Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

KOMVISTA is committed to maintaining high standards of integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing.

The journal's publication-ethics framework is developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing, including good practices promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must:

• evaluate manuscripts based on scholarly merit;
• maintain editorial independence;
• protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
• avoid discrimination unrelated to academic merit;
• disclose and manage conflicts of interest;
• ensure that appropriate peer review is conducted;
• investigate credible allegations of research or publication misconduct;
• take reasonable action when ethical concerns arise; and
• issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions where necessary.

Editors must not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts for their own research without the author's explicit permission.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must:

• maintain confidentiality;
• provide objective and constructive evaluations;
• avoid personal criticism;
• identify relevant uncited literature where appropriate;
• disclose conflicts of interest;
• decline reviews outside their expertise;
• avoid using manuscript information for personal advantage; and
• promptly inform editors of suspected misconduct.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that:

• the manuscript is original;
• the research has been conducted ethically;
• data are reported accurately;
• sources are properly acknowledged;
• the manuscript is not simultaneously submitted elsewhere;
• authorship accurately reflects scholarly contributions;
• all listed authors approve the submitted manuscript;
• funding sources are disclosed;
• conflicts of interest are declared;
• research ethics approval is disclosed where required; and
• errors discovered after submission or publication are reported promptly.

Originality and Duplicate Publication

Authors must not submit manuscripts containing plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, inappropriate image manipulation, duplicate publication, redundant publication, citation manipulation, or other forms of research misconduct.

Authorship and Contributorship

Only individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work should be listed as authors.

Guest authorship, honorary authorship, ghost authorship, and authorship obtained through coercion are unacceptable.

All authors must agree to the final manuscript and accept responsibility for their respective contributions.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relationships or interests that may influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their judgment.

Where an editor has a conflict of interest concerning a manuscript, editorial responsibility must be transferred to another qualified editor.

Research Misconduct

Allegations involving plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, unethical research, authorship disputes, manipulated peer review, duplicate publication, or other misconduct will be investigated fairly and confidentially.

Where misconduct is confirmed, the journal may reject a manuscript, retract a published article, publish a correction or notice, notify relevant institutions, or take other appropriate editorial action.

Corrections and Retractions

KOMVISTA is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.

Errors that materially affect the interpretation or reliability of an article may require a correction. Articles containing unreliable findings arising from misconduct or serious error may be retracted following appropriate editorial investigation.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must be based on academic considerations and must remain independent of commercial, institutional, political, or personal influence.