Publication Ethics

The Middle East Public Relations Research Journal (JPRRME) follows clear ethical standards for publication to ensure the quality of scientific work and strengthen public confidence in its findings.

Publication through the Middle East Public Relations Research Journal undergoes a rigorous process to identify and prevent misconduct. Specialized experts are selected to monitor this process, ultimately leading to reliable and accurate publications with useful findings and valuable applications. JPRRME follows very strict standards when dealing with violations of professional publication guidelines. All submitted publications must be original and must not be under consideration elsewhere, such as in other journals or conference proceedings.

1. Editorial Standards

JPRRME follows well-defined authorship criteria, which are disclosed in the “For Authors” section. Authors and co-authors are required to meet the authorship criteria and confirm that everyone who meets these criteria remains included in the list of authors.

1.1. Authorship

Published works must be attributed to one or more authors who comply with the authorship criteria. The contribution of each author should be summarized in a statement entitled “Author Contributions.”

2.1. Authorship Issues

To address authorship issues, editors refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) advice on how to identify authorship problems.

3.1. Funding and Support

Authors are required to disclose any funding or support received from an individual or institution in the “Acknowledgments” section.

2. Peer Review Process

To ensure a rigorous, objective, confidential, transparent, and conflict-free peer-review process, JPRRME adopts international peer-review policies, including reviewer selection, double-blind review, conflicts of interest, and response time.

2.1. Reviewer Selection

Authors are required to provide a list of potential reviewers in the cover letter and submission system. JPRRME reserves the right to use the submitted reviewer list or select alternative reviewers.

2.2. Peer Review and Conflicts of Interest

Editors must be informed directly of any conflict of interest as soon as a reviewer receives an invitation to review a publication.

3.2. Confidentiality During the Publication Process

To ensure the highest level of confidentiality, JPRRME editors do not share submitted publications with any third party except peer reviewers.

4.2. Publication Processing Time

JPRRME editors adopt strict procedures to ensure timely processing and avoid unnecessary delays.

3. Publication Ethics

Research integrity is one of JPRRME’s highest priorities. Therefore, the journal makes every effort to identify, detect, and prevent violations of ethical standards.

3.1. Misconduct

JPRRME editors make every effort to identify, detect, and prevent practices involving data fabrication, authorship abuse, falsification, image manipulation, unethical research, plagiarism, biased reporting, and undisclosed publications.

3.2. Fabrication, Falsification, and Image Manipulation

JPRRME makes every effort to identify, detect, and prevent data fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation through advanced image-processing and screening procedures. Where image manipulation is necessary, authors must clearly disclose where and how the image has been altered.

3.3. Plagiarism

JPRRME editors make every effort to ensure that submitted manuscripts are original and to prevent plagiarism and duplicate publication. If such practices are detected, the authors will be notified and appropriate action will be taken.

3.4. Duplicate Submission

To ensure that manuscripts have not been published elsewhere, JPRRME makes every effort to identify and prevent simultaneous or duplicate submissions. If such practices are detected, JPRRME applies strict procedures and sanctions, including withdrawal of the papers from the website.

3.5. Sanctions

In the event of violations of publication ethics or professional codes, strict action may be taken according to JPRRME procedures for dealing with unethical conduct, including:

• A warning letter to the author addressing the misconduct.
• Immediate rejection of the submitted manuscript.
• Application of a probationary period to all responsible authors regarding any future submission to JPRRME.
• Application of a probationary period to all responsible authors regarding their service as JPRRME reviewers.
• Publication of an official notice detailing the misconduct.
• A formal letter to the corresponding author’s institution, reviewer department, or funding agency.
• Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the journal.
• Reporting the case and its outcome to a professional organization or higher authority for further investigation and action.
• Additional sanctions may be imposed if the violations are found to be serious.

3.6. Editors and Board Members as Authors

JPRRME follows well-defined procedures requiring editors to be excluded from publication decisions when they are authors of the submitted work.

3.7. Conflicts of Interest

To ensure objectivity throughout the review process, editors and peer reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and confirm their absence where applicable.

3.8. Libel and Defamation

JPRRME editors make every effort to identify, detect, and prevent language or expressions in manuscripts or peer-review reports that may result in legal action relating to defamation, libel, or wrongful negligence.

3.9. Editorial Independence and Commercial Issues

To ensure a formal and independent relationship between the editors and the publisher (APRA), JPRRME has adopted policies and mechanisms designed to prevent biased decisions influenced by the financial interests of authors.

3.10. Academic Discussion

Comments and constructive criticism of any published work are permitted by JPRRME. Where such comments are submitted, the authors will be notified and given an opportunity to respond before the comments are published.

3.11. Appeals

Authors wishing to appeal editorial decisions may follow the international mechanism adopted by JPRRME for handling editorial appeals.

3.12. Corrections

JPRRME welcomes authors and readers to notify the journal’s editorial office of any errors discovered in published work. When an error is confirmed, the editors and authors will be notified, and appropriate corrections will be made to prevent the error from being repeated in the journal.

4. Research Ethics in Journal Articles

4.1. Human Rights, Privacy, and Confidentiality

Results of clinical trial studies must be formally registered with the public health authority in the relevant country. Otherwise, authors are required to provide an explanatory letter.

4.2. Cultures and Heritage

JPRRME editors make every effort to identify, detect, and prevent the publication of images or texts related to religious or historical events that could be offensive to certain social groups.

4.3. Reporting Guidelines

JPRRME editors and peer reviewers make every effort to ensure that manuscripts contain the information necessary for readers to properly evaluate the research.

5. Copyright and Access

5.1. Copyright and Licensing Information

Copyright and licensing information is clearly explained on the JPRRME website in the guidelines for authors. By submitting a manuscript for publication in the journal, authors confirm that the work is original and is not being submitted to another journal. Submission of a manuscript also constitutes the authors’ agreement to assign exclusive copyright to the Arab Public Relations Agency, the Middle East Public Relations Research Journal, and other publishing entities, where applicable, upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication.

5.2. Archiving

We assign DOIs to our publications by depositing the bibliographic metadata of each article with Crossref, including metadata containing the current location of the journal on its website.

5.3. Author Self-Archiving Policy

Authors may upload their accepted manuscript PDF to institutional and/or central repositories, but they must delay public availability until 6 months after the first online publication of the article in the journal.

5.4. Ownership and Management

JPRRME clearly provides information regarding the ownership and/or management of the journal on its website.

5.5. Website

The JPRRME website has been established and maintained to ensure the application of high ethical and professional standards.

5.6. Publication Schedule

JPRRME clearly states on the homepage of its website the frequency with which the journal publishes research.