IJIDI Publication Ethics & Standards

Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement

The IJIDI is committed to meeting the highest standards of ethical behavior at all stages of the editorial and publication process. In that vein, the IJIDI editorial team upholds high ethical standards to ensure high-quality publication for each journal issue. The IJIDI editorial team is committed to:

Honesty and transparency in all aspects of the research and publication process.
Empathic care, respect, and excellence in scholarly publishing practice.
An inclusive, collaborative, cooperative environment where authors, reviewers, editors, and readers are welcomed.

In alignment with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) core practices, these guidelines outline the ethical responsibilities of the IJIDI's authors, peer reviewers, and editors.

Editorial Board

The IJIDI has an editorial board of library and information science, equity, diversity and inclusion, and information researchers, educators, and practitioners worldwide. The full names and affiliations of the members are located on the IJIDI website and on the "Editorial Board" page. Three to five members of the IJIDI editorial board also serve as Associate Editors and form the editorial leadership team that defines the strategic directions of the journal and drives decision-making. The editorial office of the IJIDI resides at the East Carolina University's Master of Library Science Program. Contact information for the editorial office is located on the IJIDI website on the "Contact" page.

Publication Ethics

The IJIDI's editorial team works collaboratively to identify and prevent the publication of papers involving research misconduct or unethical behavior. If the IJIDI is made aware of any allegation of research misconduct, the journal's editor shall deal with the allegations appropriately. In the event of corrections needed for an article, the journal will publish an errata or retraction when required. The IJIDI does not charge any fees for manuscript processing or publishing materials.

IJIDI’s Statement on Artificial Intelligence in Contemporary Research and Scholarly Publishing

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into scholarly and research writing and methodologies has revolutionized the information sciences field. AI-driven tools aid in research, automating repetitive tasks, and facilitating data-driven decision-making. A benefit of AI is that it allows researchers to focus on more complex and creative aspects of inquiry, fostering innovation.

However, alongside AI's promise comes the challenge of ethical considerations. Issues such as algorithmic bias, data privacy, and academic honesty and integrity necessitate ongoing dialogue and transparency to ensure that AI contributes to, not disrupts, quality scholarly publishing. Thus, while AI represents a powerful tool for advancing knowledge and solving complex problems, it must be applied responsibly and with an awareness of its broader academic impacts.

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI) is adding AI text detection safeguards to its editorial workflow to ensure quality control so that its published papers are as authentically researched and authored as possible. Starting October 15, 2024, for the IJIDI, authors must disclose whether AI tools were used for data collection, analysis, or writing assistance in drafting paper sections or conducting literature reviews.

For peer review, the IJIDI will instruct reviewers not to use AI tools to compose their peer reviews or analyze papers for peer review. Reviewers will also be advised not to upload any text from a paper they are reviewing to any AI language tool, application, or platform so that algorithms do not appropriate authors’ blinded work.

Reviewing Principles

The journal fosters a culture of prompt and respectful double-blind peer-reviewing. The authors can expect to receive initial reviewers' feedback and the initial editorial decision on their manuscript within four weeks from the original submission or sooner, depending on the manuscript's subject matter, complexity, and quality. Contingent on the number of required revisions, the authors will receive a definitive decision on their submissions within two to three months, with the entire production process taking under six months.

Peer-review Process

All IJIDI's content is subject to a double-blind peer-review process, where subject-specific experts review papers related to their field of specialty. The IJIDI defines peer review as obtaining advice on research manuscripts from at least two reviewers' expertise in the field of publication. The peer-review process begins as a double-blind endeavor. Depending on the author's response and resubmissions, papers may be subject to one or more additional rounds of review by a new team of reviewers. This process ensures that the documents published by the IJIDI are of the highest possible quality regarding the credibility and authenticity of research design and protocols for scholarly publication. Manuscripts in the peer-review process are blinded to ensure objectivity and no conflict of interest considering authors' works. An essential aspect of the IJIDI peer-review process is that reviewers point out relevant published work not yet cited in papers. Reviewed papers are treated confidentially throughout the peer-review, editorial, and production process, before their publication. Specifics of the IJIDI's peer-review process are as follows:

If you have ideas for an IJIDI article and questions about the suitability of your work for IJIDI, please write to the journal editor.
The editor will do the initial screening and retain the right not to forward the manuscript for peer review. If the manuscript is deemed unsuitable and declined for peer review, the editor will return the paper to the author with a justification for rejection. If a manuscript is declined via editor preview, the author can resubmit a new publication after 90 days.
Each article will be reviewed by two experts selected from members of the editorial board and/or the permanent reviewers' pool or external experts chosen on an ad-hoc basis. The editor will also add their comments to every review summary sent to the author. The editor retains the right not to forward reviews to authors "as is"; filter out portions of reviews that sound offensive, unscrupulous, unsubstantiated, and unhelpful; and return reviews to reviewers (if feasible) for editing and further substantiation.
A third reviewer will be called in if the two first reviews are polarized or insufficiently comprehensive or if an aspect of the manuscript (e.g., methodology, or literature review) is left without serious critical reflection.
Authors will be given a deadline to implement revisions. If the revised manuscript is not returned by the deadline, it will be considered a new submission and subject to a new round of peer review.
Along with a revised manuscript, authors must submit a letter detailing how they've addressed reviewers' comments or why they have chosen not to implement suggested revisions.
All manuscripts in the Revisions Required and Resubmit for Review categories will be subject to a second round of peer-review. After the second round, the editor retains the right to send manuscripts back to authors for further revision or reject manuscripts. If a manuscript is declined via peer review, the author can resubmit a new publication after 90 days.
Once the revision is deemed satisfactory, the manuscript will be accepted for publication. No further content-related changes will be allowed after this stage. Authors, however, will be able to make minor grammar-, punctuation-, references-, layout- and formatting-related corrections and updates at the stage of proofing galleys.
The editor will do the overall final editing of the manuscript and pass it on to the copy editor, who will edit the piece for grammar and style and verify in-text and bibliography references, composing Author Queries (AQs)in the process.
The manuscript, along with the Author Queries, will be passed on to the managing editors, who will produce a .pdf of the manuscript (galley proofs) and send the proofs (accompanied by the AQs) to the author. They will maintain timely communication with authors and keep track of proofreading deadlines given to authors. Once the corresponding author returns the manuscript and responds to the Author Queries, the managing editor implements the required changes. Following this stage, the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) reviews all articles for quality control. Once the EiC approves articles, no further changes will be made to the content; however, minor changes may be made to the layout. The senior managing editor will mount the final .pdf of the article to the web and inform the EiC and the editorial team. The EiC will inform the author(s) that their article has been published.

Code of Ethics for Authors and Statement on Plagiarism

Authors must verify that their work is original and not submitted, under consideration, or published in other journals or online platforms as a slide deck, infographic, preprint, reprint, or any other disseminated status.
The IJIDI accepts manuscripts where it is evident that all authors have contributed significantly to the research. Once an issue is published, authors are obliged to provide errata to acknowledge any retractions or correct any mistakes.
Authors participate in a dynamic peer-review process by responding to two rounds of anonymized reviews.
Authors are obligated to provide reference lists for citing their work and must provide an acknowledgement statement of any financial support to their research.
Authors shall adhere to ethical research guidelines, procedures, and regulations in their institutions. Independent researchers will be guided by the principles of scholarly rigor, privacy, confidentiality, scholarly integrity, legal requirements in their regions and countries, and the principles of common courtesy and respect.
Authors shall declare any conflicts of interest as specified in IJIDI submission guidelines.
At the time of submission, all authors shall be named on the manuscript in the order in which they shall be acknowledged in the article's final version if it is published in IJIDI.
Authors shall secure written permissions on the reproduction of all third-party materials. Images with people on them require written permission from any person depicted in the image. Written permissions should be obtained from copyright holders for any image, table, or figure produced by a third party. These permissions should be given to manuscript authors for use in their respective articles; permissions should not be solicited on behalf of IJIDI. Asking permission, article authors should indicate to copyright holders that the image will be used in an article published in IJIDI, an open access, non-commercial, peer-reviewed journal with the CC BY-NC-ND license; they should also indicate to copyright holders how the images in question will be captioned. Each image, table, or figure should then accompany the statement: "Reproduced by Permission."
Authors shall submit papers that are free from falsified facts or fabricated data findings.
Authors shall attest that their papers are free from plagiarism. A good explanation of plagiarism can be found on Turnitin's Plagiarism site. Every submission to IJIDI is an indication that authors made a good-faith effort to cite, acknowledge, reference, and credit the work and ideas of others. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of citations and acknowledgements. IJIDI chooses to operate on the principle of good faith and to trust the scholarly integrity of contributing authors. At the time of submission, authors are asked to acknowledge that this is their original work. We do not employ any plagiarism or artificial intelligence (AI) detecting software unless an issue comes to our attention. All authors who submit their work to IJIDI are presumed to be familiar with and uphold this Code of Ethics.

Code of Ethics for Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers will agree to review manuscripts only if the subject matter falls within their area of expertise and only if they deliver reviews in a timely fashion.
Reviewers will respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review during or after the peer-review process beyond those released by the journal.
Reviewers will not use information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person's or organization's advantage or to disadvantage or discredit others.
Reviewers will declare all potential conflicting interests, seeking advice from the journal if they are unsure whether something constitutes a conflict of interest. Reviewers will disclose their knowledge of the author if they detect this in the manuscript.
Reviewers will not allow their reviews to be influenced by the origins of a manuscript, nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, or commercial considerations.
Reviewers will be objective and constructive in their reviews, refraining from hostile or inflammatory comments and from libelous or derogatory personal statements.
Reviewers will decline to review if they feel unable to provide a fair and unbiased review.
Reviewers will consider the ethical standards required of authors' submissions. They will assess whether the article may be plagiarized or heavily written by AI, whether informed consent ought to have been obtained, whether authors have declared competing interests, and whether there is any indication that data has been fabricated or inappropriately manipulated.

Code of Ethics for Editors

The IJIDI aligns its editorial intentions and practices with the criteria and standards articulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including:

Editors work collaboratively with reviewers and guest editors to meet the needs of authors and readers.
Editors maintain and sustain the journal's integrity by continuously working to improve the journal's standing in the field of LIS and related disciplines by actively involving insights from authors, readers, reviewers, and editorial board members.
Editors maintain quality control of the copyediting and production process via transparency between editors and authors.
Editors are willing to publish errata, retractions, and apologies as appropriate and necessary.

Copyright, Errata, and Access

The opinions of our authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the IJIDI editorial team. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their submitted material.
The editorial team and peer reviewers will typically identify and reject submitted material with serious ethical, legal, and academic issues. However, it must be recognized that, like any other process, mistakes and omissions can occur. Therefore, at the time of submission, authors will declare via a cover letter: By submitting written material to the IJIDI, the author hereby agrees to assume full legal responsibility in any matter that may arise due to the publication of their submission(s). This can include but is not limited to issues of data falsification, libel/slander, moral misconduct, academic misconduct, and plagiarism.
In the rare event errata is identified in a published paper, the corresponding author can submit an errata inquiry per the instructions in the IJIDI Errata Policy document within two weeks of publication.
The IJIDI operates under an Open Access Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC-BY-NC-ND), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the Contribution is properly cited, the use is non-commercial, and no modifications or adaptations are made. To understand what is meant by the terms of the Creative Commons License, please refer to: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Authors are not charged article processing fees for publishing in IJIDI. There are no other associated costs to authors to publish in IJIDI. All contents are freely available immediately to the public without charge. The IJIDI does not charge subscription or pay-per-view fees.

Archiving

All back issues of the IJIDI are readily accessible on the journal website via the Archives page. In the unlikely event of ceased publication, the IJIDI is permanently archived on the University of Toronto Libraries Scholars Portal and JSTOR.