EtikaPublikasi

INTRODUCTION

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards throughout the scholarly publishing process. This ethics policy is formulated in accordance with the ten components established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and aligned with Indonesian national journal accreditation standards under Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education Regulation No. 9/2018 and the ARJUNA national journal accreditation guidelines.

COPE #1 — Authorship and Contributorship

A. Authorship Criteria

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX adopts the authorship criteria of the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors). A person is considered an author if they meet all four of the following criteria simultaneously:

• Substantial contribution to the conception/design of the research, or to data acquisition/analysis/interpretation
• Drafting or critically revising important intellectual content of the manuscript
• Final approval of the version to be published
• Accountability — agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including ensuring the accuracy and integrity of any part of the article

B. Author Order

Author order reflects the degree of contribution of each author. The corresponding author is responsible for all communications with the editorial office throughout the submission and publication process, and must be listed with a valid, active email address.

C. Changes to Authorship

Additions, removals, or reordering of authors can only be made before the manuscript is accepted and require written consent from all authors involved. Changes after acceptance require Editor-in-Chief approval accompanied by a strong justification.

D. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

• Ensuring all authors approve the final version of the manuscript
• Managing communication with the editorial office and distributing information to all authors
• Providing an active ORCID iD in the OJS submission profile
• Retaining raw research data for at least 5 years after publication

COPE #2 — Conflict of Interest / Competing Interests

A conflict of interest occurs when personal, financial, professional, or institutional interests could affect the objectivity of research or scientific judgment.

A. Author Obligations

• Mandatory disclosure: All funding sources must be stated in the manuscript
• Written declaration: Authors must complete a COI statement on the OJS submission form
• Declaration format: "The authors declare no conflict of interest" OR specify funding sources and the funder's role

B. Reviewer & Editor Obligations

• Must decline an invitation if they have a collaborative relationship (within the last 3 years), direct competition, or a financial interest with the author(s)
• The Editor-in-Chief does not handle their own manuscripts — these are assigned to another Section Editor
• Editorial board members who submit a manuscript may not be involved in reviewing that manuscript

The full COI policy is available in a separate document: Conflict of Interest Policy — Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX.

COPE #3 — Allegations of Misconduct

A. Types of Misconduct

B. Handling Procedure

The journal follows the COPE Flowcharts in handling allegations of misconduct. The steps are:

• Identification: Allegations may be reported by anyone — reviewers, readers, editorial staff, or other parties
• Report receipt: The Editor-in-Chief receives the report and ensures the reporter's confidentiality
• Preliminary assessment: The editor conducts an initial check to confirm the report has sufficient grounds
• Investigation: The editor contacts the author(s) and provides an opportunity to respond within 14 days
• Decision: Based on the evidence, the editor decides on an action: warning, correction, retraction, or a submission ban
• Documentation: The entire investigation process is documented in writing

C. Plagiarism Handling

All manuscripts are screened with text-similarity detection software before entering peer review. Tolerance limits: a maximum of 20% overall similarity and no more than 5% from a single source (excluding direct quotations and the reference list). Manuscripts exceeding these limits are returned before review.

COPE #4 — Complaints and Appeals

A. Appeal of Editorial Decisions

Authors who disagree with a Reject decision may submit an appeal to the Editor-in-Chief within 14 days of receiving the decision notification. The appeal must include:

• A specific and well-structured scientific argument
• Evidence that reviewer comments were inaccurate, biased, or overlooked important information
• An appeal cannot be based solely on dissatisfaction with the decision

The Editor-in-Chief will review the appeal and respond within 21 calendar days. The Editor-in-Chief's decision on an appeal is final.

B. Complaints Against the Journal

Complaints regarding the editorial process, reviewer/editor conduct, or journal policy may be submitted via:

• Official email: platax@unsrat.ac.id
• Official letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX, FPIK Unsrat

Every complaint will receive a substantive response within 14 working days. If a complaint cannot be resolved internally, authors may refer the matter to COPE (publicationethics.org) for external mediation.

COPE #5 — Data and Reproducibility

A. Data Availability

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX encourages (and in certain cases requires) authors to make research data openly available so that other researchers can verify and replicate findings. Authors are asked to include a Data Availability Statement (DAS) at the end of the article:

B. Recommended Data Repositories

• Zenodo (zenodo.org) — multidisciplinary open-access repository
• Figshare (figshare.com) — data, figures, datasets
• PANGAEA (pangaea.de) — environmental and earth-science data (highly relevant for an aquatic-science journal)
• OBIS (obis.org) — Ocean Biodiversity Information System
• GBIF (gbif.org) — Global Biodiversity Information Facility

C. Reproducibility

Research methodology must be described in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to replicate the results. Authors must provide raw data, analysis code, or protocols upon request from the editor or reviewers during the review process.

D. Image Manipulation

Unacceptable image manipulation includes: selective contrast/brightness enhancement that obscures data, cloning parts of an image, combining images from different sources without disclosure, and removing objects from an original photograph. All images must accurately represent the actual data.

COPE #6 — Ethical Oversight

A. Animal Research

Manuscripts reporting research using vertebrate animals must include a statement confirming approval from an Animal Care and Use Ethics Committee or an equivalent competent authority. The ethical approval number must be stated in the Methods section.

B. Human Subjects Research

Research involving human subjects (interviews, surveys, biological samples) must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by a relevant institutional ethics committee. Informed consent must be obtained from all participants. The ethical approval number must be stated.

C. Vulnerable Populations

Research involving vulnerable populations (children, indigenous communities, marginalized groups) requires additional ethical consideration and a strong justification for why the research could not be conducted with a non-vulnerable population.

D. Biological Specimens and Collections

Research that collects biological specimens (fish, invertebrates, marine plants) must demonstrate compliance with local and international regulations on specimen collection and transfer, including relevant collection permits. Specimens collected from conservation areas must include a permit from the competent authority.

E. Confidential Data

Research using data from third parties (fishers, local communities, government agencies) must have clear data-use consent and preserve anonymity where required.

COPE #7 — Intellectual Property

A. Copyright

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX operates an Open Access model under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Under this license:

• Copyright is retained by the authors — authors retain the rights to their work
• The journal receives a non-exclusive license to publish and distribute the article
• Readers may read, download, copy, and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution
• Commercial use requires explicit permission from the authors

B. Publishing License

By submitting a manuscript to Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX, authors confirm that:

• The work is their own and has not been previously published elsewhere
• The work is not under review at another journal
• They grant the journal a license to publish the work under CC BY-NC 4.0
• All authors agree to these licensing terms

C. Pre-publication

The journal does not prohibit authors from posting an early version (preprint) to a recognized preprint server (such as bioRxiv, EarthArXiv, or OSF Preprints) before or during the review process. However, authors must disclose the existence of the preprint at submission and cite the preprint DOI in the manuscript, if available.

D. Article Processing Charges

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX currently charges no fees to authors (no APC / no submission fee). The journal operates as a public academic service supported by Sam Ratulangi University.

COPE #8 — Journal Management

A. Editorial Structure and Independence

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX is managed by an editorial team that is scientifically independent from Sam Ratulangi University. Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of the scientific quality and merit of the manuscript, free from commercial, institutional, or personal considerations.

B. Transparency

• All journal policies are openly available on the OJS website
• Manuscript handling is fully documented within the OJS system
• Journal statistics (submission numbers, acceptance rate, review times) are published periodically
• Journal ownership and institutional support are stated transparently

C. Editorial Team Training

The Editor-in-Chief ensures that all editorial team members — Section Editors, Editorial Board, and technical staff — understand this publication ethics policy and COPE standards. Policy training or briefing is conducted at least once per editorial term.

D. Website and Platform Management

• Platform: Open Journal Systems (OJS) version 3.x — managed by LPPM, Sam Ratulangi University
• DOI: registered via Crossref under prefix 10.35800/jip
• Metadata: each article is uploaded with complete metadata (title, abstract, keywords, authors, ORCID, DOI, publication date)
• Archiving: all volumes and issues are permanently available on the OJS platform
• Backup: routine backups are performed by the Sam Ratulangi University IT team

COPE #9 — Peer-Review Processes

Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX applies Double-Blind Peer Review to all manuscripts. Each manuscript is evaluated by at least 2 independent reviewers with relevant expertise. The full review process — including deadlines, assessment criteria, editorial decisions, and revision procedures — is detailed in a separate document: the Peer Review Process Policy — Jurnal Ilmiah PLATAX.

COPE #10 — Post-publication Discussions and Corrections

A. Letter to the Editor

Readers, researchers, or other interested parties may submit a Letter to the Editor to respond to, critique, or add information regarding a published article. The letter must:

• Be submitted via OJS or the journal's official email within 6 months of the article's publication
• Be scientific, constructive, and not personal in nature
• Include the sender's clear name and affiliation

The author(s) of the article being responded to will be given the opportunity to reply. Both the letter and the response will be published together following a brief editorial process.

B. Erratum — Editor's Error

An erratum is published to correct an error resulting from editorial or production oversight — not an author error. An erratum includes:

• Identification of the corrected article (title, volume, pages, DOI)
• A clear description of what was wrong and what is correct
• A permanent link to the original article

C. Corrigendum — Author's Error

A corrigendum is published to correct an author-made error that does not affect the results, conclusions, or scientific integrity of the article. Procedure:

• The author submits a correction request to the Editor-in-Chief with a detailed explanation
• The editor assesses whether a correction is needed and how significant it is
• If approved, the corrigendum is published as a separate article linked to the original

D. Retraction

A retraction is issued when an article is found to contain serious ethical violations or errors that invalidate the article's main findings or conclusions. Grounds for retraction include:

• Confirmed fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism
• Undisclosed duplicate publication
• Fundamental methodological or analytical errors that render the findings unreliable
• Research ethics violations (informed consent, ethical approval)

The retraction procedure follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Retracted articles remain permanently on the OJS platform with a clear retraction notice and cannot be removed from the archive. Accused authors are given the opportunity to respond before a final decision is made.

E. Expression of Concern

An editor may issue an Expression of Concern when an allegation of misconduct is under investigation but not yet proven, or when the editor has doubts about the reliability of findings but insufficient evidence for retraction. This is a temporary mechanism that may be withdrawn once the investigation is complete.

REFERENCES AND LEGAL BASIS

This publication ethics policy was developed based on:

• COPE Core Practices — Committee on Publication Ethics (publicationethics.org)
• COPE Guidelines on various topics: Authorship, COI, Data Availability, Retractions, etc.
• Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education Regulation No. 9/2018 on Scientific Journal Accreditation
• National Journal Accreditation Guidelines (ARJUNA) 2021 — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology
• ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (used as a general reference)
• Head of LIPI Regulation No. 5/2014 on the Code of Ethics for Scientific Publication