Publication Ethics

LOKANUSA is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal expects authors, editors, and reviewers to follow internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original and have not been published or submitted elsewhere simultaneously.

All sources must be properly acknowledged. Plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, manipulation of findings, inappropriate image manipulation, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are prohibited.

Authorship must accurately reflect substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the research.

Individuals who do not meet accepted authorship criteria should not be listed as authors.

Authors must disclose financial, institutional, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that may influence the research or its interpretation.

Where applicable, research involving human participants must comply with relevant ethical requirements, including informed consent and ethical approval.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must evaluate manuscripts objectively based on academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution to the journal's scope.

Editorial decisions must remain independent and must not be influenced by commercial, institutional, political, personal, or other inappropriate considerations.

Editors must maintain confidentiality and must not use unpublished information for personal research or benefit.

Editors must take appropriate action when allegations of misconduct, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, authorship disputes, or ethical violations are identified.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, professional, and evidence-based assessments.

Reviewers must maintain manuscript confidentiality and must not share or use unpublished information without authorization.

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest and decline review assignments when impartial evaluation cannot be ensured.

Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate. Reviewer comments should focus on the scientific and scholarly quality of the manuscript.

Research Integrity

When credible concerns regarding published work arise, the journal may conduct an investigation and, where appropriate, publish a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial notice.

The journal is committed to transparency, accountability, fairness, and due process when handling publication ethics issues.