Research Misconduct Policy

The Journal of Kyrgyzstan Studies regards academic integrity as the foundational value of scholarly publishing. Allegations of research misconduct are treated with utmost seriousness, and investigations are conducted in accordance with the flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Definitions of research misconduct. The following practices are considered research misconduct. Plagiarism: presenting the published or unpublished work, ideas, data, or wording of others as one's own without appropriate attribution. Fabrication: producing data that were never collected or reporting findings that were never obtained. Falsification: manipulating data, materials, or procedures in a way that alters the actual findings. Duplicate publication: publishing the same work with significant overlap in more than one journal. Salami slicing: unnecessarily fragmenting a single study into multiple publications. Ghost authorship: excluding from the author list persons who made substantial contributions. Gift authorship: including as authors persons who did not contribute to the work.

Investigation procedure. Upon receipt of an allegation, the editorial board conducts an initial assessment. Where the allegation is sufficiently substantiated, the authors are notified and given the right to respond. Where necessary, a formal inquiry is requested from the relevant institution (the author's university or research organization). Confidentiality is maintained throughout the process; details of the allegation and investigation are not shared beyond the parties directly involved.

Sanctions. Where misconduct is established, the following sanctions may apply. Manuscripts under review are rejected. Published articles are subjected to retraction. Subsequent submissions from the authors may be barred from consideration for a defined period. In serious cases, the author's affiliated institution is formally notified. Where fraudulent work has been cited in other publications, an editor's note is issued to draw attention to the issue.

Reporting. Suspected cases of misconduct may be reported to editor@kyrgyzstanstudies.com. The identity of the reporter is kept confidential; anonymous reports are considered only where concrete evidence is provided. JKS encourages good-faith reporting and upholds the principle of protecting reporters from possible harm.