Overview and General Principles
Sultan Qaboos Air Academy Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies upholds the highest standards of academic integrity and publication ethics, regarding adherence to these standards as essential to building trust in the journal, ensuring the quality of published research, and safeguarding the rights of authors, reviewers, readers, and relevant institutions. The journal is convinced that refereed scholarly publishing rests not only on the quality of research content, but also on integrity, transparency, fairness, editorial independence, respect for intellectual-property rights, protection of participants and data, and the prevention of all forms of plagiarism, manipulation, duplicate publication, and undisclosed conflict of interest. The policy applies to all parties in the publishing process and to all types of submitted material — original research, review studies, case studies, conceptual articles, strategic analyses, technical papers, and book reviews.
The journal’s ethics policy rests on: scholarly integrity at every stage; ensuring originality and no prior publication; preventing plagiarism in all forms; prohibiting manipulation of data, results, images, or tables; transparency in authorship and contributions; disclosure of conflicts of interest; respect for intellectual property; protection of research participants and sensitive data; editorial independence; confidentiality of peer review; fair handling of complaints and appeals; correction of the scholarly record when substantial errors are found; and responsible professional conduct by all parties.
Author Responsibilities
Authors bear primary responsibility for the originality of their manuscripts and the accuracy and integrity of their content, data, and results. They must ensure the work is original, not previously published, and not submitted simultaneously elsewhere. Authors must: present original work free of plagiarism or manipulation; document all sources correctly; present data and results honestly and accurately; not conceal any material information affecting interpretation; obtain the necessary ethical or institutional approvals; disclose conflicts of interest and sources of funding or support; specify each author’s contribution; not include people who did not genuinely contribute, nor exclude anyone deserving authorship; cooperate with the editors in responding to review comments; and correct any substantial error discovered after submission or publication. Submitting a study constitutes the authors’ declaration that they have read and agree to abide by the author guidelines and journal policies.
Originality, Plagiarism, and Duplicate Publication
All submitted studies must be original and reflect genuine scholarly effort. Plagiarism is a serious ethics violation, whether copying text from published work without documentation, paraphrasing others’ ideas without clear attribution, using data, tables, images, or results from other sources without permission or documentation, or presenting another’s work as one’s own. Forms of plagiarism include, but are not limited to: verbatim copying from published or unpublished sources without documentation; dishonest paraphrasing without attribution; using tables, figures, or images without permission or credit; presenting translations as original text; reusing large parts of the author’s prior work without disclosure or proper documentation; using references unrelated to the text or not actually consulted; and fabricating sources or references.
Submissions undergo a similarity check using the journal’s tools; the journal considers the nature, source, size, location, and context of the similarity, not the numerical percentage alone, and may reject any study found to contain plagiarism or unacceptable reuse. The journal does not accept any study previously published, in whole or in part, in any language, nor studies submitted simultaneously to another publisher. Authors must disclose any prior version of the work — conference papers, work reports, theses, digital repositories, or preprints — where relevant. Duplicate or simultaneous submission leads to rejection and may trigger further editorial action if discovered after publication.
Authorship and Scholarly Contribution
Authorship should be limited to those who made a genuine scholarly contribution — participating in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, drafting, substantive scholarly revision, or final approval of the version submitted for publication. People who did not genuinely contribute may not be listed, and those who made a substantial contribution may not be excluded. “Honorary,” “courtesy,” and “coerced” authorship are violations of publication ethics. With multiple authors, a corresponding author must be designated and is responsible for communication with the journal, ensuring all authors approve submission, the order of names, the final version, and any subsequent changes.
Conflicts of Interest and Funding
All authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest that could affect, or be seen to affect, the objectivity of the research, the publication decision, or the review process — including financial, professional, institutional, personal, or research interests related to the topic or parties. Authors must include a clear statement of the presence or absence of a conflict; where none exists, the statement reads: “The author(s) declare no conflict of interest related to this research.” The board may request further information when needed.
Authors must disclose all sources of financial, institutional, or technical funding or support — research grants, institutional support, data provision, equipment, software, or any support relevant to the research or its results. Where no funding was received, the statement reads: “This research received no funding from any public, private, or non-profit body.” Funding disclosure must be clear and independent, and no supporting party with an interest in the results may be concealed.
Human Subjects and Sensitive Institutional Data
If a study involves human participants, interviews, questionnaires, field observations, personal data, recordings, or any direct or indirect interaction with individuals, authors must observe the relevant ethical standards and obtain the required approvals from the competent body where necessary. Where applicable, the study should clarify: the body that granted ethical approval; the approval number or date if any; how participant consent was obtained; how participant privacy is protected; how data are stored and secured; how identities are anonymized or data coded; and any restrictions on using or publishing the data. The journal does not accept research that clearly violates participants’ rights, privacy, safety, or free and informed consent.
Given the journal’s scope and the link of some topics to aviation, military, training, or strategic institutions, some research may involve sensitive, institutional, or non-public data. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the use and publication of such data is legally, institutionally, and ethically permitted, and must obtain appropriate institutional approvals before submitting any research containing internal data, unpublished documents, operational information, or information that could affect an institution’s security, reputation, or interests. The journal may request proof of these approvals before completing review or publication, and does not publish any classified or unauthorized information, or information that could harm institutional safety, security, or confidentiality.
Data and Results Integrity; Data Availability
Authors must present their data, results, and analyses accurately and honestly. Fabricating or falsifying data, omitting material results without scientific justification, or altering images, tables, or figures in a way that misleads the reader or changes the meaning of results is prohibited. Data-integrity violations include: inventing data not collected; changing or deleting data to obtain a particular result; selecting certain results and hiding other material ones; manipulating images, figures, or tables; presenting statistical or qualitative analysis misleadingly; and drawing conclusions unsupported by the data. If the journal finds any indication of data manipulation, it may request the original data or clarifications, and may reject the study or take corrective action after publication.
The journal encourages authors to disclose the status of the data used, consistent with the nature of the study and ethical and institutional constraints. Where applicable, the study should state whether data are available, available on request, or unavailable due to privacy, confidentiality, ownership, or institutional-security constraints — for example: “The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request, subject to ethical and institutional constraints,” or “The data for this study cannot be made available due to their sensitive nature and the associated institutional obligations.”
Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools
The journal recognizes that generative AI and digital assistance tools have become part of the research and academic-writing environment, but stresses that their use must be responsible and transparent and must not affect the originality or integrity of the research. Authors commit to: disclosing any substantive use of AI tools in preparing the study; not listing AI tools as an author or co-author; not using AI to generate fabricated data, results, or references; verifying the accuracy of any text, analysis, translation, or wording these tools assisted with; bearing full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript; and respecting confidentiality and privacy when using any digital tools.
A statement on the use or non-use of AI tools must be included — for example: “The author(s) used digital assistance tools for language editing only, having reviewed the full text and verified its scholarly accuracy. The author(s) bear full responsibility for the content,” or “No generative AI tools were used in preparing this research.” A fuller AI-use policy is published separately.
Read the full AI-Use Policy →
Editor and Reviewer Responsibilities; Confidentiality
The editor-in-chief, editors, and editorial board manage publishing fairly, objectively, confidentially, and independently. Their decisions rest on the scholarly value of the manuscript, its scope-relevance, the soundness of its methodology, its originality, the review results, and adherence to ethics. Editor responsibilities include: treating all studies fairly; protecting the confidentiality of authors and reviewers; selecting qualified reviewers free of conflicts; not using information in unpublished studies for personal or research purposes; making justified, objective decisions; handling complaints seriously; taking appropriate action on suspected misconduct; ensuring institutional or personal interests do not influence the decision; and protecting the journal’s scholarly and editorial independence.
Reviewers evaluate studies confidentially, objectively, and professionally, providing constructive reports that help the board decide and help authors improve their work. They must: accept a review only with suitable expertise; disclose conflicts of interest; respect confidentiality and never share the study; not use its content before publication; provide clear, justified feedback; avoid personal or unprofessional remarks; flag any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, or ethical or methodological flaw; and meet the deadline or decline. Reviewers may not use external tools or platforms that could expose the study or breach its confidentiality. The journal treats all studies, review reports, and related correspondence as confidential, even after the final decision, whether the study is accepted, rejected, or withdrawn. Editorial decisions rest on scholarly and editorial criteria only and are not influenced by the author’s institutional or geographic affiliation, academic standing, personal relationships, or any non-scholarly consideration.
Misconduct, Corrections, Retractions, and Appeals
If the journal suspects an ethics violation — plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, undeserved authorship, concealed conflict of interest, unauthorized data, or any breach of integrity — it handles the case seriously, objectively, and confidentially, and may: request clarifications from the authors; request the original data or supporting documents; temporarily suspend review; reject the study; withdraw acceptance if discovered before publication; publish a correction or retraction notice if discovered after publication; inform the relevant institution where needed and in line with professional procedures; and bar an author from submitting for a set period in serious cases.
The journal maintains the integrity of the published record. If a substantial error or flaw affecting the understanding, results, or integrity of the research is found after publication, it may — depending on the case — publish a correction, a clarification, an expression of concern, retract the article, or issue a retraction notice; such decisions follow case review, communication with the parties where needed, and assessment of the impact on the work’s reliability. Authors, reviewers, and readers may submit complaints or appeals about editorial, review, or publication procedures; complaints must be written, clear, and based on specific reasons. The journal does not consider general, undocumented, or unprofessional complaints. The board handles complaints confidentially and fairly, possibly with an independent editor or expert; submitting an appeal does not guarantee a change of decision but guarantees an objective review.
Intellectual Property, Citation Ethics, and Publisher
Authors respect others’ intellectual-property rights and must obtain the necessary permission to use copyrighted material — images, figures, tables, maps, data, or research instruments — and document all quoted, reused, or adapted material. The journal is not responsible for any intellectual-property infringement committed by authors, who remain responsible for ensuring the lawful use of material in their manuscripts. Citations must be accurate and directly relevant; they may not be used misleadingly or to inflate the reference list, and fabricated, incorrect, or unused references may not be included. The journal discourages coercive or unjustified citation of editors, reviewers, or other authors; any request to add references must rest on a clear scholarly need.
As publisher, Sultan Qaboos Air Academy supports the journal’s scholarly and editorial independence, provides the institutional environment for managing refereed publishing, respects the editorial board’s decisions, supports integrity and transparency policies, and does not interfere in scholarly decisions on accepting or rejecting studies. The ethics policy is reviewed and updated periodically in line with evolving publishing standards; substantive updates are published on the journal’s website. The journal affirms that adherence to publication ethics is not a formality but the essence of scholarly trust and academic responsibility.
