Policies

The following policies are applicable to the Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences and please carefully refer them before submitting your article, to en

sure you have accurately followed all the requirements.

Transparency Statement

Publication Ethics

Conflicts of Interest

Process of Allegation

Open Access

Transparency Statement

Transparency Statement for Conference Proceedings of International Conference of Social Sciences.

1. Ownership: Conference Proceedings of International Conference of Social Sciences is published by The International Institute of Knowledge Management.

2. Governing Body: The editorial team is appointed and managed by The International Institute of Knowledge Management. The Proceedings is governed by the editorial team in collaboration with TIIKM Publishing. 

3. Peer Review Process: The Proceedings operates a double-blind peer review model. All articles undergo an initial assessment by the editorial board. If they are considered suitable for consideration, articles will then be reviewed by a minimum of two external reviewers to assess suitability for publication. The final responsibility for editorial decisions rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

4. Editorial team/contact information: Contact details for the editorial team can be found on the proceedings homepage. Queries may also be directed to TIIKM Publishing team as follows: 
Chathurangi Harshila - tharindi.wijesinghe@tiikmedu.com / publication@tiikmedu.com

5. Copyright: All articles in the proceedings are published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY-4.0). This allows authors to retain the copyright of their work whilst others can share, use and build upon this work created as long as appropriate attribution is given.  

6. Author Fees: There are no submission fees, page charges, colour charges or publication charges. All the authors who participate in the International Conference on Social Sciences are eligible to make submissions.

7. Allegations of Misconduct: All journals and proceedings published by TIIKM Publishing are members of and subscribe to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics. In the event of any allegation of research or publication misconduct the publisher and editor will adhere to COPE guidelines in dealing with such allegations.  

 8. Conflicts of interest: Authors are asked to declare any financial or ethical conflicts of interest upon submitting their work to The Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences. Difficult cases will be referred to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) for advice.

9. Frequency: The Proceedings currently publishes one volume per annum.

10. Access: All articles are published Open Access on Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences -  under a CCBY 4.0 license (Please see section 5. This proceedings provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

11. Revenue sources: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences is published free of charge and it is exclusively for the participants of the International Conference on Social Sciences. All costs associated with publishing an Open Access article in proceedings are funded by the International Institute of Knowledge Management.

12. Advertising: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences does not accept direct advertising.

13. Archiving: TIIKM Publishing provides perpetual access for all e-journal content by working with the digital preservation scheme “CrossRef”. Each volume is preserved via DOI links to the CrossRef.

14. Direct marketing: Occasionally, The Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences will use direct marketing activities (primarily email campaigns) to raise awareness of the proceedings and to invite authors to submit articles.   Marketing activities are conducted by the conference committee of the International Conference on Social Sciences with TIIKM Publishing. 

Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Outlined below are the ethical behavior expected from Editors, Reviewers, Authors, and Publisher of Conference Proceedings published by The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM Publishing).

All papers are subject to a double-blind peer-review process based on an initial screening by the editor criteria for evaluation include a significant contribution to the field, conceptual quality, appropriate methodology and, clarity of exposition.

The publication of an article in a “double-blind peer-reviewed” journal is essential in the development of a consistent and respected network of knowledge.

Ethical norms are very important to ensure the quality of scientific articles, the probity and credibility of the research results and, the credit that the authors receive for the published articles.

The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS, identified by ISSN 2357-268X, subscribes to principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) on how to deal with acts of misconduct thereby committing to investigate allegations of misconduct to ensure the integrity of research.

Submitting a manuscript to The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS means that all of the authors have read and agreed to the content of the manuscript and confirmed its compliance with the Proceedings’s policies.

The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS follows the Committee on Publication Ethics' (COPE’s) “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”. This standard also applies to papers authored or co-authored by members of The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS editorial board. Peer reviewers will be asked to abide by the Committee on Publication Ethics' (COPE’s) “Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers”.

The ethical guidelines here are prepared based on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

Please go through the Ethical guidelines before making your submission.

 

Ethical guidelines

Copyright and License terms

The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS is entirely Open Access which means access to the electronic format of the proceedings is free and unrestricted. This is equivalent to a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY-4.0).

So, referring to the proceedings’s content users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this proceedings without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Authors who publish with Conference Proceedings agree to the following terms:

(1) Authors retain copyright and grant the Proceedings journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 (2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the proceedings published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this proceedings.

 (3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

 

Responsibilities of the editor/editorial board

The conference proceedings of ICOSS and its Publisher, TIIKM follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Editors and the Code of Conduct for Publishers.

(1) Editors must secure a correct and unbiased, but also competent review by making sure of the double blindness of the review process, assigning submission to reviewers based on matching the research areas, and providing solutions to potential conflicts during the reviewers and authors while keeping each other’s identity undisclosed to its counterpart.

(2) The main responsibility is to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the ethnic or geographic origin, gender, sexual orientation, and ethical or political beliefs.

(3) Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article and they should have no conflict of interest to the articles they reject/accept.

(4)  Editor in chief in consultation with the editorial board will be making the final decision on the manuscripts and will consider legal aspects such as libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism in making the decision.

(5) Upon rejection, editors should convey to the authors as to why the rejection decision was made.

(6) The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.

(7) The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

(8) Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their research purposes without the author's explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

(9) The editors promote the publication of correction or retraction when errors are found in the paper. Nevertheless, they should preserve the anonymity of the reviewers.

 

Responsibilities of Reviewers

The peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

All of the content in the conference proceedings of ICOSS is subjected to peer-review. Peer-review is defined as obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from experts in the field. Peer-review is clearly described on the Web site of conference proceedings of ICOSS.

(1) Reviewers should inform the editors if the manuscript cannot be reviewed within the timeframe allotted for the review.

(2) Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process for that manuscript, so that the manuscript can be sent to another reviewer.

(3) Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

(4) Reviews of submitted manuscripts should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

(5) The reviewers should be objective and should not have any conflict of interest concerning the research, the authors, and/or the research funders.

(6) Reviewers should remain unbiased by considerations related to the nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, origins of a manuscript or by commercial considerations.

(7) Reviewers should point out relevant published work that is not yet cited.

(8) Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer's research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

(9) Reviewers should not consider 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.

(10) Reviewers are required to inform the Editor-in-Chief if they cannot assess an article if it falls beyond their competence, is similar to an article published elsewhere, or determines a conflict of interests. Otherwise, they should complete the review process in due time by submitting a complete Review Form.No other means of communication can replace the Review Form. In the absence of this document, the submission is reassigned to a different reviewer.

(11) A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

 (12) The reviewers’ professional, objective, and thorough review process will contribute to the quality of work and enhance the quality of published research.

 

Responsibilities of Authors

(1) The authors are obliged to participate in the peer-review process and apply the requirements made by the reviewers to have their article published in conference proceedings of ICOSS.

(2) Also, the authors have to state that all data in the article are real and authentic and should provide retractions or corrections of mistakes each time they consider it necessary.

(3) All authors have significantly contributed to the research. All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.

(4) All authors should have articles with a list of references and indicate (if necessary) the financial support for the research. It is forbidden to publish the same manuscript in more than one journal or proceedings.

(5) Authors will submit only entirely original works, and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited.

(6) The authors must refrain from plagiarism. Plagiarism consists of below different types and all are unethical and unacceptable.

  • Pretending another author’s paper is one’s own paper
  • Copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper without proper acknowledgment
  • Claiming results from research conducted by others as one’s own results

In general, manuscripts describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Manuscripts that have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted.

(7) Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in research work. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

(8) Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

(9) The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included on the paper, all of them have had an opportunity to review the final copy and agreed for the submission for publication.

(10) The authors should consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscripts. Any change in the authorship list is not acceptable unless a clear reason is communicated to the editor.  If you need to make a change to the authorship (any addition, deletion, or rearrangement), please write to the Editor-in-Chief of the conference proceedings:

(a) a clear reason for the change and

(b) written confirmation (a signed letter) of all authors that they agree with the change.

The author being added or removed should also send a written confirmation to the conference proceedings. Please note that a change is only possible before the manuscript has received a notification of acceptance and only if the change request has been approved by the editor. No changes can be made after the publication of the article.

(11) When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript, the author should promptly notify the editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

(12) If the editor learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, the author should promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.

 

Plagiarism and copyright infringement

Plagiarism, data fabrication, and image manipulation are not tolerated. Plagiarism is not acceptable in the submissions of conference proceedings of ICOSS. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the source.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their works are unique and that they fully acknowledge the source of any content which is not entirely the authors’ own. The conference proceedings will check articles for plagiarism (i.e. reproducing any content without attribution and permission) and considers the inclusion of plagiarized content to be misconduct by the authors. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.

If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, articles will be withdrawn from the proceedings.

Authors and readers are encouraged to inform the publisher and Editor-in-Chief if they notice anything that should be corrected.

Reported errors will be investigated by the publisher and Editor-in-Chief, and discussed with the authors.

The appropriate correction will be made after this consultation. Articles will be retracted if there is evidence of unethical research, unreliable data, misconduct or plagiarism, or if there are sufficient mistakes to invalidate the article. 

Conflict of Interest Statement

For Authors:

(1) All manuscripts for articles, original research reports, editorials, comments, reviews, book reviews, and letters that are submitted to the proceedings must be accompanied by a conflict of interest disclosure statement or a declaration by the authors that they do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.

(2) All articles that are published in the proceedings must be accompanied by this conflict of interest disclosure statement or a statement that the authors have replied that they have no conflicts of interest to declare. If the proceedings prints unsigned editorials, they should not have been written by anyone with a conflict of interest.

To facilitate this policy, all authors must privately disclose ‘ALL their potential conflicts of interest’ to the editors of the conference proceedings at the time of submission. These include all financial and non-financial interests and relationships (see definitions provided a little later in the text), direct employment with a private sector entity (whether full or part-time), and service on private sector and non-profit Boards and advisory panels, whether paid or unpaid.

(3) Authors should also disclose any conflict of interest that may have influenced either the conduct or the presentation of the research to the editors, including but not limited to close relationships with those who might be helped or hurt by the publication, academic interests and rivalries, and any personal, religious or political convictions relevant to the topic at hand.

(4) In the article, the authors must include a draft statement that discloses all relevant conflicts of interest and affiliations.

The relevance of financial conflicts of interest with private firms is defined as a relationship of any value with a firm that has a stake in the subject of the manuscript or its competitors.

Relevance for patents is defined as any invention or pending invention connected in any way to the subject.

As relevance is often in the eye of the beholder, one must err on the side of full disclosure when drafting the disclosure statement. Editors will check a draft against the private financial disclosure statement and initiate discussions toward possible adjustments, if necessary.

What to report: Any financial relationship from the past three years (dating from the month of submission) of any size, should be disclosed. These potential conflicts of interest include:

    •  Direct Employment- Either full-time or part-time
    •  Grants and research funding (but not grants to your institution or others within your institution, on which you have not worked). These include substantial grants from trade associations and non-profit (50% or more) or funded by private sector firms
    •  Consultancies
    •  Travel grants, speaking fees, writing fees and other honoraria.
    •  Paid expert testimony for one side in adversarial proceeding (this does not include testimony as a factual witness in a civil or criminal case)
    •  Patents granted and pending applications, irrespective of whether they are generating royalties or not.
    •  Stock ownership and investment in the related ‘sector’ funds or stock options, including those of immediate family members, but excluding diversified mutual funds and investment trusts Membership of private sector, scientific or other advisory Boards, whether paid or unpaid

In addition, any current negotiations regarding future employment or current job offers, either full- or part-time, must be disclosed.

Non-Financial Conflicts of Interest:

Authors may have strong views about the article being submitted for publication.

The authors must consider disclosing these views and the editors may choose to print any affiliations or expressions from these views that may be relevant. These may be personal, political or intellectual, and may include any expression of strongly held views relevant to the subject of submission.

Such disclosures may be original or they may be references to opinions previously expressed in books or monographs, opposite editorials (op-eds) or public comments, or to some prior sworn testimony or lobbying of legislators or legislative bodies. Disclosable non-financial conflicts of interest will also include membership or affiliation to non-governmental organizations that have an interest in the submission.

How do I Make a Declaration?

If you are submitting your article for publishing in the conference proceedings of ICOSS that requires you to make a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’, please include such a declaration at the end of your manuscript, following any acknowledgments and prior to the references, under the heading ‘Conflict of Interest Statement’.

If no declaration is made, the following will be printed under this heading in your article: ‘None Declared’. Alternatively, you may wish to state that ‘The author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. 

Process of Allegation

If the Authors do not follow the ethical guidelines and policies mentioned in the ethical guidelines document the publisher of the conference proceedings might take actions against them. Please go through the Allegations of Misconduct in order to refer the actions that can be taken by the publisher in case of a misconduct.

Ethical issues

Six fundamental ethical issues have been defined, and procedures for responding to misconduct have been outlined below.

Please note that these guidelines are not intended to provide or substitute legal advice. Each ethical issue is followed by recommended actions as advised by COPE for the Editors and when available additional reading has been added.

Clicking on the link will give you a flowchart with the actions stipulated. Please note that flowcharts are making a distinction between ethical issues in a submitted manuscript and published article.

[1] Data fabrication / data falsification

Data fabrication: This concerns the making up of research findings.

Data falsification: Manipulating research data with the intention of giving a false impression. This includes manipulating images (e.g. micrographs, gels, and radiological images), removing outliers or “inconvenient” results, changing, adding or omitting data points, etc.

With regard to image manipulation it is allowed to technically improve images for readability. Proper technical manipulation refers to adjusting the contrast and/or brightness or color balance if it is applied to the complete digital image (and not parts of the image).

Any technical manipulation by the author should be notified in the cover letter to the Editor upon submission. Improper technical manipulation refers to obscuring, enhancing, deleting and/or introducing new elements into an image. Generally, if an author’s figures are questionable, it is suggested to request the original data from the authors.

[2] Duplicate submission / publication and redundant publication

Duplicate submission / publication: This refers to the practice of submitting the same study to two journals or publishing more or less the same study in two journals. These submissions/publications can be nearly simultaneous or years later.

Redundant publication (also described as ‘salami publishing’): this refers to the situation that one study is split into several parts and submitted to two or more publication outlets. Or the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification.

“Self-plagiarism” is considered a form of redundant publication. It concerns recycling or borrowing content from previous work without citation. This practice is widespread and might be unintentional. Transparency by the author on the use of previously published work usually provides the necessary information to make an assessment on whether it is deliberate or unintentional.

Note! Translations of articles without proper permission or notification and resubmission of previously published Open Access articles are considered duplications.

[3] Duplication of text and/or figures (plagiarism)

Plagiarism occurs when someone presents the work of others (data, text, or theories) as if it was his/her own without proper acknowledgment. There are different degrees of plagiarism.

The severity is dependent on various factors: extent of copied material, originality of copied material, position/context/type of material and referencing/attribution of the material used.

Every case is different and therefore decisions will vary per case. Ask yourself the following question: Does it concern an honest mistake or is there an intentional deviation from the scientific norm? Please note there are many grey areas between honest, questionable and fraudulent practices.

Whilst reviewing the case consider the following factors:

(a) Author seniority. Junior authors may be asked to paraphrase the copied text if it is believed that they are genuinely not aware that copying phrases is inappropriate. It is expected that a senior author should know better

(b) Cultural background could be an indication for potentially different behaviors concerning the amount of copying which could be seen as plagiarism

The following listing is designed to make you aware of the various possibilities concerning plagiarism:

  • (a) Verbatim copying of another’s work and submitting it as one’s own.
  • (b) Verbatim copying of significant portions of text from a single source.
  • (c) Mixing verbatim copied material from multiple sources (“patchwork copying”). This could range from 1 or 2 paragraphs to significant portions consisting of several paragraphs.
  • (d) Changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source as a framework.
  • (e) Rephrasing of the text’s original wording and/or structure and submitting it as one’s own.
  • (f) Mixing slightly rephrased material from multiple sources and presenting what has been published already as new.
  • (g) The work is cited, but the cited portions are not clearly identified. This can be combined with copied parts of text without citation.

However for review papers the above is not directly applicable. Review papers are expected to give a summary of existing literature. Authors should use their own words with exception of properly quoted and/or cited texts and the work should include a new interpretation.

[4] Authorship issues

COPE has written an article with advice on how to spot potential authorship problems. Please visit the below link for more details.

https://publicationethics.org/files/Recognise_Potential_Authorship_Problems.pdf

Most authorship problems have to do with authorship without the author’s knowledge and unacknowledged authorship.

[5] Undeclared conflict of interest (CoI)

A conflict of interest is a situation in which financial or other personal considerations from authors or reviewers have the potential to compromise or bias professional judgment and objectivity.

Authors and reviewers should declare all conflicts of interest relevant to the work under consideration (i.e. relationships, both financial and personal, that might interfere with the interpretation of the work) to avoid the potential for bias.

[6] Ethical problems

There are ethical issues that relate to patient consent or animal experimentation and the lack of ethical approval.

Recommended action by COPE for Journal Editors can be referred via below link for each fraud.

https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts?classification=2771

It should be noted there are two distinct situations: serious scientific fraud or errors. Errors could be due to negligence (for example statistical errors) or honest errors which are part of the normal course of doing research. It is therefore important to treat potential cases with care as academic careers could be at risk.

Five steps to follow when encountering possible misconduct:

  • (1) Remain a neutral player and treat all potential misconduct cases confidentially
  • (2) Keep records of written communication including the allegation and the evidence of the complainant
  • (3) Raise the issue with the accused (co-)author in a timely manner
  • (4) Assess what exactly has happened (fact finding) and be transparent and final about decisions
  • (5) In case of potential media attention (e.g. as soon as the media is aware) or legal questions please contact the editorial assistant.

Allegations of research errors and fraud

Fraud is publishing data or conclusions that were not generated by experiments or observations, but by data manipulation or invention. Changing the data measurements to conveniently fit the desired end result is fraud, but excluding inconvenient results is a deliberate research error, which, in effect, is the same end result – fraud.

Recommended action

Note that the procedures below are similar to those for research results misappropriation.

The complainant must be made aware that the matter cannot be investigated unless the editor informs the corresponding (or complained-about) author (due process) and the institution or company at which the research took place (especially if fraud is alleged).

In the communication to the corresponding author, the editor should indicate that the matter will likely be referred to the institution or company where the research took place or any other relevant institution or agency (for example a funding agency) unless the author provides a reasonable explanation (accepted as reasonable by the editor). 

Open Access 

Open access policy

The Conference Proceedings of ICOSS is an open-access publication outlet which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

In this regard, the only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.

In respect of the BOAI definition, The Conference Proceedings’ governing body strongly recommends, for the authors who would like to republish a work that has been previously published in proceedings, to include an acknowledgment with the mention of its first publication of the scientific paper, in the further publication.