Research Ethics Guidelines for Korean Accounting Review
Initiation date : 2007. 6. 20
Amendment date : 2014. 6. 19
Amendment date : 2019. 12. 14
Chapter 1. General Principles
Article 1 (Objective)
The purpose of the research ethics guidelines (hereinafter referred to as the “guidelines”) is to present the basic principles intended to secure the research ethics by preventing possible research misconduct and unethical behavior in the publication of Korean Accounting Review, Korean Accounting Journal, and other journals published by Korean Accounting Association.
Article 2 (Definitions of Terms)
(1) The term “journal” means a periodic or non-periodic publication of academic works such as Korean Accounting Review, Korean Accounting Journal, and other journals published by the Korean Accounting Association.
(2) The term “publication” means the production of copies in a printed or electronic form with the records available to identify the names of authors, publisher, publication date, and International Standard Book Number (ISBN or ISSN etc.).
(3) The term “researcher” or “author” means a person who has submitted a manuscript in accordance with the publishing guidelines, a member of the Korean Accounting Association, a member of the Editorial Board or any other nonmember who intends to submit and publish a research paper in the journal(s) provided in Paragraph (1).
(4) The term “research paper” means a work in which author(s) in Paragraph (3) submits his/her research results for publication in the journal(s) provided in Paragraph (1) in the form of an academic paper.
(5) The term “whistle-blower” means a person who reports the suspected research misconduct or provides the evidence to support the misconduct regarding research papers in Paragraph (4).
(6) The term “examinee” means a person who has been the subject of investigation for research misconduct due to the claim raised by a whistle-blower or conference, including all the authors in research papers in Paragraph (1), or a person who is deemed engaged in misconduct thus included as the subject in the course of investigation.
(7) The term “editor” means a person (also a member of the Korean Accounting Association) who is responsible for conducting manuscript review, determining whether to accept or reject a submitted paper for publication and managing other related tasks.
(8) The term “referee” means a person who is responsible for evaluating the academic excellence of submitted papers and making the decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication in the journal(s) provided in Paragraph (1).
Article 3 (Scope of Application)
The guidelines shall apply to authors defined in Article 2 (3) for their research papers defined in Article 2 (4) which are submitted or presented in the journal(s) listed in Article 2 (1). The Research Ethics Committee may determine to apply the guidelines to an investigation of a member of the Korean Accounting Association as stated in the provision of Article 14 (3).
Article 4 (Relationship to Other Guidelines)
The provisions of ｢The Guidelines for Establishment of Research Ethics (Education Ministry Instruction)｣ and/or customary rules may be applied to those not mentioned in the guidelines.
Chapter 2. Roles and Responsibilities of Researchers and Others
Article 5 (Roles and Responsibilities of Editors)
(1) Editors have a responsibility to ensure a strict and fair review process of manuscripts submitted for publication, to make decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication and to establish and maintain high standards of procedures for review.
(2) Editors shall select reviewers who have the expertise or active in research in the relevant field. If there is no suitably qualified reviewer in the Editorial Board, editors shall request a review to an external specialist and ensure a fair review process.
(3) Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based on the quality of the paper and the journal’s review policy. Consideration should be given without regard to gender, age, institutional affiliation, or personal relationship of the author(s).
(4) The Editorial Board shall ensure that any information about a submitted manuscript including the name(s) of the author(s) or the research content remains confidential while under review.
(5) The editor shall ensure that sponsoring institutions and/or publishing institutions do not exert an unjustifiable influence on the decision to publish or on published papers. The editor shall also provide necessary information about the roles and characteristics of the sponsoring institutions and/or publishing institutions. The editors shall not allow any marketing activities, including solicitation of manuscripts that are conducted on behalf of the journal, to influence the review and publication processes.
(6) If editors receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct, they should investigate the alleged misconduct and ensure that the investigation process is underway.
(7) If editors have concerns about possible research misconduct, they should ask the authors to provide answers to questions raised about the ethical aspects of the research.
Article 6 (Roles and Responsibilities of Referees)
(1) Referees shall agree to review manuscripts if he/she has the ability to review with expertise and without professional or personal bias. Otherwise, referees shall immediately return the manuscripts to the editor with an explanation.
(2) Referees shall conduct a review of manuscripts objectively and fairly without regard to any factors outside academic knowledge.
(3) Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information obtained through the review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
(4) Referees shall notify the Editorial Board of any potential ethical concerns or research misconduct detected during the review process.
Article 7 (Roles and Responsibilities of Authors)
(1) Authors shall not fabricate information, which refers to the act of creating false information about non-existent data or research results.
(2) Authors shall not falsify information, which refers to the act of distorting research content or results by artificially manipulating research materials, equipment, process, or by randomly transforming or deleting data.
(3) Authors shall record, organize, and retain evidence for any statistical analysis, experiment, and/or interview performed during the course of research. Such evidence should be provided if requested by the reviewer(s) and/or editor(s).
(4) Authors shall not plagiarize, which refers to the act of representing others’ ideas and research work as one’s own without appropriate approval or citation.
(5) Authors shall cite research papers relevant to their research to ensure that the originality of their research is clearly distinguishable.
(6) Authors shall not use any information obtained through the review process for personal advantage without permission.
(7) Authors shall clearly reveal all the information about any conflict of interest or source of support which might influence the results in the course of research. Authors shall notify editors and readers about any support provided to the research so that editors and readers are informed when evaluating the output of the research.
(8) If authors find errors after submission or publication, they should immediately notify editors and discuss follow-up action.
(9) Authors shall actively cooperate with the request from editors or readers even after a submitted manuscript has been published. When an error or inaccuracy in a published paper is discovered, authors should cooperate with editors to resolve the problem.
Article 8 (Prohibition of Duplicate Submission)
(1) Authors shall not submit a manuscript published previously in a different journal whether it is a domestic or international journal.
(2) Authors shall not simultaneously submit the same manuscript to other journals. Authors may submit their manuscript to a different journal only when the final decision is rejection, or withdrawal of the manuscript for review is approved.
(3) Violations of Article 1 with regards to received manuscripts are considered research misconduct.
Article 9 (Roles and Responsibilities of Co-Authors)
(1) In the case of joint research with other researchers, the researcher should clarify the roles and interrelationships and take responsibility accordingly. Before undertaking research, authors should discuss and mutually agree on the research objective, each role in the cooperative relationship, the methods of data collection/storage/sharing, the listing of authors, the selection of the main(first) author, copyright and other related issues.
(2) The first author has the responsibility for research data and for the listing of author(s) in general and, he/she also has the responsibility for research conducted by co-author(s). Authors shall provide evidence for their contribution when requested.
(3) The first author has to be the person who can take responsibility for research results and provide relevant proofs.
(4) Authors are responsible for the content of the paper. Authors are also responsible for any research work that has been consigned to a third party.
Article 10 (Determination and Indication of Author(s))
(1) The person who did the work or has contributed to research is qualified as an author. The first author and the corresponding author should be clearly identified.
(2) The person who has not contributed to research contents or research results should not be included as an author as a gesture of gratitude, courtesy or the like. However, authors may acknowledge any contribution from the people they worked with (e.g. data collection or translation into different languages) who have helped in some way in the preparation of the written version or the research itself.
(3) The order in which authors are listed on the research article should reflect the relative contribution of the authors and should be decided collectively by the author group.
Chapter 3. Research Misconduct and Other Unethical Behavior
Article 11 (Definition and Scope of Research Misconduct)
(1) The term “research misconduct” refers to fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, false claim of authorship, duplicate publication, or the like during the entire course of research (e.g., developing research ideas, performing data analyses, evaluating and reporting results).
1. “Falsification” refers to the act of creating false data or research results that do not exist.
2. “Fabrication” refers to the act of artificially distorting or arbitrarily deleting data to skew the research content or results (The term “deleting” here refers to the act of deliberately excluding data that obscures the expected results of research and selecting data that will result in favorable results).
3. “Plagiarism” refers to the act of representing others’ ideas and research work as one’s own without appropriate approval or citation.
4. “False claim of authorship” refers to the act of not granting the authorship of the paper without a reasonable reason to a person who contributed to research contents or results, or granting authorship of a paper to a person who did not make any academic contribution to the research paper.
5. “Duplicate submission” is the act of re-submitting or publishing the same or almost the same academic work to two or more academic journals.
(2) In addition to the research misconduct defined by the guidelines, the Research Ethics Committee can determine any activity that substantially deviates from the scope commonly accepted in academia, any pressures or interferences to the activities of the Research Ethics Committee, and violations of Article 12 (Inappropriate Citation), as research misconduct.
Article 12 (Inappropriate Citation)
(1) Types of inappropriate citations considered as minor misconduct are as follows.
1. Inappropriate citation
2. Distortion of references
3. Citing sources which have not been read
4. Not providing a complete, accurate citation for the sources used
(2) A research paper determined as having inappropriate citation as per Paragraph (1) shall not be published in the journal.
(3) When a published research paper has been determined as having inappropriate citation as per Paragraph (1), the publication may be canceled within five years from the publication date of the journal article.
Article 13 (Pledge of Ethics Regulation)
The author should be familiar with the research ethics regulations prescribed by the Korean Accounting Association before conducting research and submitting research papers. The following should be written on the submission form as a pledge to have adhered to the research ethics regulations: “This manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another publisher or journal, and the study in this manuscript has been conducted in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines set forth by the Korean Accounting Association.”
Chapter 4. Managing Research Misconduct
Article 14 (Role of the Research Ethics Committee)
(1) The Research Ethics Committee should deliberate on the ethical concerns related to members of Korean Accounting Association and any research misconduct violating the guidelines and determine the necessary follow-up actions based on the results of the deliberation.
(2) The Research Ethics Committee should provide an independent review of the ethical concerns or misconduct detected by the Editorial Board/Reviewing Committee or by any individuals or other organizations.
(3) A decision to investigate any research misconduct shall be made in accordance with Paragraph (2), where it states that the Editorial Board or the Reviewing Committee requests the Research Ethics Committee for an investigation into the possible misconduct. However, the Board of Directors of the Korean Accounting Association will determine whether the investigation is necessary upon the request of the Research Ethics Committee, in the cases that: (i) an investigation is requested by an individual or other organizations concerning a member of the Korean Accounting Association; or, (ii) a research misconduct has been detected at the level of Korean Accounting Association.
(4) To determine whether an author has commit research misconduct or not, the Research Ethics Committee needs to set forth the rules regarding its composition, deliberations, decision-making process, and related matters, and operate accordingly.
Chapter 5. General Management Rules
Article 15 (Budget)
Any expenses required to perform the tasks of the Research Ethics Committee may be supported by the Korean Accounting Association.
Article 16 (Amendments and Abolitions)
Any rules can be amended or abolished by decisions made by the Board of Directors of the Korean Accounting Association.
Supplementary Provisions <Established on 2007. 6. 20.>
Article 1(Commencement Date)
These rules become effective on June 30, 2007.
Supplementary Provisions <Established on 2014. 6. 19.>
Article 1(Commencement Date)
These rules become effective on July 1, 2014.
Supplementary Provisions <Established on 2019. 12. 14.>
ETHICS
ETHICS
