RESEARCH INTEGRITY & EDITORIAL STANDARDS

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Journal of Infrastructural in Civil Engineering (JICE), published by Universitas Teknokrat Indonesia, is committed to academic integrity, fair editorial assessment, and responsible scholarly communication in civil engineering, infrastructure development, and related disciplines.

This statement defines the ethical responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and editors throughout submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication processes. It is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and should be read alongside JICE's specific editorial policies.

Standards governing editorial screening, peer review, publication decisions, and originality.

1. All submitted manuscripts undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's basic requirements proceed to evaluation by one or two qualified reviewers with relevant subject expertise, drawn from national or international academic communities as appropriate.
2. Since February 2026, JICE has implemented double-blind peer review, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other during manuscript evaluation. Editors manage identifying information and ensure that files supplied for review are appropriately anonymized.
3. Review and editorial evaluation consider the manuscript's relevance to civil engineering and infrastructure research, scientific and technical soundness, originality, significance, methodological rigor, clarity, and presentation of supporting evidence.
4. Editorial decisions may include acceptance, a request for revision or further review, or rejection. Reviewers provide recommendations; the responsibility for publication decisions remains with the editors.
5. A request to revise and resubmit a manuscript does not guarantee acceptance. Revised manuscripts remain subject to editorial assessment and, where necessary, additional peer review.
6. A manuscript declined through the editorial process will not ordinarily be reconsidered under the same submission. Any subsequent submission is subject to the editorial office's assessment and the journal's submission requirements.
7. Publication decisions must comply with applicable legal and ethical obligations, including those concerning copyright, plagiarism, confidentiality, and unlawful or defamatory material.
8. Duplicate, redundant, or overlapping publication without appropriate disclosure and editorial justification is prohibited. Any relevant prior dissemination must be disclosed and assessed under the journal's publication policies.

Responsibilities for originality, authorship, transparent reporting, disclosure, and post-publication cooperation.

1. Authors must submit original scholarly work and present their research, analyses, and interpretations honestly and accurately.
2. Authors must disclose any prior publication or dissemination of the submitted work. Previously published material may be considered only where permitted by the journal's policies and fully disclosed to the editorial office.
3. Manuscripts must not be submitted to or under consideration by another journal or publication venue at the same time.
4. Authors must cooperate with editorial screening and peer review, address reviewers' comments professionally, and provide reasoned responses to requested revisions.
5. Authors must cooperate with post-publication procedures, including corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions, when significant errors or publication ethics issues are identified.
6. Every listed author must satisfy the journal's authorship criteria, approve the submitted and final versions, accept appropriate responsibility for the work, and accurately disclose individual contributions. Non-author contributors must be acknowledged where appropriate.
7. Authors must accurately report research methods, engineering specifications, data, analyses, limitations, and results. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation that misrepresents findings, and other forms of research misconduct are prohibited. Relevant ethical approvals and permissions must be reported where applicable.
8. Authors must disclose relevant financial, personal, professional, institutional, or other competing interests, together with appropriate funding information, even when the authors believe that such interests have not influenced the findings.
9. Authors must acknowledge and cite relevant sources accurately, respect third-party intellectual property rights, and disclose the use of artificial intelligence tools in accordance with the journal's authorship and submission policies. AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
10. Authors who discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work must promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate in determining and implementing an appropriate correction to the scholarly record.

Professional expectations for confidential, impartial, constructive, and conflict-free manuscript assessment.

1. Reviewers must treat manuscripts, associated research data, and review correspondence as confidential. Unpublished information obtained through peer review must not be disclosed or used for personal or professional advantage.
2. Reviewers must conduct evaluations impartially, objectively, and respectfully. Assessments must address the manuscript's scientific and technical content rather than make personal criticism of its authors.
3. Reviewers should provide clear, constructive, evidence-based feedback within agreed timeframes. Reviewers unable to provide a competent or timely evaluation should inform the editor promptly.
4. Reviewers should identify relevant scholarship, technical standards, or prior research that has not been appropriately acknowledged where this omission affects the interpretation or assessment of the work.
5. Reviewers must promptly alert the editor to suspected substantial overlap, plagiarism, or other publication integrity concerns supported by relevant information, rather than making unsupported allegations directly to authors.
6. Reviewers must disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest arising from financial, institutional, competitive, personal, or collaborative relationships and decline assignments when these interests could compromise independent judgment.

Responsibilities for independent decisions, fair procedures, research integrity, and the published record.

1. Editors are responsible for decisions to accept, request revision or further review of, or reject submitted manuscripts. Reviewer recommendations inform but do not replace editorial judgment.
2. Editors are responsible for maintaining the scholarly quality, ethical integrity, and overall credibility of the journal's publications.
3. Editors should respond fairly to the legitimate interests of authors and readers and seek continuous improvement in editorial transparency, peer-review procedures, and publication standards.
4. Editors must safeguard the reliability and integrity of the published scholarly record and ensure that research findings are presented with appropriate supporting evidence.
5. Where justified, editors must facilitate corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions through documented procedures that maintain the transparency of the publication record.
6. Editors should ensure that sources of research funding, financial support, and relevant competing interests are appropriately declared and, where applicable, disclosed in published articles.
7. Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, originality, methodological and technical quality, significance, clarity, and relevance to the journal's focus and scope, without discrimination or inappropriate influence.
8. Editors should not reverse earlier editorial decisions without sufficient justification, such as material new evidence, a significant procedural error, or a substantiated ethical concern.
9. Editors must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and protect the identities of authors and reviewers as required by JICE's double-blind review procedures. Access to identifying information should be limited to authorized editorial personnel.
10. Editors should assess compliance with applicable research ethics requirements, permissions, reporting standards, and relevant technical or professional requirements in civil engineering research, where appropriate.
11. Editors should accept manuscripts for publication only when the available evidence, review reports, and editorial assessment provide a reasonable basis for concluding that the journal's scientific and ethical standards have been met.
12. Editors must take credible allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously, whether they concern submissions or published articles, and seek a fair and proportionate resolution, including referral to relevant institutions where appropriate.
13. Suspected misconduct must be assessed on the basis of available evidence and fair procedures. Unsupported allegations alone should not be treated as proof; affected parties should be given an appropriate opportunity to respond where applicable.
14. Editors must disclose and manage conflicts of interest involving themselves, editorial staff, authors, reviewers, or editorial board members, including recusal or reassignment when necessary. Editorial decisions must remain independent of publication charges, personal relationships, and other improper considerations.

Related Editorial Policies

Detailed procedures for individual ethical matters are provided in the following JICE policies:

JICE seeks to apply these policies consistently and proportionately, guided by transparency, due process, confidentiality, and the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record. The statement will be reviewed periodically to remain consistent with the journal's editorial practices and applicable publication ethics guidance.