Revista de Pedagogie Digitala subscribes to the principles of publication ethics as outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Cases of plagiarism, data fabrication, or other breaches of publication ethics are addressed according to COPE guidelines.
AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Authorship policy. All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the work and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the research. Authorship should be based on: (1) substantial contributions to conception, design, data collection, or analysis; (2) drafting or critically revising the manuscript; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Changes to authorship (additions, deletions, or reordering) after initial submission require written consent from all authors and justification to the editors. Ghost authorship, guest authorship, and gift authorship are considered forms of misconduct. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section with their specific contributions noted.
Originality and plagiarism. Authors must guarantee that the submitted manuscript is their original work. The work must not have been published previously and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. If the work or words of others are included, they must be appropriately cited and attributed. The editorial team scans each submitted manuscript with plagiarism detection software before any content analysis. In cases of fraud or misconduct, the submission is rejected immediately. The journal maintains a zero-tolerance plagiarism policy, including self-plagiarism.
Data access and citation. Authors may be requested to provide raw data relevant to their paper for editorial review and must be prepared to provide public access to such data in accordance with open science principles. Data must be cited using standard academic citation formats and included in the reference list. Data sharing should comply with applicable privacy and ethical standards.
Declaration of interests. Authors may be requested to provide disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest.
Reporting standards. Authors of original research papers should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
Human rights and research ethics. For research involving experiments with human participants, a statement of compliance is required to show that procedures followed the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national). Research must comply with local and international standards, policies, and regulations.
TECHNOLOGY AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ETHICS
AI use by authors. Authors may utilise artificial intelligence tools to assist in various aspects of manuscript preparation, including writing assistance, data analysis, literature review, translation, formatting, and research support. When employing AI technologies, authors must: provide transparent disclosure of AI tools used, including the specific tools, their application, and the extent of usage; ensure that AI use does not compromise the originality and integrity of the work; maintain full responsibility and accountability for all manuscript content; verify the accuracy and reliability of any AI-generated content; respect intellectual property rights; and comply with applicable data protection regulations. AI-generated content cannot be listed as an author or co-author.
AI use by reviewers. Reviewers may utilise AI tools to assist in manuscript analysis, literature verification, statistical review, or language assessment. Reviewers must maintain absolute confidentiality of manuscript content, never input confidential content into public or unsecured AI systems, retain full professional judgment and responsibility for all review conclusions and recommendations, and disclose to the editor any significant use of AI technologies in the review process.
AI use by editors. Editors may utilise AI tools to assist in editorial processes, including manuscript screening, plagiarism detection, and administrative tasks. Editors must ensure full compliance with GDPR and applicable data protection laws, maintain confidentiality of manuscript content and author information, retain ultimate editorial judgment and responsibility for all decisions, and regularly assess AI tool usage for compliance with ethical standards.
REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES
Reviewers must: accept for review only papers relevant to their expertise; read the papers with appropriate care and provide constructive criticism; treat the work as confidential and not discuss it with others; complete reviews in a timely manner; report any suspected ethical misconduct; avoid offensive language; agree to review future versions; seek editor guidance in case of uncertainties or conflicts of interest; and treat all papers fairly without prejudice.
EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The editorial team must: conduct comprehensive plagiarism screening before any content analysis; treat all submissions fairly; authorise for publication only content of the highest quality; ensure thorough, objective, double-blind peer review; be transparent regarding the review and publication process; provide guidance to authors during submission; ensure the right to appeal; be attentive to the possible inclusion of third-party material without sufficient permission; be prepared to publish errata when necessary; and communicate promptly with both reviewers and authors.
PUBLICATION INTEGRITY AND MISCONDUCT
Publication malpractice. The journal is committed to preventing and addressing all forms of misconduct: plagiarism (unauthorised use of others’ work without proper attribution), data fabrication (inventing research data), falsification (manipulating data or results), redundant publication (submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously), citation manipulation, inappropriate authorship, and breach of confidentiality in the review process.
In cases of suspected misconduct, the journal follows COPE guidelines and may: reject the manuscript; notify the authors’ affiliated institutions; publish retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern; and prohibit authors from submitting manuscripts for a determined period.
Corrections. When errors are identified after publication that do not affect the reliability of the findings, a formal correction is published. The correction is permanently linked to the original article. Authors may request corrections by contacting the journal secretariat.
Retractions. Articles may be retracted when: evidence of unreliable findings exists due to misconduct or serious error; plagiarism or duplicate publication is discovered; authorship is improperly attributed; research ethics violations occurred; or undisclosed conflicts of interest would have affected interpretation. Retraction requests may be initiated by authors, editors, institutional authorities, or third parties with evidence of misconduct. Retracted articles remain online with a clear retraction notice. Retractions are communicated to relevant indexing services.
Expressions of concern. When the journal identifies potential issues with a published article but evidence is insufficient for immediate retraction, an expression of concern may be issued, published, and linked to the original article.
Related policies: Copyright Policy · Peer Review Policy · Open Access Statement · Submission Guidelines
This Ethics Policy should be read in conjunction with the Copyright Policy and Submission Guidelines. In cases of potential conflict between policies, ethics considerations take precedence.
Contact: editor@pedagogie-digitala.ro For reporting ethics breaches: office@iEdu.ro