Standards of Integrity and Transparency

The Scenario Journal is committed to following standards of integrity and transparency in all stages of the publishing process. The journal adheres to the COPE and DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (2022) and follows Scopus Title Evaluation Requirements for Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statements (Elsevier, 2023). .

This statement outlines the ethical policies and procedures governing our publication process.

 

  1. Editor Responsibilities
  • Perform editorial duties impartially
  • Carry out all editorial tasks without bias or discrimination, adhering to  University College Cork’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy.
  • Identify and engage suitable reviewers
  • Select qualified peer reviewers for each manuscript, prepare and distribute reviewer guidelines, and confirm receipt of their reports.
  • Manage conflicts of interest
  • Detect and mitigate potential conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, or editors.
  • Communicate reviewer expectations
  • Provide reviewers with clear, appropriate guidelines and ensure they understand the review criteria.
  • Preserve anonymity when required
  • Maintain the confidentiality of authors’ and reviewers’ identities in accordance with the journal’s peer review process.
  • Keep authors informed
  • Update authors promptly on the status of their submissions and convey feedback in a timely manner.
  • Issue corrections or retractions as needed. Publish necessary corrections or retract articles when errors are identified in the published work.

 

  1. Peer Reviewer Responsibilities
  • Enhance quality 
  • Contribute to the journal’s standards by delivering thorough, objective critiques of manuscripts.
  • Declare conflicts 
  • Promptly disclose any real or potential conflict of interest to the handling editor.
  • Identify uncited work 
  • Spot relevant published literature that is missing from the reference list and alert the editor to possible plagiarism.
  • Maintain confidentiality 
  • Treat the manuscript and all related materials as strictly confidential.
  • Timely completion 
  • Submit the review within the agreed timeframe; if additional time is needed, inform the editor promptly or withdraw if unable to continue.
  • Secure handling: Ensure that reviewed articles remain confidential throughout the process.

 

  1. Authorship
  • Eligibility: Anyone wishing to submit work on performative teaching, learning, or research may become an author, provided the contribution aligns with the journal’s Scope and Focus.
  • Approval & accountability: The main corresponding author must approve both the submitted and final versions of the manuscript and accept responsibility for its accuracy and integrity.
  • Post submission changes: Any alteration to the author list after submission requires written consent from every author.

 

  1. Complaints and Appeals
  • Transparent process: The journal offers a clear, fair procedure for handling complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review conduct, or ethical matters.
  • Submission: Direct concerns to the Editor in Chief at scenario@ucc.ie
  • Confidential review: Each complaint is examined confidentially and impartially.
  • Remedial actions: Confirmed misconduct may result in retraction, correction, or notification of the authors’ institutions.

 

  1. Allegations of Research Misconduct
  • Zero tolerance stance: The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, data falsification, fabrication, citation manipulation, or duplicate publication.
  • Investigation protocol: All allegations are investigated fairly, following the procedures recommended by COPE. 
  • Consequences: Verified misconduct triggers appropriate measures such as retraction, correction, or informing the authors’ institutions.

 

  1. Conflicts of Interest
  • Full disclosure: Authors, reviewers, editors, and advisory board members must disclose any financial or personal interests that could influence their judgment.
  • Statement requirement: Disclosure statements accompany every submission.
  • Editorial safeguards: Editors will reassign manuscripts when a conflict exists to preserve impartiality.

 

  1. Data Sharing and Reproducibility
  • Open data encouragement: Authors are urged to make underlying data, code, and materials publicly accessible wherever feasible.
  • Recordkeeping: Researchers should retain all primary data and analysis scripts to enable validation of results.
  • Support for openness: The journal promotes open data practices and may request access to supporting resources during review.

 

  1. Ethical Oversight
  • Compliance: All studies involving humans, animals, or sensitive data must adhere to institutional, national, and international ethical standards.
  • Documentation: Authors must provide a disclosure statement with regards to ethical approval, participant consent etc. where applicable.
  • Right of rejection: Manuscripts lacking proper ethical clearance may be rejected outright.

 

  1. Intellectual Property
  • Copyright retained: Authors keep the copyright to their work (see our copyright statement).
  • License: Published articles are released under a CC BYNC 0 license (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
  • Third-party material: Submitted content must not infringe existing copyrights; any third-party material requires appropriate permission.

 

  1. Post Publication Discussion, Corrections, and Retractions
  • Amendments: When errors, ethical issues, or misconduct are identified after publication, the journal will issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines.
  • Transparency: All post publication changes are clearly marked in the article record.

 

  1. Integrity of the Scholarly Record
  • Plagiarism: Authors submitting a manuscript for publication confirm that it is their own work unless stated otherwise.
  • Monitoring: Redundant publication, data manipulation, and inappropriate citation practices are actively monitored.
  • Editorial authority: Editors reserve the right to reject or retract any work that threatens the reliability of the scholarly record.

 

  1. AI-Related Policy

We recognise that AI tools are increasingly used in research, writing, and publishing. Authors may employ AI for editing, summarising, or data analysis, provided they:

  • Acknowledge AI contributions – disclose any AI‑generated text, images, or data; AI cannot be listed as an author.
  • Detail AI methods – describe the tools and procedures used in the methodology section and verify all AI‑produced results manually.
  • Uphold ethics – AI must not be used to fabricate or manipulate data, sources, or citations.
  • Respect editorial processes – the journal does not use AI for peer‑review decisions, though it may employ AI for plagiarism detection and language polishing.
  • Accept full accountability – authors remain solely responsible for the integrity of their work, and AI‑generated content must satisfy the journal’s plagiarism standards.
  • Submitting to the journal signifies acceptance of these principles and a commitment to ethical AI use in scholarly communication.