The following outlines the ethical obligations of authors, reviewers, and AJMI Editor-in-Chief.

Duties of Authors

• Authors should:
  • Ensure that they are the sole creators of the article submitted or, in the case of co-authored articles, that all the authors have participated in the design and development of the paper submitted and taken responsibility for them;
  • Cite or quote accurately the work and/or words of others; and
  • Acknowledge ideas and previously published results by citing them in the article and listing them in the references.
• Authors of articles based on original research should:
  • Present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance:
  • Provide a detailed account of the underlying data used;
  • Ensure that the conclusion is based on the evidence presented and not on personal opinion;
  • Interpret and quote others’ works accurately from original sources, not secondary ones, unless original sources are no longer available and a note to that effect is included in the article where appropriate; and
  • Indicate if a submission has been translated into English and provide the proper bibliographic notation for the original article in APA (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition) format.
• Authors should also disclose:
  • Any financial support provided for the research; and
  • Any potential conflict of interest when submitting an article. Conflicts of interest include, for example: employment; consultancy; stock ownership; honorarium; or paid expert testimony.
• As mentioned in the section entitled ‘Article Submission’:
  • Submission of an article to AJMI for review implies a commitment by the author(s) to publish in the journal;
  • In submitting an article to AJMI, the author(s) vouch that the article has neither been published, nor accepted for publication, nor is currently under review at any other journal or as a conference paper. If the article is under review elsewhere, it should be withdrawn from submission;
  • The author(s) also agree that the article shall not be placed under review elsewhere during the review process at AJMI; and
  • If the article is accepted for publication at AJMI, the author(s) further guarantee not to withdraw it for submission from AMJI to publish it elsewhere.

Note: AJMI does not collect any processing or publication fees.

Duties of Reviewers

• Confidentiality:
  • As part of AJMI “double blind” peer review system (under which authors do not know who the reviewers are, and reviewers do not know who the authors are), reviewers are expected to uphold the confidentiality of the review process;
  • Reviewers should not discuss any aspects of the articles under review with other contributors to the journal;
  • Moreover, any unpublished material contained in an article under review may not be quoted or referenced by a reviewer without the express written consent of the author(s), which should be requested through the Editor-in-Chief of AJMI; and
  • Any information, data, or idea contained in the article under review must be kept confidential and may not be used for the personal advantage of the reviewers.
• Conflicts of Interest:
  • In the event a reviewer realizes upon receiving an article for review that: (i) he/she has been involved in any manner in the production of that article; (ii) knows the author(s) of the article; or (iii) for any reason is not in a position to provide an objective review of the article, he/she should inform the Editor-in-Chief and decline to review the article; and
  • Conflicts of interest may include, among others, collaborative or competitive relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the article.
• Objectivity:
  • Articles submitted for review should be reviewed objectively solely based on the expertise of reviewers; and
  • Key criteria to be considered as part of the review process should include among others the articulation and coherence of the arguments and the strength of the evidence provided.
• Acknowledgement of Sources:
  • Reviewers should identify any important relevant published work that was not cited by the authors as part of the references; and
  • Reviewers are also expected to bring to authors’ attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the article reviewed and any published work of which they have personal knowledge.

 Duties of Editor-in-Chief

• Confidentiality:
  • As part of AJMI “double blind” peer review system, the Editor-in-Chief shall take all necessary steps to protect the identity of author(s) and reviewers throughout the review process.
• Conflicts of Interest:
  • In the event the Editor-in-Chief has a personal stake in the publication of an article, the Editor-in-Chief should recuse himself/herself from the review process for that article and a member of the Editorial Board should be nominated by the Editorial Board to step in.
• Objectivity:
  • Decisions regarding the publication of an article submitted for review should be made objectively; and
  • Critical factors to consider in deciding whether to publish an article should include, among others: the level of contribution of the article to its field; the quality of articulation of the arguments; and the strength of the evidence provided.
• Publication Decisions
  • As mentioned above, AJMI does not accept articles for review that have been published or are under consideration for publication in another journal;
  • AJMI Editor-in-Chief is ultimately responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published;
  • Decisions should be guided by the recommendations of AJMI Editorial Board and constrained by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism;
  • In making decisions, the Editor-in-Chief should always confer with other editors or reviewers.
  • The Editor-in-Chief is committed to taking any reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of articles where misconduct has occurred.  In the event of documented violation of any of the above-mentioned AJMI policies, the following sanctions shall be applied:
    • (i) immediate rejection of the infringing article;
    • (ii) immediate rejection of every other submission submitted to AJMI by any of the author(s) of the infringing article; and
    • (iii) prohibition against all subsequent submissions to AJMI by the author(s), either individually or in combination with other authors of the infringing article, as well as in combination with any authors. The prohibition shall be imposed for a minimum of two years.
  • In cases where the violation of any of the above policies is found to be particularly egregious, AJMI reserves the right to impose any sanction beyond those described above, which AJMI would deem appropriate under the circumstances.