Publishing Ethics

​Ostour is strictly committed to the ethics of academic publishing and the standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), building on its firm conviction that academic integrity and responsibility form the foundation that underpins trust in academic research, as well as the quality and durability of th​at research. The journal strives to promote a culture of knowledge based on honesty, transparency, and mutual respect among all parties involved in the research process; the protection of intellectual property rights; and the assurance of objectivity through all stages of the academic publication process, from the reception, evaluation, and peer reviewing of research contributions through to their editing and publication. Based on these principles and those outlined in the Submission Guidelines, the journal works according to a clear system of procedures to guarantee compliance with the highest standards of ethical conduct in academic publishing, thereby enhancing the quality of the scholarship it helps produce, as well as helping preserve the credibility of the academic research environment.

Ethical Guidelines for Editors and Reviewers

1. The journal adheres to the principles of confidentiality and objectivity in its review process, as concerns both authors and reviewers. Each submission sent for review is referred to two accredited reviewers with expertise on the subject of the study, for evaluation according to the criteria outlined in the journal’s review form. In the event of conflicting recommendations, the submission is referred to a third, deciding reviewer.
2. Neither the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Manger, Editorial Secretary, nor any member of the Editorial Board participates in the evaluation or review of their own work, in line with the principles of impartiality and academic integrity and to avoid any potential conflict of interest. In cases where such issues do arise, the submission is referred to independent reviewers, and review decisions are made by other members of the Editorial Board.
3. Members of the journal’s Editorial Board, reviewers, and editors are prohibited from disclosing to any other party any information related to submitted contributions. The only exceptions are cases where this is necessary for the initial evaluation, review, academic, stylistic, and linguistic editing processes, and in coordination with the editorial board and authors. Any content, in any form, and any opinion obtained during the review process must be kept confidential, and may not be used or circulated in any way.
4. Reviewers who agree to evaluate contributions submitted to the journal are expected to adhere to academic and professional standards, to inform the Editorial Board if they became aware of the identity of the author(s) of a contribution they are reviewing, and to possess sufficient competence and academic expertise to assess the quality and scholarly merit of the contribution. They are required to prepare accurate and comprehensive review reports which help hone the research, while maintaining objectivity and confidentiality, and responding within reasonable timeframes.
5. The Editorial Board reserves the right to assess the validity of the reviewers’ comments and their consistency with the journal’s established Submission Guidelines. Based on its academic and editorial responsibilities, the board may resubmit a research contribution to other reviewers when necessary.
6. Editors and reviewers evaluate research contributions based on their academic content, adhering to the principle of non-discrimination based on race, gender, religious belief, or institutional affiliation.
7. The journal is committed to the principle of avoiding conflicts of interest between editors/reviewers and authors, whether arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any author, company, or institution related to the research.
8. The journal prohibits any of its editors of members of its Editorial Board from using any unpublished material from research submitted to the journal in their own research, and from sharing it with any other party.
9. When publishing translated studies, the journal is committed to verifying that permission has been obtained from the original publisher, and to respecting intellectual property rights.
10. The journal adopts an Open Access publishing policy, and exempts authors from all publication fees. For more information, please see Open Access.
11. Neither the journal, its staff, nor its representatives accept any responsibility for how the information contained in the materials it publishes is used; nor does it accept any liability for errors that may occur in these works, notwithstanding its diligent efforts to review and proofread them according to the highest established academic and editorial standards.

Ethical Guidelines for Authors

1. The Corresponding Author must provide the names of all authors who have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the research, without adding the names of those who did not contribute directly. All researchers listed as co-authors must fully meet standards of academic authorship, as follows: they must have made a substantial contribution to the research submitted for publication, whether to its design, implementation, data collection, analysis, or interpretation, or in more than one of these aspects; they must have actively participated in drafting or critically reviewing the manuscript in a way that contributed to the development of its content; and they must have agreed to submit the contribution to the journal for publication. Furthermore, each author must have reviewed each successive version of the research, before submission, during the review process, and after the final version is accepted for publication, and must have approved its content, along with any subsequent substantial revisions, during the production and publication phases. All authors share responsibility for the content of the research published in their names, and they must be prepared to respond to any inquiries regarding its accuracy or academic integrity. They must also bear the consequences of any breach of standards of research integrity or honesty.
2. Authors are obliged to disclose any potential conflicts of interest before submitting a research article for publication, and to refrain from submitting it simultaneously to more than one journal. Each article must include a clear statement of sources of funding, if applicable, and an acknowledgment of all contributors who did not meet the threshold to be named as co-authors, under the heading “Disclaimer and Acknowledgments.”
3. The Corresponding Author ensures that the submitted scholarly contribution is original, apart from cited material, which is explicitly referenced and documented according to the style followed by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) and its journals. The author also ensures that the contribution is free of any offensive or defamatory statements, and does not infringe upon any intellectual or legal rights, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, or any other moral or material rights held by others. The Corresponding Author also acknowledges his or her full responsibility for making the material available for publication on behalf of all those who contributed to it.
4. The data submitted and used in research contributions must be original, not fabricated or altered in any way, and must accurately reflect the study’s findings and academic content. Any modification or alteration of images or visual files that could distort or misinterpret information is prohibited. If any such modification is found to have taken place, this will result in the research being rejected immediately. Any images and graphs used must be directly relevant to the topic and add genuine academic value. Authors may be asked, when necessary, to submit to the Editorial Board the complete, original dataset on which the research contribution is based, for review, and must be prepared to make it available upon submission for publication.
5. Authors are fully responsible for obtaining the necessary written permissions to use any third-party copyrighted material, whether text, tables, illustrations or diagrams, data, photographs, audio clips, videos, film stills, screengrabs, or any other supplementary material. This is part of the ethical and legal safeguards taken by authors when submitting a contribution to the journal, ensuring respect for intellectual property rights and protecting the interests of the original holders of those rights.
6. When using any text, image, illustration, table, or other material from external sources, including their own previously published work, authors must clearly and accurately cite and document the original source, and obtain the necessary permissions from the rights holders where necessary.
7. Authors must avoid excessive or inappropriate self-citation, or arranging for groups of researchers to exchange citations without justification. Such practices, known as citation manipulation, are considered unethical behaviour. Authors of materials other than studies (discussions and reviews) are required to ensure that the cited references present a fair and balanced view of the current state of knowledge on the subject, without bias towards any particular research group, institution, or journal, thereby promoting objectivity and academic integrity.
8. Authors must disclose any relevant relationship or interest that may affect the topic or results of the research, or may constitute a potential conflict of interest. If the research is backed by funding or other form of support—whether material, in-kind, or in the form of services—from any entity that could influence the research, this must be explicitly stated, along with a clear explanation of the nature of this support and the role of the funding entity. Furthermore, disclosure is required regarding any party other than the authors with an interest in the research results, belonging to an entity with a vested interest, or having received support from a funding body, is involved in the planning, execution, analysis, editing, or decision to submit the research for publication.
9. All research involving human subjects must be conducted in accordance with the principles set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki, and must have obtained prior ethical approval from the local Institutional Review Board (IRB) or another accredited ethics committee, in line with the ethics of academic research. Authors must include an explicit statement in the body of the research confirming that such ethical approval has been obtained, citing the name of the relevant committee and the reference number or authorization, if applicable. These standards apply to all types of studies involving human subjects, including: applied experimental studies; research involving children, adolescents, vulnerable groups, or others who are unable to give informed consent, thus requiring statutory consent from parents or guardians; polling-based studies and social surveys that collect personal or sensitive data, necessitating confidentiality and the protection of participants from any harm; studies based on covert observational research, which the journal only permits in exceptional cases, where justified by the academic nature of the study; and studies relying on data from social media, which must ensure user privacy and respect the applicable laws and regulations.
10. Ethnographic research requires adherence to similar ethical standards. Researchers must obtain prior ethical approval from a competent committee, whether an Institutional Review Board or an independent local, regional, or national committee, as well as obtaining explicit consent from the participants to conduct the research and publish its results. This consent must be obtained before fieldwork commences, as it is an essential part of the project’s design, implementation, and other phases. Authors should consult continuously with the groups or communities included in the research, taking their views and observations into account during the design, implementation, and analysis of the study, ensuring that their privacy is respected and they are fairly represented. In exceptional cases where prior consent cannot be obtained due to the nature of the environment, social circumstances, or the authors’ relationship with the participants, retrospective consent may be requested, provided that this is clearly justified in the research, and that the human dignity and rights of the individuals and communities studied are preserved.
11. In research involving participants, authors must include an explicit statement in the methodology section indicating that participants have given their informed consent, in writing or orally, to take part in the study. This statement must specify the type of consent obtained by the authors, including consent to conduct the study, to publish its results, and to use participants’ images or visual materials. In cases where participants are anonymised, this must be clearly stated in the text. Participants must also be informed in advance that the research will be publicly available online, in accordance with the principle of transparency and to protect their rights and privacy. To ensure they can give their informed consent in full knowledge of the potential risks, it should be clarified that while every effort will be made to protect it, the confidentiality of their data cannot be totally guaranteed, particularly in small communities where participants may be identifiable.

If any error or inconsistency is discovered after publication, authors must immediately notify the Editorial Board, so it can be corrected.

​AI Ethics and Best Practice

The journal acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have become an integral part of the contemporary academic research environment, and recognizes the significant opportunities they offer in terms of accelerating research and improving its findings. Conversely, it also recognizes the academic, ethical, and legal risks arising from their irresponsible and unregulated use, particularly when it comes to originality and academic integrity. Therefore, the journal emphasizes the need to adhere to academic standards and their accompanying ethical guidelines, and deems it necessary to clarify its policies regarding the use of these tools, in order to balance between benefiting from the opportunities they offer and avoiding the potential risks they pose.

1. Originality and Quality of Research: The author is required to ensure that the research submitted is original and free from plagiarism of ideas and texts from any source, including content generated by AI tools, and that it adheres to research and ethical standards. It should be noted that in addition to these principles, ACRPS takes the competency and quality of the research contribution as a fundamental criterion in its evaluation.
2. Legal and Ethical Obligations: Authors must respect intellectual property rights throughout the research process, and adhere to the ensuing legal and ethical responsibilities. This includes both the content entered into AI tools and the data they produce. It is important to avoid uploading unpublished or copyrighted data to external platforms. Authors bear full responsibility for any legal or ethical violations resulting from the improper use of these tools in any work submitted for publication in the journal.
3. Precautions for Using AI Tools: Authors must take into account the pitfalls associated with using AI tools, including the potential risks of violating academic, ethical, and legal standards. These risks include citing from texts without attribution, appropriating ideas without indicating their sources or citing incorrect sources, and imitating the writing styles of other authors. Therefore, authors are responsible for ensuring the originality of their research. If these tools are used, authors bear full responsibility for their output and its accuracy.
4. Disclosure of AI Use: Authors are required to disclose any use of AI tools, in the designated field of the form for submitting contributions through the Researcher Portal. This disclosure is not limited to specific uses such as proofreading, summarization of literature, documentation formatting (citation and bibliography style), or data collection and analysis. Rather, it includes any potential use of AI, in order to maintain the integrity and ethics of the research. It is important to note that this disclosure does not absolve authors of any ethical or legal responsibility that may arise from the misuse of these tools. Research contributions will not automatically be rejected if the use of AI is disclosed, provided that it is used transparently and without compromising the originality or academic accuracy of the research. The journal reserves the right to reject a contribution at any stage of the publication process if it is found that these tools were used inappropriately or without being explicit disclosed.
5. Disclosure Form: Authors who use AI tools in their research must disclose this clearly, specifying the tools and versions used (e.g., ChatGPT-5 or Claude-3.7-Sonnet), the timeframe of use, and the tasks performed with the assistance of these tools, such as translation, interview transcription, or proofreading. They must also specify the extent to which they relied on these tools for each task. Furthermore, the disclosure must explicitly indicate the nature of the human oversight and verification processes implemented by the authors at all stages of their use, to ensure the research’s integrity, accuracy, and consistency with ethical and academic standards.
6. Prohibition of AI Tools in the Peer Review Process: Further to point 2 regarding legal and ethical obligations related to the use of AI tools, the use of AI tools is completely prohibited in the peer review process and the preparation of peer reviewers’ reports, due to the potential risk of jeopardizing the confidentiality of the peer review process, violating intellectual property rights, or harming the integrity of the academic evaluation. The reviewer bears full responsibility for the report they submit, which must be the sole product of their personal effort and scholarly expertise, without any mediation by AI tools or reliance on them. The journal is committed to taking appropriate action against any violation of this rule, in order to ensure the independence of the peer review system and the integrity of the academic process, at all stages of publication.
7. Suspected Undisclosed or Inappropriate Use of AI During the Review Process: If a reviewer suspects that AI has been used in an inappropriate or undisclosed manner in a submitted article, they must immediately inform the Editorial Board and clearly state their observations. If the Editorial Board suspects that tools such as ChatGPT or others have been used in the preparation of the article, it will adhere to the journal’s policy on the use of AI tools and take the necessary steps to investigate.

Any violation of these provisions will constitute a breach of the ethical standards of academic research, and the journal reserves the right to take appropriate action regarding any research found to be in violation of ethical and legal regulations.