Publication Ethics

Research and Publication Ethics

Learning and Teaching Innovations (LET-IN) is committed to responsible scholarly publishing and to the integrity of the academic record. The journal applies internationally recognized publication ethics guidance, including relevant principles and recommended practices developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics COPE, and enforces clear standards for authors, editors, and reviewers.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Originality and exclusive submission Manuscripts submitted to LET-IN must be original works. Submissions must not have been previously published and must not be under evaluation by another journal at the time of submission. Simultaneous submission is treated as a serious ethical breach and may result in a ban on future submissions.

Authorship and contributorship All listed authors must have made substantial scholarly contributions and must accept accountability for the work. Practices such as gift authorship, guest authorship, and ghost authorship are not permitted. Author contribution information must be accurate and complete at submission.

Redundant publication and salami slicing Multiple submissions derived from the same dataset, study, or experiment must be scientifically justified and transparently disclosed. Unjustified fragmentation of results across multiple manuscripts is considered unethical.

Citation ethics, plagiarism, and self-plagiarism Authors must cite relevant and verifiable sources appropriately and must avoid citation manipulation. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and uncredited reuse of text, figures, tables, or ideas are prohibited. LET-IN conducts plagiarism screening as part of its editorial workflow and may take action at any stage of review or production if concerns are identified.

Data integrity and research accuracy Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, and deceptive manipulation of data or images are forbidden. Authors are expected to present results accurately and transparently. The editorial team may request supporting documentation, such as anonymized datasets, analysis outputs, instruments, or other materials needed to evaluate the integrity of the work.

Ethics approval and participant protection Research involving human participants, personal data, or other sensitive materials must comply with applicable ethical standards and regulatory requirements. When ethics approval is required, authors must include an ethics statement in the manuscript and provide the required approval details during submission while preserving anonymity for double-blind review.

Conflicts of interest Authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. If there are no competing interests, authors must explicitly state that no conflicts of interest exist.

Corrections, clarifications, and post-publication responsibilities Authors must promptly notify the journal if they discover an important error or inaccuracy in a submitted, accepted, or published manuscript. Authors are expected to cooperate with editorial requests for corrections, clarifications, expressions of concern, or retractions when warranted.

Journal authority and enforcement LET-IN reserves the right to investigate suspected misconduct and to take appropriate editorial actions. Authors found to engage in plagiarism or simultaneous submission are prohibited from future submissions, consistent with the journal’s ethical standards.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors and Reviewers

Fairness and editorial independence Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance to scope, and methodological rigor. The journal maintains a consistent and unbiased evaluation process across submissions.

Confidentiality Editors and reviewers must treat manuscripts and related correspondence as confidential and must not share or use unpublished material for personal advantage.

Double-blind integrity LET-IN uses double-blind peer review. Editors and reviewers must preserve anonymity and avoid actions that could reveal identities during evaluation.

Conflicts of interest Editors and reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest and must decline assignments where impartiality could be compromised.

Professional conduct and constructive communication Reviews and editorial communications must be respectful, specific, and evidence-based. Unprofessional conduct is not tolerated. Reviewer performance is monitored, and inappropriate behavior may result in removal from the reviewer database.

Timeliness Editors and reviewers are expected to complete assigned tasks within agreed timelines and to notify the editorial office promptly if delays or withdrawal are necessary.

Reporting concerns Editors and reviewers should report suspected misconduct, ethical concerns, or significant errors to the editorial office. The journal evaluates concerns in accordance with recognized best practices for ethical oversight.

Retractions and Editorial Actions

LET-IN may initiate editorial actions in response to ethical breaches, including rejection, withdrawal of acceptance, publication of corrections, publication of an expression of concern, or retraction. Cases that may lead to such actions include plagiarism, duplicate or simultaneous submission, authorship manipulation, fabricated or falsified data, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and other serious violations of publication ethics.

Where relevant, the journal aligns its handling of retractions and related post-publication updates with COPE Retraction Guidelines available at publicationethics.org.