The Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This statement outlines our policies and procedures for ensuring ethical publishing practices and handling cases of suspected misconduct.
Archiving
This journal utilises the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.
Authorship and contributorship
To qualify for authorship, individuals must meet all of the following criteria:
- Substantial contribution to conception, design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation
- Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content
- Final approval of the version to be published
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work
All contributors who do not meet full authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section. Contributors may include those who provided technical support, data collection assistance, or editorial guidance.
Any changes to authorship after submission must be agreed upon by all authors and will only be considered before acceptance for publication.
The corresponding author is responsible for:
- Ensuring all co-authors have approved the final manuscript
- Communicating with the journal throughout the editorial process
- Ensuring proper attribution and acknowledgement of contributions
- Handling post-publication correspondence
Complaints and appeals
Complaint submission process: Complaints should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and include:
- Clear description of the concern
- Relevant documentation or evidence
- Contact information of the complainant
- Preferred resolution outcome
Appeal process: Authors may appeal editorial decisions by:
- Submitting a formal appeal within 30 days of decision
- Providing detailed justification for the appeal
- Addressing specific reviewer concerns raised
- The appeal will be reviewed by independent editorial board members
Resolution timeframes
- Initial complaint acknowledgement: 5 working days
- Full investigation completion: 30 working days
- Appeal decision: 21 working days
- Complex cases may require extended timeframes with notification to parties
External mediation: For unresolved disputes, parties may be referred to:
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- Relevant professional associations
- Institutional research integrity offices
Research misconduct
Research misconduct includes but is not limited to:
- Fabrication: Making up data or results
- Falsification: Manipulating research materials or changing/omitting data
- Plagiarism: Using others’ ideas, words, or work without appropriate attribution
When misconduct is suspected, the journal will:
- Conduct initial assessment within 7 working days
- Contact the corresponding author for clarification
- Seek advice from independent experts if needed
- Contact the author’s institution if concerns persist
- Consider retraction if misconduct is confirmed
Conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest may be influenced by secondary interests (financial, personal, political, or academic).
Authors must disclose:
- Financial relationships with organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work
- Personal relationships or rivalries that could inappropriately influence the work
- Academic or professional competing interests
- Any other relationships that readers might consider relevant
Editors will recuse themselves from editorial decisions when they have conflicts of interest and will not handle manuscripts from their own institutions.
Reviewers should decline to review when they have financial interests in the research outcomes or personal relationships that could bias their review.
Data sharing and reproducibility
Authors must include a data availability statement indicating:
- Where data supporting conclusions can be found
- Any restrictions on data availability
- Contact information for data requests
- Repository information where applicable
Reproducibility standards:
- Methodology sections must provide sufficient detail for replication
- Statistical analysis methods must be clearly described
- Software versions and settings should be specified
- Analysis code should be made available when possible
Post-publication discussions and comments
Readers may submit comments to the Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor. They are moderated for relevance and appropriateness, and authors are notified and encouraged to respond.
Constructive criticism of published work is welcomed and significant concerns about published research should be reported to the editorial team. Post-publication reviews may lead to corrections or further investigation.
Authors are encouraged to engage in scholarly discussion about their work on social media. The journal may amplify discussions that advance knowledge and understanding. Unprofessional or personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Corrections and retractions
Corrections will be issued for:
- Errors in published content that affect interpretation
- Missing acknowledgements or declarations
- Incorrect author information
- Technical errors in figures or tables
Articles will be retracted when:
- Research misconduct is confirmed
- Ethical approval was not obtained
- Significant errors undermine the work’s validity
- Copyright infringement is identified
- Duplicate or redundant publication is discovered
Post-publication procedures:
- Minor corrections: Published online with a note in the article
- Major corrections: New version published with detailed correction notice
- Retractions: Article marked as retracted but remains accessible with retraction notice
Notification process:
- Authors are notified before publication of corrections/retractions
- Institutions may be contacted for serious misconduct cases
- Indexing services are notified of retractions
- Related articles may include cross-references to corrections
Integrity of scholarly literature
The journal monitors for malpractices such as excessive self-citation without justification, inappropriate pressure on authors to cite specific papers, references that do not support stated claims and so-called reference hallucinations.
To ensure peer review integrity, double-blind peer review process is maintained with reviewers selected based on expertise and independence. Any review manipulation or bias is investigated and addressed, and fraudulent peer review accounts result in manuscript rejection.
Editorial decisions are based solely on academic merit. Commercial interests do not influence content decisions and editors maintain independence from the publishing platform. Transparent conflict of interest policies govern all editorial activities.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Peer-Review Process
All submissions will be reviewed by a member of the journal editorial team and two external reviewers (double-blind peer review). Authors are encouraged to respond constructively to reviewers’ comments after submission, and resubmit if necessary.
Publication Frequency
The journal publishes three regular issues in March, June and December and the ALDinHE Conference Proceedings and Reflections in September. In addition, the journal publishes special issues that are guest edited.
Reporting violations
Suspected violations should be reported to the Editor-in-Chief.
Good faith reports of misconduct are protected and retaliation against those reporting violations is prohibited. Confidentiality is maintained throughout investigations and anonymous reporting options are available.
Investigations follow COPE guidelines and due process is provided to all parties. Decisions are based on evidence and established policies and outcomes are communicated clearly to relevant parties.
For questions about these policies or to report concerns:
Editor-in-Chief: Dr Alicja Syska alicja.syska@plymouth.ac.uk
Managing Editor: Dr Chad McDonald C.McDonald@mmu.ac.uk
Technical Editor: Dr Katharine Jewitt admin@aldinhe.ac.uk
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/
This policy statement is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect best practices in scholarly publishing. The journal reserves the right to modify these policies as needed, with appropriate notice to the academic community.