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Publication Ethics Statement

Contents

Publication Ethics Statement

The Journal of Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and refers to the Code of Ethics for Scientific Publications issued by the Indonesian authorities (Regulation of the Head of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences No. 5 of 2014). This page sets out the duties of authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. Manuscripts that do not meet these standards are rejected. Published articles that do not meet them are corrected or retracted in accordance with the Retraction/Withdrawal Policy.

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Authorship and Contributorship

  1. Authors attest that the manuscript is original, has not been published before, and is not under review elsewhere, and that they have not granted exclusive rights to the article to another party.
  2. Every person listed as an author must meet the authorship criteria in the Author Guidelines: a substantive contribution to the research design, data, analysis, or conceptual development; participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript; approval of the final version; and agreement to be accountable for its content.
  3. Authors must state the contribution of each author in the Author Contributions section, using the CRediT roles. The corresponding author confirms that all authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript.
  4. Changes to the list or order of authors after submission require the written agreement of all authors and the approval of the editor. Persons who contributed but do not meet the criteria are named in the Acknowledgments.
  5. Authors must ensure the originality of their work and cite the work of others properly in APA 7th edition. Classical and archival sources must be identified by edition, volume, and page, or by manuscript or archive reference.
  6. Authors must not engage in plagiarism, self-plagiarism, uncredited translation of sources, text recycling, or duplicate or simultaneous submission. Text previously published by the authors (for example in conference papers or dissertations) must be disclosed and cited.
  7. Authors must not fabricate or falsify data, sources, or citations.
  8. Authors must not disclose personal information that may identify their informants or subjects, such as overt descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees. If photographs of informants are essential to the article, authors must obtain written consent and state this in the article.
  9. Authors must make all data and details of their work available to the editors if there are suspicions of data falsification or fabrication.
  10. Authors must declare conflicts of interest and sources of funding in the statements required by the Policies page, and must state the limitations of their research.
  11. Authors must respond to reviewers’ comments professionally and on time.
  12. Authors must inform the editor if they wish to withdraw a manuscript, and must promptly notify the editor if they find a significant error in their own published work, so that a correction or retraction can be made.
  13. Authors must respect any publisher request not to release their findings through interviews or other media before publication.
  14. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors must declare any use of AI and remain fully responsible for the content and references (see AI / Generative AI Usage).

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Editors

  1. Editors are responsible for every article published in MEIS and make decisions independently of the publisher, funders, and any commercial or institutional interest.
  2. Editors should help authors, where possible, to ensure that their manuscripts follow the MEIS guidelines.
  3. The Editor-in-Chief may confer with other editors or reviewers when making the final decision on publication.
  4. Editors must evaluate manuscripts objectively and on their scholarly merit, without bias towards nationality, ethnicity, political or religious belief, race, gender, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the authors.
  5. Editors must decline to handle a manuscript if they have a potential conflict of interest. If an editor has a relationship with the authors that might create a perception of bias, another editor handles the manuscript, and the first editor has no access to any information about it.
  6. Editors and all journal staff must keep submitted manuscripts confidential, must not use unpublished material in their own research without the authors’ written consent, and must ensure that documents sent to reviewers do not reveal the authors’ identity (double-blind), and vice versa.
  7. Editors must ensure that manuscripts are screened for plagiarism and for compliance with the ethical requirements before review, as described on the Policies page.
  8. Editors must respect a well-reasoned request by authors that a particular person not review their manuscript.
  9. Editors must communicate the final decision to the authors promptly, together with the reviewers’ comments, unless these contain offensive or libellous remarks.
  10. Editors must follow the COPE guidelines and flowcharts in cases of suspected misconduct, disputed authorship, or complaints, and must publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
  11. Editors must not upload manuscripts, decision letters, or other confidential content to external generative AI systems (see AI / Generative AI Usage).
  12. Editors should support initiatives to educate researchers on publication ethics and regularly review the journal’s policies to improve quality and reduce errors.

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Reviewers

  1. Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively and on their scholarly merit (originality and contribution, engagement with the literature, methodological soundness, clarity of argument, and ethical integrity), and give constructive comments that help authors to improve their work.
  2. Reviewers must comment on possible research, ethical, and publication misconduct (plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, or falsification) if they suspect it, and report it to the editor.
  3. Reviewers must complete the review on time, and must tell the managing editor immediately if they cannot.
  4. Reviewers must keep the manuscript and their review confidential, must not share them with others, and must not use unpublished material for their own work.
  5. Reviewers must respect the double-blind process and must not try to identify the authors. If they know or think they know who the authors are, they must declare it to the editor at once.
  6. Reviewers must not accept a manuscript if they have a potential conflict of interest with any of the authors (for example friendship, rivalry, collaboration, or a manuscript involving them directly or indirectly), or if it is outside their expertise.
  7. Reviewers must review revised manuscripts against the standards applied in the first round.
  8. Reviewers must not upload any part of a manuscript or their review report to generative AI tools or third-party systems, and must not use AI to assess the scholarly merit, methodology, or contribution of the manuscript. Reviewers remain responsible for the content of their reports.

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Complaints and Appeals

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision or who have a grievance about any aspect of their interaction with MEIS should email the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected]. Complaints are acknowledged within 7 business days. The Editor-in-Chief investigates impartially, consulting senior editorial board members where needed, follows COPE guidelines, liaises directly with the complainant, and gives a clear written resolution.

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Data and Reproducibility

Authors must provide a Data Availability Statement describing how the data, sources, or materials can be accessed, and are encouraged to share datasets, codebooks, and supplementary material that support their results. Studies of classical texts and manuscripts must identify their sources (edition, volume, page, manuscript or archive reference). Data are shared only where this does not violate the privacy and protection of participants, archive regulations, or security. For politically sensitive research (for example in conflict zones), authors may request, with a justification, an exemption from full disclosure. MEIS’s policies on data and reproducibility are based on COPE guidelines.

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Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants must be approved by a competent ethics committee or institutional body, and the manuscript must state this and confirm that informed consent was obtained. Where no formal ethics review exists, authors must explain how ethical standards were met. Authors must protect the confidentiality and safety of informants, particularly in politically sensitive environments, and must not disclose information that could identify them. Authors must disclose geopolitical risks affecting respondents or field sites, respect archive regulations, intellectual property, and conservation norms in manuscript and archival studies, and explain how confidential government or business data are protected. Manuscripts without adequate ethical consideration are not accepted. Proof of approval is provided on request.

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Intellectual Property

The journal’s policy on copyright and licensing is in the Rights and Copyright section of the Policies page and on the Copyright Information and Open Access Policy page. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for third-party material (figures, images, manuscript photographs, archival material) and for indicating any material not covered by the journal’s license.

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Journal Management

MEIS is published by the Graduate School of Sustainable Development (GSSD), Universitas Indonesia, and managed by the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program. The publisher respects editorial independence: editorial decisions are made by the editors, independently of the publisher, funders, and any commercial interest. The Article Processing Charge is charged only after acceptance and does not influence editorial decisions (see Article Processing Charges). The editors and the editorial board are listed on the Editorial Board page. The journal is hosted and archived in line with its open access policy.

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Corrections

Errors that do not affect the validity of the findings are corrected by a published Correction (Erratum) linked to the article. If an error may affect the validity of the findings, or if there are concerns about the integrity of the work, MEIS may publish an Expression of Concern or a Retraction in line with the Retraction/Withdrawal Policy. Authors should notify the editor of any error they find.

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AI / Generative AI Usage

Authors. AI tools may be used only for supportive purposes (language editing, readability, formatting references, technical coding or data processing). Arguments, interpretations, analysis of primary sources, and conclusions must be the authors’ own, and authors must verify every AI output, including references. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. If AI is used in the research method (for example corpus analysis or machine learning), it must be described in the Methods section.

AI Usage Disclosure. Any use of AI must be declared in a separate section titled AI Usage Disclosure, placed after the Funding and Conflict of Interest statements and before the References, naming the tool, its purpose, and the extent of use. Failure to disclose may lead to rejection or retraction.

Reviewers. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts or review reports to generative AI tools or third-party systems, and must not use AI to assess the scholarly merit of a manuscript.

Editors. Editors must not upload manuscripts, decision letters, or other confidential content to external generative AI systems. Editorial decisions are made by human editors. AI may be used only for technical or administrative support (format checking, plagiarism detection, reviewer matching) under human oversight.

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Related Policies

Source: COPE Core Practices.

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