Ethics of Publication

Journal of Legal Sciences is an accredited refereed academic journal, committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and guidelines, so as to provide its readers with the best quality. The principles of publication ethic our journal observes are as follow:

• The Journal of Legal Sciences shall not publish papers that do not comply with these announced ethics, and if the researcher’s non-compliance is proven, his/her research paper shall be deleted whenever discovered.
•  shall Double blindly peer-review all submitted papers and articles.
• Upon receiving submissions, the papers shall be subjected to Turnitin plagiarism detection program, and the similarity index should not exceed 20%.
• Every paper shall be sent to two reviewers, and in case one of the reviewers rejects the paper, it shall be sent to a third reviewer for the sake of fairness. The opinion of this third reviewer shall de final and irrevocable in accepting or rejecting the paper. In all cases, the process of peer-review is double-blind, hence the researcher’s name and contact info shall be removed before sending the paper to the reviewers. Reviewers are from the faculty members of the College of Law, and other colleges and universities, who should have professor or assistant professor title. Journal of Legal Sciences is keen on the reviewers being known for objectivity and academic integrity.
• The referee form includes some items highlighting the most important points the reviewer should briefly answer. In case the latter has some comments and modifications to be applied to the paper, they should be written therein or in a separate report to be attached with the aforementioned form. Such comments and notes shall be sent to the researcher in an electronic format to check them and do accordingly. All comments, notes and modifications the reviewers give shall be sent to the researchers. After the paper comes back from researchers, their papers shall be sent back to the same reviewers to make sure that the required modifications they already suggested are observed and made on the paper. No acceptance letter shall be issued unless the Journal makes sure all comments and modifications suggested by the referees are done by the researcher.
• Journal of Legal Sciences follows the electronic review process via Open Journal System (OJS) in which the review process takes 30 days as of the submission date, whereas the publication takes from 9 to 12 months.
• Pursuant to this code of ethics, the Journal shall report any suspected cases of plagiarism and/or already published papers. Journal of Legal Sciences shall retain the right to use plagiarism detection programs to check the submissions at any time it may find fit.

Authors should adhere to and guarantee and the followings:

Researcher(s) must comply with the regulations and disciplines of “publication policy” and the writing style approved by the journal. Criteria of accurate manuscripts must be provided through clarity of the aim, presentation of results in an accurate and sequent way, discussion of these results to fulfil the aims of the research along with object justification of the method of research. The manuscripts should be enhanced with work details as well as with modern scientific references. Researches should not include results stated in other researches. Inclusion of results that are forged or stolen is considered unethical and unacceptable behaviors. 

Researchers should not send their work to more than one journal; otherwise, it would be against the discipline of the publication. It is not permitted for researchers to submit a manuscript being evaluated to another journal which has its own policy of publication. In the case of submitting a manuscript, a researcher can retain the published material.

Specific names of the authors must be given, those who have made significant contributions in the research including idea of the research, design, implementation, and writing. One of the authors must be appointed as a coordinator to be in contact with the journal. Final approval should be given for the final version of the manuscript submitted to publication (the pledge).

Researchers should reveal financial support or any other kind of support provided for them. Also, they should reveal any financial conflicts or other issues that affect the results or the interpretations of the research.

Researcher(s) should notify the editor or the publisher in case of misstatements in the material of their manuscripts in order to do the needed corrections in the misprinting forms. When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in the published research, they should inform and cooperate with the editor or the publisher of the journal in order to undo or correct their researches in the misprinted form.

Editors shall undertake the following responsibilities:

The editorial board is the responsible body for approving the publication of the scientific researches submitted to the journal. Papers submitted to the journal are evaluated to ensure that they meet all the criteria of publication’s terms and conditions regardless of race, gender, religious backgrounds, ethnicity, nationality, and political philosophy. What is taken into consideration is the scientific value, ethical criteria of work, scientific research integrity, language, citation and plagiarism. The editorial board panel is committed to improve the scientific sobriety of the journal through the publication of researches according to their importance, clarity, originality and their accordance with the terms and conditions announced to the researchers.

The chief and the members of the editorial board panel undertake not to disclose any information related to submitted documents or papers to the journal except that necessary information authorized by the authors, editors, consultants and publisher.

It is not permitted for the chief or the members of the editorial board to use any information stated in the unpublished documents or papers for their own scientific researches except by having written permission from the original author of the research.

Reviewers shall guarantee the followings:

The research’s reviewing by the arbitrators helps the editorial panel to make the appropriate decision concerning the research. Furthermore, the reviewing process may help the author to improve his/her research. The editorial board panel is committed to give the arbitrators the regulations, standards, and the level of sobriety of the documents and papers accepted for publications in the journal. The editorial board panel is also committed not to disclose the names of the arbitrators unless with written consent by the arbitrators themselves.

It is necessary for the selected arbitrators to notify the editorial board panel, in the appropriate time, of their inability and wish to apologize for arbitration.

It is required by the arbitrators to deal confidentially with the researches sent to them for reviewing. The documents and papers cannot be disclosed or discussed with others, except the editor of the journal.

The objective criteria in arbitration is a must and the personal judgement concerning authors is not allowed and disregarded. The arbitration must be reinforced by clear opinions and scientific arguments and it must be in accordance with the regulations and approved criteria of “publication terms” of the journal.

Arbitrators must notify the editorial board panel by the non-compliance of the author with the standards of publication in the journal and to make sure of the aptness of the references with the sources and that the sources must match the ones listed in bibliography. It must be ensured that the views and arguments presented do not belong to other researches. Arbitrators must alert the editor of the existence of similarity or overlap between a manuscript submitted to the journal and other published researches.

It is not allowed to use any information and ideas stated in the arbitrated manuscripts by the arbitrators for personal purposes, competitive interests, or any other interests, and wouldn’t be taken into consideration when reviewing a manuscript of any of the authors, institutions, or companies involved.