Law Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

The Law Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs upholds the highest standards of academic integrity and follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal takes a firm stance against plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate submissions, manipulative citation practices, and any other forms of research misconduct.

Unacceptable Practices

Duplicate submissions. Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original and not submitted to more than one journal at the same time. Republishing the same data in multiple papers, whether verbatim, partially, or rephrased, without appropriate justification, is considered a serious violation. Such cases lead to immediate rejection and may result in sanctions.

Citation manipulation. Manuscripts containing references added solely to inflate citation counts of particular authors or journals will be rejected.

Data fabrication and falsification. Submissions found to contain fabricated or manipulated data, including image manipulation, will be rejected and may trigger sanctions against the authors.

Undeclared use of artificial intelligence. The hidden use of generative AI tools to produce text, images, or data is regarded as a serious breach of publishing ethics. Authors are required to disclose any use of such tools transparently in their manuscripts. Failure to do so may lead to retraction.

False authorship. The inclusion of individuals who did not contribute to the research, omission of genuine contributors, or the misuse of another person’s identity (name, ORCID, etc.) is treated as misconduct.

Investigating Misconduct

When concerns about unethical behaviour arise, the journal initiates an internal investigation in accordance with COPE guidelines. Authors are contacted by email and given the opportunity to respond. Depending on the findings, the journal may reject the submission, issue corrections, or retract the article.

Corrections

The journal may issue:

• Corrigendum – when a significant error originates from the authors.
• Erratum – when an error occurs during the editorial or production process.

Corrections are published as separate documents linked to the original article, carry their own DOI, and clearly indicate the nature of the amendment.

Retractions

Articles may be retracted if:

• the results are found to be unreliable or falsified;
• redundant or duplicate publication without proper citation has occurred;
• plagiarism is identified;
• fraudulent authorship is detected;
• the peer review process has been compromised;
• the research was conducted in violation of ethical standards.

Retracted articles remain accessible online but are clearly marked with a “Retracted” watermark. A formal retraction notice is published, titled “Retraction: [Article Title]”, and assigned a DOI. Complete removal of an article occurs only under exceptional circumstances, such as legal requirements concerning privacy, copyright, or safety.

Authors may request withdrawal of their manuscript before publication by submitting a signed statement explaining the reasons.

Additional Provisions

• Expression of Concern. If there are serious doubts regarding an article’s integrity, but insufficient evidence for retraction, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern with its own DOI.
• Paper mills. If an article is found to be part of a group of fraudulent or systematically manipulated publications, it may be retracted as part of the package.

Timeliness. All corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are processed as promptly as possible to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.