IRS-Ethical Policies

International Research Stars Journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication. The journal follows ethical publishing practices to ensure originality, accountability, fairness, and trust in academic research and publication processes. These ethical guidelines support authors, reviewers, editors, institutions, and readers by promoting honest research practices and preventing academic misconduct.

The journal’s Plagiarism Policy explains that all submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism, duplication, unethical copying, and improper citation practices before peer review and publication. Authors are expected to submit original research work with proper acknowledgment of all references, sources, data, figures, and previously published materials. Manuscripts containing plagiarism, duplicate publication, manipulated content, or unethical copying practices may be rejected, corrected, or retracted according to editorial evaluation standards. International scholarly publishing standards strongly emphasize that plagiarism and duplicate publication damage research integrity and academic trust.

Research Stars also provides responsible guidance regarding artificial intelligence and automated content generation through its AI Policy. The journal allows ethical and transparent use of AI-assisted tools only when authors properly disclose their usage during manuscript submission. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, citations, interpretation, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because accountability and intellectual responsibility belong only to human contributors. The policy also discourages misuse of AI-generated references, fabricated content, manipulated data, or automated writing without disclosure. Several international academic discussions have highlighted concerns regarding undisclosed AI-generated content and ethical misuse of automated writing systems in scholarly publishing.

The journal maintains research integrity and publication transparency through its Retraction Policy. Articles may be retracted when there is clear evidence of plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated data, unethical research conduct, manipulated peer review, authorship disputes, or major scientific errors affecting the reliability of the research findings. Retraction procedures are conducted carefully, transparently, and ethically to protect the integrity of the scholarly record. Published retraction notices may remain publicly accessible to maintain publication transparency and academic accountability. International publication ethics organizations also recommend transparent correction and retraction systems to preserve research reliability.

Research Stars further strengthens ethical publishing through its Malpractice Statement Policy, which defines the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers in maintaining academic honesty and ethical behaviour. The policy discourages practices such as data fabrication, falsification, fake peer review, citation manipulation, authorship misuse, conflicts of interest, and unethical research conduct. Editors and reviewers are expected to maintain confidentiality, fairness, objectivity, and professional responsibility throughout the peer-review and editorial process. Authors must ensure that submitted research complies with ethical standards, institutional approvals, and responsible research practices.

The journal also follows a structured Withdrawal Policy to manage manuscript withdrawal requests before publication or during editorial processing. Authors are advised to request withdrawal only for valid academic or ethical reasons. Unethical withdrawal practices after peer review or advanced editorial processing may affect publication workflow, reviewer efforts, and editorial resources. The withdrawal policy supports transparent communication, editorial accountability, and responsible manuscript management practices. International publishers and scholarly organizations also maintain structured withdrawal and correction procedures to preserve publication integrity and editorial transparency.

Through these ethical guidelines, Research Stars promotes responsible research publication, transparent editorial practices, academic honesty, and global scholarly integrity in accordance with recognized international publishing ethics and open-access standards.