International Journal of Early Childhood Education

Journal Policies

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Ethics and Malpractice Policy Statement

Revised on September 27, 2024. Applied from Volume 30. No.2.

Members who submit materials to and publish research papers in the International Journal of Early Childhood Education shall abide by the Ethical Responsibilities to fulfill their moral obligations and social responsibilities as academic researchers, journal editors and reviewers. Further, they shall adhere to the established ethical rules while contributing to academic development.

The International Journal of Early Childhood Education’s Ethics and Malpractice Statement defines the principles and standards to be adhered to by authors, members of the editorial board, and reviewers in conducting research. This Ethics and Malpractice Policy has been approved by the Korean Society for Early Childhood Education.

Chapter 1 - Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
  • Article 1 Pledge of Ethics: All authors submitting manuscripts to this journal shall sign the Research Ethics Pledge.
  • Article 2 Originality: Authors should only submit original works that have not been published previously and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

    • • 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.

    • •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 authors 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.

  • Article 3 Research Misconduct: The scope of research misconduct shall be determined as follows, and authors who are found to have committed the following acts shall be investigated by the Research Ethics Committee.

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

    • • 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.

    • •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 without full 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.

  • Article 4. Authorship and Contributorship Misconduct: The act of granting authorship as a cause of gratitude or courtesy to a person who has not contributed or contributed such as guest, ghost, and gift authorship:

      • 1)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).

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

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

    • •Authorship should not be granted automatically without just cause. Authors must have significantly contributed to the work and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • •It is recommended, but not required, to include a statement detailing the contributions of each author and clarifying their specific roles. However, if the editorial office requests a statement of contribution, authors must provide one. IJECE strongly prohibits guest, ghost, and gift authorship.

    • •Consequences: Violations of these guidelines may result in rejection of the manuscript or retraction of the published article.

    • •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.

  • Article 5 Complains and Appeals: The purpose of this policy is to outline the procedure for submitting complaints and appeals regarding editorial decisions. The journal values transparency and fairness in its editorial process, and this policy provides a structured approach for addressing concerns raised by authors.

    • • Complaints and appeals against editorial decisions must be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief within 30 days of the decision. The submission should clearly explain the reasons for requesting reconsideration of the decision.

    • • Upon receipt of the appeal, the Executive Editorial board (Editor-in Chief, Associate editors) will review the submission, which may involve consultation with the original reviewers or other editorial board members. The author may be asked to provide additional information if necessary.

    • • The Editor-in Chief will provide a written response to the appeal within a reasonable timeframe, typically within 60 days. The decision of the Editor-in-Chief is final.

  • Article 6 Publication Achievement

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

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

    • • 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

  • Article 7 Citation and Quotation Marks

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

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

  • Article 8 Data Sharing and Reproducibility

    • • While data sharing is not mandatory for the journal, authors are encouraged to make their data and study materials publicly available at their discretion, such as through the Open Science Framework.

    • • Authors should provide sufficient detail in their methods section to enable other researchers to replace their study. This includes clear descriptions of the study design, data collection methods, and analysis techniques.

Chapter 2 - Ethical Responsibilities of Editorial Board Members
  • Article 1 The editorial board (members) shall be responsible for deciding whether to publish the submitted paper and shall respect the author’s character and independence as a scholar.
  • Article 2 The editorial board (members) shall treat all papers submitted for journal publication fairly based solely on the quality of the papers and the submission rules.
  • Article 3 The editorial board (members) shall refer to reviewers who have the expertise in the field to evaluate the submitted papers with fair judgement. However, contacting a reviewer belonging to the same institution as the author is to be avoided.
  • Article 4 The editorial board (members) shall not disclose any information about the author or the contents of the paper to anyone other than the reviewer until the publication status of the submitted manuscript is decided.
Chapter 3 - Ethical Responsibilities of the Reviewer
  • Article 1 The reviewer shall faithfully evaluate the papers as requested by the journal’s editorial board (members) and notify the editorial board (members) of the evaluation results.
  • Article 2 The reviewer shall evaluate the paper fairly, in accordance with objective criteria, regardless of their personal academic beliefs or personal relationship with the author.
  • Article 3 The reviewer shall respect the character and independence of the author as a professional intellectual. He/she shall use polite and gentle expressions as much as possible and refrain from criticizing or insulting the author.
  • Article 4 The reviewer shall maintain the confidentiality of the author and the contents of the paper being reviewed and respect the copyright of the author.
Chapter 4 - Guidelines for the Implementation of Ethical Responsibilities
  • Article 1 Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests: This policy ensures that all potential conflicts of interest (COIs) are transparently managed to maintain the integrity of the journal and the trust of the academic community.

    • • Authors: When submiting a manuscript, authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing their research. All declared conflicts of interest will be included in the published article. If no conflicts exist, the article will include a statement to that effect.

    • • Reviewers: Reviewers are required to disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their evaluation of a manuscript. If a conflict exists, they should decline the review invitation.

    • • Editors: Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists. This may involve assigning the manuscript to another editor.

    • • The journal will take appropriate steps to manage any identified conflicts of interest. This may involve seeking additional independent review, consulting the editorial board, or rejecting a manuscript if the conflict cannot be adequately managed.

  • Article 2 Report on violation of ethical responsibilities

    • • 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).

  • Article 3 Purpose of the REC

    • • 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.

  • Article 4 Composition of the REC

    • • 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.

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

  • Article 5 Investigation and deliberation by the REC

    • • 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.

  • Article 6 Deliberation report

    • • 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.

  • Article 7 Guarantee of opportunity to explain

    • • 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.

  • Article 8 Contents and procedures for disciplinary action

    • • 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.

  • Article 9 Confidentiality protection for the author

    • • 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.

  • Article 10 Revisions to the 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.