without derivatives.
• Author Rights:
  • Authors retain copyright while granting IJOFELE the right of first publication.

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9. Proofs

Authors will receive proofs of accepted manuscripts for final review before publication.

• Corrections:
  • Authors must return proofs within two days.
  • Only minor typographical or formatting changes are permitted at this stage.
• Delays:
  • Failure to respond within the timeline may delay publication.

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10. Withdrawal and Retraction Policy

• Withdrawal:
  • Authors may request withdrawal before acceptance with justification.
  • Post-acceptance withdrawals may incur administrative fees to cover processing costs.
• Retraction:
  • Articles may be retracted for ethical violations, significant errors, or at the discretion of the editorial team.
  • Retraction notices will be publicly available, accompanied by an explanation.

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11. Archiving and Preservation

The journal is committed to ensuring long-term preservation of its published content. Archiving solutions are currently under development.

Regular backups are maintained to ensure content availability.

Future Plans:

The journal intends to implement trusted systems such as CLOCKSS or LOCKSS for secure, permanent archiving.

Current Approach:

Published articles remain accessible on the journal’s official website.