Publication Ethics

Acca: Journal of Academic Culture, Curriculum, and Assessment is committed to maintaining integrity, fairness, transparency, confidentiality, independence, and accountability throughout the editorial and publication process.

This policy applies to authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, journal staff, and the publisher. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to uphold responsible scholarly conduct and protect the integrity of the academic record.

Ethical Principles

Acca applies the following principles:

editorial decisions based on academic merit;
fair and independent peer review;
confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
transparency in authorship, funding, and conflicts of interest;
respect for intellectual property and copyright;
protection of research participants and sensitive information;
responsible correction of the scholarly record; and
appropriate investigation of credible allegations of misconduct.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must:

report research methods, results, interpretations, and conclusions accurately and honestly;
submit original work that has not previously been published and is not under consideration by another journal;
appropriately acknowledge all sources, ideas, data, quotations, instruments, images, tables, and other materials used in the manuscript;
avoid plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, manipulation, and misrepresentation of research;
avoid simultaneous submission, duplicate publication, and redundant publication;
provide accurate author names, affiliations, contact details, and other manuscript metadata;
disclose all sources of funding and institutional support;
disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest;
obtain ethical approval and informed consent where required;
protect the privacy, confidentiality, dignity, safety, and rights of research participants;
respond appropriately and respectfully to editorial and reviewer comments;
retain relevant research records and supporting documentation where appropriate; and
notify the journal promptly if a significant error or ethical problem is discovered before or after publication.

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the work.

All listed authors must:

approve the final version of the manuscript;
agree to its submission and publication;
accept responsibility for their individual contributions; and
share responsibility for the integrity of the published work.

Guest authorship, honorary authorship, purchased authorship, coercive authorship, and hidden authorship are prohibited.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately, subject to their consent.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be explained in writing and approved by all affected authors. The editor may reject authorship changes that are insufficiently justified.

Originality and Plagiarism

All submitted manuscripts are screened using Turnitin before proceeding to the main editorial assessment.

The maximum acceptable similarity level is 30%. However, the similarity score is not the sole basis for determining plagiarism. Editors evaluate the sources, locations, patterns, extent, and significance of matched material.

Prohibited practices include:

direct plagiarism;
unattributed paraphrasing;
mosaic or patchwork plagiarism;
translation plagiarism;
self-plagiarism and redundant publication;
duplicate submission;
fabricated or fictitious references;
unauthorized reuse of data, images, tables, or figures; and
manipulation of files or text to conceal similarity.

Manuscripts containing plagiarism or serious originality problems may be returned for correction, rejected, or subject to further investigation.

Research Data and Integrity

Authors must not fabricate, falsify, omit, alter, or manipulate research data, images, statistical results, participant information, or supporting evidence.

Research methods and analytical procedures must be described with sufficient accuracy and transparency to allow scholarly evaluation.

Authors may be asked to provide anonymized data, instruments, ethical approval documents, consent forms, calculation records, or other supporting materials when necessary to evaluate the integrity of the research.

Authors must not submit false, misleading, or fabricated supporting documents.

Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, vulnerable groups, or sensitive data must comply with appropriate ethical, institutional, disciplinary, and legal standards.

Authors must provide information about ethical approval when required by:

the research design;
the author's institution;
applicable laws or regulations; or
relevant disciplinary standards.

Informed consent must be obtained and reported where applicable.

Authors are responsible for protecting participant anonymity, confidentiality, dignity, safety, and rights throughout the research and publication processes.

Identifiable information, photographs, recordings, or case details must not be published without appropriate authorization or a valid ethical and legal basis.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must:

maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and review materials;
evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and independently;
provide clear, constructive, evidence-based, and respectful comments;
avoid personal criticism, discriminatory language, and inappropriate remarks;
complete reviews within the agreed period or decline the invitation promptly;
disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest;
respect authors' intellectual property;
not use unpublished information for personal or professional advantage;
not share the manuscript with unauthorized individuals; and
report suspected plagiarism, duplication, fabrication, or other ethical concerns to the editor.

Reviewers must decline a review when they lack appropriate expertise, cannot provide an impartial assessment, or have a conflict of interest that may influence their judgment.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must:

make decisions based on academic quality, originality, relevance, and ethical compliance;
ensure fair, independent, and confidential peer review;
avoid discrimination based on personal, social, institutional, or political characteristics;
protect confidential information contained in submitted manuscripts;
manage conflicts of interest appropriately;
select reviewers based on relevant expertise and independence;
avoid using unpublished manuscript content for personal advantage;
investigate credible allegations of misconduct fairly and carefully;
provide authors with an appropriate opportunity to respond to allegations;
maintain the integrity of the academic record; and
issue corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other notices when required.

The Editor-in-Chief or an authorized editor makes the final publication decision. Reviewer recommendations inform but do not determine the final decision.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by submission fees, publication charges, advertising, sponsorship, personal relationships, institutional pressure, or commercial interests.

Payment of an Article Processing Charge does not guarantee acceptance, favorable peer review, accelerated review, or publication.

The publisher must respect the editorial independence of the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team.

Confidentiality

Submitted manuscripts are confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, editorial board members, journal staff, and technical personnel must not disclose manuscript content, author information, review reports, unpublished data, editorial correspondence, or publication decisions to unauthorized parties.

Confidential materials must not be used for personal research, publication, commercial benefit, or professional advantage.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relationships or interests that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their judgment.

Conflicts of interest may include:

financial interests;
employment or institutional relationships;
personal or family relationships;
academic competition;
professional collaboration;
supervisory relationships;
political or ideological commitments; and
other circumstances that may affect impartiality.

Editors and reviewers with significant conflicts must withdraw from the evaluation or decision-making process.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of a manuscript.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to Acca.

Any material use of generative artificial intelligence in drafting, translating, revising, coding, analyzing, or preparing a manuscript must be transparently disclosed.

Artificial intelligence must not be used to:

fabricate or alter research data;
generate false findings or misleading analysis;
create fictitious references;
conceal plagiarism;
misrepresent research procedures;
replace the scholarly responsibility of authors; or
violate participant confidentiality or intellectual property rights.

Editors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts, unpublished data, review reports, author information, or other protected materials to publicly accessible artificial intelligence platforms.

Duplicate and Simultaneous Submission

Authors must not submit the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

Authors must disclose any closely related manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, reports, theses, datasets, or earlier publications that may overlap with the submitted work.

Significant reuse of previously published content must be appropriately cited and justified.

Complaints and Allegations

Acca will consider credible complaints concerning editorial conduct, plagiarism, authorship, conflicts of interest, peer review, research ethics, copyright, data integrity, or other publication matters.

Complaints should include sufficient information and supporting evidence to allow an appropriate assessment.

The journal may:

request clarification from the parties involved;
review submission and editorial records;
consult independent experts;
contact an institution, ethics committee, or funder where appropriate; and
take corrective action based on the available evidence.

Allegations will be handled as confidentially and fairly as reasonably possible.

Corrections

A correction may be published when an error affects the accuracy, interpretation, attribution, or presentation of an article but does not invalidate the work as a whole.

Correction notices will identify the affected article, explain the correction, and be linked to the original publication where technically possible.

Retractions

Retraction may be considered when:

the findings are unreliable because of misconduct or serious error;
plagiarism is confirmed;
duplicate or redundant publication has occurred;
the research was conducted or reported unethically;
data, references, results, or documents were fabricated or falsified;
authorship was seriously misrepresented;
copyright or legal violations significantly affect the article; or
other serious problems compromise the integrity of the publication.

Retraction notices will explain the reason for retraction and will remain permanently accessible. The original article may remain available with a clear retraction notice unless removal is required for legal, privacy, safety, or ethical reasons.

Expressions of Concern

The journal may publish an expression of concern when serious questions have been raised about an article but the available evidence is inconclusive or an investigation has not been completed.

Withdrawal of Manuscripts

Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript must submit a written request explaining the reason for withdrawal.

A manuscript is not considered withdrawn until the editorial office has confirmed the withdrawal.

Withdrawal requests made after substantial editorial or peer-review work has been completed may be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief.

Sister Journal Transfer

Acca and Lontara: Journal of Learning, Teaching, and Research are sister journals published by Malebbi Global Care.

A manuscript may be offered for transfer when:

the manuscript is more suitable for the receiving journal;
the author provides written consent;
processing at the original journal has been formally closed; and
the receiving journal independently agrees to assess the manuscript.

A manuscript must not be processed simultaneously by both journals. Transfer does not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Final Authority

The Editor-in-Chief or an authorized editor has final responsibility for decisions concerning publication ethics, manuscript evaluation, corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and other measures necessary to protect the integrity of the journal and scholarly record.

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