Publication Ethics
SASI is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Faculty of Law, Universitas Pattimura. The journal is committed to upholding high standards of publication ethics and takes all reasonable measures to prevent publication malpractice. All authors submitting their works to the journal for publication attest that the submitted works represent their own scholarly contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. This policy is informed by the publication ethics principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including its Core Practices for journals and publishers.
Ethical Guideline for Journal Publication
The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal such as SASI is an essential part of the development of a coherent and respected body of knowledge. It reflects the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support scholarly communication and academic accountability. It is therefore important to maintain clear standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in publication, including authors, editors, reviewers, the publisher, and the scholarly community.
The Faculty of Law, Universitas Pattimura, as the owner, manager, and publisher of SASI, takes its responsibilities for safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record seriously. The journal is committed to transparent editorial processes, responsible peer review, appropriate handling of allegations of misconduct, protection of confidential information, and correction of the scholarly record when necessary.
The publisher is committed to ensuring that institutional support, advertising, sponsorship, reprints, or other commercial or organizational interests do not improperly influence editorial decisions. Editorial decisions must remain independent and based on scholarly and ethical considerations.
This Publication Ethics Policy is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and its Core Practices for scholarly journals and publishers.
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Allegations of Research Misconduct
Research and publication misconduct includes, but is not limited to, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, citation manipulation, redundant or duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, authorship manipulation, unethical research practices, manipulation of peer review, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and misleading or fraudulent reporting of research results.
SASI takes allegations of research or publication misconduct seriously, whether they arise before or after publication. Allegations may be submitted by authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, whistleblowers, or other relevant parties.
When an allegation of misconduct is received, the editors will assess the allegation carefully, fairly, and confidentially. The initial assessment will determine whether the allegation is sufficiently credible to require further investigation and whether the matter falls within the journal's responsibility.
Where appropriate, the journal may request an explanation or supporting information from the corresponding author on behalf of the authors. The journal may also seek clarification from reviewers, editors, institutions, research organizations, funding bodies, other journals, or independent experts when necessary.
The journal will not normally make a definitive finding of research misconduct solely on the basis of an allegation. Where institutional investigation is appropriate, the journal may refer or communicate the matter to the relevant institution or research integrity body.
A submitted manuscript found to contain serious misconduct may be rejected. If misconduct or other substantial irregularities are identified in a published article, SASI may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, withdrawal, removal, replacement, or other appropriate notice in accordance with the journal's Retraction, Withdrawal, & Correction (R-W-C) Policy.
The journal may follow relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts when handling suspected misconduct and may cooperate with institutions and other journals where necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
Institutions are expected to conduct appropriate and thorough investigations of allegations concerning the conduct of their researchers when necessary. Authors, journals, publishers, and institutions share responsibility for maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
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Research Ethics and Ethical Clearance
SASI expects authors to conduct and report research in accordance with applicable ethical standards, professional standards, and legal requirements.
For research involving human participants, personal data, interviews, surveys, institutional documents, confidential information, vulnerable populations, or other activities requiring ethical approval, authors must obtain approval from the relevant ethics committee or authorized institution before conducting the research.
Where ethical clearance is required, authors should provide the name of the approving ethics committee or institution and the ethical clearance number and year in the manuscript. Where formal ethical clearance is not applicable, authors should provide an appropriate statement explaining the ethical considerations relevant to the research.
Authors must ensure that informed consent is obtained where required and that personal, confidential, or sensitive information is handled in accordance with applicable ethical and legal requirements.
Research involving vulnerable individuals or communities must receive appropriate ethical consideration and safeguards. Authors should avoid exposing research participants or other individuals to unnecessary risks, harm, discrimination, or loss of privacy.
These requirements should be applied according to the nature of the research and should not require disclosure of materials or information that cannot lawfully or ethically be made public.
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Data Sharing and Reproducibility
SASI recognizes that the nature of research data and supporting materials varies according to the methodology and subject matter of legal research. The journal encourages authors to make research data and supporting materials accessible where this can be done lawfully, ethically, and responsibly.
For empirical, socio-legal, interdisciplinary, or other research involving research data, authors are encouraged to make relevant datasets, research instruments, coding materials, analytical materials, or other supporting research resources available through an appropriate repository or other suitable means where feasible.
For doctrinal or normative legal research, supporting research materials may include legislation, regulations, court decisions, official documents, legal databases, customary law materials, and other publicly accessible legal sources. Authors should provide sufficient citations and references to enable readers to identify and verify the legal materials relied upon in the research.
Research materials containing personal data, confidential information, privileged information, legally restricted materials, copyrighted materials that cannot lawfully be redistributed, or other sensitive materials must not be publicly disclosed where disclosure would violate applicable legal, ethical, contractual, or institutional requirements.
Where research materials cannot be openly shared because of privacy, confidentiality, legal restrictions, intellectual property rights, or other legitimate limitations, authors should clearly identify the applicable restrictions and, where possible, explain how the supporting materials may be accessed through lawful and appropriate means.
Authors remain responsible for ensuring that any research materials they share comply with applicable laws, ethical requirements, privacy obligations, confidentiality requirements, intellectual property rights, and third-party rights.
Where appropriate, the journal may request access to supporting research materials during editorial assessment or peer review for the purpose of evaluating the reliability, integrity, and reproducibility of the research. Such materials will be treated in accordance with applicable confidentiality and ethical requirements.
The journal does not require authors to publicly disclose research materials that cannot lawfully or ethically be shared. The application of this policy should be proportionate to the nature and methodology of the research.
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Duties of Editors
Editors are responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts should be published. Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript's quality, originality, relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope, ethical compliance, peer-review assessments, and contribution to legal scholarship.
Editors may be guided by the policies of the editorial board and constrained by legal requirements concerning defamation, copyright infringement, plagiarism, research misconduct, privacy, and other relevant matters. Editors may consult other editors, reviewers, or appropriate experts in making editorial decisions.
Editors must evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the authors' nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, political view, institutional affiliation, citizenship, or other non-scholarly considerations.
Editors and editorial staff must treat submitted manuscripts as confidential documents. Information about a submitted manuscript must not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher where appropriate.
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.
Editors must avoid handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest and must recuse themselves from editorial evaluation and decision-making when such a conflict exists.
Where an editor has a conflict of interest, the manuscript should, where appropriate, be assigned to another qualified editor who can handle the manuscript independently and impartially.
Editors must take reasonable steps to identify and address suspected misconduct, ethical concerns, conflicts of interest, peer-review problems, and other matters that may affect the integrity of the publication process.
Editors should not reject a manuscript solely to avoid investigating a credible allegation of misconduct. Where necessary, editors should seek appropriate institutional or independent assistance in investigating serious concerns.
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Duties of Reviewers
Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and may help authors improve their manuscripts through constructive comments.
Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review a manuscript or knows that a timely review will not be possible should notify the editor and decline the review invitation.
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.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Reviewers should also inform the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published work of which they have personal knowledge.
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage.
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest before accepting or undertaking a review assignment. Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, personal, institutional, financial, or other relationships with any of the authors, institutions, or parties connected to the manuscript.
If a conflict of interest becomes apparent after a reviewer has accepted an assignment or started the review, the reviewer must promptly inform the editor and refrain from further review activities until the editor provides instructions.
Reviewers should not use artificial intelligence or other automated tools to process confidential manuscript content unless expressly authorized by the journal and consistent with applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.
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Duties of Authors
Authors must present an accurate account of the research performed and provide an objective discussion of its significance. A manuscript should contain sufficient detail, legal sources, references, data, or materials to allow readers to understand and assess the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original. If authors use the work, words, data, ideas, or materials of others, these must be properly cited or quoted.
Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Multiple, redundant, or duplicate publication is unethical and unacceptable.
Authors must properly acknowledge the work of others and cite publications and legal sources that are relevant to the nature of the reported work.
Authors must disclose relevant funding, conflicts of interest, ethical approvals, and other information required by the journal's policies and submission requirements.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all statements, data, references, quotations, and other scholarly materials contained in their manuscript are accurate to the best of their knowledge.
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Authorship and Contributorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or substantive revision of the manuscript. All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission and publication in SASI.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate co-authors are included, that no inappropriate co-authors are listed, and that all co-authors have approved the final manuscript.
Individuals who contributed to the research or manuscript preparation but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.
For manuscripts with more than one author, authors must provide an Author Contributions statement describing each author's contribution to the research and preparation of the manuscript where required by the journal.
Changes to authorship after submission should only be made with the agreement of all authors and in accordance with the journal's editorial procedures. The journal may request an explanation for any proposed change in authorship.
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Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest or competing interest is any financial, personal, professional, academic, institutional, or other relationship or circumstance that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of a manuscript. Conflicts may be actual, potential, or perceived.
Authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, institutional, academic, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript. All relevant sources of financial support for the research and/or publication must also be disclosed.
If no conflict of interest exists, authors should explicitly state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
Editors and reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest related to a manuscript. A reviewer must decline the review when a conflict could compromise, or reasonably be perceived to compromise, the objectivity or fairness of the review.
An editor who has a conflict of interest with a submitted manuscript, its authors, or other parties involved in the submission must recuse themselves from the editorial evaluation and decision-making process. Where appropriate, the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who can handle it independently.
The editorial team will assess disclosed conflicts and determine appropriate measures to protect the integrity and impartiality of the peer-review and editorial decision-making process. Such measures may include requesting additional disclosure, replacing a reviewer, recusing an editor, assigning the manuscript to another editor, or taking other appropriate editorial action.
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during peer review or editorial processing, the journal will assess the matter and take appropriate action to protect the integrity of the editorial process.
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the journal will assess its potential effect on the published work and may require an appropriate disclosure, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial action in accordance with the circumstances and the journal's Retraction, Withdrawal, & Correction (R-W-C) Policy.
Conflict of interest disclosures should be clearly and consistently documented in published articles where applicable.
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Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, the author must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to correct, retract, or otherwise address the article according to the journal's applicable policies.
Editors who become aware of a significant error or inaccuracy in a published article should take appropriate action to correct the scholarly record. Depending on the nature and significance of the issue, this may involve publishing a correction, expression of concern, retraction, withdrawal, removal, replacement, or another appropriate notice.
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Complaints and Appeals
SASI welcomes complaints concerning editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, authorship, research integrity, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, or other aspects of the publication process.
Complaints should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and should provide sufficient information and supporting evidence to allow the matter to be assessed. Complaints concerning the Editor-in-Chief should be directed to the publisher, Faculty of Law, Universitas Pattimura.
Complaints and appeals will be handled fairly, confidentially, and as promptly as reasonably possible. The journal may request additional information, consult independent experts or relevant parties, or initiate a formal investigation where necessary.
An appeal against an editorial decision should explain the grounds for the appeal and provide relevant evidence. Appeals must address the editorial or peer-review basis of the decision and should not simply repeat information already considered by the editorial team.
The submission of an appeal does not guarantee that the original editorial decision will be reversed. The journal may maintain the original decision where the appeal does not provide sufficient grounds for reconsideration.
The journal may refer to relevant COPE guidance when handling complaints, appeals, and disputes.
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Intellectual Property
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts do not violate copyright, privacy rights, or other intellectual property rights. Any text, table, figure, image, data, document, or other material taken from another source must be properly cited. Where permission is required to use copyrighted material, authors must obtain permission before submitting the manuscript.
The ownership, copyright, and licensing terms of articles after publication are governed by the journal's Copyright Policy.
The journal's policies concerning plagiarism, redundant or overlapping publication, copyright, licensing, and author self-archiving should be read together when determining the permitted use and reuse of published material.
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Post-Publication Discussion
SASI allows readers, authors, reviewers, and other interested parties to raise scholarly concerns, comments, questions, or requests for clarification regarding articles that have been published by the journal.
Such post-publication communications should be submitted to the editorial office through the journal's official contact channel and should identify the article concerned and provide sufficient information or evidence to support the concern or comment.
The editorial team will assess submitted post-publication concerns fairly and independently. Where a concern is suitable for scholarly discussion, the journal may invite the original author or authors to provide a response.
A constructive critique and the corresponding author response may be considered for publication as a Letter to the Editor, Commentary, Response, or other appropriate scholarly communication, subject to editorial assessment and, where appropriate, peer review.
Where a post-publication concern indicates a possible error, ethical issue, research misconduct, undisclosed conflict of interest, or other matter that may affect the integrity of the scholarly record, the journal may initiate an appropriate investigation and take editorial action in accordance with its Publication Ethics Policy and the Retraction, Withdrawal, & Correction (R-W-C) Policy.
Post-publication discussion is intended to promote constructive scholarly exchange and improve the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the published scholarly record.
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Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
Corrections, retractions, article withdrawal, article removal, and article replacement are handled under the journal's Retraction, Withdrawal, & Correction (R-W-C) Policy.
The R-W-C Policy explains the grounds, procedures, editorial responsibilities, and public notices related to correction, retraction, withdrawal, removal, and replacement of articles.
Editorial action will be proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the issue and will be taken with the objective of correcting and maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.
Where necessary, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern while an investigation is ongoing or when available information is insufficient to make a definitive editorial determination.
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Institutional Support and Editorial Independence
SASI is institutionally supported by the Faculty of Law, Universitas Pattimura, which is the owner, manager, and publisher of the journal. The Faculty provides facilities, infrastructure, personnel support, and operational resources necessary to support the operation, sustainability, and development of the journal.
The journal recognizes that institutional and organizational support may be necessary for the effective operation and sustainability of a scholarly journal. Such support may include practical resources, facilities, personnel support, infrastructure, communication resources, and other operational assistance required to maintain the journal's activities. This approach is consistent with the principles of transparent and ethically sound journal management promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The Faculty's institutional support is provided to facilitate the operation and publication of the journal. It does not constitute a condition for publication and does not influence peer-review outcomes, editorial decisions, acceptance or rejection of manuscripts, selection of reviewers, or the selection of published content.
Editorial decisions are made independently by the editorial team on the basis of scholarly merit, manuscript quality, originality, relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope, ethical compliance, peer-review assessments, and contribution to legal scholarship.
The publisher does not interfere with individual editorial decisions for financial, institutional, political, personal, or other non-scholarly reasons. The separation between institutional support and editorial decision-making is maintained in accordance with the principle of editorial independence emphasized by COPE.
The journal's ownership, management structure, and publisher information are publicly disclosed on the journal's Ownership and Management page.
The journal's institutional support and operational arrangements are separate from the funding of individual research articles. Authors are required to disclose research or publication funding, where applicable, through the Funding Statement specified in the journal's Author Guidelines and article template.
The payment of the journal's Article Processing Charge (APC), where applicable, is an administrative publication matter and does not influence editorial decisions, peer-review outcomes, reviewer selection, or the scholarly assessment of manuscripts.
Muchtar Anshary Hamid Labetubun, S.H., M.H.
Editor-in-Chief,
SASI
