Allegations of Research Misconduct

Linguistics Initiative is committed to upholding scholarly integrity and actively addresses allegations of research misconduct before and after publication in full accordance with the flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Definition of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • Data Fabrication: Making up research findings or recording fictitious linguistic data.
  • Data Falsification: Manipulating research data, corpus samples, or images to misrepresent findings.
  • Plagiarism: Appropriating another author's ideas, text, or results without proper citation.
  • Duplicate / Redundant Publication: Submitting identical or overlapping manuscripts simultaneously to multiple journals (salami slicing).
  • Authorship Manipulation: Adding ghost, guest, or gift authors.

2. Reporting and Investigation Procedure

  1. Submitting an Allegation: Anyone may report suspected misconduct by emailing the Editor-in-Chief at linguisticsinitiative@gmail.com with detailed evidence.
  2. Confidential Assessment: The editorial team conducts an initial confidential review to verify the validity of the evidence. Whistleblower identities are protected.
  3. Author Inquiry: If the allegation has merit, the corresponding author is contacted and given 14–30 days to provide an explanation and raw data.
  4. Editorial Action: Depending on the findings, the editor may reject the manuscript, request corrections/corrigenda, issue a formal retraction notice, or notify the author's home institution.