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Publication Ethics

The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. All parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher, are expected to adhere to internationally recognized principles of publication ethics.

The journal follows the principles and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and applies them in handling authorship, peer review, conflicts of interest, research ethics, data integrity, allegations of misconduct, corrections, retractions, and other matters related to scholarly publishing.

The journal also recognizes that research in geography education may involve students, teachers, schools, communities, fieldwork locations, spatial and geospatial information, photographs, audiovisual materials, and other forms of potentially identifiable or sensitive data. Authors are therefore required to consider both publication ethics and the ethical implications of conducting and reporting their research.

1. Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring the integrity, originality, accuracy, and ethical conduct of their research and manuscript.

Authors must:

  • submit only original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal;

  • properly acknowledge and cite all sources used in the manuscript;

  • obtain appropriate permission for copyrighted materials, instruments, maps, photographs, figures, datasets, or other materials belonging to third parties when required;

  • accurately report research methods, procedures, analyses, and findings;

  • refrain from fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, citation manipulation, data manipulation, and other forms of research or publication misconduct;

  • retain relevant research records and, when reasonably requested by the Editor, provide supporting data or documentation necessary to verify the integrity of the research;

  • disclose all sources of financial support and any potential conflicts of interest;

  • ensure that research involving human participants, communities, minors, personal information, or sensitive locations complies with appropriate ethical requirements;

  • ensure that all listed authors meet accepted authorship criteria and approve the final version of the manuscript;

  • promptly inform the Editor if a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in a submitted or published article and cooperate in correcting the scholarly record.

Authors should not attempt to improperly influence editors, reviewers, or the peer-review process.

2. Originality, Plagiarism, and Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must represent original scholarly work.

Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • presenting another person's work or ideas as one's own;

  • copying text without appropriate citation or quotation;

  • paraphrasing substantial portions of another work without proper acknowledgment;

  • using another person's data, figures, images, maps, or research results without appropriate attribution or permission;

  • inappropriate reuse of an author's own previously published material without adequate citation or disclosure.

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

Redundant, duplicate, or overlapping publication must be disclosed to the Editor. Where manuscripts build substantially on previously published work by the authors, the relationship between the works must be made transparent.

The journal may use appropriate similarity-checking or plagiarism-detection tools as part of its editorial evaluation.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the work and who are able to take responsibility for their contributions.

All authors must:

  • have made a meaningful contribution to the research and/or preparation of the manuscript;

  • approve the final version submitted for publication; and

  • agree to be accountable for the integrity of their contribution.

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

The journal encourages authors to describe individual contributions using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), where applicable, including roles such as:

  • Conceptualization;

  • Methodology;

  • Software;

  • Validation;

  • Formal Analysis;

  • Investigation;

  • Resources;

  • Data Curation;

  • Writing – Original Draft;

  • Writing – Review & Editing;

  • Visualization;

  • Supervision;

  • Project Administration; and

  • Funding Acquisition.

Ghost authorship, guest authorship, and honorary authorship are considered unethical.

4. Changes to Authorship

Authors are expected to carefully determine the authorship list and author order before submitting a manuscript.

Changes involving the addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors after submission are strongly discouraged and may only be considered before acceptance when:

  1. a reasonable justification is provided to the Editor; and

  2. the change is approved by the Editor.

Requests for authorship changes after acceptance will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

If an approved authorship change is necessary after publication, the journal may issue an appropriate post-publication notice in accordance with its correction policy.

5. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any relationships or interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their judgment or the interpretation of the research.

Potential conflicts may include, but are not limited to:

  • research funding;

  • employment or institutional relationships;

  • consultancy arrangements;

  • honoraria;

  • financial interests;

  • intellectual property rights;

  • professional or academic competition;

  • personal relationships; and

  • other circumstances that could create an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest.

Authors must disclose all relevant funding sources and, where applicable, describe the role of the funder in the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the work for publication.

If no competing interests exist, authors should provide an appropriate statement to that effect.

6. Research Ethics and Ethical Approval

Research reported in the journal must be conducted responsibly and in accordance with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical standards.

Where institutional ethical review is required, authors must obtain approval before the research is conducted.

The manuscript should state, where applicable:

  • the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board;

  • the institution granting the approval;

  • the approval or reference number; and

  • relevant information regarding informed consent.

Where formal ethical approval is not required under applicable institutional or national regulations, authors should be prepared to explain the basis for the exemption if requested by the Editor.

The Editor may request supporting documentation regarding ethical approval or consent when necessary.

7. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving students, teachers, lecturers, school administrators, community members, or other human participants must respect their dignity, autonomy, privacy, safety, and rights.

Authors must ensure that participation is voluntary and that participants receive sufficient information about the purpose and nature of the research before providing consent.

Where applicable, authors should obtain documented informed consent.

Particular care should be taken in educational settings because relationships between researchers, teachers, lecturers, and students may involve differences in authority or power. Participation or refusal to participate should not adversely affect participants' academic standing, grades, employment, access to services, or other legitimate interests.

Researchers must take reasonable steps to minimize physical, psychological, social, academic, cultural, and reputational risks to participants.

8. Research Involving Children and Minors

Research involving children or other participants who cannot independently provide legally valid consent requires additional safeguards.

Where applicable, authors must obtain:

  • informed consent from a parent or legal guardian; and

  • assent from the child or minor when appropriate to their age and level of understanding.

Researchers should ensure that participation is voluntary and that children are not subjected to inappropriate pressure from teachers, parents, researchers, school authorities, or other persons.

The identity, educational records, photographs, videos, location information, and other personal information of minors must receive particular protection.

9. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Personal Data

Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of research participants.

Personally identifiable information should not be published unless:

  • it is essential for scholarly purposes;

  • the participant has been adequately informed; and

  • appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.

Where appropriate, data should be anonymized or de-identified.

Special care should be taken with combinations of information that may indirectly identify participants, such as:

  • school names;

  • class information;

  • photographs;

  • demographic characteristics;

  • precise geographic locations;

  • GPS coordinates; or

  • small-community descriptions.

Consent to participate in research should not automatically be assumed to constitute consent to publish identifiable information, photographs, videos, or other personal materials.

10. Photographs, Audio, Video, and Other Identifiable Materials

Authors must obtain appropriate permission before publishing photographs, recordings, videos, screenshots, or other materials from which individuals may be identified.

For research involving students, particularly minors, authors should ensure that appropriate consent for publication has been obtained from the participant and/or parent or legal guardian as required.

Simply masking a participant's name may not provide sufficient anonymity when faces, school uniforms, geographical settings, voices, or contextual information allow identification.

Editors may request evidence that appropriate consent has been obtained.

11. Fieldwork and Community-Based Research

Geographical and geography education research frequently involves fieldwork and engagement with communities.

Authors must conduct such research with respect for:

  • local communities;

  • cultural values and practices;

  • indigenous or traditional knowledge;

  • community privacy;

  • local regulations;

  • environmental protection requirements; and

  • legitimate community interests.

When research involves indigenous peoples, traditional communities, vulnerable groups, or culturally sensitive knowledge, researchers should apply appropriate principles of consultation, permission, participation, and respectful representation.

Authors should avoid publishing information that could create unreasonable risks to communities, cultural resources, archaeological sites, environmentally sensitive areas, or other protected locations.

12. Geospatial Data and Sensitive Location Information

Research involving GIS, remote sensing, GPS, digital maps, spatial databases, or other geospatial information must be conducted and reported responsibly.

Authors must:

  • accurately identify the sources of geospatial data;

  • comply with applicable licenses and terms of use;

  • provide appropriate attribution;

  • obtain necessary permission where required; and

  • consider whether publishing precise coordinates or detailed spatial information could create ethical, environmental, cultural, privacy, security, or conservation risks.

Sensitive location information may include, for example:

  • locations of vulnerable communities;

  • participant residences;

  • endangered or protected species;

  • archaeological or culturally important sites;

  • protected natural resources; and

  • other locations where disclosure could cause harm.

Where appropriate, authors should generalize, mask, aggregate, or otherwise protect sensitive spatial information.

13. Data Integrity and Data Availability

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the data underlying their research.

Fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, selective alteration, or intentional misrepresentation of data is prohibited.

Authors should retain research data and documentation in accordance with applicable institutional, disciplinary, legal, and ethical requirements.

The journal encourages authors to make research data available where this can be done legally and ethically, particularly when data sharing supports transparency, verification, and reproducibility.

Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement where required by the journal.

When data cannot be shared because of privacy, ethical, legal, confidentiality, indigenous/community rights, contractual, or other legitimate restrictions, these limitations should be clearly explained.

Publicly available datasets, GIS layers, satellite imagery, maps, and other secondary data should be appropriately cited, together with relevant access information where possible.

14. Copyright, Maps, Figures, Instruments, and Third-Party Materials

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all materials included in their manuscripts comply with applicable copyright and licensing requirements.

This includes:

  • maps;

  • photographs;

  • satellite imagery;

  • figures and diagrams;

  • questionnaires;

  • tests and assessment instruments;

  • learning materials;

  • tables;

  • datasets;

  • software outputs; and

  • other copyrighted content.

Appropriate attribution alone does not replace the need to obtain permission when permission is legally required.

Authors should retain documentation of permissions and provide it to the journal upon request.

15. Editor Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for protecting the integrity, fairness, confidentiality, and independence of the editorial process.

Editors should:

  • evaluate manuscripts based on their scholarly quality, relevance, originality, methodological soundness, and contribution to the journal's scope;

  • make editorial decisions without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political belief, or other irrelevant personal characteristics;

  • protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and peer-review communications;

  • select reviewers with appropriate expertise;

  • take reasonable measures to identify and manage potential conflicts of interest;

  • ensure that peer review is conducted fairly and in a timely manner;

  • avoid using unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal benefit;

  • respond appropriately to allegations of research or publication misconduct;

  • maintain the integrity of the scholarly record through corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other appropriate actions when necessary; and

  • provide mechanisms for complaints and appeals.

Editors must not attempt to manipulate journal metrics by coercing unnecessary citations.

16. Editorial Conflicts of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

This may include manuscripts:

  • authored by the Editor;

  • authored by close colleagues, collaborators, family members, or students where independence may reasonably be questioned;

  • originating from research in which the Editor has been substantially involved; or

  • involving organizations, products, or interests with which the Editor has a significant relationship.

Such submissions should be managed independently by another qualified editor and should undergo the journal's normal editorial and peer-review procedures.

17. Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the quality and integrity of scholarly publication.

Reviewers must:

  • accept review assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise;

  • disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest;

  • decline a review where independence or impartiality may reasonably be questioned;

  • treat manuscripts and associated materials as confidential;

  • provide objective, constructive, evidence-based, and respectful comments;

  • refrain from personal criticism of authors;

  • not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal advantage;

  • not share manuscripts with unauthorized parties;

  • complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or promptly inform the Editor when unable to do so; and

  • inform the Editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data concerns, ethical problems, or other potential misconduct identified during review.

Reviewers must not request citations to their own work or another journal solely to increase citation counts. Citation suggestions should be based only on genuine scholarly relevance.

18. Confidentiality of Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be treated as confidential documents.

Editors and reviewers must not disclose information concerning a submitted manuscript to unauthorized individuals.

Information, ideas, methods, or data obtained through peer review must not be used for personal research, financial gain, competitive advantage, or any other inappropriate purpose.

The journal will protect reviewer identities in accordance with its stated peer-review model.

19. Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct

The journal takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Potential misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;

  • fabrication or falsification;

  • data or image manipulation;

  • duplicate or redundant publication;

  • inappropriate authorship;

  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;

  • citation manipulation;

  • peer-review manipulation;

  • unethical research involving human participants;

  • breaches of confidentiality; and

  • other practices that compromise the integrity of the scholarly record.

Reports of suspected misconduct will be assessed fairly, confidentially, and impartially.

Where appropriate, the journal will follow relevant COPE guidance and may request clarification or supporting documentation from authors, reviewers, institutions, or other relevant parties.

Editors do not normally replace institutional bodies in conducting formal investigations of research misconduct. When necessary, the journal may refer concerns to the authors' institution, research integrity office, funding organization, or other competent authority.

20. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining an accurate and reliable scholarly record.

When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue, as appropriate:

  • a correction or corrigendum;

  • an erratum;

  • a retraction;

  • an expression of concern; or

  • another appropriate post-publication notice.

The type of action will depend on the nature and seriousness of the problem and will be determined in accordance with the journal's policies and relevant COPE guidance.

Retractions are intended to correct the scholarly record and should not be used primarily as a form of punishment.

Where possible, retracted articles will remain identifiable in the scholarly record and will be clearly marked as retracted.

21. Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they must promptly notify the Editor and cooperate with the journal in determining the appropriate corrective action.

When the Editor or Publisher becomes aware of a possible significant error through a third party, the authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests for clarification, documentation, data, or other supporting evidence.

22. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other parties may submit legitimate complaints concerning editorial procedures, publication ethics, or decisions.

Authors may also appeal editorial decisions where they believe a significant error has occurred in the evaluation of their manuscript.

Appeals should:

  • provide clear reasons for reconsideration;

  • respond substantively to the basis of the original decision; and

  • avoid personal criticism of editors or reviewers.

Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, independently of the individuals involved in the original decision.

23. Publisher Responsibilities

The Publisher supports the journal in maintaining the integrity, independence, transparency, and sustainability of the scholarly publication process.

The Publisher shall:

  • respect the editorial independence of the journal;

  • support editors in implementing appropriate publication ethics standards;

  • support the preservation of the scholarly record;

  • cooperate in handling allegations of misconduct and post-publication corrections;

  • take reasonable measures to prevent unethical publication practices; and

  • support policies consistent with recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing.

Commercial, institutional, or other considerations must not improperly influence editorial decisions.

24. Ethical Appropriateness Checklist for Authors

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that, where applicable:

  • All authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript.

  • All listed authors qualify for authorship.

  • All sources have been appropriately cited.

  • The manuscript is original and is not simultaneously submitted elsewhere.

  • Required ethical approval was obtained before the research commenced.

  • Appropriate informed consent was obtained from human participants.

  • Appropriate parental or guardian consent and participant assent were obtained for research involving minors.

  • Participant confidentiality and privacy have been adequately protected.

  • Permission for identifiable photographs, audio, video, or personal information has been obtained where required.

  • Permissions for copyrighted materials, maps, figures, instruments, datasets, and other third-party materials have been obtained where required.

  • Community, cultural, and fieldwork permissions have been considered and obtained where applicable.

  • Sensitive geographical or geospatial information has been appropriately protected.

  • Funding sources and potential conflicts of interest have been disclosed.

  • Research data have been accurately reported and appropriately managed.

  • Any restrictions on data availability have been clearly explained.

25. Commitment to COPE Principles

The journal is committed to responsible, transparent, fair, and ethical scholarly publishing and follows the principles and relevant guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Questions or cases not explicitly addressed in this policy will be evaluated by the Editor and Publisher with reference to applicable laws, institutional requirements, disciplinary standards, and relevant COPE guidance.

For further information regarding publication ethics, authors, reviewers, and editors are encouraged to consult the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).