1. General Ethical Standards

All research submitted to the journal must adhere to the highest ethical standards. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to act with integrity, transparency, and accountability. The journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the APA Ethical Principles.

2. Ethical Guidelines for Authors

2.1 Originality and Plagiarism
Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and the use of AI-generated content without proper attribution, is prohibited. All manuscripts will be screened with plagiarism detection software.

2.2 Authorship Criteria
Authorship must be limited to individuals who made a significant intellectual contribution to the work. The corresponding author must ensure all co-authors have approved the final manuscript.

2.3 Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research. A conflict-of-interest statement must be included in the manuscript.

2.4 Human Rights
For studies involving human participants, documented evidence of informed consent and approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent ethics committee is required.

2.5 Data Transparency and Reproducibility
Authors should, where ethically and legally possible, make their raw data and methodological details available to support reproducibility. Data must be stored responsibly and be accessible upon request.

2.6 APA Referencing Style
All citations and references must strictly follow the APA 7th Edition format. This includes both in-text citations (Author, Year) and the complete reference list.

3. Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers

3.1 Confidentiality
Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents and must not use any information gained during the peer review process for personal advantage.

3.2 Objectivity and Constructive Feedback
Reviews should be objective, thorough, and respectful, focusing on the scholarly content. Feedback should be constructive, avoiding personal criticism.

3.3 Conflict of Interest
Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest that could compromise their impartiality and recuse themselves from the review if necessary.

4. Ethical Guidelines for Editors

4.1 Fair and Unbiased Decisions
Editorial decisions will be based solely on the academic merit, originality, and relevance of the work to the journal's scope, without bias related to the author's background or beliefs.

4.2 Confidentiality
Editors are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and the identity of reviewers (in a double-blind process).

4.3 Handling Misconduct
Editors have a duty to investigate substantiated allegations of ethical or scholarly misconduct, following COPE flowcharts. Corrective actions, such as retractions or corrections, will be issued if misconduct is confirmed.

5. Copyright, Licensing, and Open Access

Authors must confirm their work is free of copyright infringement. Upon publication, the journal typically applies a Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-commercial reuse with proper attribution.

6. Adherence to COPE Ethical Guidelines

The journal formally endorses and operates in accordance with the core practices and guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

7. Corrections, Retractions, and Appeals

The journal will publish timely corrections (erratum) for significant errors that affect the interpretation of a published work. Authors have the right to appeal an editorial decision by submitting a formal, reasoned request to the editorial office for further consideration.