Publication Ethics Policy

Executive Overview

The Journal of Social Sciences, Business and Technology (JSSBT) adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The JSSBT is committed to ensuring ensure high ethical and professional standards.

Authorship

JSSBT policy on authorship follows guidelines provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Authorship shall be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. The contribution includes conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Qualification for authorship includes agreement for accountability to all aspects of the published work. Those who do not meet the authorship criteria may be listed under acknowledgements.

Authorship disputes

The decision of who qualifies as an author in the published work and the sequence of the author list must however be determined by the participants to avoid disputes and misunderstandings that may delay the publication of the research.

Conflict of interest

  1. JSSBT policy on conflict of interest is aligned to guidelines provided by COPE. The Editor-in-Chief must treat each submission objectively and transparently. He/she should not process any manuscripts where there is a conflict of interest. If such conflict emerges, the editor may assign the manuscript to any of the editorial board members.
  2. Although the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board members may publish in JSSBT, the number of articles must be restricted to ensure the majority of publications come from other authors.
  3. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board members must provide a professional service to authors. Correspondence should be handled in a timely and respectful manner, and efficient and thorough peer-review carried out. Systems must be in place to ensure editorial staff absences do not result in a reduced service to authors.
  4. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board members must maintain the anonymity of the JSSBT peer reviewers
  5. Authors must disclose any source of funding for the research

Retraction

JSSBT retraction policy follows the guidelines provided by COPE

To minimize citations to the erroneous publication, JSSBT aims to retract the research papers as soon as the editor is convinced that the circumstances warrant retraction. The editor will be responsible for issuing retraction notices. The reasons leading to the retraction will be published alongside the retraction notice.  Circumstances that warrant a retraction include:

  1. Evidence of unreliable findings
  2. Plagiarism
  3. Unauthorized use of data
  4. Copyright infringement or any other serious legal issue
  5. Unethical research
  6. Compromised review process
  7. Failure to disclose conflicting interest

Complaints and appeals

The Editor in Chief has the discretion in deciding whether an article is fit for publication in the journal or not. However, any dissatisfied author may make an appeal by writing to the Editor in Chief via editor.JSSBT@cuk.ac.ke. The appeal must include clear and comprehensive details of the complaint. The editor will constitute a team of not less 5 members drawn from the advisory board to investigate the issue raised.  The Editor in Chief will communicate to the complainant on the decision reached.