The International Journal of Peace and Development is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publishing process—authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher—are expected to adhere to these ethical standards.

Editorial Responsibilities

• Fair Play: Manuscripts are evaluated solely on their intellectual merit, without regard to the authors' race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors must not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without the explicit written consent of the authors.
• Publication Decisions: Decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication are based on the paper's importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope.

Reviewer Responsibilities

• Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts.
• Promptness: Reviewers who feel unqualified to review the assigned manuscript or cannot provide a prompt review should notify the editor and recuse themselves from the review process.
• Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
• Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

Author Responsibilities

• Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research and an objective discussion of its significance.
• Data Access and Retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study for editorial review and should be prepared to make this data publicly available if practicable.
• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works.
• Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given.
• Authorship of the Manuscript: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest.
• Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When authors discover significant errors in their own published work, it is their obligation to notify the journal's editor and cooperate to either correct the paper or retract the publication.

Ethical Research Practices

Authors must ensure their research adheres to ethical guidelines, including:

• Human Subjects Research: Research involving human participants must include statements of informed consent and ethical approval from relevant institutional review boards.
• Conflict-Sensitive Research: Research conducted in conflict-affected areas must demonstrate sensitivity to local contexts, ensure participant safety, and avoid exacerbating tensions.
• Participatory Approaches: We encourage research that meaningfully engages with communities rather than extractive research practices.

Procedures for Dealing with Unethical Behavior

The editorial board will take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred. In the event that the editorial board is made aware of any allegation of research misconduct, the editor in charge shall deal with the allegation appropriately. The journal is committed to:

• Thoroughly investigating any misconduct claims
• Publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed
• Taking steps to prevent the recurrence of misconduct