Plagiarism and Research Misconduct Policy

The Journal of International Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship (JIBE) adheres strictly to the ethical standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity in research conduct, authorship, peer review, and publication.

Policy on Plagiarism

JIBE maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward all forms of plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the use of another person’s work—ideas, text, data, figures, or processes—without appropriate citation, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This includes:

  • Full plagiarism: Copying previously published content without any changes or attribution.
  • Partial plagiarism: Using content from multiple sources with paraphrasing but without proper citation.
  • Self-plagiarism: Republishing one’s own previously published work or substantial portions of it without proper citation or justification.

To prevent such misconduct, all submitted manuscripts are screened using tools such as iThenticate, Turnitin, or equivalent plagiarism detection software. A similarity index report must accompany each submission, and the acceptable threshold for similarity (excluding references and commonly used phrases) is no more than 20%.

If plagiarism is detected at any stage—before or after publication—JIBE will take immediate action, which may include rejection, retraction, institutional notification, and author sanctions.

Handling of Plagiarism and Overlap

Before Publication

Manuscripts found to exceed the plagiarism threshold during initial screening will be automatically rejected without peer review. Authors will be informed of the decision and advised to revise or withdraw their work.

After Publication

If a published article is later found to contain plagiarized content, the Editor-in-Chief will initiate an internal inquiry, potentially forming a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) to evaluate the severity of the breach. If confirmed, the following steps may be taken:

  • Retraction of the article, with a retraction notice clearly linked to the original article online.
  • Labeling the article as “Plagiarized Manuscript” on all platforms where it was listed or indexed.
  • Notification of the authors' affiliated institution, funding agencies, or relevant academic bodies.
  • Author sanctions, which may include a ban from submitting to JIBE for a period of 3, 5, or 10 years—or permanent blacklisting in severe cases.
  • Public disclosure of author names and institutional affiliations, if deemed appropriate by the Editorial Board and the FFC.

Authors will be given an opportunity to respond in writing within two weeks of notification. Failure to respond may result in escalated action, including direct communication with the institution’s dean, director, or vice-chancellor.

Fabricated Data and Results

JIBE considers data fabrication and manipulation a serious form of academic misconduct. If the editorial office suspects that data has been falsified, fabricated, or selectively omitted to mislead, authors will be asked to provide raw datasets or supporting materials. Failure to do so, or confirmation of data manipulation, will result in rejection or retraction and formal reporting to the author’s institution.

Image Manipulation

Images must be presented honestly and with minimal digital alteration. Acceptable adjustments include brightness, contrast, or cropping—only if applied uniformly across the image and without misrepresenting data. Manipulation intended to obscure, enhance, or distort findings is considered unethical.

The editorial office may request original image files for verification. If deliberate manipulation is confirmed, JIBE reserves the right to reject the manuscript, retract the publication, and notify the affiliated institution.

Institutional Reporting and Author Sanctions

Where serious ethical violations are confirmed, JIBE may:

  • Contact the head of the author’s department, research office, dean, or vice-chancellor.
  • Disable the author’s submission account.
  • Publicly list sanctioned authors and their affiliations on the journal’s website.
  • Notify indexing databases and third-party repositories (e.g., DOAJ, Google Scholar) about the retracted article.

These measures aim to uphold the academic integrity of the journal and protect the scholarly record.

Commitment to Research Integrity

JIBE is committed to respecting intellectual property rights and promoting the originality and credibility of all published work. All authors are expected to submit manuscripts that reflect ethical research and writing practices. Suspected violations are taken seriously, and investigations will follow COPE’s recommended procedures for transparency and fairness.