PUBLICATION ETHICS

1. Ethical Principles

SEJATI follows the principles of integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality, academic honesty, and respect for scholarly work. The journal is committed to preventing publication misconduct and ensuring that all published articles contribute responsibly to theological scholarship.

The publication ethics of SEJATI are based on the following principles:

1. Originality and honesty in scholarly work;
2. Fair and confidential peer review;
3. Transparency in editorial decision-making;
4. Respect for intellectual property and proper citation;
5. Disclosure of conflicts of interest;
6. Responsible use of data, sources, and research materials;
7. Responsible and transparent use of Artificial Intelligence;
8. Correction of errors and preservation of the scholarly record;
9. Accountability of authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers.

2. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to SEJATI are responsible for ensuring that their work is original, accurate, ethical, and properly documented.

2.1 Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must submit only original manuscripts that have not been published previously and are not under consideration by another journal. Authors must properly cite and acknowledge the work, ideas, words, data, interpretations, and arguments of others.

Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, text recycling, data fabrication, data falsification, and misrepresentation of sources are considered serious violations of publication ethics.

2.2 Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to multiple journals is unethical and unacceptable.

2.3 Authorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the conception, design, analysis, interpretation, writing, or revision of the manuscript. All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission.

Guest authorship, honorary authorship, gift authorship, ghost authorship, and the exclusion of eligible contributors are unethical and unacceptable.

2.4 Acknowledgment of Sources

Authors must acknowledge all sources accurately and fairly. References must be relevant, credible, and directly related to the manuscript. Authors must not manipulate citations, add irrelevant references, or cite sources that were not actually consulted.

2.5 Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, institutional, academic, theological, denominational, or other conflicts of interest that may influence the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript.

2.6 Errors in Published Work

If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they must promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate with the editor to issue a correction, clarification, retraction, or other appropriate action.

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the quality, integrity, fairness, and academic credibility of SEJATI. Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, originality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, and contribution to theological scholarship.

Editors are responsible for:

1. Conducting fair and unbiased editorial screening;
2. Selecting qualified and independent reviewers;
3. Maintaining confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
4. Ensuring that peer review is conducted ethically and objectively;
5. Making editorial decisions based on academic merit and ethical standards;
6. Handling conflicts of interest appropriately;
7. Investigating suspected misconduct fairly and confidentially;
8. Maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record;
9. Publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, or expressions of concern when necessary.

Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for personal research, teaching, preaching, publication, institutional, or professional advantage without the author’s written permission.

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers assist editors in making editorial decisions and help authors improve the quality of their manuscripts. Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, respectful, and evidence-based feedback.

Reviewers are responsible for:

1. Accepting review invitations only when they have relevant expertise;
2. Declaring any conflict of interest;
3. Maintaining confidentiality of manuscripts and review materials;
4. Evaluating manuscripts fairly and objectively;
5. Providing constructive comments for authors;
6. Identifying possible ethical issues;
7. Completing reviews within the agreed timeline;
8. Not using unpublished manuscript content for personal benefit;
9. Not uploading manuscripts or review materials to external AI tools or third-party platforms.

5. Publication Misconduct

SEJATI does not tolerate publication misconduct. Misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

1. Plagiarism;
2. Self-plagiarism;
3. Duplicate or redundant publication;
4. Concurrent submission;
5. Data fabrication or falsification;
6. Image, table, or figure manipulation;
7. Misrepresentation of sources;
8. Fabricated references or false quotations;
9. Citation manipulation;
10. Undisclosed conflict of interest;
11. Inappropriate authorship practices;
12. Misuse of confidential information;
13. Undisclosed or inappropriate use of Artificial Intelligence;
14. Any action that compromises the integrity of the scholarly record.

Allegations of misconduct will be handled carefully, confidentially, and fairly. The editorial team may request clarification from authors, consult reviewers or editorial board members, and take appropriate action according to the seriousness of the case.

6. Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

6.1 AI Use by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted tools only for limited language editing, grammar checking, translation support, formatting assistance, or technical improvement of readability. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, arguments, and conclusions of the manuscript.

Authors must not use AI tools to:

1. Generate substantial scholarly content without disclosure;
2. Create fabricated references, quotations, data, or sources;
3. Replace genuine theological, biblical, historical, or methodological analysis;
4. Misrepresent authorship or intellectual contribution;
5. Produce content that the authors cannot verify or defend academically.

If AI tools are used in preparing a manuscript, authors must disclose the use in the manuscript or in a statement to the editor. The disclosure should include the name of the tool, purpose of use, and confirmation that the authors reviewed and verified the final content.

6.2 AI Use by Reviewers

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, review forms, author responses, editorial correspondence, tables, figures, references, or any confidential material to public or external AI tools. Reviewers must not use AI tools to summarize, evaluate, judge, or generate peer-review reports.

Peer review must be conducted by human reviewers who are accountable for their own scholarly judgment and ethical responsibility.

6.3 AI Use by Editors

Editors must not use AI tools in ways that compromise confidentiality, author privacy, reviewer anonymity, editorial independence, or the integrity of the publication process. Editorial decisions must be made by human editors based on scholarly judgment, peer-review reports, ethical standards, and journal policy.

7. Plagiarism Policy

SEJATI may use plagiarism-detection tools or other appropriate methods to check manuscript originality. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, substantial unattributed copying, inappropriate text recycling, or misrepresentation of sources may be rejected, returned for correction, or subject to further ethical action.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all quoted, paraphrased, translated, summarized, or adapted material is properly cited.

8. Conflict of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that may influence the submission, review, editorial decision, or publication of a manuscript.

Conflicts of interest may be financial, personal, academic, institutional, professional, theological, denominational, or ideological. When a conflict of interest is identified, the editor will take appropriate steps to preserve fairness and integrity.

9. Research Involving Human Participants

Manuscripts involving human participants, interviews, surveys, fieldwork, ministry-based research, educational research, or sensitive personal information must follow appropriate ethical standards. Authors must obtain informed consent when required and protect participant confidentiality, privacy, dignity, and rights.

When applicable, authors should state whether ethical approval was obtained from an appropriate institution or committee.

10. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

SEJATI is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. If errors, inaccuracies, ethical concerns, or misconduct are identified after publication, the journal may issue one of the following:

1. Correction: issued when an article contains an error that does not invalidate the overall findings or argument;
2. Retraction: issued when an article contains serious errors, plagiarism, fabricated data, unethical research, or other major misconduct;
3. Expression of Concern: issued when serious concerns exist but the investigation is not yet complete;
4. Clarification: issued when additional explanation is needed to prevent misunderstanding.

Retractions and corrections will be clearly linked to the original article whenever possible. The original publication record will be preserved for transparency.

11. Withdrawal Policy

Authors may request manuscript withdrawal by submitting a written explanation to the editorial office. Manuscripts may not be withdrawn irresponsibly after they have entered the peer-review or production process without valid reasons.

If authors withdraw a manuscript because of ethical concerns, duplicate submission, or other serious issues, the editorial team may take appropriate action according to journal policy.

12. Complaints and Appeals

SEJATI allows authors, reviewers, readers, or other parties to submit complaints or appeals regarding editorial decisions, peer-review processes, ethical concerns, corrections, retractions, or published content.

Complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing with clear explanation and supporting evidence. The editorial team will review the matter fairly, confidentially, and responsibly. The Editor-in-Chief may consult editorial board members, reviewers, or external experts when necessary.

13. Publisher Responsibilities

Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Injili Indonesia Samarinda, as the publisher of SEJATI, supports editorial independence, academic integrity, transparency, and ethical publication practices. The publisher does not interfere with editorial decisions based on commercial, institutional, personal, or political interests.

The publisher supports the editorial team in maintaining journal quality, protecting the scholarly record, and implementing appropriate ethical policies.

14. Final Statement

SEJATI is committed to responsible scholarly publishing and expects all authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members to follow this Publication Ethics statement. Any violation of publication ethics may result in manuscript rejection, correction, retraction, notification to relevant parties, or other appropriate action.