The Journal of Algebra Combinatorics Discrete Structures and Applications is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record and to following internationally recognized standards of publication ethics. The journal expects all authors, reviewers, editors, and publishing staff to act in accordance with principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, fairness, and respect for scholarly work.

The journal's publication ethics policies are informed by the COPE Core Practices and by accepted standards of responsible scholarly publishing. These policies apply to all manuscripts submitted to the journal and to all articles published by the journal.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript is original, accurate, properly documented, and submitted in accordance with the journal's policies. By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that the work has not been published previously, is not under consideration elsewhere, and does not infringe the rights of any third party.

Authors must present their research honestly and must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent data, results, formulas, proofs, images, references, or any other part of the scholarly record. All sources used in the manuscript must be properly cited.

Originality, Plagiarism and Text Recycling

The journal considers plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, and inappropriate text recycling to be serious violations of publication ethics. Authors must ensure that all submitted manuscripts are their own original work and that the work and words of others are properly acknowledged.

Manuscripts may be checked for originality and similarity at any stage of the editorial process. Submissions that contain substantial overlap with published or unpublished work, or that fail to provide appropriate citation and attribution, may be rejected. If plagiarism or substantial overlap is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the seriousness of the case.

Duplicate Submission and Prior Publication

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not be under consideration by another journal, book, conference proceeding, or publication venue at the same time. Authors must not submit the same or substantially similar work to more than one publication outlet simultaneously.

If a manuscript is based on a preprint, thesis, conference presentation, or earlier version of the work, authors must disclose this clearly at submission and cite the relevant source where appropriate. The submitted manuscript must provide a substantial scholarly contribution beyond any earlier version where applicable. Translations of articles that have already been published in another language or venue are not considered for publication.

Data Fabrication, Falsification and Manipulation

Fabrication or falsification of data, results, computations, formulas, proofs, examples, images, or any other research material is unacceptable. Authors must not manipulate research materials or presentation of results in a way that could mislead readers, reviewers, editors, or indexing services.

When computational results, algorithms, software, datasets, or code are central to the manuscript, authors should provide sufficient information to allow appropriate verification, reproducibility, or scholarly assessment, where applicable to the nature of the work.

Citation Manipulation

Authors must cite relevant literature accurately and responsibly. Citation manipulation, including excessive self-citation, irrelevant citation, coercive citation, citation stacking, or citation practices intended primarily to increase the citation count of an author, journal, institution, or group, is not acceptable.

Editors and reviewers must not request the addition of citations unless there is a clear scholarly reason for doing so.

Authorship and Contributorship

All listed authors must have made a meaningful scholarly contribution to the manuscript and must have approved the final version submitted to the journal. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have agreed to the submission, the author order, and the content of the manuscript.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be explained in writing and approved by all affected authors. The journal may request additional documentation where necessary.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, institutional, academic, personal, or other interests that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the submission, review, editorial decision, or publication of a manuscript.

If a conflict of interest is identified, the journal will take appropriate steps to ensure an impartial editorial process. This may include assigning a different editor, selecting different reviewers, requesting additional disclosure, or taking other editorial action as appropriate.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, timely, and confidential evaluations of manuscripts. Reviewers must assess the manuscript's originality, correctness, significance, clarity, use of literature, and suitability for the journal.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information from a manuscript for their own benefit or disclose manuscript content to others. Reviewers must decline the review invitation if they have a conflict of interest or lack the necessary expertise.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for managing manuscripts fairly, confidentially, and independently. Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal's scope, reviewer reports, ethical compliance, and the editor's own academic judgment.

Editors must not allow personal, institutional, commercial, political, or financial considerations to influence editorial decisions. Article Processing Charges, where applicable, have no influence on editorial decisions.

Research Ethics, Human Participants and Personal Data

As a mathematics journal focusing on algebra, combinatorics, discrete structures, and their theoretical and computational applications, studies submitted to the journal rarely involve human participants, human tissue, or animal subjects. However, if a submitted manuscript involves human participants, identifiable personal data, or biological subjects, the research must have been conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by an appropriate institutional ethics review board (or accompanied by formal proof of exemption from an ethics board), and the article must include an explicit statement confirming that informed consent for participation and publication was obtained.

Allegations of Misconduct and Whistleblower Protection

The journal takes all allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously, whether raised before or after publication, and whether brought to the attention of the editors or the publisher by authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, or third-party claimants and whistleblowers (including anonymous reports supported by verifiable evidence). Concerns may relate to plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, authorship disputes, undeclared conflicts of interest, peer-review manipulation, citation manipulation, or other breaches of publication ethics.

When an allegation of misconduct is received, the Editor-in-Chief and editorial office follow the applicable COPE Flowcharts and guidelines. The journal reviews the evidence objectively, seeks written clarification from the affected authors, and coordinates with the authors' research institutions, employers, or funders where appropriate while protecting the confidentiality of claimants and whistleblowers.

Post-publication Actions

If a serious error or ethical concern is identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate action to protect the integrity of the scholarly record. Such action may include publishing a correction, clarification, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial notice.

Post-publication actions are intended to correct the scholarly record and are not punitive in themselves. The journal will consider the nature and seriousness of the issue, the reliability of the published findings, and relevant standards of publication ethics when deciding on an appropriate action.

Sanctions and Editorial Action

Where serious misconduct is confirmed, the journal may reject the manuscript, withdraw the manuscript from consideration, publish an appropriate notice, notify relevant institutions or parties, or decline to consider future submissions from the authors for a defined period. Any action will depend on the seriousness and circumstances of the case.

Contact

Questions or concerns about publication ethics should be sent to the editorial office at info [at] jacodesmath.com.