Editorial Policies

THE INCUBATOR: Journal of Postgraduate Studies, Federal University of Lafia is founded on the principles of honesty, accountability, transparency, and scholarly responsibility. The journal expects every submission to reflect honest research effort, intellectual integrity, and compliance with applicable ethical standards. Its editorial policies are guided by internationally recognised best practices, including the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and the principles of COPE, while also aligning, where applicable, with the authorship and reporting standards of ICMJE and the African Studies’ Association.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo editorial screening and peer review. This process is designed not only to assess scientific merit, originality, innovation, methodological rigour, relevance to STEM and Humanities disciplines, clarity, and scholarly contribution, but also to safeguard research integrity. Editorial decisions are made independently, and the College of Postgraduate Studies and the Federal University of Lafia do not interfere with acceptance or rejection decisions, which are determined exclusively through the peer-review and editorial process.

The journal permits authorship only for individuals who have made meaningful intellectual contributions to the research. To qualify as an author, a contributor must have played a substantial role in the conception or design of the study, data collection, analysis, or interpretation; participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript; approved the final version; and agreed to be accountable for the integrity of the work. Honorary, gift, and ghost authorship are not permitted. Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be made formally by the corresponding author and supported by written consent endorsed by all authors, while changes after acceptance are allowed only in exceptional circumstances.

The corresponding author serves as the primary link between the authors and the Editorial Office and is responsible for ensuring that all listed authors meet the authorship criteria, confirming that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, coordinating responses to reviewers’ comments and editorial queries, ensuring that revisions are accurately implemented, and approving the final galley proof before publication. Failure to fulfil these responsibilities may delay publication.

To preserve trust in scholarly communication, all authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any conflicts of interest or competing interests that could influence, or appear to influence, their objectivity. These may include financial relationships, personal or family relationships, professional rivalries or collaborations, institutional affiliations, patent interests, consultancy roles, funding, or share ownership. Disclosure does not automatically invalidate a manuscript, but failure to disclose relevant competing interests may result in rejection, correction, or retraction. Editors with conflicts must recuse themselves, and reviewers who cannot provide an impartial assessment must decline participation.

The journal takes a firm position on research misconduct. Fabrication of data, falsification of results, plagiarism, distortion of images or data, and submission of fictitious or irrelevant references are unacceptable. All submitted manuscripts are subject to similarity and AI checks using standard plagiarism detection tools. Plagiarism includes copying text without attribution, paraphrasing without acknowledgment, undisclosed reuse of previously published work, and self-plagiarism. Manuscripts with unacceptable similarity or evidence of plagiarism will be rejected, and where misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retract the article depending on the seriousness of the violation.

The journal also requires image integrity and honest presentation of visual data. Figures, photographs, micrographs, charts, and similar materials must accurately reflect the original data. Limited technical adjustments are permitted only when applied uniformly and without altering the scientific meaning of the image. Where inappropriate manipulation is suspected, authors may be asked to provide original, unprocessed image data. Failure to provide authentic source data may result in rejection or retraction.

In support of transparency and reproducibility, authors are expected, wherever reasonably possible, to make the data, materials, and code underlying their findings accessible. This may include providing datasets as supplementary materials, depositing data in recognised public repositories, including a clear Data Availability Statement, identifying the source of specialised materials or instruments, and indicating how custom code can be accessed. For computational studies, authors are expected to provide version details and, where feasible, deposit custom code in reputable repositories. A Code Availability subsection should be included where computational tools are central to the work. Where data cannot be shared because of legal, ethical, privacy, or confidentiality constraints, the reason for restriction must be clearly stated.

The journal’s citation policy and reference integrity standards require all references to be relevant, verifiable, and directly connected to the research presented. References must contain complete bibliographic information, including authors, year, title, source, volume and issue where applicable, page numbers, and DOI or stable URL where available. Authors are responsible for ensuring that links are functional and that cited sources genuinely support the statements made in the manuscript. Fabricated, irrelevant, or unverifiable references constitute serious misconduct. APA 7th edition is acceptable for all submissions. Self-citation is permitted only when clearly relevant, while excessive or strategic self-citation intended to inflate metrics is not acceptable. References to unpublished work, works under review, or personal communications should be avoided where possible and used only with appropriate identification and permission.

Where research raises dual-use or broader ethical concerns, the journal applies heightened scrutiny. If a manuscript contains material that could be misused or pose risks to public safety, health, security, or the environment, reviewers and editors may request clarification, seek advice from independent experts, require modifications before publication, or decline publication where the risks outweigh the scholarly benefit.

When errors are identified after publication, the journal may issue corrections, errata, or retractions in order to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record. Minor errors that do not affect the conclusions of a study may be corrected through an online update or formal correction notice, while substantive errors affecting interpretation may be addressed through a citable correction linked to the original article. An article may be retracted if the results are proven unreliable due to error or misconduct, if fabrication or falsification is established, if plagiarism is identified, or if ethical standards were seriously violated. Retraction notices remain permanently linked to the affected article and clearly state the reason for retraction.

The journal recognises that authors may request name changes on published articles for personal, cultural, legal, or professional reasons. Upon formal request and verification, the journal will update the online HTML and PDF versions of the article. Such requests will be handled discreetly and respectfully, and a formal correction notice will be issued only if specifically requested by the author. Relevant metadata will also be updated, and indexing services will be notified where applicable.

Submission of a manuscript constitutes agreement to grant the journal a Licence to Publish if the work is accepted. This licence permits the journal to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive, index, and disseminate the work in print and electronic formats and through recognised databases and repositories. If a manuscript is rejected, the licence terminates automatically. The journal is open access, and the copyright for each published article resides with the publisher.

Where ethical violations or misconduct are confirmed, the journal reserves the right to impose sanctions proportionate to the offence and in line with international best practice. These may include rejection of the manuscript, publication of corrections or retractions, temporary or permanent submission bans, and notification of affiliated institutions or funding bodies where necessary. Through these policies, THE INCUBATOR affirms its commitment to rigorous and innovative research, ethical scholarship, support for early-career and postgraduate researchers, and the promotion of transparency, reproducibility, and meaningful scholarly contribution.