Ethics Policy

Artha Vijnana is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures to prevent publication malpractice. The journal follows the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and ethical responsibility in accordance with the University Grants Commission – Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC–CARE) guidelines and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct.

All parties involved in the publication process — authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers — are expected to adhere to the ethical principles described in this document.

a)       Responsibilities of Authors

  1. Originality and Plagiarism
    • Manuscripts must be the author’s original work and not under consideration elsewhere.
    • All sources must be properly acknowledged and cited.
    • The journal follows UGC’s plagiarism policy:
      • 0–10% similarity (excluding references and quotations) is acceptable.
      • Above 10% similarity leads to rejection or revision.
    • The journal uses reliable plagiarism detection software (Turnitin).
  2. Authorship Criteria
    • Authorship is limited to individuals who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study.
    • All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission.
  3. Multiple or Redundant Publication
    • Authors must not submit the same research to more than one journal simultaneously or republish previously published material.
  4. Data Accuracy and Transparency
    • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of data presented and must provide access to data upon request for verification.
  5. Acknowledgment of Sources
    • Proper credit must be given to all sources of information and ideas. Use of others’ work must be appropriately referenced.
  6. Conflict of Interest
    • Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence their research findings.
  7. Ethical Clearances
    • Research involving human participants, institutions, or sensitive social data must have ethical clearance from a recognized ethics committee or institutional review board.

b)     Responsibilities of Editors

  1. Editorial Independence
    • Editorial decisions are based solely on the scholarly merit and relevance of the manuscript, without regard to the author’s institutional affiliation, gender, or nationality.
  2. Fair Review Process
    • The Editor ensures a fair, unbiased, and timely peer-review process.
  3. Confidentiality
    • Editors must maintain the confidentiality of all manuscripts and communications with authors and reviewers.
  4. Conflict of Interest
    • Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have conflicts of interest.
  5. Corrections and Retractions
    • The Editor will issue corrections, clarifications, or retractions when significant errors or ethical breaches are identified.

c)       Responsibilities of Reviewers

  1. Confidentiality
    • Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents.
  2. Objectivity
    • Reviews must be conducted objectively and constructively, providing clear feedback to improve the quality of the paper.
  3. Conflict of Interest
    • Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest with authors or institutions.
  4. Acknowledgment of Sources
    • Reviewers should alert editors if they identify uncited work or suspect plagiarism, data fabrication, or duplicate publication.

d)      Ethical Oversight and Misconduct Policy

  1. Unethical Practices
    • The journal strictly prohibits plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, and improper authorship.
  2. Handling Misconduct
    • Allegations of misconduct will be handled following COPE’s guidelines.
    • Proven cases of misconduct will result in the retraction of the article and may be reported to the author’s institution or funding body.
  3. Retraction Policy
    • Articles will be retracted if they contain fabricated data, plagiarism, or serious methodological errors that invalidate results and authorship conflict.
  4. Corrections (Errata)
    • Minor errors that do not affect the overall findings will be corrected through errata or corrigenda.

e)      Open Access and Copyright Policy

  1. Artha Vijnana provides open access to all published content, promoting free exchange of academic knowledge.
  2. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish it under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
  3. Proper attribution must be given to authors and the journal when content is reused.

f)        Archiving and Preservation Policy

  1. The journal ensures long-term preservation of published content through:
    • Institutional Repository / Digital Archives
    • ISSN and DOI registration for all articles
    • Backup on the journal’s hosting platform and partner repositories

g)      Compliance with UGC-CARE and COPE Guidelines

Artha Vijnana  complies with:

  • UGC-CARE Protocols (2023 Revision) for ethical publication standards.
  • COPE’s Core Practices (2017) for editors and publishers.
  • ICSSR and ICMR ethics principles applicable to social science and interdisciplinary research.

h)     Appeals and Complaints Procedure

  • Authors or reviewers may appeal decisions or raise ethical concerns by writing to the Editor-in-Chief at [official journal email].
  • All complaints will be reviewed confidentially by the Editorial Ethics Committee following COPE dispute resolution guidelines.

i)       Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in published articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the publisher.