Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All listed authors must:

• Have made a substantial contribution to the research
• Have participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript
• Have approved the final version to be published
• Have agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring all co-authors have seen and approved the final version. Guest or gift authorship is not permitted. Use of AI writing tools (e.g., ChatGPT) must be disclosed in the manuscript; AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

2. Plagiarism & Originality

All submitted manuscripts are screened for similarity using industry-standard detection tools. IJQCI requires:

• Overall similarity index of less than 15% (excluding references and direct quotes)
• No single source match exceeding 5%
• Zero tolerance for verbatim copying without proper citation
• Self-plagiarism (re-use of authors' own prior published work without citation) is prohibited

Manuscripts exceeding the threshold will be returned to authors without peer review.

3. Double-Blind Peer Review

IJQCI operates a rigorous double-blind peer review process:

• Author identities are concealed from reviewers
• Reviewer identities are concealed from authors
• A minimum of two independent expert reviewers evaluate each manuscript
• Reviewers are selected based on expertise and declared absence of conflicts of interest
• First editorial decision is communicated within 21 working days
• All reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality of manuscript content

4. Conflict of Interest

All parties must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence their work or evaluation:

• Authors must declare all funding sources and financial relationships that could be perceived as a conflict
• Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists (e.g., with a collaborator, competitor, or institution)
• Editors will not handle papers authored by themselves, close colleagues, or family members
• No more than 25% of published papers in any issue may be authored by editorial board members (DOAJ requirement)

5. Data Integrity & Research Misconduct

IJQCI has zero tolerance for:

• Data fabrication — inventing research data or results
• Data falsification — manipulating or selectively reporting data to misrepresent findings
• Image manipulation — inappropriately altering figures or images
• Duplicate submission — submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals

If misconduct is discovered post-publication, the article will be retracted and the author's institution notified.

6. Corrections, Retractions & Expressions of Concern

IJQCI follows COPE guidelines for post-publication corrections:

• Correction/Erratum: For minor errors that do not affect conclusions
• Retraction: For articles with unreliable findings due to misconduct, honest error, plagiarism, or duplicate publication
• Expression of Concern: When evidence of misconduct is inconclusive and under investigation
• Retracted articles remain on the website clearly marked as "RETRACTED"
• Authors have the right to respond before a retraction is published

7. Duties of Editors

The Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors are responsible for:

• Fair and unbiased evaluation of all submitted manuscripts regardless of author nationality, ethnicity, gender, or institution
• Confidentiality of manuscript content before publication
• Disclosure of conflicts of interest and recusal where applicable
• Timely communication of editorial decisions to authors
• Ensuring the published record is corrected when errors are identified

8. Open Access & Copyright

IJQCI is a fully open access journal. All published articles are:

• Published under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license
• Freely available to all readers without subscription or paywall
• Authors retain copyright — the publisher does not claim ownership of articles
• Re-use, sharing, and adaptation is permitted with proper attribution

9. Article Processing Charges (APC) Transparency

IJQCI maintains full transparency regarding publication fees:

• The overall article processing charge is ₹1,500 INR (all-inclusive)
• There are no submission fees — APC is charged only upon acceptance
• Fees cover: peer review coordination, editorial processing, DOI registration, digital archiving, and Open Access hosting
• Fee waivers may be available for authors from low-income countries. Contact editor@ijqci.org

10. Complaints & Appeals

Authors, reviewers, or readers who believe that ethical standards have been violated may raise a formal complaint:

• Email: editor@ijqci.org with subject "Ethics Complaint"
• All complaints will be acknowledged within 5 working days
• Complaints are investigated following COPE flowcharts
• Authors may appeal editorial decisions by providing a detailed written rebuttal