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Publication Ethics and COPE
AABRI is committed to high ethical standards for our editorial processes. Providing an unbiased and principled platform for authors, editors, and reviewers is a priority for us. AABRI seeks to provide transparent policies as they relate to the peer review process from the submission to the actual publication of a manuscript.
Because of its commitment to the best practices within scholarly publishing, AABRI has aligned its publication policies and procedures with the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE). The rigorous standards that COPE sets forth include an adherence to a professional code of conduct, plagiarism statements, ethical guidelines, and authorship principles.
AABRI is dedicated to providing an academic publishing opportunity that is vested in integrity, professional ethics, and transparent publishing practices. Therefore, AABRI supports and promotes the guidelines, statements, and values found within COPE. Any cases of academic or publishing misconduct on the part of authors, editors, reviewers, or staff will be evaluated and processed accordingly.
COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
The following are the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. The AABRI policy or procedure that addresses specific principles is stated or linked below each principle:
1. Peer review process: All of a journal’s content, apart from any editorial material that is clearly marked as such, shall be subjected to peer review. Peer review is defined as obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers expert in the field who are not part of the journal’s editorial staff. This process, as well as any policies related to the journal’s peer review procedures, shall be clearly described on the journal’s Web site.
All manuscripts submitted to an AABRI journal are subject to double-blind peer review. Double-blind review is defined as a review process wherein both the authors and the reviewers are anonymous. Peer review is defined as the evaluation of academic research by other academics in field. All AABRI reviewers are terminally degreed and published in the field(s) they review.
Each active AABRI journal has a review board consisting of terminally-degreed academics holding degrees in the subject area of the journal. AABRI journal review-board member lists are available through the individual journal web pages. The review-board member lists display the member's name, university affiliation, terminal degree and granting institution, years in higher education, total number of peer-reviewed publications, and areas of research interest. Review-board member lists include both review-board members and invited reviewers. Invited reviewers are also terminally degreed and published in field. Invited reviewers will occasionally be called upon to review manuscripts as the need arises. Review-board members and invited reviewers serve voluntarily and may decline to review any manuscript if they do not believe themselves qualified.
Anyone interested in participating as an AABRI manuscript reviewer is requested to complete and submit the AABRI Reviewer Information Form. Individuals completing the form will be contacted after their qualifications are evaluated and verified.
When a manuscript is received for review in an AABRI journal the following procedure is followed:
- The manuscript is logged into the Journal Registration Database.
- Reviewers are not expected to be able to identify all instances of plagiarism. Consequently, effective August 2012, all papers will be submitted to an online plagiarism detection website to verify authenticity. Papers between a 10% nd 20% similarity level a (excluding quotes, bibliography and matches of 1% or less) will be reviewed and returned to the author for revision prior to peer review. Authors will have one opportunity to correct the excessive similarity. If not corrected, the paper will be rejected without peer review. Papers exceeding 20% similarity will be rejected without peer review.
- For the purpose of manuscripts submitted to an AABRI journal for review, plagiarism is defined as the act of presenting the words, ideas, or images of another as your own whether deliberate or unintentional (APA). Plagiarism occurs when an author does not use adaquate paraphrasing, paraphrases without citations, or fails to quote (quotation marks or block quoting) material directly copied from another source.
- If the manuscript is determined to be original in accordance with the above it is then forwarded for editorial review by a staff member or the journal's editor. This review is to ensure conformance with the AABRI Submission Guidelines.
(http://www.aabri.com/guidelines.html); this is not a content review. Manuscripts with minor deviations from the submission guidelines are corrected. Manuscripts substantially non-conforming to the submission guidelines are returned to the submitting author for correction.
- Author names, university affiliations, and contact information are removed from the review copy of the manuscript. Manuscript are subsequently sent by an AABRI staff member or the journal's editor to reviewers for blind-peer review. Peer reviewers are requested to use the AABRI Journal Submission Review Form as a guideline for the review process. Additional comments may be provided as needed. Reviewers not using the review form are requested to type their comments on the cover sheet of the manuscript.
- Manuscripts may be accepted, returned for revision, or rejected. Authors are so notified.
- If manuscripts are returned for revision, the author is provided specific instructions as to the revision requirements via email. Authors then have 90 days to complete the required revisions and return the manuscript. Revised manuscripts evaluated for compliance with the revision requirements.
- If a manuscript is rejected, the author is notified and provided the reviewer's comments specifying the reason(s) for rejection.
- If a manuscript is accepted the author is notified.
2. Governing Body: Journals shall have editorial boards or other governing bodies whose members are recognized experts in the subject areas included within the journal’s scope. The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors shall be provided on the journal’s Web site.
The AABRI Editorial Advisory Board is comprised of all AABRI journal editors and selected other distinguished academics. The purpose of the advisory board is to consult with AABRI management regarding publication policies and procedures. The advisory board is not a review board. Advisory board membership is by invitation only. See the AABRI Editorial Advisory Board for the list of current members.
Each active AABRI journal has a review board consisting of terminally-degreed academics holding degrees in the subject area of the journal. AABRI journal review-board member lists are available through the individual journal web pages. The review-board member lists display the member's name, university affiliation, terminal degree and granting institution, years in higher education, total number of peer-reviewed publications, and areas of research interest. Review-board member lists include both review-board members and invited reviewers. Invited reviewers are also terminally degreed and published in field. Invited reviewers will occasionally be called upon to review manuscripts as the need arises. Review-board members and invited reviewers serve voluntarily and may decline to review any manuscript if they do not believe themselves qualified. All qualified AABRI authors are invited to participate as review-board members or invited reviewers. Other individuals interested in serving as review-board members or invited reviewers may also participate. AABRI authors and other individuals are required to complete the AABRI Reviewer Information Form. Information collected therein is used to verify reviewer qualifications.
3. Editorial team/contact information: Journals shall provide the full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors on the journal’s Web site as well as contact information for the editorial office.
All active AABRI journals have assigned editors. The journal editor's name and university affiliation are on the individual journal's webpage along with a link to the editor's curriculum vitae and the editor's AABRI email address.
AABRI contact information is provided on the Contact US webpage as well as being posted at the bottom of every webpage (excluding individual manuscripts) on the AABRI website.
4. Author fees: Any fees or charges that are required for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the journal shall be clearly stated in a place that is easy for potential authors to find prior to submitting their manuscripts for review or explained to authors before they begin preparing their manuscript for submission.
All charges are clearly explained on the AABRI Publication Charges and the AABRI Secure Payment Page webpages.
5. Copyright: Copyright and licensing information shall be clearly described on the journal’s Web site, and licensing terms shall be indicated on all published articles, both HTML and PDFs.
The following copyright statement is included at the bottom of the title page of every journal manuscript published since 2012:
Copyright statement: Authors retain the copyright to the manuscripts published in AABRI journals. Please see the AABRI Copyright Policy at http://www.aabri.com/copyright.html.
It is also published on each individual journal webpage. The complete copyright statement is published on the AABRI Copyright Policy webpage and on the AABRI Publication Policy webpage.
6. Identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct: Publishers and editors shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others. In no case shall a journal or its editors encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. In the event that a journal’s publisher or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in their journal - the publisher or editor shall follow COPE’s guidelines (or equivalent) in dealing with allegations.
As part of the submission process, all AABRI authors certify that the submitted manuscript is their own original work that has not been previously published in whole or part in an academic journal or other copyrighted material. Authors certify that the submitted manuscript is not currently being reviewed for publication consideration by another journal or other copyrighted material. Author(s) agree to and accept all the terms and conditions published herein including the AABRI Publication Policy, the AABRI Research Misconduct Policy and the AABRI Submission Guidelines.
All manuscripts received for review are submitted to an online plagiarism detection website to verify authenticity. See the AABRI Research Misconduct Policy for details.
7. Ownership and management: Information about the ownership and/or management of a journal shall be clearly indicated on the journal’s Web site. Publishers shall not use organizational names that would mislead potential authors and editors about the nature of the journal’s owner.
AABRI is a privately-owned, for-profit publishing corporation incorporated and operating in the state of Florida, United States of America. AABRI is not affiliated with any other organization or university. This is posted on the AABRI website homepage.
8. Web site: A journal’s Web site, including the text that it contains, shall demonstrate that care has been taken to ensure high ethical and professional standards.
The AABRI website is audited on a bi-annual basis, checking for nonfunctioning links, misspelling, grammatical errors and content accuracy. Additionally, AABRI authors and readers are encouraged to report any website errors or inaccuracies, which are promptly evaluated and corrected as needed.
9. Name of journal: The Journal name shall be unique and not be one that is easily confused with another journal or that might mislead potential authors and readers about the Journal’s origin or association with other journals.
All AABRI journal names are checked for originality and uniqueness utilizing Google Scholar and Cabell's Directory searches prior to initial publication. AABRI is not affiliated with any other organization or university. Affiliation indications (e.g., Cambridge journals, Oxford journals, etc.) are not used anywhere in AABRI websites or publications.
10. Conflicts of interest: A journal shall have clear policies on handling potential conflicts of interest of editors, authors, and reviewers and the policies should be clearly stated.
The Academic and Business Research Institute is committed to high standards of academic publishing principles. AABRI requires all editors, authors, reviewers, and staff to disclose any potential conflicts of interest which might affect professional judgment as it relates to the editorial and peer review process of submitted manuscripts. For the purposes of this disclosure statement, a conflict of interest occurs when an editor, author, or reviewer has a beneficial or personal relationship with a third party which could bias or compromise his or her academic or professional objectivity. Editors, reviewers and authors are responsible for disclosing financial and other potential conflicts of interest that could potentially impact your submission or reviews. Editors and Reviewers must complete the conflict of interest disclosure form. Authors must complete the form if they have a potential conflict of interest to disclose. See the AABRI Conflict of Interest Policy.
11. Access: The way(s) in which the journal and individual articles are available to readers and whether there are associated subscription or pay per view fees shall be stated.
All AABRI journals are published online, open access. No subscription or charge is required to read or download AABRI published manuscripts. See the AABRI Publication Policy webpage.
12. Revenue sources: Business models or revenue sources (e.g., author fees, subscriptions, advertising, reprints, institutional support, and organizational support) shall be clearly stated or otherwise evident on the journal’s Web site.
The following statement is displayed on the AABRI Journal Submission Procedures and the AABRI Publication Policy webpages:
AABRI is a privately-owned, for-profit publishing corporation incorporated and operating in the state of Florida, United States of America. All revenues are generated from author fees. See the AABRI Publication Charges webpage for the complete fee structure. Not all institutions recognize publications in for-profit or author-pays journals for tenure and promotion. Please check with your institution prior to submission.
Additionally, all charges are explained on the AABRI Publication Charges and the AABRI Secure Payment Page webpages.
13. Advertising: Journals shall state their advertising policy if relevant, including what types of ads will be considered, who makes decisions regarding accepting ads and whether they are linked to content or reader behavior (online only) or are displayed at random.
Advertising is not accepted on the AABRI website or in AABRI publications.
14. Publishing schedule: The periodicity at which a journal publishes shall be clearly indicated.
All manuscripts accepted for publication in an AABRI journal are published to the online journal shortly after acceptance and receipt of publication service charge. AABRI journals are printed after twelve manuscripts are published in an online volume or when one year has transpired since the previous volume printing, whichever comes first. See the AABRI Publication Policy webpage.
15. Archiving: A journal’s plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content (for example, access to main articles via CLOCKSS or PubMedCentral) in the event a journal is no longer published shall be clearly indicated.
AABRI maintains all active and retired journals on the www.aabri.com website journals page. Links to all published manuscripts (excluding manuscripts removed from publication for cause) are accessible through the individual journals' web pages. Retired journals are not removed from web publication.
AABRI has contracted with Portico E-journal preservation services for digital preservation of all current and retired academic journals. AABRI updates manuscripts to Portico when an online journal-volume goes into print. This services is provided in the event AABRI discontinues operations.
Effective with the contract signed 1/27/2015, full-text manuscripts from AABRI education journals (Research in Higher Education Journal, Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, Journal of Case Studies in Education, and Journal of Case Studies in Accreditation and Assessment) will be available through the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC is updating all past journal volumes to their database and will update future volumes as published.
16. Direct marketing: Any direct marketing activities, including solicitation of manuscripts that are conducted on behalf of the journal, shall be appropriate, well targeted, and unobtrusive.
AABRI maintains a contact list of academics worldwide. The information contained in this contact list includes the academic's First Name, Last Name, University, and Email Address. Individuals may add or remove themselves to/from the list using the AABRI Contact List form on the contact information webpage http://www.aabri.com/contact.html. Individuals on the list may also remove themselves from the list by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of all emails sent from the list.
Individuals on the list may receive periodic emails announcing upcoming AABRI conferences, journal call for papers, retractions or corrections, and other notices of significance to AABRI stakeholders. At no time will AABRI sell, give, or otherwise distribute the information contained in the list to an outside individual or organization. At no time will AABRI contact individuals on the list for a third party or with information not specifically related to AABRI conferences and journals.
Editors or review-board members may contact a manuscript author with an invitation to submit for review if they identify a manuscript that appears suitable for a particular AABRI journal. At no time will the editor or review-board member imply that the paper has been pre-accepted. Editors or review-board members should include the following statement in all invitations to submit:
AABRI is a privately-owned, for-profit publishing corporation incorporated and operating in the state of Florida, United States of America. All revenues are generated from author fees. See the Publication Charges webpage for the complete fee structure. Not all institutions recognize publications in for-profit or author-pays journals for tenure and promotion. Please check with your institution prior to submission. .
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