Acta Biochimica Indonesiana (ActaBioIna) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, transparency, and ethical scholarly publishing. The journal follows the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in addressing allegations of research misconduct involving submitted manuscripts and published articles.

1. Definition and Scope of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct refers to practices that compromise the integrity, reliability, or credibility of scientific research and publication. Such practices include, but are not limited to:

• Fabrication: Making up research data, experimental results, or observations and presenting them as genuine findings.

• Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, procedures, images, or data in ways that misrepresent the research findings.

• Plagiarism: Using another person's ideas, text, data, or intellectual contributions without appropriate acknowledgment.

• Duplicate or Redundant Publication: Submitting or publishing substantially similar research in multiple journals without appropriate disclosure or justification.

• Authorship Misconduct: Inappropriately assigning, excluding, or misrepresenting authorship and contributions.

• Citation and Peer Review Manipulation: Manipulating citations, reviewer identities, or the peer review process to obtain an unfair advantage.

• Ethical Violations: Conducting research involving human participants, animals, or biological materials without the required ethical approval or appropriate safeguards.

Honest errors and legitimate differences in scientific interpretation are not automatically considered research misconduct.

2. Reporting Allegations

ActaBioIna encourages authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other stakeholders to report suspected research misconduct to the Editorial Office.

Reports should include sufficient information to identify the manuscript or published article, describe the alleged misconduct, and provide supporting evidence where available.

All allegations will be assessed objectively, confidentially, and fairly. The journal will make reasonable efforts to protect the identities of individuals reporting concerns in good faith.

3. Investigation Procedures

When an allegation is received, the Editorial Board will conduct an initial assessment to determine whether further examination is warranted.

Where appropriate, the journal may request explanations, original research data, laboratory records, ethical approval documents, or other supporting materials from the authors.

Authors will be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to allegations before editorial action is taken. The journal may consult independent experts and communicate with relevant research institutions when a formal investigation is necessary.

Investigations and editorial decisions will be guided by COPE recommendations and the available evidence.

4. Editorial Actions

Depending on the nature and severity of the findings, the journal may reject a manuscript, request clarification or revisions, issue a correction or expression of concern, or retract a published article.

Where appropriate, the journal may notify relevant institutions or other journals. Editorial actions are intended to preserve the integrity of the scientific record rather than impose disciplinary sanctions.

5. Appeals and Accountability

Authors may request reconsideration of an editorial decision by submitting a reasoned appeal supported by relevant evidence.

The Editor-in-Chief or an independent editor without a conflict of interest will review the appeal. Final editorial decisions will be based on scientific evidence, procedural fairness, and publication ethics.

ActaBioIna remains committed to preventing research misconduct and maintaining the trustworthiness of published scientific literature.