Publication Ethics Statement

Publication of an article in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal is an essential part of the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Management Science Advances (MSA) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial independence, and transparency. The journal's editorial and publishing practices are guided by the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) . Suspected cases of research or publication misconduct are handled in accordance with the journal's applicable policies and relevant COPE guidance.

This statement establishes the general ethical responsibilities of authors, editors, Guest Editors, reviewers, and the Publisher. More detailed requirements and procedures are provided in the journal's specific ethics and publishing policies.

Authors' Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

The submitted manuscript is original and accurately represents the research undertaken.
Data, methods, analyses, results, figures, tables, references, and conclusions are reported accurately and transparently and have not been fabricated, falsified, manipulated, or intentionally misrepresented.
The work of others is appropriately acknowledged and cited. Plagiarism, substantial unattributed reuse, inappropriate duplication, and citation manipulation are not acceptable.
Authorship accurately reflects substantive scholarly contributions to the work. Guest, gift, honorary, purchased, and ghost authorship are not permitted.
All listed authors are aware of the full content of the manuscript, have reviewed and approved the submitted version, and agree to its submission to Management Science Advances.
The manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal and has not been previously published in substantially the same form. Relevant previous dissemination, including preprints, conference papers, theses, repositories, or other earlier versions, must be transparently disclosed where applicable.
All relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest, sources of funding, and other material forms of support are appropriately disclosed.
The manuscript complies with applicable requirements concerning privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, copyright, ethical approval, informed consent, data integrity, and research ethics. Necessary permissions for third-party material must be obtained where required.
Any use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies complies with the journal's Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Tools policy.
If authors discover a significant error, omission, or other issue affecting the reliability or integrity of their work after submission or publication, they must promptly inform the Editorial Office and cooperate with any appropriate corrective action.

Editors' Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief, handling editors, and other editors acting on behalf of the journal are responsible for maintaining the integrity, independence, fairness, confidentiality, and quality of the editorial process. Their responsibilities include:

Evaluating manuscripts fairly and independently on the basis of their relevance to the journal, originality, scientific and methodological quality, scholarly contribution, clarity, and compliance with applicable ethical standards.
Ensuring that editorial decisions are not influenced by authors' nationality, citizenship, ethnicity, institutional affiliation, gender, age, religion, political views, personal characteristics, commercial considerations, financial interests, publication revenue, citation indicators, or other considerations unrelated to the scholarly and ethical assessment of the work.
Selecting appropriately qualified and independent reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the manuscript and who have no conflicts of interest that would compromise the integrity of the review.
Protecting the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, peer-review reports, reviewer identities, correspondence, and other confidential editorial information.
Not using unpublished information, data, ideas, methods, or other material obtained through the editorial process for personal research, professional advantage, or other unauthorized purposes.
Declaring actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and withdrawing from the handling of manuscripts where their independence could reasonably be questioned. An appropriate independent editor should be assigned in such cases.
Making editorial decisions on the basis of scholarly merit, peer-review evidence, journal scope, applicable ethical requirements, and established editorial procedures.
Responding appropriately to credible concerns regarding research or publication integrity and taking or initiating appropriate action in accordance with the journal's relevant policies.

Further principles governing independent editorial decision-making are provided in the journal's Editorial Independence policy.

Guest Editors' Responsibilities

Guest Editors of special or thematic issues are responsible for:

Developing and maintaining the approved scientific scope of the special or thematic issue.
Ensuring that manuscripts submitted to a special issue are subject to the same scientific, ethical, editorial, and peer-review standards as regular submissions.
Recommending or selecting appropriately qualified and independent reviewers in accordance with the journal's peer-review and conflict-of-interest requirements.
Maintaining the confidentiality of manuscripts, peer-review reports, and editorial correspondence.
Declaring all actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and refraining from handling manuscripts where their independence could reasonably be questioned.
Working within the journal's established editorial procedures and in coordination with the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Office.

The Editor-in-Chief retains overall responsibility for the integrity of the journal's editorial process. Where a Guest Editor has a relevant conflict of interest, the manuscript must be assigned to an appropriately qualified independent editor.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers are expected to:

Accept a review assignment only when they have sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript objectively and can complete the review within the requested timeframe.
Disclose any actual, potential, or perceived personal, professional, academic, institutional, or financial conflict of interest before accepting or continuing a review assignment.
Evaluate manuscripts objectively, professionally, constructively, and solely on their scholarly and scientific merits.
Avoid derogatory, discriminatory, hostile, or otherwise inappropriate comments and formulate criticism in a professional manner.
Inform the responsible editor if they identify possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication or falsification, inappropriate manipulation, citation manipulation, or other potential research or publication misconduct.
Keep manuscripts, associated files, review reports, correspondence, and all information obtained through peer review confidential.
Not use unpublished information, ideas, data, methods, or other material obtained through peer review for personal advantage or their own research without appropriate authorization.
Not request unnecessary citations to their own publications, publications of associates, articles from MSA, or any other source for the purpose of increasing citation counts.
Comply with the journal's Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Tools policy and other requirements applicable to peer reviewers.

Further requirements concerning reviewer conduct, confidentiality, and unpublished manuscript material are provided in the journal's Peer Reviewer Conduct and Intellectual Property policy.

Publisher's Responsibilities

Scientific Oasis (SCIO), as the Publisher of Management Science Advances (MSA), provides the technical, administrative, production, and publishing infrastructure necessary for the operation of the journal while respecting its editorial independence. The Publisher does not interfere with individual editorial decisions concerning the acceptance, revision, rejection, or scientific assessment of manuscripts.

The Publisher supports the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, and Editorial Office in maintaining appropriate standards of peer review, publication ethics, transparency, copyright protection, digital preservation, and scholarly publishing practice. Commercial, financial, institutional, or other considerations must not override the integrity and independence of editorial decision-making.

Research and Publication Misconduct

Management Science Advances takes credible allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously. Potential concerns include plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, duplicate or redundant publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, breaches of confidentiality, inappropriate use of Generative AI, and other conduct that may compromise the integrity of the research, editorial process, or scholarly record.

Detailed procedures for reporting, assessing, and responding to suspected misconduct are provided in the journal's Unethical Behaviour policy. Complaints concerning journal procedures or appeals against editorial decisions are handled separately in accordance with the Procedures for Dealing with Complaints and Appeals .

Where an established concern affects an article that has already been published, formal action affecting the scholarly record will be taken in accordance with the journal's Retraction and Correction Policies .

Related Policies

This Publication Ethics Statement establishes the general ethical framework of Management Science Advances (MSA) and should be read together with the journal's specific policies and procedures concerning publication ethics, research integrity, editorial conduct, and the integrity of the scholarly record.

Unethical Behaviour — procedures for reporting, assessing, and responding to suspected research or publication misconduct.
Plagiarism Policy — requirements concerning plagiarism, substantial unattributed reuse, and originality.
Conflict of Interests — requirements concerning disclosure and management of relevant financial and non-financial competing interests.
Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Tools — requirements and restrictions concerning Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies.
Editorial Independence — principles governing independent editorial decision-making and the relationship between the editorial structure and the Publisher.
Peer Reviewer Conduct and Intellectual Property — requirements concerning reviewer conduct, confidentiality, independence, and use of unpublished manuscript material.
Protecting Intellectual Property — principles concerning protection of unpublished scholarly material and intellectual property throughout the editorial process.
Procedures for Dealing with Complaints and Appeals — procedures for complaints concerning journal processes and appeals against editorial decisions.
Retraction and Correction Policies — procedures governing corrections, Expressions of Concern, retractions, article removal, and other formal amendments to the scholarly record.
Copyright and Licensing — requirements concerning copyright ownership, licensing, permissions, reuse, and third-party material.

Where a specific ethical, editorial, or publication-integrity issue is governed by a dedicated journal policy, the relevant specific policy will apply together with appropriate guidance and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) .

Where more than one policy is relevant to a particular case, the policies will be applied together as appropriate to the circumstances, with the objective of ensuring procedural fairness, editorial independence, transparency, and the integrity of the scholarly record.