Editorial Policies

1. Peer Review Policy

IJEBS employs a rigorous double-blind peer review process in which the identities of both authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review cycle. This process upholds the principles of fairness, objectivity, and academic integrity.

Review Stages

  • Stage 1. Editorial Screening (1–2 weeks). Manuscripts are assessed for scope alignment, originality, language quality, and adherence to formatting requirements. Plagiarism is checked using iThenticate or a similar tool; manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% (excluding references, quotes, and boilerplate) are rejected at this stage.
  • Stage 2. Peer Review (4–8 weeks). Manuscripts that pass initial screening are assigned to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers. Reviewers are selected based on subject expertise and the absence of conflicts of interest.
  • Stage 3. Author Revision (2–4 weeks). Authors are required to respond to all reviewer comments with a detailed point-by-point rebuttal letter and a revised manuscript.
  • Stage 4. Final Decision. The Editor-in-Chief issues a final decision based on the revised manuscript and reviewer recommendations. Possible decisions are Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject.
  • Stage 5. Copyediting and Production. Accepted manuscripts undergo professional copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading prior to publication.

The expected total time from submission to first decision is 8–12 weeks. IJEBS does not guarantee acceptance of any submitted manuscript.

2. Publication Ethics

IJEBS is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the principles and guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including the COPE Core Practices. All parties, namely authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher, are expected to uphold these standards.

2.1. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; the drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All individuals meeting these criteria should be listed as authors. Contributors who do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission.

2.2. Originality and Duplicate Submission

Authors must confirm that their manuscript is original, has not been previously published in any language, and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Duplicate publication, salami-slicing (the division of one study into multiple publications), and redundant publication are not permitted and will result in immediate rejection or retraction.

2.3. Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism, is unacceptable. IJEBS uses automated plagiarism detection software (iThenticate) on all submitted manuscripts. The acceptable similarity threshold is a maximum of 20% overall similarity, excluding references, quotations, and standard boilerplate text. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold will be rejected without review. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the article will be retracted.

2.4. Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. This includes funding sources, employment, consultancies, honoraria, patent applications, and stock ownership. Disclosures must be provided at the time of submission in the cover letter and in the manuscript itself. If no conflict of interest exists, authors must explicitly declare this.

Reviewers must also declare any conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts where a conflict exists. Editors follow the same obligation and do not participate in decisions on manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.

2.5. Research Ethics and Informed Consent

Research involving human participants must comply with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must confirm that the study was approved by the relevant institutional ethics committee or review board and provide the approval number in the manuscript. Informed consent must have been obtained from all participants. For research involving animals, compliance with applicable national legislation and institutional guidelines must be confirmed.

3. Data Availability Policy

IJEBS encourages transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors are strongly encouraged to make the data, materials, and code underlying their findings openly available through a trusted repository such as Zenodo, Harvard Dataverse, OSF, Mendeley Data, or institutional repositories. A Data Availability Statement must be included in all manuscripts, indicating where data can be accessed or providing a justification for any restrictions such as confidentiality, legal constraints, or proprietary data. The following are example statements that authors may adapt.

  • "The data that support the findings of this study are available in [Repository Name] at [DOI or URL]."
  • "The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author due to [reason]."
  • "No new data were created or analysed in this study."

4. Copyright and Licensing

IJEBS is an open-access journal. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Under this licence, authors retain copyright and grant IJEBS the right of first publication. Third parties are free to share, copy, redistribute, adapt, remix, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original work, a link to the licence is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

Authors must sign a Copyright and License Agreement upon acceptance of their manuscript, confirming that the work is original and granting IJEBS the non-exclusive right to publish the article.

5. Open Access Policy

IJEBS is a fully open-access journal. All published articles are immediately and permanently freely available online to any reader, without subscription, registration, or embargo. IJEBS adheres to the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access. The journal does not restrict access to any article after publication.

Regarding Article Processing Charges (APCs), IJEBS may apply an APC upon acceptance to cover the costs of peer review management, copyediting, typesetting, and digital preservation. There are no submission fees. Authors from low-income institutions or countries may apply for a full or partial APC waiver by contacting the editorial office.

6. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

IJEBS follows COPE guidelines for handling post-publication corrections and retractions, as outlined below.

  • Correction (Erratum or Corrigendum). If a published article contains a significant error that affects the scientific record but does not invalidate the overall findings or conclusions, a correction notice will be published. The original article will be updated with a link to the correction notice.
  • Retraction. If a published article is found to contain fabricated or falsified data, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other serious ethical violations that invalidate its conclusions, the article will be retracted. A retraction notice stating the reason will be published and linked to the original article. The retracted article will remain accessible online but clearly marked as retracted.
  • Expression of Concern. In cases where an investigation is ongoing and the reliability of an article is uncertain, an Expression of Concern may be published to alert readers pending the outcome of the investigation.
  • Withdrawal. A submitted manuscript that has not yet been published may be withdrawn by the authors prior to acceptance. Post-acceptance withdrawals require written justification and are subject to editorial approval.

7. Appeals and Complaints Policy

Authors who believe that an editorial decision was made in error or unfairly may submit a formal appeal to the Editor-in-Chief within 30 days of receiving the decision. Appeals must be accompanied by a detailed written argument specifying the grounds for the appeal. The Editor-in-Chief will consider the appeal and may invite additional expert opinion. The Editor-in-Chief's decision on the appeal is final.

Complaints about the editorial process, reviewer conduct, or ethical concerns may be directed to the editorial office at ijebs@stebiabangkalan.ac.id.

8. Digital Preservation Policy

IJEBS is committed to the long-term digital preservation of all published content. The journal will register with one or more recognised digital preservation services, such as LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, PKP Preservation Network, or Portico, to ensure that all published articles remain permanently accessible even in the event that the journal ceases publication. Authors assign IJEBS the right to archive their published articles in these preservation systems.

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tool Policy

In line with emerging norms in academic publishing, IJEBS requires that authors disclose any use of large language models (LLMs) or other artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation of their manuscript. AI tools may not be listed as co-authors, as authorship requires accountability that AI systems cannot assume. If AI tools were used to assist in writing, editing, or data analysis, this must be clearly stated in the Methods section or in an AI Use Statement in the Acknowledgements. The corresponding author is fully responsible for the accuracy and integrity of any AI-assisted content.