Publication Ethics

The Lafia Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research (LJSIR) is founded on the principles of honesty, accountability, transparency, and responsible scholarship. As a multidisciplinary research journal, LJSIR expects every submission to demonstrate intellectual integrity, ethical research practice, and adherence to recognised international standards of academic conduct. The journal’s ethical framework is informed by globally accepted guidelines, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, and other established best practices in scholarly publishing.

Authors are expected to present their research findings accurately, honestly, and transparently. Any form of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, fabrication of data, falsification of results, deceptive image manipulation, citation fraud, or submission of unverifiable references, is strictly prohibited. Submission of a manuscript to LJSIR confirms that the work is original, has not been submitted or published elsewhere, has been approved by all listed authors, complies with relevant ethical regulations, and has received appropriate ethical clearance where necessary. All submissions undergo editorial screening and peer review to evaluate both scholarly quality and research integrity.

Authorship and Author Responsibilities
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the study, including the conception of the research, data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or critical revision of the work. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and accept responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the content. LJSIR does not permit honorary, gift, or ghost authorship.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must be formally communicated by the corresponding author and accompanied by written consent from all co-authors. Changes to authorship after acceptance will only be considered under exceptional circumstances and subject to editorial approval.

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the journal and the co-authors throughout the editorial and publication process. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors meet authorship criteria, coordinating communication with the Editorial Office, responding to reviewers’ comments, ensuring revisions are correctly implemented, and approving the final proof before publication.

Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests
Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any competing interests that could influence the interpretation, evaluation, or presentation of the research. Such interests may be financial, professional, institutional, or personal in nature. Disclosure of a conflict does not automatically disqualify a manuscript; rather, it promotes transparency and informed editorial judgement. Reviewers who are unable to provide an impartial evaluation must decline review invitations, while editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a conflict exists.

Ethically Sensitive Research
Where a manuscript involves ethically sensitive research, dual-use implications, or content that may present societal, environmental, security, or public health concerns, the journal may apply enhanced editorial scrutiny. In such situations, the Editorial Board may seek additional clarification, request independent expert opinion, require modifications, or decline publication where the risks are considered to outweigh the scholarly value of the work.

Image Integrity and Data Presentation
All figures, photographs, charts, micrographs, and related visual materials must accurately represent the original data obtained during the study. Minor technical adjustments, including brightness, contrast, or colour balancing, are acceptable only when applied uniformly and without altering the scientific meaning of the image. Manipulations intended to mislead, conceal, exaggerate, or fabricate findings are strictly prohibited. Authors may be requested to provide original, unprocessed image files where concerns arise regarding image authenticity.

Data Availability and Reproducibility
To promote transparency and reproducibility, authors are encouraged, where feasible, to make the data supporting their findings accessible to readers. This may involve submitting supplementary datasets, depositing data in recognised repositories, or including a clear Data Availability Statement within the manuscript. Where ethical, legal, confidentiality, or privacy considerations restrict public access to data, the limitations must be clearly stated.

Authors should also provide sufficient methodological detail to allow replication of the study. For computational or simulation-based studies, authors are encouraged to identify software versions, specialised computational tools, and repository links where applicable. A Code Availability Statement should be included whenever custom computational resources form a significant component of the research.

Citation and Referencing Standards
LJSIR requires all references to be accurate, relevant, verifiable, and directly connected to the scholarly content of the manuscript. References should contain complete bibliographic information, including author names, publication year, article or book title, journal details, page numbers, and DOI or stable URLs where available. Authors are responsible for ensuring that cited works genuinely support the claims made within the manuscript. Excessive self-citation or manipulative citation practices intended to artificially inflate metrics are not acceptable. APA 7th edition referencing style is accepted for all submissions.

Plagiarism and Similarity Screening
All manuscripts submitted to LJSIR are subjected to plagiarism detection and similarity assessment, including AI-content screening where applicable. Plagiarism includes direct copying without attribution, inadequate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, and undisclosed reuse of previously published material. Manuscripts found to contain unacceptable similarity or evidence of plagiarism will be rejected. Where plagiarism or misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal may issue corrections, expressions of concern, or formal retractions depending on the severity of the case.

Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Integrity
LJSIR recognises the importance of maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record. Minor errors that do not materially affect the conclusions of an article may be corrected through editorial notices or updated versions of the manuscript. More significant issues affecting interpretation or reliability may require formal corrections or retractions. Retraction notices will remain permanently linked to the affected article and will clearly explain the reason for the action.

Submission of a manuscript to LJSIR constitutes agreement that, upon acceptance, the journal is granted a Licence to Publish the work. This licence authorises the journal to publish, reproduce, archive, distribute, and disseminate the article through recognised databases, indexing platforms, and repositories. Where a manuscript is rejected, the licence automatically terminates. LJSIR operates as an open-access journal, and copyright for published articles is held by the publisher.

Editorial decisions are made independently and are based solely on scholarly merit, originality, methodological soundness, clarity, relevance, and contribution to scientific and industrial research. Institutional affiliation or administrative influence does not interfere with editorial judgement or publication decisions.