Ethics and Malpractice Statement

BIM PANGURIPAN: Journal on Society, Civilization, & Human Empowerment is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process to uphold principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, fairness, confidentiality, and respect for community participants.

As a journal focusing on community service, community engagement, and community empowerment, BIM Panguripan places particular emphasis on the ethical treatment of communities, responsible dissemination of knowledge and technology, protection of participant privacy, and accurate reporting of program outcomes.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are original, accurate, and ethically prepared.

Authors must:

  • Submit only original work that has not been previously published or simultaneously submitted to another journal.

  • Accurately report the implementation, outputs, outcomes, and limitations of the community service program.

  • Avoid fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or misrepresentation of data and program results.

  • Properly acknowledge all sources, ideas, methods, data, images, and other intellectual contributions.

  • Ensure that all individuals listed as authors have made substantial contributions to the manuscript.

  • Obtain approval from all authors before manuscript submission.

  • Disclose relevant funding sources and potential conflicts of interest.

  • Obtain appropriate institutional, community, or other permissions when required.

  • Respect the dignity, privacy, cultural values, beliefs, and rights of community participants.

  • Obtain informed consent when identifiable personal information, interviews, photographs, videos, or other participant-related materials are included.

  • Respond appropriately to editorial and reviewer comments.

  • Cooperate with the journal in correcting errors or addressing ethical concerns after publication.

Authors must not submit substantially similar manuscripts to multiple journals simultaneously.

2. Community and Participant Ethics

Because BIM Panguripan publishes community service and community empowerment activities, authors have a particular responsibility to protect the interests and dignity of participating communities.

Authors should:

  • Clearly identify the community or beneficiary group involved in the program.

  • Ensure that participation is voluntary and does not involve coercion.

  • Respect local customs, traditions, cultural values, religious beliefs, and community norms.

  • Avoid activities that may cause physical, psychological, social, economic, cultural, or environmental harm.

  • Protect confidential or personally identifiable information.

  • Obtain appropriate consent before publishing identifiable photographs, videos, testimonials, interviews, or personal information.

  • Avoid presenting communities in a discriminatory, stigmatizing, exploitative, or demeaning manner.

  • Where appropriate, involve community representatives in decisions concerning the documentation and dissemination of community-related information.

Community participants should be treated as partners in the empowerment process rather than merely as objects of documentation.

3. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity and quality of the journal's publication process.

Editors must:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively based on academic quality, relevance, originality, ethical standards, and contribution to community empowerment.

  • Ensure that editorial decisions are not influenced by the authors' institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, political views, or other irrelevant personal characteristics.

  • Maintain confidentiality concerning submitted manuscripts.

  • Select appropriate and qualified reviewers.

  • Manage potential conflicts of interest.

  • Ensure that peer review is conducted fairly and professionally.

  • Investigate suspected cases of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, or other publication misconduct.

  • Provide authors with clear and constructive editorial decisions.

  • Correct published information when significant errors or ethical issues are identified.

Editors should not use unpublished information obtained through manuscript evaluation for personal or professional advantage.

4. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the academic and practical quality of BIM Panguripan.

Reviewers must:

  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and constructively.

  • Assess the relevance of the manuscript to community service and empowerment.

  • Evaluate the clarity of the community problem, intervention, methodology, outcomes, and impact.

  • Identify significant weaknesses, methodological problems, unsupported claims, and relevant missing references.

  • Maintain confidentiality of all manuscript information.

  • Not use unpublished information from a manuscript for personal or professional benefit.

  • Declare any potential conflict of interest before accepting an assignment.

  • Decline to review a manuscript when they lack appropriate expertise or cannot provide an impartial assessment.

  • Inform the Editor of any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, or other ethical concerns.

Reviewers should provide evidence-based comments and should not make personal or offensive remarks about authors.

5. Plagiarism

BIM Panguripan considers plagiarism a serious form of publication misconduct.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • Copying text, ideas, methods, data, or other intellectual contributions without appropriate attribution;

  • Presenting another person's work as one's own;

  • Excessive verbatim reproduction without proper citation;

  • Self-plagiarism or inappropriate reuse of substantial portions of previously published work;

  • Duplicate publication or substantial overlap between publications without appropriate disclosure.

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate plagiarism or similarity-detection software.

If substantial plagiarism is identified, the manuscript may be rejected. For published articles, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction depending on the seriousness of the case.

6. Fabrication and Falsification

Authors must not fabricate or falsify information related to community service activities.

Fabrication refers to inventing data, participants, activities, outcomes, or other information that did not actually occur.

Falsification refers to manipulating, selectively reporting, altering, or misrepresenting data, procedures, activities, photographs, results, or other information in a way that may produce a misleading representation of the program.

Evidence of fabrication or falsification may result in rejection or retraction and may be subject to further investigation.

7. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

Substantial duplication of previously published material without transparent disclosure and appropriate justification is considered unethical.

If substantial redundant publication is discovered, the journal may reject the manuscript or take corrective action for an already published article.

8. Authorship and Contribution

Authorship should reflect substantial contributions to the conception, implementation, evaluation, documentation, analysis, or writing of the community service activity.

All authors should:

  • Make a meaningful contribution to the work;

  • Participate in preparing or critically revising the manuscript;

  • Approve the final version;

  • Accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who provided general administrative assistance, routine technical support, funding, or other limited contributions should not automatically be listed as authors.

Individuals who made substantial intellectual or practical contributions should not be excluded from authorship.

Any change in authorship after submission must be justified and approved by all affected authors and the editorial office.

9. Conflict of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, professional, or other relationships that could influence the objectivity of the publication process.

Potential conflicts may include:

  • Financial interests;

  • Employment or consultancy relationships;

  • Institutional relationships;

  • Personal relationships;

  • Funding arrangements;

  • Intellectual or professional interests.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication, provided that it is appropriately disclosed and managed.

10. Funding and Acknowledgement

Authors should disclose all relevant sources of financial or institutional support for the community service program.

Funding information should include the funding institution and grant or contract number where applicable.

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be recognized in the Acknowledgements section.

Community partners, organizations, government institutions, and other stakeholders that substantially supported the program should be appropriately acknowledged.

11. Ethical Use of Images and Media

Photographs, videos, screenshots, recordings, and other visual materials involving community members must be used responsibly.

Authors should obtain appropriate consent when individuals can be identified.

Visual materials must not:

  • Misrepresent the community or program;

  • Violate participant privacy;

  • Disclose sensitive personal information;

  • Present individuals in a degrading or discriminatory manner;

  • Be manipulated in a way that changes the factual meaning of the documented activity.

When photographs are used as evidence of program implementation, captions should accurately describe the activity shown.

12. Data and Transparency

Authors are expected to report community service activities and outcomes transparently.

Where appropriate, authors should provide sufficient information regarding:

  • Community characteristics;

  • Number and characteristics of participants;

  • Program duration;

  • Intervention procedures;

  • Evaluation methods;

  • Indicators of success;

  • Data collection procedures;

  • Outcomes and limitations.

Data should not be selectively reported solely to present the program as more successful than it actually was.

Where personal or sensitive community data are involved, authors must balance transparency with privacy and confidentiality requirements.

13. Corrections and Retractions

BIM Panguripan is committed to correcting the scholarly record when significant errors or ethical problems are identified.

A correction may be issued when an error affects the accuracy or clarity of a published article but does not invalidate the overall contribution.

A retraction may be considered when an article contains serious problems, such as:

  • Fabricated or falsified data;

  • Serious plagiarism;

  • Major ethical violations;

  • Duplicate publication;

  • Fundamental errors that invalidate the main conclusions;

  • Other serious forms of publication misconduct.

Retraction decisions will be handled by the Editorial Team based on the available evidence and relevant publication ethics principles.

14. Complaints and Appeals

Authors may submit an appeal when they believe that an editorial decision resulted from a significant misunderstanding, procedural error, or inappropriate evaluation.

Complaints and appeals should:

  • Be submitted through the official journal communication channel;

  • Clearly explain the concern;

  • Provide relevant evidence or justification;

  • Be submitted by the corresponding author where possible.

The Editorial Team will review complaints and appeals fairly and independently.

15. Misconduct Investigation

When suspected publication misconduct is identified, the Editorial Team may initiate an investigation.

The investigation may involve:

  1. Preliminary assessment of the allegation;

  2. Request for clarification or evidence from the authors;

  3. Consultation with reviewers, editors, institutions, or other relevant parties when necessary;

  4. Assessment of available evidence;

  5. Determination of appropriate editorial action.

Possible actions include requesting clarification, correction, revision, rejection, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and severity of the issue.

The journal aims to handle allegations confidentially and fairly while protecting the rights of all parties involved.

16. Commitment to Publication Integrity

BIM Panguripan is committed to promoting responsible scholarly communication and ethical community engagement.

The journal expects all participants in the publication process to uphold:

  • Academic integrity;

  • Honesty and transparency;

  • Respect for human dignity;

  • Protection of community participants;

  • Responsible use of science and technology;

  • Respect for local wisdom and cultural values;

  • Environmental responsibility;

  • Fairness and accountability.

Through these principles, BIM Panguripan seeks to ensure that published community service knowledge provides genuine, responsible, and sustainable contributions to society, civilization, and human empowerment.