Publishing Ethics

CogNexus is committed to maintaining high standards of integrity, transparency, fairness, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow recognized principles of research and publication ethics.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must submit original, accurate, and ethically conducted research. Manuscripts must not contain plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, misleading information, or inappropriate manipulation of research materials.

Manuscripts must not be simultaneously submitted to or under consideration by another journal.

2. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work and accept responsibility for the published content.

Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are not acceptable. All authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission and publication.

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged.

3. Plagiarism and Originality

CogNexus does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or inappropriate reuse of previously published material.

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-detection software. Similarity reports are evaluated in context rather than solely on the basis of a numerical similarity score.

4. Data Integrity

Authors must accurately report their research methods, data, analyses, and findings.

Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, misleading presentation of results, or inappropriate alteration of figures and data constitutes research misconduct.

5. Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants, personal or sensitive data, or other activities requiring ethical oversight must comply with applicable institutional, legal, and ethical requirements.

Authors should provide information regarding ethical approval and informed consent where applicable.

6. Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their work or decisions.

Authors should also disclose relevant sources of research funding.

7. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, confidential, and timely assessments.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage and should decline assignments where a conflict of interest could compromise impartiality.

8. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must evaluate manuscripts fairly and on the basis of scholarly merit, originality, relevance, methodological quality, and ethical integrity.

Editorial decisions must be independent of financial considerations or irrelevant personal characteristics of authors.

Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

Authors remain responsible for the originality, accuracy, citations, data, analysis, and conclusions of their manuscripts. Substantive use of generative AI in research or manuscript preparation should be transparently disclosed where applicable.

Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality when using digital or AI-assisted tools.

10. Corrections and Retractions

If significant errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, or other ethical concerns are identified after publication, CogNexus may issue a correction, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice.

The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

11. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may raise concerns regarding editorial decisions, peer review, ethical matters, or published content.

Complaints and appeals will be considered objectively and, where appropriate, reviewed by an editor who was not directly involved in the original decision.

12. Research Misconduct

Allegations of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, authorship manipulation, peer review manipulation, duplicate publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other research misconduct will be investigated fairly and confidentially.

Where serious misconduct is established, CogNexus may reject or retract the affected work and may contact relevant institutions or authorities where appropriate.

Commitment to Publishing Integrity

CogNexus is committed to protecting the integrity of scholarly communication and ensuring that editorial and publication decisions are based on academic quality, ethical standards, and reliable evidence.