The journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scholarly record and follows COPE guidelines for handling allegations of research misconduct.

Definition of research misconduct: Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

• Fabrication (making up data or results)

• Falsification (manipulating, changing, or omitting data or results)

• Plagiarism (using another person's work, ideas, or words without proper attribution)

• Duplicate or redundant publication

• Authorship disputes (e.g., ghost authorship, gift authorship)

• Failure to disclose conflicts of interest

• Misrepresentation of affiliations or credentials

• Unethical treatment of human or animal subjects

• Breach of confidentiality in peer review

Reporting misconduct:

• Allegations of misconduct may be reported to the Editor-in-Chief via info@nashriyat.ir.

• Reports may be made confidentially or anonymously. The journal will protect the identity of the reporter to the extent permitted by law.

• The report should include sufficient detail and, where possible, supporting evidence.

Investigation process:

1. Initial assessment: The Editor-in-Chief will conduct a preliminary review within 14 working days to determine whether the allegation has merit and falls within the journal's scope.

2. Formal investigation: If warranted, a committee (comprising the Editor-in-Chief and at least two editorial board members not involved in the case) will be formed. The accused party will be informed of the allegation and given the opportunity to respond.

3. Decision: The committee will make a determination based on the evidence. Possible outcomes include: (a) no action (if the allegation is unfounded), (b) a correction or expression of concern, (c) retraction of the article, (d) notification to the author's institution, (e) a ban on future submissions, or (f) referral to relevant legal authorities.

4. Communication: The complainant and the accused party will be informed of the outcome in writing.

Actions in case of confirmed misconduct:

• The article will be rejected immediately. If already published, it will be retracted and removed from the journal's website, with a retraction notice linked to the original article.

• The authors' names will be placed on the institute's blacklist.

• The case will be formally reported to the authors' university and affiliated institutions.

• The case will be reported to the databases where the authors have benefited from the invalid paper (e.g., ISC, SID, Noormags, Magiran).

• The journal reserves the right to pursue legal action.

Protection of whistleblowers: The journal will not tolerate any retaliation against individuals who report misconduct in good faith.

Record-keeping: All misconduct cases and their outcomes will be documented and retained for a minimum of 10 years.