Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
These standards apply to authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher throughout submission, peer review, publication and post-publication stewardship.
Editorial duties
Editors evaluate work on scholarly merit, scope, originality, methodological quality and ethical compliance. Decisions are independent of nationality, identity, institutional affiliation, commercial considerations and author charges. Confidential materials are used only for editorial purposes.
Author responsibilities
Authors must submit original work, identify all sources, report methods and results accurately, disclose funding and competing interests, obtain necessary ethics approval and consent, and promptly correct material errors. Duplicate or simultaneous submission is prohibited.
Authorship
Authorship requires substantial scholarly contribution, participation in drafting or critical revision, approval of the final version and accountability for the work. Contributors not meeting these criteria must be acknowledged. Changes after submission require a reason and written agreement from all affected authors.
Reviewer duties
Reviewers must provide timely, objective and evidence-based assessments; preserve confidentiality; declare conflicts before accepting an invitation; and identify relevant uncited work. Manuscript information may not be used for personal advantage.
Human participants, animals and consent
Research involving people, identifiable personal data or animals must comply with applicable law and recognised ethical standards. Authors must state the name of the approving body, approval or exemption identifier where available, and the consent procedure. Identifying information requires explicit publication consent unless a lawful and ethically justified exception applies.
Originality, misconduct and investigation
Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, citation manipulation, undisclosed duplicate publication and peer-review manipulation are prohibited. Allegations are assessed fairly, confidentially and proportionately. The journal may request source data, ethics records or institutional clarification and may pause review or publication while an investigation is underway.
Conflicts of interest and editorial independence
Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose relationships that could influence—or reasonably appear to influence—the work. Conflicted editors and reviewers are recused. Submissions by journal personnel receive independent handling and the same review standards. Details are provided in the Editorial Independence and Conflicts of Interest Policy.
Complaints and appeals
Complaints should identify the article or submission and provide supporting evidence. The editorial office acknowledges and records the matter, assigns it to a person without a relevant conflict and communicates the outcome. Authors may submit a reasoned appeal against an editorial decision; an independent editor reviews whether procedure, evidence or interpretation warrants reconsideration. An appeal does not guarantee reversal.
Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern
Material errors are corrected through a dated, linked notice explaining the change. Retraction is considered when findings are unreliable, publication is redundant, research is unethical or serious misconduct is established. An expression of concern may be issued while a consequential matter remains unresolved. Notices remain permanently linked and the bibliographic record is preserved.
Data, reproducibility and reporting
Authors should provide a data-availability statement and, where ethically and legally possible, deposit data, code, instruments and protocols in a trusted repository. Restrictions based on privacy, consent, security or law must be explained. Applicable reporting guidelines—including CONSORT, STROBE, COREQ, CARE, PRISMA and PRISMA-S—should be followed.
Artificial intelligence and automated tools
AI tools cannot be authors or cited as primary sources. Authors must disclose material generative-AI use beyond routine language correction and remain responsible for accuracy, originality, citations and integrity. Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts to external generative-AI systems or use them to create assessments. The journal discloses use of ORCA for similarity support and EIGO for post-acceptance language support. All automated outputs are reviewed by responsible editorial staff and never determine decisions by themselves.
Publication record and preservation
Stable article pages, full text and DOI metadata support continuity and discovery. The journal states its current coverage honestly and does not claim participation in a preservation service until deposits are confirmed. See the dated Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy for current status, repository rights and the implementation plan.
Contact: editor.enigma.education@gmail.com. Communications are handled confidentially and records are retained for accountability.