Ethical Guidelines

The Journal of Research Methodology (JRM) draws upon ethical standards and best practices recommended by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and guidance from Scopus. We also align with the ethical assessment criteria set by the Thai-Journal Citation Index Centre (TCI). While JRM may not adopt every element of these frameworks in full, they serve as the foundation for our ethical policies and editorial decisions. All stakeholders—Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board Members, Authors, and Reviewers—must uphold these standards in their roles.

Editor-in-Chief (EIC)

  • Make decisions transparently based solely on academic merit, not on authors’ identity or affiliations.
  • Ensure that all submissions receive fair, rigorous, and timely review.
  • Protect the confidentiality of manuscripts, reviews, and the identities of authors and reviewers.
  • Disclose and manage any personal, professional, or financial conflicts of interest.
  • Recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a conflict exists.
  • Enforce policies on plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, and unethical research practices.
  • Disclose and monitor the use of generative AI in manuscript preparation or peer review.
  • Collaborate respectfully and ethically with Editorial Board Members, authors, and reviewers.

Editorial Board Members

  • Provide timely, constructive, and unbiased editorial input and/or reviews.
  • Maintain strict confidentiality and avoid using manuscript content prior to publication.
  • Recuse themselves in cases of conflict of interest.
  • Encourage rigorous, current, and ethically sound methodological research.
  • Support diversity of approaches, methods, and researcher backgrounds.
  • Assist in investigations related to ethical concerns when requested by the EIC.
  • Please check TCI’s ethical assessment criteria set  (https://tci-thailand.org/view?slug=ethical_assessment2023) for more details

 Authors

  • Submit only original, unpublished work not under review elsewhere.
  • Accurately report research objectives, methods, findings, and implications without fabrication or falsification.
  • Provide proper citation and attribution; avoid plagiarism or self-plagiarism.
  • Disclose all sources of funding and any conflicts of interest.
  • Acknowledge all contributors appropriately and follow authorship criteria.
  • Clearly state any use of generative AI tools in manuscript preparation. AI must not be used to generate data (except in simulation studies) or to impersonate peer reviewers. Responsible and ethical use of AIs is required.
  • Include ethics approval from relevant review boards and informed consent procedures when the study involves human participants.
  • Where applicable, provide data, instruments, or supplementary materials to support transparency and replication.

 Reviewers

  • Review promptly, objectively, and constructively based on academic merit.
  • Maintain confidentiality and do not share or use unpublished material. Do not upload manuscripts to AI tools for instant feedback or to generate review content. However, using AI tools to improve grammar or refine your own written comments is acceptable.
  • Decline to review when there is a conflict of interest or insufficient expertise.
  • Alert the EIC to any suspected ethical violations (e.g., plagiarism, data manipulation).
  • Provide feedback that helps authors improve their work, avoiding personal remarks.

Reporting Ethical Concerns

  • General concerns about ethical violations (e.g., misconduct, COI, plagiarism) should be reported directly to the Editor-in-Chief via the journal’s official email: jrm@chula.ac.th.
  • If the concern involves the Editor-in-Chief, the matter may be referred to the Department of Educational Research and Psychology, Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, or directly to the Thai-Journal Citation Index Centre (TCI).
  • JRM investigates all allegations following COPE’s recommended procedures. Where necessary, the journal will issue corrections, retractions, or editorial statements.

References
JRM’s ethical policies are informed by the following standards and frameworks: