Publication Ethics

Journal of Public Governance, Health and Law (JPGHL) is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including its Core Practices and flowcharts for handling misconduct. Everyone involved in publication, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher, must comply with the following.

Duties of All Parties

Authors

  • Originality: the manuscript is original and free from plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification.
  • Single submission: the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere and is not a redundant publication.
  • Authorship: only those who contributed significantly are listed as authors; all authors approve the final version. Changes to authorship require written consent from all authors.
  • Acknowledgement of sources: the work, data, and ideas of others are properly cited.
  • Conflicts of interest and funding: disclosed openly in the manuscript.
  • Errors in published work: reported promptly to the editor for correction or retraction.

Editors

  • Publication decisions: the Editor-in-Chief decides on the basis of scientific merit, scope, and reviewers’ recommendations.
  • Fair play: manuscripts are evaluated without regard to authors’ race, gender, religion, citizenship, institution, or political views.
  • Confidentiality: manuscript information is not disclosed beyond the authors, reviewers, and publisher.
  • Conflicts of interest: editors do not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict; submissions by board members are handled by another editor.
  • Handling misconduct: every allegation is investigated following the COPE flowcharts.

Reviewers

  • Contribution: support editorial decisions and help authors improve their work through constructive feedback.
  • Promptness: notify the editor promptly if unqualified or unable to review on time.
  • Confidentiality: treat manuscripts as confidential documents and never use them for personal advantage.
  • Objectivity: express views clearly with supporting arguments, without personal criticism.
  • Conflicts of interest: decline to review where a conflict exists with the authors, institutions, or content.
  • Acknowledgement of sources: point out relevant uncited work and report any substantial similarity they are aware of.

Publisher

  • Mangathara Publishing Center (PT Mangathara Media Indonesia) guarantees editorial independence.
  • Provides the OJS platform, digital archiving, and DOI registration.
  • Supports corrections, retractions, and the handling of ethical misconduct.

Plagiarism and Similarity Policy

All manuscripts are screened with Turnitin at desk review and before publication. Properly marked references and direct quotations are excluded. The similarity limit is 20%, with no more than 3% from any single source.

Similarity index Action
≤ 20% The manuscript proceeds to the next stage.
21–30% The manuscript is returned to the authors for revision before peer review.
> 30% The manuscript is rejected and the authors receive a formal notice.
After publication Articles found to contain plagiarism are retracted.
Plagiarism includes copying text, data, or ideas without attribution, inadequate paraphrasing, translation plagiarism, and reusing one’s own published work without citation (self-plagiarism).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

  1. AI is not an author. Generative AI tools or large language models (such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot) cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work.
  2. Permitted use: improving grammar and readability, translation, and technical assistance such as analysis code, with full verification by the authors.
  3. Prohibited use: generating or manipulating data, results, images, or quotations; creating fictitious references; and writing the analysis, discussion, or conclusions without the authors’ intellectual contribution.
  4. Declaration: authors must include a Declaration of AI Use (tool, version, purpose, and the sections assisted) in the Acknowledgements or Methods.
  5. Editors and reviewers must not upload manuscripts or review reports to AI tools, as this breaches confidentiality.
  6. Violations are treated as publication misconduct and may lead to rejection, correction, or retraction.
Example declaration: “The authors used ChatGPT (GPT-4o, OpenAI) to improve the grammar of the Introduction. All content was reviewed by the authors, who take full responsibility for it.”

Research Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

  • Research involving human participants, personal health data, or vulnerable groups must have ethics committee approval and informed consent, and must protect personal data.
  • All funding sources and potential financial or non-financial conflicts of interest must be declared in the manuscript.

Corrections, Retractions, and Archiving

  • Erratum: correction of a technical error introduced by the publisher.
  • Corrigendum: correction of a significant error discovered by the authors after publication.
  • Retraction: withdrawal of articles found to involve plagiarism, fabricated data, duplicate publication, or copyright infringement, following the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Retracted articles remain available, marked “RETRACTED” with a retraction notice.
  • Archiving: PKP Preservation Network, LOCKSS/CLOCKSS, Garuda (Garba Rujukan Digital), and the National Library of Indonesia e-Deposit.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright and grant the right of first publication to Mangathara Publishing Center. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Suspected misconduct can be reported confidentially to the Editor-in-Chief at jpghl@mangathara.com.