International Association for Computer Information Systems
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Publication Ethics Statement

Issues in Information Systems (IIS) journal is a refereed (double-blind peer review) publication (ISSN 1529-7314)that is published by the International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS). The Editor and Associate Editors of IIS journal enforce a rigorous blind double peer-review process as well as a strict ethical policies and standards to ensure the publication of high-quality articles in the field of scholarly publication. In cases where we become aware of ethical issues, the IIS Ethics Committee (comprised of Editor, Associate Editors, and an IACIS Board Member) investigates and takes necessary action to safeguard the integrity of the scholarly publication.

Copyright and Licensing

IACIS allows authors to hold the copyright of their published articles in IIS. Authors may copy, distribute, publicly perform, or adapt their published paper as long appropriate credit is given to the original work.

Articles published in IIS are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Third-Party Repositories

No permission from IACIS is required for authors to share or post their final IIS accepted and published article in third-party noncommercial repositories, i.e., author's personal website/repository, author's employer's website/repository, arXiv.org, and other noncommercial repositories. Authors must do so after the publication of their article appears in IIS.

Ethical guidelines for authors

We expect all authors submitting to a IIS to adhere to the following ethical guidelines:

  • All authors must warrant that their article is their own original work, which does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity, and cannot be construed as plagiarizing any other published work, including their own previously published work.
  • All authors named on the paper are equally held accountable for the content of a submitted manuscript or published paper.
  • The corresponding author must ensure all named co-authors consent to publication and to being named as a co-author. All persons who have made significant scientific or literary contributions to the work reported should be named as co-authors.
  • Authors must not submit a manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.
  • Authors should not submit previously published work, nor work which is based in substance on previously published work, either in part or whole.
  • Authors must appropriately cite all relevant publications. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, should not be used or reported in the author's work unless fully cited, and with the permission of that third party.
  • Authors must make available all necessary formal and documented ethical approval from an appropriate research ethics committee, including evidence of anonymization and informed consent from the client(s) or patient(s) studied, if appropriate.
  • Authors must follow national and international procedures that govern the ethics of experimentation on humans and animals. Research reported in the paper must be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner, in full compliance with all relevant codes of experimentation and legislation. All papers which report in vivo experiments or clinical trials on humans or animals must include a written statement in the Methods section that such work was conducted with the formal approval of the local human subject or animal care committees, and that clinical trials have been registered as legislation requires.
  • Authors must include all appropriate warnings concerning any specific and particular hazards that may be involved in carrying out experiments or procedures described in the article or involved in instructions, materials, or formulae in the article; include explicitly relevant safety precautions, and cite, if an accepted standard or code of practice is relevant, a reference to the relevant standard or code.
  • If required, authors must facilitate access to data sets described in the article.
  • Authors must avoid making defamatory statements in submitted articles which could be construed as impugning any person's reputation.
  • Authors must declare any potential conflict of interest - be it professional or financial - which could be held to arise with respect to the article.
  • Authors must disclose all sources of funding for the research reported in the paper.
  • If asked to provide a list of suggested reviewers, authors must provide the correct details for suitable reviewers with the appropriate experience to review, ensuring that the suggested reviewers do not have a conflict of interest.

Author ethics FAQs

What constitutes authorship?

"Co-authors" are defined as any person who has made a significant scientific contribution to the work reported, and who shares responsibility and accountability for the results.

Authors are encouraged to read the COPE report on managing manuscript authorship and dispute. http://publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12.pdf

Who is responsible for the contents of a paper?

All authors named on the paper are equally held accountable for the content of a submitted manuscript or published paper.

An author should present an accurate account of research performed and an objective discussion of its significance, and present sufficient detail and reference to public sources of information to permit the author's peers to repeat the work.

Why can't I submit my unpublished manuscript to two journals at the same time?

Submitting your paper to two journals at once duplicates the efforts of editors and peer reviewers to review your manuscript and any subsequent revisions that they request. If your manuscript is accepted in one journal you will have to withdraw your paper from the second journal, wasting the time of the editors and peer reviewers who reviewed your manuscript.

I have a conflict of interest. How do I declare it to the journal?

A conflict of interest can be declared in your covering letter to the journal via the paper submission system.


Ethical guidelines for journal editors

We ask all journal editors to make every reasonable effort to adhere to the following ethical guidelines for IIS articles that are worthy of peer review:

  • Journal editors should give unbiased consideration to each manuscript submitted for consideration for publication, and should judge each on its merits, without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).
  • Journal editors must keep the peer-review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer review process.
  • If a journal editor receives a claim that a submitted article is under consideration elsewhere or has already been published, then he or she has a duty to investigate the matter with IIS.
  • Journal editors may reject a submitted manuscript without resort to formal peer review if they consider the manuscript to be inappropriate for the journal and outside its scope.
  • Journal editors should make all reasonable effort to process submitted manuscripts in an efficient and timely manner.
  • Journal editors should arrange for responsibility of the peer review of any original research article authored by themselves to be delegated to a member of the editorial or advisory board as appropriate.
  • If a journal editor is presented with convincing evidence that the main substance or conclusions of an article published in the journal are erroneous, then, in consultation with IIS, the journal editor should facilitate publication of an appropriate corrigendum or erratum.
  • Any data or analysis presented in a submitted manuscript should not be used in a journal editor's own research except with the consent of the author.

IIS refers editors to the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal editors. http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_0.pdf


Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers

We ask all peer reviewers to make every reasonable effort to adhere to the following ethical guidelines for IIS articles they have agreed to review:

  • Reviewers must give unbiased consideration to each manuscript submitted for consideration for publication, and should judge each on its merits, without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).
  • Reviewers should declare any potential conflict of interest prior to agreeing to review a manuscript including any relationship with the author that may potentially bias their review.
  • Reviewers must keep the peer review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer review process.
  • Reviewers should provide a constructive, comprehensive, evidenced, and appropriately substantial peer review report.
  • Reviewers must avoid making statements in their report which might be construed as impugning any person's reputation.
  • Reviewers should make all reasonable effort to submit their report and recommendation in a timely manner, informing the editor if this is not possible.
  • Reviewers should call to the journal editor's attention any significant similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any published paper or submitted manuscripts of which they are aware.

IIS strongly recommend that reviewers also adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. http://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_guidelines_for_peer_reviewers_0.pdf