ETHICS STATEMENT

CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, transparency, accountability, and responsible scholarly communication. This Ethics Statement establishes the ethical responsibilities and professional standards expected of editors, reviewers, authors, and other parties involved in the publication process. The policy is intended to ensure that all manuscripts submitted to and published by the journal are handled fairly, objectively, confidentially, and in accordance with recognized principles of responsible academic publishing.

The ethical principles outlined below apply throughout the entire publication process, from manuscript submission and peer review to editorial decision-making, publication, correction, and post-publication procedures. CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching recognizes that the integrity of the scholarly record is a shared responsibility and therefore expects all participants in the publication process to act with honesty, professionalism, respect, independence, and accountability.

Publication Decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. Editorial decisions are made based on the academic and scholarly quality of the manuscript, its originality, methodological soundness, relevance to the aims and scope of CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching, clarity of presentation, significance of the contribution, and compliance with the journal's publication policies.

The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

In making publication decisions, the editor shall exercise independent academic judgment and shall ensure that decisions are not influenced by personal relationships, institutional interests, commercial considerations, or other inappropriate external pressures. Where ethical or legal concerns arise, the editor may seek advice from appropriate editorial advisers or follow established ethical procedures to ensure that decisions are fair, consistent, and properly documented.

Fair Play

An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching is committed to ensuring that all submitted manuscripts receive fair and equitable consideration based solely on their scholarly and intellectual merits. Editorial evaluation shall not be influenced by the personal characteristics, identity, background, institutional affiliation, nationality, or personal beliefs of the authors.

Editors are expected to maintain professional objectivity throughout the editorial process and to provide equal opportunities for authors whose work meets the journal's academic and ethical standards. Any form of discrimination, prejudice, favoritism, or unjustified preferential treatment is inconsistent with the principles of CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching.

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Confidentiality is an essential component of the editorial and peer review process. Editors and editorial staff must protect all information contained in submitted manuscripts and must ensure that unpublished materials, research findings, author information, reviewer identities, and editorial correspondence are not disclosed to unauthorized individuals.

Information obtained through the editorial process may only be used for legitimate editorial purposes. Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized access, distribution, copying, or use of confidential manuscript materials. These obligations continue to apply after the completion of the review or publication process.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Editors, reviewers, and other individuals involved in the editorial process must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could affect their objectivity or independence. A conflict of interest may arise from personal, professional, financial, institutional, collaborative, competitive, or other relationships with authors or organizations associated with a manuscript.

When a conflict of interest is identified, the individual concerned should withdraw from the relevant editorial or review process. CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching considers transparency in disclosure to be an important safeguard for maintaining trust in the scholarly publication process.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers play a critical role in maintaining the academic quality and integrity of manuscripts published by CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching. Reviewers are expected to provide independent, constructive, timely, and evidence-based assessments that assist editors in making informed decisions and help authors improve the quality and clarity of their work.

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Reviewers should provide clear and academically grounded assessments that enable editors to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, originality, methodological rigor, relevance, and contribution of a manuscript. Constructive reviewer comments may also assist authors in strengthening their arguments, improving methodological explanations, clarifying interpretations, and enhancing the overall quality of their manuscripts.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Reviewers should accept review invitations only when they possess appropriate expertise and have sufficient time to conduct the review carefully and responsibly. Prompt communication with the editor is expected when a reviewer cannot complete an assigned review within the agreed period. Timely reviews contribute to an efficient, fair, and respectful publication process for both authors and editors.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Reviewers must not share manuscript files, research findings, data, figures, tables, supplementary materials, or other confidential information with unauthorized persons. Review materials must not be used for personal, professional, competitive, or commercial advantage. Confidentiality must be maintained throughout and after the review process.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Reviewer comments should focus on the manuscript and its scholarly content rather than on personal characteristics or opinions concerning the author. Reviewers should identify significant strengths and weaknesses and provide specific, constructive recommendations supported by appropriate academic reasoning or evidence.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Reviewers should distinguish between legitimate scholarly overlap and possible plagiarism or redundant publication. Where substantial similarity or concerns about inappropriate citation practices are identified, reviewers should provide the editor with sufficient information to enable an appropriate and confidential investigation.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Reviewers must inform the editor promptly if they become aware of any relationship or circumstance that could compromise their impartiality. When a conflict cannot be appropriately managed, the reviewer should decline the assignment to protect the integrity and credibility of the peer review process.

Duties of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submissions to CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching meet the highest standards of research integrity, academic honesty, originality, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication. Authors must ensure that all information presented in their manuscripts is accurate, appropriately supported, and prepared in accordance with applicable ethical and academic standards.

Reporting Standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Authors should provide sufficient methodological information to enable readers and other researchers to understand, evaluate, and, where appropriate, replicate the reported research. Data, analytical procedures, research instruments, and relevant methodological decisions should be reported honestly and transparently. Authors must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or selectively omit data in a manner that could mislead readers.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching considers plagiarism in all its forms to be a serious violation of academic integrity. Authors must appropriately acknowledge ideas, findings, words, data, images, methods, and other intellectual contributions originating from other sources. Direct quotations, paraphrased materials, and previously published concepts must be properly cited according to the journal's referencing requirements.

Authors should also ensure that their manuscripts do not contain inappropriate duplication of their own previously published work. Where previously published material is legitimately reused, the source must be clearly acknowledged and the necessary permissions obtained where applicable.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Authors must not submit manuscripts containing substantially overlapping research to multiple journals simultaneously. Such practices can create unnecessary duplication in the scholarly record, waste editorial and reviewer resources, and may misrepresent the originality of the research. If related work has been published or submitted elsewhere, authors should disclose this information to the editor and clearly explain the relationship between the works.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all relevant sources are cited accurately and consistently. Citations should reflect the actual contribution of the cited work and should not be included solely for the purpose of increasing citation counts or influencing editorial metrics. Authors should avoid excessive self-citation, inappropriate citation exchanges, and other forms of citation manipulation.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Authorship should accurately reflect substantial scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript. Individuals who have contributed administrative, technical, editorial, financial, or other forms of support without meeting the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged. CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching does not support honorary, guest, gift, or ghost authorship.

All listed authors share responsibility for ensuring the integrity of their contributions to the work. The corresponding author has an additional responsibility to communicate with the journal and to ensure that all authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and consented to its submission.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Authors should provide transparent information concerning financial support, institutional support, sponsorship, consultancy relationships, personal relationships, or other circumstances that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. Such disclosure enables readers and editors to assess the research with appropriate context.

Where applicable, authors should also explain the role of funding organizations in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The absence of a conflict of interest should also be stated where appropriate.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Authors are expected to act promptly and responsibly when they discover errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or other problems in their published work that could materially affect the interpretation, reliability, or validity of the research. The author should immediately contact the editorial office and provide sufficient information concerning the nature and potential impact of the identified error.

Depending on the nature and significance of the problem, CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching may publish a correction, clarification, expression of concern, or retraction in accordance with appropriate editorial and publication ethics procedures. Authors are expected to cooperate fully with the editor in investigating and resolving such matters in order to preserve the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

General Ethical Commitment

CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching is committed to fostering a scholarly environment in which research integrity, academic independence, transparency, fairness, confidentiality, and accountability are consistently upheld. The journal expects editors, reviewers, authors, and all other participants in the publication process to understand and comply with these ethical principles.

Any suspected violation of publication ethics may be investigated by the editorial team using appropriate procedures and relevant ethical guidance. Where misconduct or serious ethical concerns are established, the journal may take appropriate corrective action to protect the integrity of the scholarly record and the interests of authors, readers, reviewers, and the wider academic community.

By submitting a manuscript to CREAT: Contemporary Research in Education and Teaching, authors acknowledge their responsibility to comply with the ethical principles established by the journal. Likewise, acceptance of an editorial or peer review role signifies a commitment to maintaining confidentiality, impartiality, professionalism, and integrity throughout the publication process.