Ethical Guidelines

This journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, scientific rigor, and academic integrity. Published under the Research Division of Lembaga Mitra Solusi Teknologi Informasi (L-MSTI), the journal strictly adheres to the core practices, ethical guidelines, and flowcharts established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). These ethical standards govern all participants across the scholarly publishing lifecycle: authors, peer reviewers, editors, and the publisher.

1. Authorship Criteria and Contributor Standards (CRediT Taxonomy)

Authorship must be grounded exclusively on substantive intellectual, conceptual, and empirical contributions to the research. In accordance with COPE standards and international conventions, each listed author must fulfill all four of the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The journal adopts the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework. An Author Contribution Statement outlining each contributor's specific role (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft, Supervision) must be presented in a dedicated section prior to the References. Contributors who provided purely administrative, financial, translation, or routine technical assistance must be acknowledged in an Acknowledgements section rather than listed as authors. Ghost authorship and guest/honorary authorship are strictly prohibited.

2. Research Integrity, Declarations & Emerging Technologies

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-Assisted Technologies: Aligned with COPE position statements, generative AI tools and Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, because software cannot assume legal or ethical accountability for research assertions. Authors may use AI strictly for language proofreading, translation support, or stylistic enhancement. When used, the tool name, version, and purpose must be explicitly disclosed in an AI Usage Statement prior to the References. Authors retain full legal responsibility for all content.

2. Conflict of Interest / Competing Interests: All commercial, financial, personal, or institutional relationships that could bias the research must be disclosed in a Conflict of Interest Statement prior to References. If no competing interests exist, authors must state this explicitly.

3. Research Funding: All financial support, grants, contracts, or institutional backing must be disclosed in a Funding Statement, including funder names and grant numbers. If the study was self-funded, authors must state that no external funding was received.

4. Plagiarism, Data Fabrication & Redundancy: Plagiarism in any form (including verbatim copying, uncredited paraphrasing, data falsification/fabrication, image manipulation, and duplicate publication) constitutes severe academic misconduct. Submissions are screened using iThenticate, Turnitin, and Copyleaks. Manuscripts exceeding the maximum similarity threshold stated in our Author Guidelines will be declined or returned for substantial revision.

5. Research Involving Human Participants: Studies involving human participants, user testing, or survey data must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and provide ethical approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee, alongside documented informed consent from participants.

6. Copyright & Open Access: Articles are published Gold Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain full copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication.

3. Peer Reviewer Standards and Code of Conduct

Submissions passing initial editorial screening undergo double-blind peer review by independent experts. Reviewers are expected to submit evaluations within the designated timeframe. Assessments must be objective, technically thorough, constructive, and free from personal bias.

4. Editorial Responsibilities, Independence & Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief and Handling Editors hold public accountability for published content. Editorial decisions are based strictly on scientific merit, research novelty, methodological rigor, clarity, and ethical compliance, independent of commercial, institutional, or political influences. Decisions follow standard OJS options:

• Accept Submission: The manuscript meets all scope, quality, formatting, and declaration requirements and raises no ethical concerns.
• Revisions Required: The study is sound but requires minor technical clarifications, layout adjustments, or bibliographic refinements.
• Resubmit for Review: The study shows potential but requires substantial additional work, re-analysis, or structural overhaul before re-evaluation by reviewers.
• Resubmit Elsewhere: The study is scientifically sound but falls outside the journal's scope and may suit another publication venue.
• Decline Submission: The manuscript has critical methodological deficiencies, unresolvable analytical flaws, or fails to provide a meaningful scientific contribution.

5. Ethical Concerns, Appeals & Complaints Procedure

Authors, reviewers, or third parties with legitimate concerns regarding publication misconduct, authorship disputes, or data fabrication should contact the Editor-in-Chief through our official Contact Us Page. Concerns involving the Editor-in-Chief should be addressed directly to the publisher, Lembaga MSTI Indonesia.

All complaints and investigations are managed systematically following the relevant COPE Flowcharts, ensuring objective inquiry, right of reply for accused parties, documented proceedings, and institutional notification when necessary.

6. Post-Publication Discussions & Corrections (Corrigenda & Errata)

The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy of the scholarly record. When errors are identified in published articles:

• Silent Correction: Minor typographical, spelling, or layout fixes that do not affect scientific findings or authorship may be updated directly in the PDF/HTML galleys.
• Formal Correction (Corrigendum / Erratum): Substantive errors in formulas, calculations, data tables, or author lists are corrected via a separate, citable correction notice linked to the original article DOI.

7. Retraction Policy and Archival Integrity

The journal strictly enforces the COPE Retraction Guidelines. An article may be retracted if it contains fabricated data, unresolvable research flaws, redundant publication, severe plagiarism, or research ethics violations.

Retracted articles are not removed from online archives. The PDF galley is retained, watermarked "RETRACTED" on every page, and the article title is prefixed with "RETRACTED:". A citable Retraction Note detailing the reasons is published and linked to the article. Article Processing Charges (APCs) paid for retracted papers are non-refundable.