Publishing Ethics

As the formal pillar of scholarly communication, publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal fulfils far more functions than the simple dissemination of research. It forms a fundamental building block for constructing a coherent, credible knowledge network in finance and economics. It provides prima facie evidence of the quality and impact of authors’ research, and by extension, reflects the standing of their affiliated institutions. It both embodies and upholds the principles of the scientific method. For these and other reasons, it is essential to establish clear ethical standards governing the conduct of all parties involved in the publication process: authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, publishers, and supporting academic bodies. All participants must treat one another with respect, dignity, and fairness, free from discrimination, harassment, bullying, or retaliation.

These ethical guidelines are specifically developed for primary research published in the Journal of Financial and Economic Dynamics (JFED). They may also apply to review articles and other professional publications hosted by the journal. Individual editorial processes may feature more detailed or tailored ethical protocols, which are typically outlined in the JFED Author Guidelines. The journal endorses and adheres to field-specific ethical standards and best practices established for research in finance and economics.

1 Duties of the Publisher

1.1 Guardianship of the Scholarly Record

These guidelines are formulated to uphold the integrity of academic publishing, with particular recognition of the publisher’s critical role in supporting editors and the invaluable voluntary contributions of peer reviewers in safeguarding the scholarly record. While ethical codes necessarily address potential misconduct, the overall robustness of the scholarly system and the relative rarity of ethical violations are a testament to responsible research practice. The publisher supports, invests in, and fosters high-quality scholarly communication, while retaining ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with best practices across all publications.
As a specialised platform dedicated to advancing rigorous research in finance and economics, JFED takes its role as guardian of the scholarly record with the utmost seriousness. The journal documents and disseminates key insights into global economic trends, financial systems, and market dynamics, and embeds its stewardship responsibilities into all policies—most notably the ethical framework set out in these guidelines.
JFED implements these policies and procedures to assist editors, reviewers, and authors in fulfilling their ethical obligations. The journal collaborates with other publishers and industry organisations to establish best practices concerning ethical conduct, errors, and retractions.

1.2 Safeguarding Editorial Independence

The journal is committed to full editorial independence. Advertising revenue, reprint sales, and other commercial interests shall have no influence whatsoever on editorial decisions.

1.3 Collaborating to Establish Industry Best Practices

JFED promotes ethical best practice by supporting editors’ membership in leading publication ethics committees and encouraging active participation in discipline-specific ethical forums. The journal provides editors with access to professional plagiarism-detection software for all submissions.

1.4 Providing Technical, Procedural, and Legal Support

The publisher supports editors in coordinating with other journals and publishers where beneficial, and offers specialist legal review and advice when necessary—especially regarding issues unique to financial and economic research, such as the confidentiality of financial data and compliance with relevant regulatory requirements.

2 Educating Researchers on Publishing Ethics

JFED provides extensive educational resources and guidance on publication ethics, with a special focus on early-career researchers. Particular attention is given to ethical challenges specific to finance and economics, including data sourcing, model transparency, and conflicts of interest in policy-related analysis.

2.1 Competing Interests for Editors Employed by the Publisher

Editors of JFED who are also employees of the publisher are required to disclose any competing or conflicting interests that may affect, or reasonably appear to affect, their editorial judgement. Competing interests must be declared as soon as they arise and at least annually, to allow for appropriate assessment, mitigation, or resolution.
Persistent competing interests—such as patents or significant financial holdings in relevant sectors—may be disclosed on the journal’s website. Conflicts directly related to a specific manuscript may be disclosed within the published article.

2.2 Competing Interests Include Both Financial and Non-Financial Interests

Relevant competing interests for editors include, but are not limited to:

Current academic appointments, consulting roles, other editorial positions, advisory roles at financial institutions or public bodies, board memberships, or service as an expert witness—whether paid or unpaid.
Financial interests, including patents or patent applications, directorships, ownership, or significant personal investments in sectors closely related to the content of a manuscript. Minor holdings in publicly traded stocks (less than 1% of outstanding shares) or investments through diversified mutual funds or pension funds are generally exempt, but must still be declared if they directly overlap with the manuscript’s topic.
Editors employed by the publisher are strongly discouraged from submitting research papers to JFED, except in exceptional circumstances—such as work completed or commissioned prior to taking up their editorial role. In all such cases, the editor-author must declare the conflict at submission, and the journal will ensure fully independent editorial processing. If accepted, the published article will include a disclosure statement noting the employment relationship and confirming independent peer review.
Editors must not be involved in the evaluation of papers submitted by family members, close colleagues, or related to products, services, or financial instruments in which they have a direct interest. Editorial staff are prohibited from using confidential information obtained through their work for personal gain.

3 Duties of Editors

3.1 Publication Decisions

The editor of JFED holds full and independent responsibility for deciding which submitted manuscripts are suitable for publication. Decisions are based solely on the validity of the research and its significance to the finance and economics communities. Editors are guided by the journal’s editorial board policies and applicable laws concerning libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editors may consult other editors and reviewers when reaching publication decisions.

3.2 Peer Review

Editors are responsible for ensuring that the peer-review process is fair, impartial, and timely. Research manuscripts are normally assessed by at least two independent external reviewers with demonstrated expertise in the relevant field. Editors may seek additional opinions where necessary. Editors follow best practices to avoid fraudulent or inappropriate reviewer selection.

Editors review all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and reviewer suggestions regarding self-citation to identify and eliminate any risk of bias.

3.3 Fair Play

Editors evaluate manuscripts based exclusively on their intellectual content, without regard to authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views.
JFED’s editorial policies promote transparency and full, honest reporting—especially concerning data, methodologies, and model specifications central to empirical and theoretical research in finance and economics. Editors ensure that reviewers and authors understand their respective responsibilities. All editorial communications use the journal’s official electronic submission system, and a transparent appeal process is available for editorial decisions.

3.4 Citations and Journal Metrics

Editors must not artificially manipulate journal metrics to influence rankings. Editors shall not require authors to include citations to JFED or any other journal except for genuine scholarly reasons. Authors must not be pressured to cite the work of editors, reviewers, or their associates for non-academic purposes. Editors may remove inappropriate citation requests from reviewer comments before sharing them with authors.

3.5 Confidentiality

Editors must preserve the confidentiality of all submitted materials and communications with reviewers, unless otherwise agreed with authors and reviewers. In exceptional cases involving suspected research misconduct, and in consultation with the publisher, editors may share limited information with relevant institutional or investigative bodies. Unless the journal operates an open peer-review system, reviewers’ identities remain confidential.
Unpublished material from submitted manuscripts must not be used in editors’ own research without the authors’ explicit written consent. Confidential information or ideas obtained through peer review must be protected and not used for personal advantage.

3.6 Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in Editorial Processes

Editors may only use generative AI and AI-assisted tools for administrative tasks and language polishing. Such tools must not be used to make substantive editorial decisions, assess scholarly merit, or generate unverified comments to authors. Any use of AI tools must be clearly declared.

3.7 Declaration of Competing Interests

Potable editorial conflicts of interest must be declared to the publisher in writing before taking up an editorial role, and updated promptly if new conflicts arise. The publisher may publish these declarations in the journal.
Editors must not participate in decisions concerning papers written by themselves, family members, or close colleagues, or papers related to financial instruments, products, or services in which they have a direct interest. Such submissions undergo the journal’s standard independent review process, and this is clearly stated in any published output. Editors enforce JFED’s policy on conflict-of-interest disclosure for authors and reviewers.

3.8 Vigilance Over the Published Record

Editors work with the publisher to protect the integrity of the published record by investigating reported or suspected misconduct—including research, publication, reviewer, and editorial misconduct.
This typically involves contacting the authors and giving due consideration to complaints, and may include further engagement with relevant institutions.
Editors use the publisher’s systems to detect misconduct such as plagiarism or data fabrication. When presented with convincing evidence of misconduct, editors coordinate with the publisher to issue timely corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other appropriate amendments to the scholarly record. Editors maintain up-to-date knowledge of policies and procedures safeguarding publication integrity.

4 Duties of Reviewers

4.1 Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review supports editors in making informed decisions and helps authors improve their work. As a core component of scholarly communication, peer review requires rigorous evaluation of a manuscript’s theoretical validity, empirical robustness, and contribution to finance or economics. Reviewers must also identify potential ethical concerns, including substantial overlap with other published work, doubts about data authenticity, or insufficient methodological transparency.
Reviewers who lack sufficient expertise or cannot complete a timely review must notify the editor and decline the invitation.

4.2 Standards of Objectivity and Competing Interests

Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of authors is unacceptable. Reviewers should present clear, well-supported arguments.
Reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interest to the editor before agreeing to review, including collaborative projects, direct financial competition, close personal relationships, or institutional affiliations with authors within the previous three years. Reviewers should consult the editor about possible recusal if bias could reasonably be perceived.

4.3 Citations

Reviewers should not suggest citations to their own work or that of associates unless genuinely necessary for the scholarly quality of the manuscript. Citations must not be recommended to inflate citation counts or increase visibility. Reviewers who suggest citations must provide complete bibliographic details and a clear academic justification. Editors reserve the right to remove inappropriate citations.

4.4 Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share reviews or manuscript details with third parties or contact authors directly without editorial permission. Unpublished material may not be used in reviewers’ own research without the authors’ explicit written consent. Confidential information obtained through peer review must be protected and not exploited for personal gain.

4.5 Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in Peer Review

Reviewers are prohibited from using generative AI tools to conduct core manuscript assessment or write review reports. AI may support language checks, but all intellectual judgements regarding scholarly quality, originality, and validity remain the sole responsibility of the human reviewer. Uploading any part of a confidential manuscript to a public generative AI platform constitutes a serious breach of confidentiality and is strictly forbidden.

5 Duties of Authors

5.1 Reporting Standards

Authors of original research must present an accurate account of their work and an objective assessment of its significance. Underlying data, code, and methodological procedures must be reported precisely and in sufficient detail to enable replication—a foundational principle of empirical finance and economics. Deliberate falsification or misrepresentation constitutes unethical conduct and is unacceptable. Review and theoretical articles must also be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.

5.2 Data Access and Retention

Authors must provide research data for editorial review and comply with JFED’s data transparency policy. Where legally and ethically permitted, authors should facilitate public access to reproducible code and data, and retain such data for at least five years after publication. For proprietary data, authors must provide detailed access procedures and work with editors to establish a robust verification pathway.

5.3 Originality and Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors must certify that their work is original. When using ideas or content from others, appropriate citation and quotation must be applied, and necessary permissions obtained. All forms of plagiarism—including direct copying and unattributed paraphrasing—are unethical and unacceptable. Proper credit must always be given to the work of others.

5.4 Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Authors must not publish substantially the same research in more than one primary research journal. Simultaneous submission to multiple journals is unethical and unacceptable. Prior presentation on recognised preprint servers must be disclosed at submission.

Authors must cite relevant, timely, and verifiable literature. They should:

Ensure all claims relying on external sources are accurately cited.
Verify the accuracy and availability of all cited works.
Avoid excessive or inappropriate self-citation.
Avoid inflated citations to individual authors, institutions, or journals.
Refrain from reciprocal citation stacking arrangements.

5.5 Authorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of the study. All such contributors should be included as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all appropriate co-authors are listed, have approved the final manuscript, and agree to its submission. All authors accept collective responsibility for the work.

5.6 Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in Scientific Writing

Any use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in the writing process must be explicitly disclosed in the manuscript’s acknowledgements or methods section. Authors retain full responsibility for all content—including material generated by AI—and guarantee its accuracy, originality, and compliance with ethical standards. AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

5.7 Notification of Fundamental Errors

If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to notify the editor immediately and cooperate fully in retracting or correcting the paper.

5.8 Compliance with Regulatory and Ethical Standards

For research involving human participants, confidential proprietary data, or topics with material market-moving implications, authors must confirm compliance with all relevant ethical and legal requirements, including appropriate approvals and informed consent. The journal may require supporting documentation of such approvals.