Ethics & Policies
Our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and internationally recognised indexing and publishing requirements.
Peer Review Policy
Our full double-blind peer review process, from screening to appeals.
Editorial Policies
Editorial independence, conflict of interest, authorship, and AI use.
Publication Ethics
Integrity, plagiarism, misconduct, corrections, complaints, and withdrawal.
Publishing Information
Publisher, affiliation, licensing, charges, preservation, and contact.
About the Journal
Aims and scope, publication frequency, open access, and indexing.
Author Fees / APCs
MJSTEM does not charge any submission, processing, or publication fees. There are no Article Processing Charges (APCs).
Copyright
Authors retain full copyright of their work. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Plagiarism / Originality
All manuscripts are screened for originality. The acceptable similarity level is 15%, assessed in context — editorial decisions focus on the nature of any overlap rather than the percentage alone. Submissions exceeding this threshold may be returned for revision or rejected.
Research Misconduct
The journal does not tolerate fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, image manipulation, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, or paper-mill submissions. Allegations are investigated following COPE guidance.
Peer Review
MJSTEM operates a double-blind peer review process. See the dedicated Peer Review Policy for full details.
Authorship
Authorship reflects substantial intellectual contribution to the work. All listed authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for it.
Conflict of Interest
Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, personal, institutional, or professional relationships that could bias the publication process.
Funding
Authors must declare all sources of funding for the reported research, including grant numbers where applicable.
Research Ethics
Research involving human participants or animals must comply with recognised ethical standards and have received approval from an appropriate ethics committee, with informed consent obtained where applicable.
Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to provide a data availability statement and, where possible, to deposit underlying data in a recognised public repository.
Corrections & Retractions
Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are issued where necessary, following COPE guidance, and are permanently linked to the original article.
Complaints
Complaints about editorial processes or publication ethics may be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief and are investigated fairly and promptly.
Digital Preservation
Published content is archived in Zenodo (operated by CERN) and backed up regularly to ensure long-term preservation and access.
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI cannot be listed as an author. Any use of AI in manuscript preparation must be disclosed, and undisclosed use to generate scientific findings is treated as misconduct.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit and are free from commercial, political, or institutional influence.
COPE
MJSTEM adheres to the principles and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
MJSTEM does not charge fees for submission, processing, or publication. There are no Article Processing Charges (APCs). We are committed to open access for all, without financial barriers for authors or readers.
Authors retain full copyright of their work published in MJSTEM. There is no transfer of copyright to the journal.
All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original author(s). Authors grant MJSTEM the right to publish and distribute their work online as the original publisher.
Authors submitting manuscripts to MJSTEM must ensure that:
- Submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere.
- Manuscripts are not under consideration by another journal simultaneously.
- All listed authors have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work.
- Data presented are accurate, reliable, and honestly reported.
- Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, image manipulation, and data manipulation are strictly prohibited.
- Appropriate acknowledgement is given to all sources.
- Necessary ethical approval has been obtained for research involving humans or animals.
- Conflicts of interest are disclosed at submission.
- Funding sources are declared.
- Authors cooperate fully during editorial investigations.
- Authors remain responsible for the accuracy of all information contained within their published work.
Peer reviewers are expected to:
- Maintain confidentiality.
- Provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based reviews.
- Declare conflicts of interest.
- Identify relevant published work not cited.
- Report suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, or ethical concerns.
- Complete reviews within agreed deadlines.
Editors shall:
- Evaluate manuscripts solely on academic merit.
- Maintain confidentiality throughout the review process.
- Avoid conflicts of interest.
- Select qualified independent reviewers.
- Ensure fairness, impartiality, and transparency.
- Take appropriate action where ethical concerns arise.
- Follow COPE guidance when investigating suspected misconduct.
Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by authors' nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, institutional affiliation, or political beliefs.
MJSTEM maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. Every submitted manuscript undergoes originality screening before peer review.
Similarity Screening
- Manuscripts are screened using Turnitin.
- A similarity index exceeding 15% may require revision or may result in rejection, depending on the nature of the overlap.
- Editorial assessment focuses on the quality and context of similarities rather than percentage alone.
Forms of Plagiarism
The journal considers the following unacceptable:
- Direct plagiarism
- Mosaic plagiarism
- Self-plagiarism
- Image plagiarism
- Data plagiarism
- Translation plagiarism
- Source concealment
Editorial Procedure
Where plagiarism is suspected:
- Initial assessment by the editorial office.
- Independent verification.
- Opportunity for author response.
- Editorial decision.
- Notification of institutions where necessary.
Consequences
Confirmed plagiarism may result in:
- Immediate rejection
- Retraction after publication
- Notification of authors' institutions
- Notification of funding agencies
- Temporary or permanent submission ban
COPE Compliance
MJSTEM follows the guidance and flowcharts developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when investigating allegations of plagiarism or publication misconduct.
Manuscripts must be the original work of the author(s). The acceptable similarity level is 15%, assessed in context. Submissions exceeding this threshold may be returned for revision or rejected, depending on the nature of the overlap.
Purpose
MJSTEM is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are issued when necessary to ensure that published literature remains accurate, transparent, and trustworthy.
Corrections
Corrections may be published where:
- Typographical errors affect interpretation
- Author names require amendment
- Affiliations are incorrect
- References contain significant errors
- Minor factual inaccuracies exist
Corrections shall be permanently linked to the original article.
Retractions
An article may be retracted where evidence demonstrates:
- Plagiarism
- Duplicate publication
- Fabricated data
- Falsified findings
- Unethical research
- Serious methodological errors
- Copyright infringement
- Peer-review manipulation
Retracted articles shall remain accessible to preserve the scholarly record but will be clearly marked Retracted on every page.
Expressions of Concern
Where investigations are ongoing and conclusive evidence is unavailable, MJSTEM may publish an Expression of Concern pending completion of the investigation.
Investigation Procedure
- Ethical concerns shall be investigated according to COPE guidance.
- Authors shall be given an opportunity to respond before a final decision is reached.
- Where appropriate, institutions or funding bodies may be notified.
For a plain-language overview, see the Publication Ethics page.
MJSTEM adheres to the principles and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Our editorial team follows COPE's guidelines in handling cases of suspected misconduct, including plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, or conflicts of interest.
MJSTEM recognises the growing role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research and writing and requires their responsible and transparent use.
- Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors, as they cannot take responsibility or be accountable for the content of a manuscript.
- AI tools may be used to assist with language and readability, but authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of their work.
- Any use of generative AI in the preparation of a manuscript must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements section, describing the tool used and how it was applied.
- The use of AI to fabricate, alter, or manipulate data, results, or images is strictly prohibited.
- Undisclosed use of artificial intelligence in generating scientific findings is treated as research misconduct.
- Reviewers must not upload manuscripts or any part of them to generative AI tools, as this breaches confidentiality.
MJSTEM is committed to the permanent preservation and continued accessibility of all published scholarly content.
- Published articles are deposited and archived in Zenodo, an open-access repository operated by CERN, ensuring long-term preservation and stable access.
- The journal maintains secure electronic copies of all published articles and preserves the scholarly record through recognised digital preservation practices.
- Where applicable, published articles are assigned persistent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to ensure long-term accessibility and citation stability.
- The journal website is regularly backed up to minimise the risk of data loss from hardware failure, cyber-attacks, or unforeseen technical incidents.
Should publication cease, the archiving of content in Zenodo ensures that previously published work remains permanently and publicly accessible.
Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Science, Technology, Education and Management (MJSTEM)
Published by: Almustapha Technical Research Consultant
Postal Address
No. 11 Katsina Road, Old Airport Quarters Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.
P O Box 323, Minna Niger state Nigeria
Email: almustaphatrc@gmail.com
Website: https://www.mjstem.org/
The Multidisciplinary Journal of Science, Technology, Education and Management (MJSTEM) is published by Almustapha Technical Research Consultant, as identified in the authoritative ISSN record. The publisher provides the organisational, technical and administrative infrastructure necessary for the publication and preservation of the journal.
For full publishing details, see the Publishing Information page.