Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Pajjoya follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the UGC Regulations on Academic Integrity, 2018.

Duties of Editors
Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on scholarly merit, without regard to authors' race, gender, religion, caste, citizenship, institutional affiliation or political outlook. Editors do not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the authors, reviewers and publisher. Unpublished material in a submission is not used in an editor's own research without the author's written consent. Editors recuse themselves entirely from any manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest.

Duties of Reviewers
Reviewers assist editors in decisions and authors in improvement. A reviewer who feels unqualified, or who cannot meet the deadline, notifies the editor promptly and withdraws. Manuscripts under review are confidential and must not be shown to or discussed with others, or uploaded to any external or AI service. Reviews are objective; personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Reviewers identify relevant published work not cited, and alert the editor to any substantial overlap with other work known to them.

Duties of Authors
Authors present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Data must be represented accurately; fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable. Work must be original, with the work and words of others properly cited. Authors do not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. All financial support and conflicts of interest must be disclosed. An author discovering a significant error in their own published work must notify the editor immediately and cooperate in correction or retraction.

Handling misconduct
Allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, duplicate publication or undisclosed conflict of interest are investigated following COPE flowcharts. The corresponding author is given the allegation, the supporting evidence, and an opportunity to respond. Where misconduct is established the journal may issue a correction, publish a retraction stating the reasons, notify the authors' institutions, and decline submissions from the authors concerned for a stated period.