Ethical Guidelines

The Journal of Innovations in Engineering Education (JIEE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the principles outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publication process—authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher—are expected to adhere to ethical standards.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors.

• The corresponding author ensures that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper.
• All authors must have approved the final version of the manuscript.
• All authors must agree to its submission to the journal.
• Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest.

Plagiarism and Originality

Submitted manuscripts must be original work and not previously published elsewhere. Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the work and/or words of others have been used, this must be appropriately cited or quoted.

• All submissions are checked for plagiarism using appropriate software.
• Manuscripts with significant similarity to published work will be rejected.
• Self-plagiarism is also considered unethical and should be avoided.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication and falsification are serious forms of misconduct. Authors must ensure that all research data presented are accurate and have not been manipulated to support their conclusions.

Duplicate Submission

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Citation and References

Authors must ensure that all sources are properly cited. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the reported work.

Publication Fees and Charges

All articles published in JIEE are made freely available online immediately upon publication, under an open access license. This is made possible through institutional support from the Institute of Engineering, Thapathali Campus, Tribhuvan University.

Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.

• Financial interests: Employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.
• Non-financial interests: Personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge, or beliefs that could be perceived to influence the work.

Reviewers should also disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript and should decline to review specific manuscripts if a conflict exists.

Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editorial board makes decisions based on the validity of the work and its importance to researchers and readers.

• Editors evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
• Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and potential reviewers.
• Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors for their own research without the express written consent of the author.
• Editors should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and may also help authors improve their manuscripts. Reviewers should:

• Conduct reviews in a timely manner and inform the editor if they cannot complete the review.
• Keep all information regarding manuscripts confidential and not use knowledge of the work before its publication to further their own interests.
• Be objective and provide constructive feedback.
• Identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
• Call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper or submitted manuscript.
• Decline to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

Corrections and Retractions

Corrections

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Retractions

Articles may be retracted if:

• There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct or honest error.
• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing or permission.
• It constitutes plagiarism.
• It reports unethical research.

Retraction notices will be published and linked to the retracted article, clearly identifying the retracted status to readers.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision should contact the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected] with a detailed explanation of their concerns. All complaints will be investigated fairly and thoroughly. The journal is committed to responding to complaints promptly and taking appropriate action.

Copyright and Licensing

Upon acceptance of an article, the copyright for the published works remains jointly with the JIEE, Thapathali Campus and the authors. All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which allows readers to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

Under the following terms: Attribution — appropriate credit must be given, a link to the license provided, and indication if changes were made.