Publication Ethics

Sapiens in Education follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Integrity, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and fairness apply to authors, reviewers, editors, board members, and technical staff throughout submission, review, publication, and post-publication correction.

Authorship and contributions

All authors must use verified identities in the submission system. Authorship is restricted to people who made substantial intellectual contributions to conception or design; data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; development of software or tools where applicable; or drafting and critical revision. Every author approves the submitted version and accepts public accountability for their contribution and the integrity of the work.

Individual roles must be described accurately through CRediT. Before submission, authors confirm originality, exclusive submission, lawful acquisition of data and materials, permission for third-party content, authority to publish under an open license, and approval of all co-authors. Changes in order, addition, or removal require written agreement from everyone concerned; unresolved disputes suspend processing pending formal resolution.

Research ethics

Research involving people or animals must identify approval by a competent ethics committee or institutional review body in the Methods section. If formal review was not available or an exemption applies, authors must explain the ethical and legal basis in detail. Informed consent is required for human participation unless a justified and documented exception applies. Vulnerable groups require additional safeguards, privacy protection, and data de-identification.

Conflicts and funding

Authors disclose financial, professional, institutional, intellectual, and personal interests that could influence or appear to influence the work. Undisclosed conflicts may suspend evaluation and may require correction or retraction after publication. Every funding source, grant number, and funder role in design, collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, and publication decisions must be stated; absence of external funding must also be declared.

Funding does not influence editorial decisions. The journal charges no APCs, and editorial decisions are based exclusively on academic, scientific, methodological, and ethical criteria. Inaccurate or omitted funding information is treated as a publication-ethics concern.

Acknowledgements

People who contributed without meeting authorship criteria are acknowledged only with their express consent. Technical assistance, methodological advice, manuscript comments, and general support do not confer authorship or responsibility for the complete article.

Data transparency and reproducibility

Methods, materials, analytical procedures, code, and data must be described sufficiently for verification or replication. Public data require complete provenance and code or scripts where relevant. Original data should be deposited in trusted repositories unless ethical or legal restrictions apply; restrictions and a controlled access route must be explained.

Preprints

Authors may post preliminary versions in personal websites, institutional repositories, or non-commercial preprint servers. A preprint is not treated as prior publication. After publication, the preprint record should be updated with the final citation and DOI.

Responsibilities of reviewers

Reviewers must have relevant expertise and act independently, objectively, constructively, and confidentially. They disclose conflicts, meet agreed deadlines, report suspected irregularities to the editor, avoid coercive citation requests, and do not use generative AI to prepare substantive reports or upload confidential manuscripts to external systems.

Responsibilities of authors

Authors guarantee originality, valid authorship, CRediT accuracy, data integrity, ethical compliance, conflict and funding disclosure, permissions, reasoned responses, and responsibility for content assisted by automated tools. They cooperate with corrections and investigations after publication.

Responsibilities of editors and the Editorial Board

Editors base decisions solely on educational relevance, originality, methodological rigor, evidence, clarity, and ethics. They protect confidentiality, prevent and manage conflicts, supervise peer review, investigate concerns, and issue corrections or retractions where needed. Commercial or institutional interests may not influence acceptance or rejection.

Misconduct complaints and post-publication action

Allegations are handled confidentially, promptly, proportionately, and fairly. The person concerned receives enough information and time to respond. Measures may include rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or institutional notification. Published articles form the official scholarly record; material changes are made only through clearly identified and linked notices. Complaints about editorial conduct or decisions are reviewed independently and may result in corrective action.