Publication Policy

The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Knowledge (IJIK) follows a double-blind review policy. The articles are sent to referees (national/international) for blind review. Contributors are informed about the comments of the referees and will be required to revise the article accordingly, if required.

Note: The Editor/Advisory Board reserves the right to make necessary editorial revisions. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the contributors and should not be attributed to the department, the editor, or the editorial board in any way.

IJIK General Publication Policy

The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Knowledge (IJIK) adheres strictly to the quality and ethical publishing standards established by Clarivate for the  as well as guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) .

1. Scope and Editorial Independence

  • Editorial Board Integrity: IJIK maintains an international, independent Editorial Board composed of recognized active researchers in their respective fields.

  • Editorial Decisions: Decisions to accept or reject manuscripts are strictly based on scientific merit, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Editorial decisions are entirely independent of commercial interests, publisher influences, or author demographics.

2. Peer-Review Policy

To maintain IJIK enforces a double-blind peer-review process:

  • Initial Desk Review: Manuscripts are screened within 1–2 weeks by an Executive/Handling Editor for scope fit, basic format, and automated similarity/plagiarism screening.

  • Peer Review: Suitable manuscripts are assigned to a minimum of two independent, external  and internal expert reviewers.

  • Review Criteria: Evaluation is based on research design, methodological rigor, statistical validity, clarity of presentation, originality, and adherence to ethical standards.

  • Reviewer Accountability: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest and treat all manuscripts as strictly confidential documents.

3. Authorship and Contributorship Criteria

IJIK enforces the ICMJE four-part authorship criteria. Every listed author must have:

  1. Made substantial contributions to the conception, design, data acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data.

  2. Drafted or critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content.

  3. Given final approval of the version to be published.

  4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

  • Ghost, Gift, or Guest Authorship: Strictly prohibited. Any changes to the author list after submission require written consent from all listed authors and editorial approval.

4. Publication Ethics & Research Misconduct

IJIK actively monitors for publication ethics violations in accordance with COPE Flowcharts:

  • Plagiarism & Duplicate Submission: All manuscripts are screened using Turnitin . Overall similarity must be under 19%, with less than 5% from a single source. Simultaneous submission to multiple journals is strictly forbidden.

  • Data Fabrication & Falsification: Inventing data or selectively manipulating results, figures, or citations will result in immediate manuscript rejection or post-publication retraction.

5. Ethical Approvals and Informed Consent

For any research involving human participants, human data, or animal subjects:

  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval: Authors must explicitly state the name of the Ethics Committee / IRB that approved the study protocol, along with the approval reference number.

  • Informed Consent: A statement confirming that written informed consent was obtained from all participants (or legal guardians) must be included in the manuscript.

6. Conflict of Interest and Funding Transparency

  • Financial & Non-Financial Conflicts: All authors, peer reviewers, and editors must declare any personal, financial, or professional relationships that could bias their work or decisions.

  • Funding Statement: Authors must explicitly state all sources of funding and institutional support, including grant numbers, in the manuscript. If no external funding was received, this must be explicitly declared.

7. Research Data Availability and Transparency

To ensure full scientific reproducibility required standards:

  • Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in every published article, describing where and how the underlying dataset can be accessed (e.g., public repositories, open access repositories, or available from authors upon reasonable request).

8. Post-Publication Corrections, Retractions, and Preservation

  • Corrections: Significant errors that do not invalidate the scientific conclusions of a paper are addressed via an official Corrigendum (author error) or Erratum (publisher error).

  • Retractions: Articles exhibiting severe scientific misconduct, irreproducible data, major plagiarism, or unethical research practice will be formally retracted in accordance with COPE Retraction Guidelines.

  • Digital Preservation & DOIs: Every published article is assigned a persistent Crossref Digital Object Identifier (DOI). All published content is permanently archived to ensure long-term digital preservation (e.g., LOCKSS/CLOCKSS, public indexing databases).

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

  • AI tools (such as ChatGPT or Large Language Models) do not meet authorship criteria and cannot be listed as authors.

  • Authors using AI-assisted tools for manuscript drafting, language editing, or data processing must explicitly declare their use in the Acknowledgments or Methodology section, detailing the specific tools used and the scope of their application. Authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy and originality of all submitted content.