Publication Ethics Policy

Journal: Journal of Materials for the Built Environment (JMBE)
Policy Version: 1.0
Effective Date: September 2026

1. Introduction

Journal of Materials for the Built Environment (JMBE) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, academic transparency, and responsible scholarly communication.

The journal follows internationally recognized principles and established good practices in scholarly publishing, including relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

All authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and other contributors involved in the publication process are expected to uphold this policy.

Where necessary, JMBE may refer to applicable institutional, disciplinary, or international standards when assessing an ethical concern.

2. Research Integrity

Manuscripts submitted to JMBE must report research accurately, transparently, and responsibly.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

• research findings are reported honestly and accurately;

• data are not fabricated, falsified, or inappropriately manipulated;

• methods and procedures are described sufficiently to support understanding and, where appropriate, reproducibility;

• results are reported completely and without misleading selective presentation;

• conclusions are supported by the evidence presented;

• relevant sources are properly acknowledged and cited; and

• any material limitations or uncertainties are appropriately disclosed.

JMBE considers deliberate misrepresentation of research findings or research procedures to be a serious breach of publication ethics.

3. Plagiarism and Unattributed Use of Material

Plagiarism includes presenting another person's words, ideas, data, images, figures, tables, methods, or other intellectual contributions as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment.

This may include:

• direct copying without citation;

• inappropriate paraphrasing;

• presenting another person's ideas or concepts without attribution;

• unauthorized use of figures, tables, images, or data;

• translation or language-based plagiarism;

• inappropriate reuse of previously published material; and

• substantial text recycling that is not properly disclosed.

Authors should use appropriate quotation, citation, attribution, and permissions where required.

JMBE may conduct similarity screening before or during peer review.

A manuscript containing substantial unattributed or otherwise inappropriate overlap may be:

• returned to the authors for clarification or correction;

• rejected without external peer review; or

• subject to further investigation where appropriate.

Similarity-detection results are interpreted in context and are not, by themselves, treated as conclusive evidence of misconduct.

4. Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

A manuscript submitted to JMBE should not be under active consideration elsewhere.

Authors must also avoid redundant or duplicate publication of substantially overlapping work without appropriate disclosure and justification.

JMBE may consider the following circumstances acceptable where transparently disclosed and appropriately handled:

• posting a manuscript as a recognized preprint;

• publication of substantially revised and expanded versions of conference papers; and

• reuse of limited material where permitted by copyright and clearly acknowledged.

Authors should disclose relevant prior dissemination or publication during submission.

5. Fabrication, Falsification, and Inappropriate Data or Image Manipulation

JMBE does not accept fabricated or falsified research.

Fabrication

Fabrication includes, but is not limited to:

• inventing data or observations;

• reporting experiments or studies that were not conducted;

• creating fictitious participants, samples, measurements, or results; and

• presenting invented research processes as completed work.

Falsification

Falsification includes, but is not limited to:

• manipulating research data;

• selectively modifying or suppressing results in a misleading manner;

• inappropriate alteration of images or figures;

• manipulating experimental or computational outputs;

• changing research records in a way that misrepresents the underlying work; and

• presenting results in a misleading or deceptive manner.

Legitimate image processing or data processing that does not alter the underlying interpretation may be acceptable when appropriately described.

Authors may be asked to provide raw data, original images, laboratory records, code, analytical files, or other supporting documentation where necessary to assess research integrity.

6. Authorship and Contribution

Authorship should accurately reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the work.

All listed authors should:

• have made meaningful contributions to the research or manuscript;

• participate sufficiently in drafting or critically revising the manuscript;

• approve the version submitted for publication;

• approve the final published version; and

• accept appropriate responsibility for the integrity of the work.

The following practices are not acceptable:

• Ghost authorship: excluding individuals who qualify for authorship;

• Guest authorship: listing individuals who have not made qualifying contributions;

• Gift or honorary authorship: adding individuals solely because of status, position, or personal relationship;

• Coerced authorship: requiring or pressuring authorship without appropriate contribution; and

• AI authorship: listing an artificial intelligence system or other AI tool as an author.

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged where appropriate.

Further requirements relating to authorship may be provided in the journal's Author Instructions and relevant submission policies.

7. Changes to Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be accompanied by a written explanation.

Such changes normally require:

• agreement from all affected authors;

• confirmation of the revised author contributions; and

• review by the Editorial Office.

Changes to authorship after acceptance will generally only be considered in exceptional circumstances and may require additional documentation.

JMBE may pause editorial processing or publication while an authorship dispute is being investigated.

The journal does not determine ownership of authorship disputes on behalf of institutions. Where appropriate, authors may be referred to their institution or relevant research organization for formal resolution.

8. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and other individuals involved in editorial decision-making must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could reasonably affect their objectivity.

Potential conflicts may include:

• financial interests;

• employment or consultancy relationships;

• research funding;

• current or recent institutional affiliations;

• close personal or professional relationships;

• supervisory or dependent relationships;

• recent co-authorship;

• competitive interests; and

• other circumstances that may reasonably affect impartiality.

Conflicts should be disclosed as early as possible.

The existence of a conflict does not necessarily prevent publication or participation in the editorial process. Appropriate management or reassignment may be used where necessary.

Detailed requirements are provided in the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy.

9. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for:

• ensuring that submitted work is original and accurately reported;

• complying with applicable ethical and research requirements;

• securing appropriate permissions for third-party materials;

• providing accurate author and affiliation information;

• disclosing relevant conflicts of interest;

• providing required data availability information;

• appropriately reporting the use of AI-assisted tools;

• retaining supporting research records where appropriate;

• responding honestly to editorial queries; and

• cooperating with reasonable investigations into potential ethical concerns.

Authors must not attempt to manipulate the peer-review or editorial process.

10. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

• maintain confidentiality;

• provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based assessments;

• disclose relevant conflicts of interest;

• decline reviews when they lack appropriate expertise or cannot provide an impartial assessment;

• avoid using unpublished information for personal or professional advantage;

• identify relevant ethical or methodological concerns where appropriate; and

• complete reviews within the agreed timeframe where reasonably possible.

Reviewers should not use their reports to promote personal interests or pressure authors to make unnecessary citations.

Detailed reviewer responsibilities are set out in the journal's Peer Review Policy and Reviewer Guidelines.

11. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining fair, independent, and consistent editorial processes.

Editors should:

• make decisions based on scholarly merit, relevance, research integrity, and journal policy;

• maintain confidentiality;

• manage conflicts of interest appropriately;

• protect the integrity of the peer-review process;

• address credible ethical concerns promptly and fairly; and

• avoid discrimination or inappropriate influence based on authors' identity, affiliation, seniority, geography, or other irrelevant characteristics.

Editorial decisions should not be influenced by commercial considerations, including an author's ability or willingness to pay an Article Processing Charge.

The Editorial Office may provide administrative and workflow support, but administrative staff do not independently determine the academic outcome of manuscripts.

12. Ethical Concerns and Investigations

JMBE may investigate credible concerns relating to research or publication ethics before or after publication.

Concerns may include:

• plagiarism or unattributed reuse;

• duplicate or redundant publication;

• fabrication or falsification;

• inappropriate image or data manipulation;

• authorship disputes;

• undisclosed conflicts of interest;

• peer-review manipulation;

• citation manipulation;

• inappropriate or undisclosed use of AI;

• ethical approval concerns; and

• other forms of research or publication misconduct.

Investigations will be handled as fairly, confidentially, and proportionately as possible.

Depending on the nature of the concern, the journal may request:

• explanations from authors;

• original or raw data;

• supporting documentation;

• authorship statements;

• institutional clarification;

• information from reviewers or editors; or

• other evidence relevant to the case.

Where appropriate, the journal may communicate with the authors' institution, research integrity office, funder, or other relevant organization.

JMBE will avoid making premature allegations and will provide affected parties with an appropriate opportunity to respond.

13. Editorial Conflicts and Independent Decision-Making

Editorial decisions must be made independently and without inappropriate influence.

An editor must not participate in the handling or decision-making of a manuscript where a conflict of interest may compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, impartiality.

Where an Associate Editor has a conflict of interest, the manuscript should be reassigned to another qualified editor.

Where the Deputy Editor has a conflict of interest, the Deputy Editor must not make the final editorial decision. The final decision should instead be assigned to an appropriate Editorial Board member or the Editor-in-Chief, who has no relevant conflict of interest.

Where the Editor-in-Chief also has a conflict of interest, the decision should be transferred to an appropriately qualified and independent Editorial Board member or another designated editor.

The individual responsible for the final decision should remain independent from the conflicted party and should base the decision on the manuscript, peer-review record, and applicable editorial policies.

14. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

JMBE will take appropriate post-publication action when reliable evidence indicates that a published article requires correction or withdrawal.

Depending on the circumstances, the journal may publish:

Correction

Used to address an honest error or other limited issue that does not invalidate the main findings or overall reliability of the article.

Retraction

Used when an article is found to contain serious errors, unreliable findings, significant ethical violations, or other problems that substantially undermine the integrity of the published work.

Expression of Concern

Used when there are credible concerns about a published article but an investigation is ongoing or the available evidence is not yet sufficient to determine an appropriate final action.

Post-publication notices will remain permanently linked to the relevant article where appropriate.

Detailed procedures are provided in the journal's Corrections and Retractions Policy.

15. Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe that a significant factual, procedural, or policy-related error materially affected the decision.

Appeals should normally be submitted in writing to the Editorial Office within 30 days of the decision and should provide