1. Fabrication: The act of falsifying research data or research results that do not exist.

2. Falsification: The act of distorting research content or results by artificially manipulating research materials, equipment, and processes, or by randomly modifying or deleting research data.

3. Plagiarism: The act of presenting someone else’s work, ideas, creations, research contents, and research results as your own, with or without their consent or approval or proper source indication, by incorporating it into your work withoutfull acknowledgement and making a third party recognize them as your own creation.

• i) When all or part of the research content of another person is used without proper acknowledgement of the other work (i.e., the source is not indicated).

• ii) When the words and the sentence structure of another person’s work are partially modified, and the source is not indicated.

• iii) When other people’s original ideas are used, and the source is not indicated.

• iv) When the work of others is translated and utilized, and the source is not indicated.

4. Inappropriate author labeling: The act of granting authorship as a cause of gratitude or courtesy to a person who has not contributed or contributed:

• 1) When undue credit is given to an author even though there was no contribution to the research content or results.

• 2) When authorship was not granted even though there was contribution to the research content or results.

• 3) When the manuscript of a student advisee is published solely in the name of the academic advisor.

• Please note that this does not grant automatic authorship to the person who contributed to the research content or results without good cause.

5. Interfering with investigations into research misconduct: The act of deliberately interfering with investigations into suspicion of misconduct by the author or others, or the act of harming the informant. This also includes activities that seriously deviate from research-related norms generally accepted in each academic field.

1. Authors shall be responsible only for the research they have conducted or contributed to. They shall also be recognized for their achievements.

2. In the order of listing, the authors shall accurately reflect the degree of contribution to the research, regardless of their relative positions.

3. When multiple authors participate in joint research, they shall not submit or publish a manuscript as if it were their own without the consent of all the others involved.

1. The author shall not publish (submit) or attempt to publish their previously published works (including those to be published or under review) as new ones, whether at home or abroad.

2. The author who intends to publish a research article that has already been presented, must provide information about the previous publication to the editors of the journals he/she wants to publish, and check whether it is eligible for duplicate or double publication. However, this does not apply to a paper presented at a conference.

1. When quoting published academic material, it must be accurately described and the source must be clearly disclosed, unless it is considered common knowledge.

2. When quoting other people’s writings or borrowing (reference) ideas, be sure to cite the source correctly following the APA format.

• If the editorial board (members), reviewer, and/or author(s) get to know that ethical responsibilities have been violated, efforts shall be made to correct the problem by reminding the subject(s) of their ethical responsibilities. However, if the problem is not corrected or an apparent violation of ethical responsibilities is revealed, it may be investigated and deliberated upon at the forum of the REC (Research Ethics Committee) of the KSECE (Korean Society for Early Childhood Education).

• The REC shall maintain the functions of the society and protect the rights and interests of members through warning and disciplinary action in the event of a misconduct or conduct that is against the purpose of the society.

1. The REC shall consist of one Chairperson and no more than 20 members, which shall include the President of the KSECE, Editor, Associate Editors, Editorial board members, and Assistant Administrator.

2. Subcommittees may be set up to pursue specific tasks of the Committee.

• The REC shall determine the extent of disciplinary action through investigation and deliberation and those subject to review shall cooperate with the same. Failure to cooperate with the investigation will, in itself, be a violation of the Ethical Responsibilities.

• The REC shall deliberate on the subject’s violations of the Ethical Responsibilities, document them in writing, and report the results of the deliberations to the President of the society. The report must include the contents of the subject’s violation of Ethical Responsibilities, the list of members and the deliberation process of the REC, the results of the deliberation and relevant grounds, and the subject’s explanation and the procedure for handling the violation of the Ethical Responsibilities.

• The person or persons who face deliberation shall be given ample opportunity for submitting their explanation. If the decision of the REC is disputed by the subject being deliberated upon, the REC may be asked to re-deliberate or to supplement its report. Requests for re-deliberation or supplementation of the report may be made to the REC with documents that cite specific reasons for the request.

• The REC determines the content of disciplinary action through investigation and deliberation. Disciplinary actions may include revocation of the manuscript and prohibition of citation; deletion from the list of published manuscripts in the journal; public apology and announcement on the website of the society; suspension or expulsion of membership; barring of manuscript submission (for at least 3 years); and/or a detailed notification to the National Research Foundation of Korea and to the institution the subject belongs to as well as the research support institution in case research funding has been received. Such disciplinary actions may also be taken when it is determined that it is a case of duplication of another individual’s work. Any violations of the Ethical Responsibilities shall be recorded in writing and preserved, and the President of the Society shall immediately implement the REC’s decisions after approval (in accordance with Chapter 3, Article 9 (2017.4.) of the Korean Research Foundation’s Guidelines for Management of the Journal Registration System.

• The REC must not disclose the identity of the author publicly until a final decision regarding disciplinary action has been taken for violation of Ethical Responsibilities.

• Revisions to the Ethical Responsibilities must be made in accordance with the procedure for revising the regulations relating to this journal. When the Ethical Responsibilities are revised, authors who had pledged to comply with the existing rules are deemed to have pledged to comply with the new rules without having to make additional pledges.

• Matters not specified in this Ethical Responsibilities will be resolved after deliberation by the REC of the KSECE.