Allegations of Misconduct Policy

Publication Integrity & Misconduct Policy

Mudra: Jurnal Seni Budaya is committed to maintaining academic integrity and publication transparency. The journal applies the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in handling any indications or reports of scientific integrity violations.

Scope of Integrity Misconduct

Integrity misconduct includes actions that compromise the validity and ethics of scholarly work, such as:

  • Data Fabrication and Falsification: Falsifying, manipulating, or inventing research data, visual imagery, documentation of artwork, or field analysis results.
  • Plagiarism and Idea Fabrication: Appropriating ideas, text, visuals, or argument structures of others without standard attribution. The maximum allowable similarity index in Mudra is 15%.
  • Duplicate Publication and Parallel Submission: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously or republishing previously published work without citation and written permission.
  • Inappropriate Authorship: Including ghostwriters, gift authorship, or guest authorship, as well as omitting primary contributors.
  • Citation Manipulation and Conflicts of Interest: Coercing irrelevant citations or concealing financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.

Reporting Procedure

Reports of alleged misconduct may be submitted by peer reviewers, authors, readers, or the general public via the editorial office's official email.

Reports must include objective evidence, such as copies of comparison documents, raw data, or relevant publication links.

Confidentiality Guarantee:
The editorial board guarantees the confidentiality of the reporter's identity throughout the investigation process.
 

Handling & Investigation Mechanism

The management of reports follows COPE flowcharts:

  • Initial Assessment: The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board verify the substance of the received evidence within a maximum of 14 working days.
  • Respondent Clarification: The editorial team sends an official confirmation letter along with the evidence of allegations to the accused author to obtain a written response within a deadline of 14 working days.
  • Ad-Hoc Team Formation: If the respondent's explanation is inadequate or substantial complexities arise, the editorial team forms an independent investigation team comprising publication ethics experts and specialists in arts and culture.

Sanctions and Corrective Actions

If alleged misconduct is proven, the Editorial Board takes measured actions based on the severity of the offense:

  • Publication Prevention: Immediate rejection of the manuscript if misconduct is discovered during the review process.
  • Correction and Retraction: Publication of a Formal Statement of Correction for minor, unintentional errors, or a Notice of Retraction if severe plagiarism, data fabrication, or serious ethical violations are identified in published articles.