Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
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Publication Ethics Statement
​As an open-access academic publisher, IIKII takes responsibility to enforce rigorous peer review together with the highest standards of publication ethics to ensure to add high-quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publications. IIKII promises to follow the guidelines and updates of international scholarly organizations actively and strictly, particularly the “Core Practices” of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the “Recommendations” of the International Committee of Medical Editors (ICMJE), etc. IIKII will adhere to the concept of “open science” as much as possible, and make the process of submission, review, and editing as open as possible, so as to promote fairness with openness and maintain justice with transparency. To identify the possible cases of plagiarism, data falsification, and inappropriate authorship credit, we use CrossCheck powered by iThenticate to check submissions against previous publications.
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Ethical Oversight
IIKII respects the right of researchers to conduct research freely and exchange knowledge and ideas without fear of repression or censorship. At the same time, researchers have an ethical obligation to uphold intellectual property rights and academic integrity while preventing avoidable harm that may arise during research or dissemination. To ensure compliance with ethical standards in research design, data collection, and publication—including human and animal research, data integrity, and conflicts of interest—IIKII has established a rigorous ethical monitoring system covering all aspects of editing and publishing.
All IIKII editors are required to complete training on ethical research in accordance with COPE core practices and must be capable of effectively assessing the research scope and identifying potential ethical concerns within their respective journals. Editors provide authors with compliance guidance whenever possible and promptly address questions raised by readers and authors to support the journal’s responsible and ethical development. The IIKII editorial process follows a structured approach, incorporating systematic steps and tools to ensure the quality of selected manuscripts. Each step is guided by core values, including advocating freedom of speech, maintaining the integrity of the academic record, and ensuring that commercial interests do not compromise intellectual and ethical standards.
IIKII has also established an Ethics Committee to monitor and evaluate potential and existing ethical concerns. The committee comprises the Editors-in-Chief of each journal, the Scientific Director of IIKII, and the Publishing Director of IIKII. For submissions involving potentially controversial topics or ethical concerns, the committee provides guidance on handling the submissions in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. In cases of serious ethical issues in post-publication materials, the committee may collaborate with invited external experts or third-party auditing agencies to determine appropriate actions, including corrections, clarifications, retractions, or formal apologies, etc.
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Publication and Authorship
1. All submitted manuscripts to the International Institute of Knowledge Innovation and Invention, Singapore (IIKII) are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two local reviewers and one international reviewer that are experts in the area Information/ Communication Technology Engineering.
2. The factors that are taken into account in review are relevance, soundness, significance, originality, readability and language.
3. The possible decisions include acceptance, acceptance with revisions, or rejection.
4. If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted.
5. Rejected manuscripts will not be re-reviewed.
6. The manuscript acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
7. No research can be included in more than one publication.
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Authors' responsibilities
1. Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work.
2. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
3. Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
4. Authors must participate in the peer review process.
5. Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
6. All Authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research.
7. Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.
8. Authors must notify the editors of any conflicts of interest.
9. Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.
10. Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the editors.
Please complete authors’ agreement form provided on IIKII website (https://www.iikii.com.sg) and send it through email to IIKII (email: journal@iikii.com.sg)
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Reviewers' responsibilities
1. Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
2. Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author
3. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments
4. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
5. Reviewers should also call to attention of the editor-in-chief’s about any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
6. Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
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Editors' responsibilities
1. Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.
2. Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication.
3. Editors should always consider the needs of the authors and the readers when attempting to improve the publication.
4. Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record.
5. Editors should publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
6. Editors should have a clear picture of a research's funding sources.
7. Editors should base their decisions solely one the papers' importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication's scope.
8. Editors should not reverse their decisions nor overturn the ones of previous editors without serious reason.
9. Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
10. Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
11. Editors should only accept a paper when reasonably certain.
12. Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem.
13. Editors should not reject papers based on suspicions, they should have proof of misconduct.
14. Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers and board members.
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Plagiarism
All articles submitted to IIKII journals must be original manuscripts authored by the contributors. Plagiarism includes the presentation of previously published text, ideas, images, or data as original content—whether from other researchers' work or the author’s own prior publications—without proper attribution. To ensure originality, all submitted manuscripts will be screened for text overlap using CrossCheck software, powered by iThenticate. Manuscripts containing significant text overlap will not be considered for publication. If plagiarism is identified post-publication, an investigation will be conducted, and appropriate actions will be taken in accordance with relevant policies.
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In line with COPE guidelines, "original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citation." If data or images are sourced from other publications, authors must obtain the necessary copyright permissions and clearly indicate copyright details and sources. Additionally, any studies that have inspired the design, structure, or language of the manuscript—including the author’s own previous work—must be explicitly cited.
IIKII reserves the right to request high-resolution original images and unprocessed data files at any stage of the peer review process or as part of investigations post-publication. IIKII is committed to maintaining confidentiality and will not disclose such data without the author’s consent.
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Duplicate Submission
Papers that are found to have been published elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission/publication sanctions. If authors have used their own previously published study, or study that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous paper and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.
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Citation Manipulation
Submitted papers that are found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author’s article, or to articles published in a particular journal, will incur citation manipulation sanctions.​
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Data Fabrication and Falsification
IIKII strongly opposes both falsification and fabrication of data or images. Data falsification involves the intentional alteration, omission, or manipulation of research data. This includes modifying raw data, images, or results to misrepresent findings; selectively recording or deleting data to distort conclusions; or tampering with equipment settings or environmental conditions to produce skewed results. Data fabrication entails the creation or generation of data without any actual experimentation or observation. This includes creating false datasets, images, or signatures, or reporting results from nonexistent samples or analyses.
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Authors are required to submit raw data and declare compliance with ethical standards. IIKII will utilize tools, such as iThenticate and Proofig to screen for text and image anomalies. We will also conduct specialized checks for statistical patterns such as unrealistic data distributions. If any falsified or fabricated data or image is suspected in a submitted manuscript, the authors will be contacted to discuss data integrity concerns and to provide clarification or responses before any formal actions are taken, in accordance with the COPE Flowcharts and Infographics. Additionally, we may invite third parties to audit high-risk submissions, such as clinical trials and sensitive datasets, as deemed necessary.
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If any falsified or fabricated data or images are detected after publication, confirmed cases will result in immediate retraction, accompanied by public notices on Retraction Watch and a detailed explanation of the reasons. For minor errors affecting reproducibility, a correction will be issued promptly. IIKII will make every effort to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure unbiased evaluation. Furthermore, following international practice, authors will be prohibited from contributing to IIKII for a period of several years afterward. If authors repeatedly violate this policy, IIKII will no longer accept their contributions. In serious cases, IIKII will notify the author’s affiliated research institution or funding agency for further disciplinary actions.
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​Improper Author Contribution or Attribution
All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the study in the paper and approved all its claims. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.​
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Redundant Publications
Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles.
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Protection of Intellectual Property and Copyright
All IIKII journals operate under a gold open-access model. Authors retain the copyright of their articles under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 License, which permits reuse, adaptation, and distribution with appropriate attribution. In special circumstances, such as when required by an article’s funding agency, IIKII may allow articles to be published under alternative copyright licenses. Authors should contact the editorial office during the submission process to confirm such requirements. To retain the copyright of an article, the author or the author’s institution may be required to pay a reasonable Article Processing Charge (APC) to IIKII. For details regarding APCs for each journal, please refer to the respective journal's homepage.
IIKII adheres to COPE Core Practices to address potential issues related to intellectual property protection and copyright compliance. If authors use previously published images, tables, or extensive quotes in their manuscripts, they must verify the copyright status of these materials prior to publication. For materials requiring copyright permission, authors must obtain and submit written authorization from the copyright holders along with their manuscripts. Proper attribution should also be clearly stated in the citation. All copyright issues must be resolved before publication. It is important to note that if an author has previously published a work without retaining the copyright, the copyright is typically held by the publisher. Authors may refer to the article’s publication page to review copyright details.
IIKII employs automated tools to assess the similarity status of all submissions, verifying the sources of key content and ensuring compliance with copyright requirements. Submissions lacking proper attribution or copyright permissions may be desk-rejected.
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Data Sharing and Reproducibility
Data sharing enables large-scale analyses and enhances reproducibility. IIKII encourages all authors to share raw data, code, and research materials associated with their submitted manuscripts to facilitate analysis, verification, and reuse. This policy applies to all submissions to IIKII journals, including preprints and supplementary materials. Authors must ensure that experiments, analyses, and conclusions can be independently replicated using shared data and methodologies.
In accordance with the TOP Guidelines and UNESCO Recommendations on Open Science, data should generally be deposited in trusted repositories such as Zenodo, Dryad, and Figshare before submission. Clinical trials must be registered on WHO-approved platforms (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov). Metadata must include persistent identifiers such as DOIs and licensing terms (CC BY 4.0 recommended). Sensitive data (e.g., involving human subjects or endangered species) must be anonymized or follow controlled-access protocols. Computational articles must also include the associated code. All data repository information—including repository links, access restrictions, and ethical approvals—must be provided in the Data Availability Statement (DAS) section of the manuscript.
Submissions that lack a DAS or contain unresolved data anomalies will be rejected. To ensure reproducibility, IIKII will conduct pre-publication checks using automated tools for all submissions and third-party audits for randomly selected articles. Authors must respond to reproducibility queries within 14 days and provide supplementary materials if requested. For post-publication complaints regarding data validation and reproducibility, IIKII will initiate an integrity investigation. All decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board, following communication with the author. For further handling of related issues and individuals, please refer to the statements on this webpage regarding Data falsification and Fabrication, Image Manipulation, and other relevant matters.
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Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of Interest (COI) includes any financial, professional, or personal relationship that could unduly influence judgment or actions in research, peer review, or editorial decisions related to a manuscript. Authors must submit a signed COI declaration during the manuscript submission process, detailing funding sources, affiliations, and any potential biases that could unfairly influence or skew the results or interpretations of a study. Invited reviewers should recuse themselves if a conflict of interest exists, such as prior collaboration with the authors within the past three years or overlapping research interests. Academic editors must promptly inform the editorial office of any financial relationships with the sponsor of a reviewed manuscript during the decision-making process.
In accordance with COPE guidelines and regional regulations (e.g., ICMJE recommendations), all COI-related situations must be promptly reported and disclosed to the editorial office throughout the entire editorial process. To ensure transparency, any relevant COI related to the article must be disclosed in the Conflicts of Interest section of the manuscript and published alongside the accepted article. If no COI is disclosed, the following statement will be published: “No potential competing interest was reported by the author(s).”
For allegations of COI concealment or omissions in published articles, IIKII will conduct a compliance investigation. The outcomes of post-publication investigations—including details of the conflict, the basis of the investigation, and the final resolution—will be published on the journal's website. Decisions regarding Correction or Retraction will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board, in consultation with the authors. Authors who intentionally conceal a COI and cause serious conflicts will be prohibited from submitting to IIKII for several years. In severe cases, IIKII may notify the author’s affiliated research institution or funding agency for further disciplinary action. Reviewers and editors who maliciously conceal a COI will be disqualified, and their violations will be publicly disclosed. Complainants dissatisfied with the initial review results may request a second review within 30 days. Retaliation against good-faith informants is strictly prohibited, and violators will be held legally accountable.
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Research Involving Human and Animal Subjects
All research involving human and animal subjects, their tissues, or cell lines must be conducted in strict accordance with relevant ethical and legal norms, such as the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (revised in 2013), the Medical Research Council Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice, the Good Clinical Practice and Clinical Trials in Food and Drug Administration, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the DIRECTIVE 2010/63/EU on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific Purposes, among others.
All research involving human participants (e.g., clinical trials, biospecimen collection) must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an independent ethics committee. Authors must provide a relevant statement in the Institutional Review Board Statement (IRBS) section, specifying the project identification code, approval date, and the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board. For manuscripts containing case details, personal information, and/or patient images, authors must obtain signed informed consent from the patient (or their relatives/legal guardians) prior to submission to the IIKII journal. This should be clearly stated in the Informed Consent Statement (ICS) section.
When preparing manuscripts, authors must provide detailed descriptions of data related to individual participants. However, private information that identifies participants, such as gender, occupation, etc., should not be included. Patient details must be anonymized as much as possible unless identifiable material is directly relevant to the study (e.g., facial photos of participants showing specific symptoms). Patient initials or any other personal identifiers must not appear in images.
Any research involving human tissue, blood, or genetic materials must include a statement confirming the legitimacy of the sample source and that informed consent was obtained from the subjects. If AI tools are used to analyze human data, the tool name and version must be clearly stated. Even when samples are anonymized, researchers must ensure that the original donors have provided informed consent for their use in specific research. If tissue samples are linked to clinical data, privacy protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) must be strictly followed. When genetic data is involved, the relevant platform or registration information for storage and sharing must also be specified.
All animal experiments must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and registered in a public database (e.g., the Animal Study Registry). Authors must cite the relevant registration information in the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Statement (IACUCS) section and clearly state compliance with ethical guidelines. Authors must also confirm in the Materials and Methods section that all appropriate measures were taken to minimize animal pain and discomfort and provide detailed information on animal care procedures.
The use of animal tissues must fall within the scope of approved protocols. Cell lines must be authenticated (e.g., via Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis) to prevent contamination or misidentification. Experiments involving infectious pathogens or recombinant DNA require approval from the Institutional Biosafety Committee.
Violations of ethical guidelines may result in manuscript rejection, retraction, submission bans, or academic blacklisting. Serious cases of misconduct, including data falsification, animal cruelty, or violations of human rights, may lead to legal liability.
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Allegations of Research Misconduct
Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, image manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and authorship disputes. Formal allegations of potential violations of research integrity may be submitted to the journal’s editorial office by authors, reviewers, readers, or whistleblowers.
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IKII will initiate a compliance investigation based on specific allegations, following COPE core practices and STM research integrity guidelines. The editorial office will collaborate with the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board Members to assess the evidence and consult original reviewers or new experts to determine the types and severity of misconduct. Appropriate actions will be taken based on the investigation results. In cases of severe misconduct, a third party may be involved in the resolution process. Authors may submit rebuttals, supplementary data, or clarifications as part of their formal defense.
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All outcomes of post-publication investigations will be published on the journal’s website, including the details of the complaint, the basis of the investigation, and the final resolution. Decisions regarding Correction or Retraction will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board, following communication with the authors. Authors found guilty of serious research misconduct will be prohibited from submitting papers to IIKII. Additionally, such cases will be reported to external platforms for public disclosure. In severe cases, IIKII may also notify the author’s affiliated research institution or funding agency for further disciplinary action. Complainants dissatisfied with the initial review results may request a second review within 30 days. Retaliation against good-faith informants is strictly prohibited, and violators will be held legally accountable.
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Comments, Complaints, and Appeals
Readers may have concerns regarding the academic integrity of post-publication content, seek data verification, or suggest adding supplementary information. In such cases, they are encouraged to comment on post-publications. Before reaching out to the editorial office, readers should first attempt to contact the corresponding author directly for a response. If the issue pertains to ethical violations—such as plagiarism, data falsification, or peer-review manipulation—a formal complaint may be submitted to the journal’s editorial office, either under a real name or anonymously. Authors have the right to appeal editorial decisions, including manuscript rejections, withdrawals, or concerns regarding the fairness of the peer-review process. Such appeals should be based on academic justification, such as misinterpretations of data by reviewers or procedural violations. In response to questions raised by readers or informants, authors may also submit formal responses or rebuttals.
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The editorial team will determine the nature of the complaint—whether it involves an academic dispute or an ethical breach—within 10 working days. For academic disputes, such as data challenges, the domain editor will facilitate direct communication between the author and the challenger, requesting original data or reproduction methods. If the dispute remains unresolved, it will be referred to an independent panel of experts for further review. For ethical complaints, such as unfair peer review or plagiarism, IIKII will initiate an investigation, utilizing plagiarism detection software (iThenticate) and image verification tools (Proofig) in accordance with COPE practices and STM research integrity guidelines. In cases involving conflicts of interest, the editor or reviewer in question will be recused, and a third-party committee will be engaged. In complex cases, such as large-scale academic misconduct, IIKII may commission data audits by independent entities, including Retraction Watch database partners. Legal disputes (e.g., copyright issues) will be escalated to the publishing house’s legal department.
​All outcomes of post-publication investigations will be published on the journal’s website, including the details of the complaint, the basis of the investigation, and the final resolution. Decisions regarding Corrections, Comments and Replies, Expressions of Concerns, or Retractions will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board, following communication with the authors. If any complaints related to publishing ethics are confirmed, the individuals involved may face submission bans, disqualification, and public disclosure of their violations. Complainants dissatisfied with the initial review results may request a second review within 30 days. Retaliation against good-faith informants is strictly prohibited, and violators will be held legally accountable.
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Post-Publication Discussions
To encourage constructive feedback, corrections, and transparency after a manuscript’s publication, IIKII allows readers to submit formal critiques on published articles in the journal for up to five years after the publication date (with consideration for extensions in exceptional cases). Critiques should be formally submitted to the journal's editorial office via email as a "Letter to the Editor."
All submitted critiques will undergo editorial screening to ensure relevance and civility before public display. Upon receiving a formal letter, the editorial office will follow the COPE guidelines’ flowchart. Supporting editors and academic editors will first assess the nature of the critique, exclude any libelous or defamatory content, and organize a peer review of the letter if the critique has scientific merit. The peer-reviewed letter will be published as a Comment. Meanwhile, the journal will invite the author of the original article to submit a Reply, which will also undergo peer review and be published alongside the Comment. If the Comment and Reply warrant an amendment to the original article, the journal will issue a correction or retraction accordingly. In cases where a formal Comment and Reply are deemed unnecessary after investigation, readers who provided valuable suggestions will be acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section of the Correction when the article is updated. All Comments, Replies, Corrections, and Retractions will be linked to the original article on the journal’s website.
Post-publication discussions are essential for maintaining scientific integrity and fostering ongoing scholarly dialogue. Critiques submitted by readers must be reasonable, devoid of libelous or defamatory content, and supported by evidence or data. Submissions that are unreasonable, contain libelous or defamatory content, or lack supporting evidence and data will be immediately rejected. In general, a reader may initiate only one formal Comment critique per article.
IIKII aims to balance open discussion with rigorous editorial oversight, ensuring that post-publication interactions uphold scientific rigor without compromising ethical standards. By integrating technological tools, community engagement, and institutional collaboration, IIKII remains committed to maintaining trust in the evolving field of academic communication.
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Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
To correct post-publication errors and maintain the integrity of the scientific record, IIKII follows the guidelines of COPE and ICMJE, and publishes and publishes three types of post-publication notices—Correction, Retraction, and Expression of Concern (EoC)—depending on the specific issue. A formal post-publication notice is an article with its own DOI and is linked to the original article upon publication. IIKII also notifies relevant databases and platforms such as Crossref for synchronous updates.
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When errors are found in a published article, which do not affect the core findings—such as data or analysis inaccuracies, citation or literature omissions, or misrepresentations—the author may submit detailed corrections to the editorial office. The journal editor will assess the impact of the errors and determine whether to publish a formal Correction. If such errors are identified by the journal editor, they may also be corrected upon confirmation from the author. For extremely minor errors that do not affect the scientific content, a corrected version will be uploaded to the website without a separately published correction notice. These updates will be synchronized with relevant databases or platforms.
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In contrast, a Retraction is issued in cases of serious misconduct, such as data fabrication, plagiarism, irreproducible results, or unethical practices that fundamentally undermine the study’s validity. Such issues may be discovered through author self-reporting, reader feedback, peer review, or internal reviews—including AI-based tools detecting anomalies (e.g., image manipulation). After an initial assessment by the editorial team, an independent expert or ethics committee (such as an institutional review board) will be engaged for technical validation and ethical evaluation. In legal or ethically complex cases, IIKII may collaborate with a third-party organization for joint investigation. The final decision to retract or partially retract a manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board, based on the investigation's outcome. All procedures will be transparent, and authors have the right to appeal. Typically, the retracted article remains available on the journal’s website with a watermark. However, in exceptional cases, the original PDF may be removed.
Expressions of Concern (EoCs) are issued at the editor’s discretion to alert readers to significant concerns regarding a published article. Generally, investigations are completed prior to issuing a Correction or Retraction. However, in some cases, an EoC may be published to outline the concerns and the actions being taken if an investigation is still ongoing or inconclusive. If the concerns remain unresolved even after the investigation, the EoC may serve as the final notice. EoCs do not change the publication status of the linked article. Depending on subsequent findings, the article may later be corrected or retracted, or the EoC itself may be revised or withdrawn, based on the editor’s assessment of new evidence or material.
In accordance with COPE guidelines, IIKII reserves the right to decide whether to publish post-publication notices. These decisions are based on a comprehensive evaluation of the error's nature, responsibility attribution, and expert review results. All Corrections, whether initiated by the author or the journal, must follow the principles of transparency and timeliness to uphold the integrity of the academic record. Retraction is considered a last resort to protect academic integrity and must be grounded in strong evidence and follow rigorous procedures. IIKII is committed to balancing scientific rigor with authors’ rights, relying on technical tools (e.g., review software) and ethical frameworks to ensure impartiality throughout the process.
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Announcement and Advertisement
Announcements regarding academic activities, such as conferences, are published for free in the News section of the publisher’s homepage. IIKII does not provide advertising services for the time being.
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Contact
Should you have any concerns about a published manuscript, please contact the journal editorial office with priority or support@iikii.com.sg with detailed information.