Ethics & Compliance Policy

Ethics & Compliance Policy

Ethics and Publication Integrity Policy

The Nature-Nurture Journal of Psychology (NNJP) published under the administrative governance of Nature-Nurture Publisher (NNP), duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is deeply committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in academic publishing. We strictly adhere to international best practices and the core guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to ensure research integrity, editorial fairness, and absolute transparency across all stages of the publication lifecycle.

1. Research Integrity & Misconduct Prevention

Authors must maintain honesty, accuracy, transparency, and accountability across all phases of empirical investigation and manuscript preparation. The following practices are strictly prohibited and subject to immediate rejection or retraction:

  • Plagiarism: All manuscripts undergo mandatory screening using Turnitin Manuscripts exhibiting a similarity index exceeding 15% (excluding references and standard methodological phrases) are returned or rejected.
  • Data Fabrication & Falsification: The intentional misrepresentation of findings, fabrication of empirical data, unauthorized data manipulation, or selective reporting of null results is entirely unacceptable.
  • Transparent AI Usage: The utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or generative tools must be fully disclosed. AI-assisted tools are permitted strictly for linguistic refinement and grammar correction; AI-generated text, fabricated data, or algorithmic figures cannot be credited as authors or substituted for genuine empirical scholarship.

2. Authorship & Contribution Ethics

  • Substantial Contribution: All listed authors must have made a significant, substantive contribution to the conception, experimental design, execution, data analysis, or drafting of the manuscript.
  • Malpractice Prohibition: Ghostwriting, guest/honorary authorship, coercive citation, and the false attribution of co-authorship are strictly prohibited.
  • Competing Interests: All financial, institutional, commercial, or personal conflicts of interest must be formally and transparently disclosed upon initial submission.

3. Peer-Review Confidentiality & Objectivity

  • Impartiality: NNJP employs rigorous double-blind, single-blind, and transparent peer-review models depending on the article category to ensure neutral, unbiased evaluation.
  • Reviewer Responsibilities: Assigned peer reviewers are mandated to:
    • Evaluate manuscripts objectively based exclusively on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, and relevance.
    • Maintain strict confidentiality regarding all manuscript contents and review materials.
    • Promptly recuse themselves and disclose any competing interests.

4. Editorial Integrity & Independent Decision-Making

  • Merit-Based Decisions: Editorial publishing decisions are made solely on the basis of scientific validity, originality, methodological soundness, and scope alignment—never on commercial impact or institutional affiliation.
  • Recusal Policy: Editors, section editors, and associate editors must immediately recuse themselves from handling any manuscript where they maintain professional, personal, or institutional conflicts of interest.
  • Misconduct Investigations: All allegations of research misconduct, ethical breaches, or data discrepancies are investigated transparently in strict alignment with standardized COPE flowcharts and procedures.

5. Ethical Considerations for Human & Animal Research

  • Human Participants: All empirical research involving human subjects must comply strictly with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must secure formal institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee approval prior to study initiation and obtain explicit informed consent from all participants.
  • Animal Subjects: Research involving animal experimentation must adhere to recognized international standards for the humane care and use of laboratory animals.
  • Documentation: Official ethical approval letters and consent statements may be audited by the editorial office at any stage prior to or post-publication.

6. Post-Publication Corrections, Retractions & Appeals

  • Errata & Retractions: If substantial errors, verifiable data corruption, or ethical violations are identified post-publication, NNJP will promptly and transparently issue formal corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in collaboration with authors and institutional bodies.
  • Appeals Process: Authors wishing to contest an editorial decision may submit a detailed, point-by-point formal appeal letter outlining their scientific justification to the editorial office.

Contact & Editorial Inquiries

All formal appeals, ethical inquiries, reported concerns, and publishing complaints should be directed to the editorial leadership at:Email: njp@thenaturenurture.org