Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

International Journal Research on Metaverse is a peer-reviewed open-access journal. This statement clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in this journal, including the author, the Chief Editor, the Editorial Board, peer reviewers, and the publisher (Bright Publisher). This statement is based on the COPE Core Practices.

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed International Journal Research on Metaverse is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is, therefore, important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, and the publisher.

Publisher and Editor

Bright Publisher, as the publisher of the International Journal Research on Metaverse, takes its duties of guardianship over all stages of publishing extremely seriously, and we recognize our ethical and other responsibilities. We are committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint, or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions. In addition, the Editorial Board will assist in communications with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful and necessary.

Publication Decisions: The editor of the International Journal Research on Metaverse is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's Editorial Board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editors may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair Play: An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors, reviewers, and authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, review, or editorial decision. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. The journal follows the COPE guidance on conflicts of interest.

Complaints and Appeals: The International Journal Research on Metaverse aims to respond to and resolve all complaints and appeals fairly, transparently, and constructively. Complaints may concern editorial decisions, publication procedures, ethical issues, or alleged misconduct. Complaints and appeals can be submitted by writing an email to the journal. The journal will acknowledge complaints within five working days and will investigate them appropriately. Where necessary, the journal may seek advice from members of the Editorial Board or independent experts. The outcome of an appeal or complaint will be communicated to the relevant party after the investigation has been completed. The journal follows the COPE guidance on complaints and appeals.

Research Involving Human Participants: International Journal Research on Metaverse (IJRM) requires that all research involving human participants complies with internationally accepted ethical standards, including the Declaration of Helsinki, and adheres to applicable institutional and national regulations.

Ethical Oversight: Research involving human participants, personal data, sensitive information, or other potentially ethical concerns must receive appropriate ethical oversight. Authors must clearly state whether ethical approval was obtained from an Institutional Review Board (IRB), ethics committee, or equivalent body. Where ethical approval is not required, authors must provide an appropriate justification in accordance with applicable institutional or national regulations. The journal reserves the right to request evidence of ethical approval where necessary. The journal follows the COPE guidance on ethical oversight.

Informed Consent: Authors must include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants and specify the format (written or verbal). If verbal consent was obtained, authors must provide a justification and confirm that the procedure received approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent ethics committee.

Anonymity and Privacy: Identifying information (e.g., names, photographs, personal data, avatars, digital identities, or interaction traces within virtual or metaverse environments) must not be published unless explicit consent has been obtained. The anonymity and privacy of participants must be strictly preserved throughout the manuscript.

Ethics Approval: Studies involving human participants must clearly state the name of the approving ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB), including the approval reference number. If ethical approval was not required, authors must provide a clear and justified rationale in accordance with applicable institutional or national regulations.

Sensitive Data Handling: Data containing sensitive personal, behavioral, biometric, or immersive interaction data must be securely stored and appropriately de-identified. Authors must comply with relevant data protection and privacy regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or applicable national data protection laws.

Research Misconduct Policy: The International Journal Research on Metaverse (IJRM) is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record and takes all reasonable steps to prevent the publication of research misconduct. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, citation manipulation, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, unethical authorship practices, peer-review manipulation, or any other form of academic misconduct. Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-checking and editorial assessment procedures prior to publication. In cases where allegations of research misconduct are raised before or after publication, the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board will investigate the matter fairly and confidentially, following the COPE guidance on allegations of research misconduct. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, appropriate actions may include manuscript rejection, publication of corrections, an expression of concern, retraction of the article, or notification of the authors' affiliated institutions where necessary.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility: Authors are encouraged to make the data, materials, code, and other resources supporting their research available whenever possible, subject to ethical, legal, privacy, and confidentiality requirements. Authors should provide sufficient methodological information to allow their work to be understood and, where appropriate, reproduced. Where data cannot be publicly shared because of privacy, ethical, legal, or other legitimate restrictions, authors should clearly state the reason and, where possible, indicate how qualified researchers may access the data. The journal follows the COPE guidance on data sharing and reproducibility.

Duties of Reviewers

1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper.
2. Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
3. Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
4. Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
5. Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation.
6. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should disclose any potential conflict of interest and decline the review when such a conflict could affect the objectivity of their assessment.

Duties of Authors

1. Reporting Standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
2. Data Access and Retention: Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, where appropriate and subject to ethical, legal, and privacy requirements.
3. Originality and Plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and appropriately acknowledge the work of others. Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-checking tools.
4. Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
5. Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have significantly influenced the reported work.
6. Authorship and Contributorship: Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study, the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, or the drafting and critical revision of the manuscript. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work. Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are listed as authors and that all co-authors have approved the manuscript prior to submission. The journal does not accept ghost authorship, gift authorship, or guest authorship. Any changes to authorship after submission or publication must be justified and approved by all affected authors. The journal follows the COPE guidance on authorship and contributorship.
7. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial, personal, professional, or other substantive conflict of interest that could influence the research or its interpretation.
8. Data Sharing and Reproducibility: Authors should provide sufficient information, data, materials, and/or code to support the transparency and reproducibility of their research where appropriate. Any restrictions on data availability must be clearly explained.
9. Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, they must promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate in correcting or retracting the article where necessary.
10. Intellectual Property: Based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on intellectual property, the journal's intellectual property policies include copyright ownership, licensing terms, publication fees, and permissions for content reuse. All published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, adaptation, and reproduction in any medium, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source.

Post-Publication Discussions: IJRM welcomes responsible post-publication discussion of published articles. Readers and researchers may communicate questions, comments, or concerns regarding published work to the journal. Where appropriate, the journal may facilitate discussion through correspondence, comments, or other suitable scholarly channels. Substantive concerns that may affect the integrity of the published record will be investigated in accordance with the journal's policies. The journal follows the COPE guidance on post-publication discussions.

Correction and Retraction Policy: IJRM recognizes its responsibility to correct errors or retract articles where necessary. Minor errors that do not affect the validity or integrity of the article may be corrected through an erratum or correction notice. Articles may be retracted in cases of proven scientific misconduct, data fabrication, data falsification, plagiarism, serious ethical violations, or other circumstances that substantially affect the reliability of the published work. Authors, readers, reviewers, or third parties may notify the editor regarding concerns about a published article. All allegations and concerns will be investigated following appropriate procedures and the relevant COPE guidance on corrections and retractions. Where appropriate, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction and may notify the authors' affiliated institutions or other relevant parties.