Fabricating and Stating False Information

Publication Integrity and Editorial Actions

Management Science Advances (MSA) is committed to protecting the integrity, reliability, and transparency of the scholarly record. Authors must provide accurate, complete, and truthful information throughout the submission, peer-review, revision, and publication process.

Fabrication or falsification of data, results, images, analyses, references, authorship information, ethical declarations, funding information, affiliations, or other material relevant to a manuscript constitutes a serious breach of research and publication ethics. Deliberately providing false or misleading information or manipulating the editorial or peer-review process is also unacceptable.

Where credible concerns arise, MSA may request explanations, original data, source files, documentation, correspondence, or other relevant evidence. The assessment of suspected fabrication, falsification, deliberate misrepresentation, or other publication-integrity concerns will be conducted in accordance with the journal's Procedures for Dealing with Allegations of Unethical Behaviour.

Where an established integrity concern affects an article that has already been published, any formal amendment to the scholarly record will be governed by the journal's Retraction and Correction Policies.

Fabrication and Falsification

Authors must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, selectively alter, or deliberately misrepresent research data, results, analyses, images, figures, tables, computational outputs, references, or other research records.

Fabrication includes the creation or reporting of data, results, observations, sources, or other research information that did not exist or were not obtained as represented. Falsification includes inappropriate alteration, omission, suppression, manipulation, or misrepresentation of research materials, processes, data, analyses, or results in a manner that distorts the scholarly record.

Authors must also not provide false or misleading information concerning authorship, institutional affiliations, ethical approval, informed consent, funding, conflicts of interest, data availability, research methods, or other information material to the editorial assessment or interpretation of the work.

Where questions arise concerning the authenticity, provenance, or integrity of submitted material, the journal may request original data, source files, computational records, research documentation, ethical approvals, or other relevant evidence necessary to assess the concern.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

Manuscripts submitted to MSA must represent original scholarly work and must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication by another journal or publisher.

Authors must inform the Editorial Office of closely related manuscripts that have been published, accepted, submitted, or are under consideration elsewhere where those materials are relevant to evaluating potential overlap with the submitted manuscript.

Legitimate prior dissemination through recognized preprint servers, theses or dissertations, conference presentations or proceedings, institutional repositories, or similar scholarly channels does not automatically prevent consideration by MSA. Relevant prior versions must, however, be transparently disclosed and appropriately cited where necessary.

Redundant publication occurs when substantially the same research, data, analysis, or findings are published more than once without adequate disclosure, justification, and cross-referencing.

Where inappropriate duplicate or redundant publication is suspected, the matter will be assessed under the journal's applicable publication ethics procedures. Where it is established after publication, any necessary amendment to the published record will be handled under the journal's Retraction and Correction Policies.

Extended Versions of Conference Papers

MSA may consider substantially extended and further developed versions of papers previously presented at conferences or published in conference proceedings.

The existence of the earlier conference version must be disclosed during submission and the previous work must be appropriately cited in the manuscript. Authors should clearly explain the relationship between the submitted manuscript and the earlier version.

The submitted article must provide a substantial and identifiable scholarly contribution beyond the conference version. Such development may include, but is not limited to:

• new or substantially expanded data or applications;
• additional analyses, numerical experiments, or computational results;
• significant methodological or mathematical developments;
• additional theoretical results or proofs;
• expanded sensitivity, robustness, or comparative analyses;
• substantially extended empirical or computational validation;
• new managerial, operational, theoretical, or practical implications.

No fixed percentage of new text or material is used to determine whether a conference paper has been sufficiently extended. The assessment is based on the significance and originality of the additional scholarly contribution.

Authors are responsible for ensuring compliance with any copyright, licensing, or permission requirements applicable to the earlier conference publication.

Reuse of Previously Published Material

Authors must appropriately cite their own previously published work where it is relevant to the submitted manuscript. Substantial reuse of previously published text, data, figures, tables, or other material must be clearly disclosed and must comply with applicable copyright and licensing requirements.

Questions concerning unattributed textual reuse and plagiarism are addressed separately in the journal's Plagiarism Policy.

Where figures, tables, images, or other copyrighted material from a previous publication are reproduced or adapted, authors are responsible for obtaining any permission required by the copyright holder or applicable license and for providing appropriate attribution. Detailed requirements concerning permissions and reuse are provided in the journal's Copyright and Licensing policy.

Citation Manipulation

MSA does not tolerate practices intended primarily to manipulate citation counts, journal metrics, author-level indicators, or other citation-based measures.

Authors must not include irrelevant or unnecessary references for the purpose of artificially increasing citations to their own publications, publications of particular researchers, specific institutions, or articles published in a particular journal.

Editors and reviewers must not pressure or require authors to cite their own publications, the work of colleagues or associates, articles published in MSA, or publications from any other journal unless the recommended references are genuinely relevant and necessary to improve the scholarly quality, accuracy, context, or completeness of the manuscript.

Citation recommendations made during peer review or editorial assessment must be based solely on scholarly relevance. Authors may question citation requests that they believe are irrelevant, excessive, or intended primarily to influence citation indicators.

Suspected citation manipulation may be assessed in accordance with the journal's Procedures for Dealing with Allegations of Unethical Behaviour. Where inappropriate citation practices are established, MSA may take proportionate editorial action.

Editorial Assessment and COPE Guidance

Concerns relating to fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, redundant publication, inappropriate reuse, citation manipulation, deliberate misrepresentation, or other breaches of publication integrity will be assessed fairly and according to the available evidence. Individuals or parties directly affected by a substantive allegation will normally be given an appropriate opportunity to respond.

Serious or complex cases may be referred to the relevant institution, employer, research integrity office, funding organization, regulatory authority, or other appropriate body where formal investigation is required.

MSA handles such matters in accordance with its Publication Ethics Statement, its Procedures for Dealing with Allegations of Unethical Behaviour, and relevant guidance provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).