Announcements

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

Confluence: A Journal of Technology, Business and Society is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, originality, and responsible scholarly communication.

Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to uphold ethical principles throughout the submission, peer-review, editorial, and publication processes.

1. Originality and Prior Publication

All manuscripts submitted to Confluence: A Journal of Technology, Business and Society must represent original scholarly work.

Authors must ensure that:

The manuscript has not been previously published in substantially the same form.
The manuscript is not simultaneously submitted to or under consideration by another journal or publisher.
All ideas, data, text, figures, tables, methods, software, and other materials derived from external sources are appropriately acknowledged and cited.
The submitted work does not knowingly infringe copyright, intellectual property rights, confidentiality obligations, or other legal rights.
Any substantial overlap with the authors' previously published work is appropriately disclosed and referenced.

The journal reserves the right to take appropriate editorial action where duplicate publication, plagiarism, redundant publication, or other forms of publication misconduct are identified.

2. Research Ethics

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research has been conducted in accordance with applicable ethical, professional, institutional, national, and international standards.

Research involving human participants, personal information, sensitive data, animals, or other ethically regulated activities should receive appropriate approval or exemption from the relevant institutional or ethics authority where required.

Information concerning ethical approval, informed consent, or exemption should be clearly stated in the manuscript wherever applicable.

Authors must respect applicable requirements concerning privacy, confidentiality, data protection, and the responsible collection, processing, storage, and reporting of research data.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript and who are prepared to take appropriate responsibility for the published work.

All listed authors should:

Have made a meaningful contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the work.
Review and approve the manuscript submitted for publication.
Accept appropriate responsibility and accountability for their contributions.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should, with their permission, be appropriately acknowledged.

Individuals who have made no substantive contribution must not be included as authors.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, Generative AI tools, and Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for the integrity, originality, accuracy, and validity of scholarly work.

4. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Authors must ensure that their manuscript is original and that all material obtained from other sources is appropriately quoted, paraphrased, acknowledged, and referenced.

Plagiarism, including substantial unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, and the presentation of another person's ideas or work as one's own, is unacceptable.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all citations and references included in their manuscripts.

Where concerns regarding plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct arise, the journal may undertake further investigation and take appropriate editorial action.

5. Data, Software, Code and Research Materials

Authors should appropriately acknowledge and reference datasets, software, programme code, algorithms, research instruments, and other materials that substantially contribute to the reported research.

Where available and appropriate, persistent identifiers such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or another recognized permanent identifier should be provided for datasets, software, and other research resources.

Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy, authenticity, integrity, and appropriate use of all data presented in their manuscripts.

Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, or intentional misrepresentation of research data or results constitutes serious research misconduct.

6. Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

Confluence recognizes that Generative Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, and AI-assisted technologies are increasingly being used in research and scholarly writing.

Their use must be transparent, responsible, verifiable, and subject to human oversight.

Permitted Uses

Authors may use Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies for limited supporting purposes such as:

Improving language, grammar, readability, and clarity.
Assisting with the organization or presentation of author-generated content.
Supporting exploratory analysis or computational tasks where the methodology is transparent, reproducible, and scientifically appropriate.
Other legitimate research-support activities where the use of AI does not compromise the originality, integrity, validity, or reproducibility of the research.

Authors must critically review, verify, and take full responsibility for any content produced or modified with the assistance of AI technologies.

AI-generated output must not be treated as an authoritative source without independent verification.

Prohibited or Unacceptable Uses

Generative AI and LLMs must not be used:

As an author or co-author.
To fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent research data, findings, references, or evidence.
To generate fictitious citations or references.
To replace the authors' responsibility for scientific reasoning, interpretation, conclusions, or scholarly accountability.
To report unverified statistical results or empirical findings.
To create or manipulate research evidence in a manner that misrepresents the underlying data or research process.

AI-generated or AI-manipulated images presented as authentic research evidence are not acceptable where their use compromises the accuracy or integrity of the scholarly record.

Where AI-generated visual material is itself the subject or methodology of legitimate research, its use must be clearly identified, methodologically justified, and appropriately documented.

7. Disclosure of Generative AI Use

Where Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have materially contributed to manuscript preparation, analysis, or presentation, authors must transparently disclose their use.

The disclosure should appear in a separate section before the References entitled:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

The declaration should identify:

The name of the AI tool or service.
The purpose for which it was used.
Where appropriate, the version or model used.
The nature of the assistance provided.

Suggested Declaration

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE] for [PURPOSE]. The author(s) subsequently reviewed and verified the relevant content and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and final content of the manuscript.

Routine spelling, grammar, formatting, and conventional reference-management tools that do not generate substantive scholarly content generally do not require a declaration.

Authors remain fully responsible for the final submitted and published work irrespective of the technologies used during its preparation.

8. Informed Consent

Where research involves identifiable human participants, authors must obtain appropriate informed consent where required by applicable ethical or institutional standards.

If a manuscript contains identifiable photographs, personal information, individual opinions, case details, or other information through which an individual may reasonably be identified, authors must obtain appropriate permission for publication.

Authors are responsible for retaining appropriate documentation of consent and should provide evidence to the journal where legitimately required.

Identifying information should not be published unless it is essential to the scholarly purpose of the article and appropriate consent has been obtained.

9. Citation Ethics and Citation Manipulation

Citations should be selected solely based on their scholarly relevance and contribution to the manuscript.

The journal does not support practices intended primarily to artificially increase citation counts or bibliometric indicators.

Self-Citation

Authors may cite their own previous research where it is directly relevant to the submitted work. However, unnecessary or excessive self-citation intended primarily to increase citation metrics is discouraged.

Coercive Citation

Editors and reviewers should not require authors to add citations that are irrelevant or unnecessary to the scholarly development of the manuscript.

If an author believes that inappropriate citation requests have been made during the editorial or peer-review process, the matter may be reported to the Managing Editor.

Managing Editor:
Dr. Radha Raman Chandan
Email: rrchandan@smsvaranasi.com

Citation Pushing

Adding unnecessary or irrelevant references primarily to increase the citation count of particular authors, journals, institutions, or groups is considered inappropriate citation behaviour.

Confluence discourages citation manipulation and may take appropriate editorial action where systematic or intentional manipulation is identified.

10. Conflicts of Interest

Authors should disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

Reviewers and editors should similarly disclose relevant conflicts of interest and should not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where such conflicts could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, impartiality.

Where no relevant conflict exists, authors may provide an appropriate declaration stating that there is no conflict of interest.

11. Funding Disclosure

Authors should clearly acknowledge financial support, grants, institutional funding, sponsorship, or other material support received for the research where applicable.

Funding information should include the name of the funding organization and grant or project number, where available.

Authors should also disclose the role of the funding organization in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decision where relevant.

12. Use of Inclusive and Respectful Language

Confluence encourages authors to use inclusive, respectful, unbiased, and academically appropriate language.

Authors should avoid language that promotes stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, or assumptions concerning personal characteristics or identities.

References to characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, disability, health condition, or other personal attributes should be included only where scientifically or contextually relevant.

Gender-neutral and person-centred language should be used where appropriate.

Authors should ensure that terminology is accurate, respectful, and appropriate to the scholarly context.

13. Corrections, Retractions and Post-Publication Issues

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

Where significant errors, ethical concerns, or research-integrity issues are identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate action, including issuing a correction, clarification, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and severity of the issue.

Authors are expected to cooperate with legitimate investigations concerning their published or submitted work.

14. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, and readers may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial decisions, peer-review practices, publication ethics, citation requests, or other matters related to the journal.

Complaints and appeals should be communicated professionally and supported by relevant information or documentation.

Such matters will be reviewed by the appropriate editorial authority, taking into consideration academic fairness, confidentiality, editorial independence, and the journal's established policies.

15. Author Responsibility

Authors bear primary responsibility for the originality, accuracy, integrity, validity, ethical compliance, and scholarly content of their submitted manuscripts.

Submission of a manuscript to Confluence: A Journal of Technology, Business and Society indicates that the authors have read, understood, and agreed to comply with the journal's publication ethics and research integrity requirements.