Publication Ethics

THE INCUBATOR: Journal of Postgraduate Studies, Federal University of Lafia is founded on the principles of honesty, accountability, transparency, and scholarly responsibility. As a journal of the College of Postgraduate Studies, Federal University of Lafia, it expects every submission to reflect honest research effort, intellectual integrity, and compliance with applicable ethical standards. The journal’s ethical standards are guided by internationally recognised best practices, including the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Where applicable, the journal also aligns with the authorship and reporting standards of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the African Studies’ Association.

Authors are required to present their findings truthfully and accurately. Any form of research misconduct, including fabrication of data, falsification of results, plagiarism, distortion of images or data, and submission of fictitious, irrelevant, or non-verifiable references, is unacceptable. By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that the work is original, has not been submitted elsewhere, has been reviewed and approved by all listed authors, complies with relevant ethical standards, and has obtained necessary ethical approvals where required. Every manuscript undergoes editorial screening and peer review, and the review process is intended not only to assess scholarly merit but also to safeguard research integrity.

Authorship carries both credit and responsibility. Only individuals who have made meaningful intellectual contributions to the conception or design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the manuscript should be listed as authors. All authors must approve the final version and agree to be accountable for the integrity of the work. The journal does not permit honorary, gift, or ghost authorship. Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be formally communicated by the corresponding author and supported by written consent endorsed by all authors. Changes after acceptance will be permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

The corresponding author has a central coordinating role in the publication process. The corresponding author must ensure that all listed authors meet the authorship criteria, confirm that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, serve as the primary contact with the Editorial Office, coordinate responses to reviewers and editors, ensure that all revisions are accurately implemented, and carefully review and approve the final galley proof before publication. Failure to fulfil these responsibilities may delay publication.

The journal requires full disclosure of conflicts of interest and competing interests by authors, reviewers, and editors. Competing interests may be financial, personal, professional, or institutional in nature. A disclosed conflict does not automatically lead to rejection; rather, disclosure enables proper editorial assessment and transparency. Reviewers who cannot provide an impartial assessment must decline participation, and editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a conflict exists. Failure to disclose relevant competing interests may result in sanctions, including rejection, correction, or retraction.

Where a manuscript contains research of concern, dual-use implications, or ethically sensitive content, the journal may apply heightened scrutiny. In such cases, the Editorial Board may request clarification from the authors, seek advice from independent experts, require modifications before publication, or decline publication where the risks outweigh the scholarly benefit. The journal is committed to promoting scientific advancement while safeguarding public welfare, health, security, and the environment.

The journal also upholds strict standards on image integrity and presentation of visual data. Figures, photographs, charts, micrographs, and other visual materials must accurately reflect the original data. Limited technical adjustments, such as brightness, contrast, or colour balance, are permissible only when applied uniformly and without altering the scientific meaning of the image. Adjustments must not obscure, remove, enhance, or introduce specific features. Where inappropriate manipulation is suspected, authors may be required to provide original, unprocessed image data. Failure to provide authentic source data may result in rejection or retraction.

To support transparency and reproducibility, authors are expected, wherever reasonably possible, to make the data underlying their findings accessible to readers. This may include providing datasets as supplementary material, depositing data in recognised public repositories, and including a clear Data Availability Statement in the manuscript. Where legal, ethical, privacy, or confidentiality restrictions prevent sharing, the reason for restriction must be stated clearly. Authors should also provide sufficient methodological detail to enable replication of the study, identify specialised materials or instruments used, and, for computational studies, indicate how the code can be accessed, provide version details where applicable, and deposit custom code in reputable repositories when feasible. A Code Availability subsection should be included where computational tools are central to the study.

The journal’s citation policy requires that all references be relevant, verifiable, and directly connected to the research presented. Each reference should contain complete bibliographic information, including author names, year, full title, journal or book title, volume and issue where applicable, page numbers, and DOI or stable URL where available. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all web links are functional and that cited sources genuinely support the statements made in the manuscript. Excessive or strategic self-citation intended to inflate metrics is not acceptable. References to unpublished manuscripts, works under review, or personal communications should be used sparingly and clearly identified where necessary. APA 7th edition is acceptable for all submissions.

All submitted manuscripts are subject to plagiarism and similarity screening, including AI checks using standard plagiarism detection tools. In this journal, plagiarism includes copying text without attribution, paraphrasing without acknowledgment, reuse of previously published work without citation, and self-plagiarism through undisclosed duplicate publication. Manuscripts found to contain unacceptable similarity or evidence of plagiarism will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retract the article depending on the severity of the case.

The journal recognises that errors can occur in published research and therefore provides for corrections, errata, and retractions to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record. Minor errors that do not affect the overall conclusions may be corrected through an online update or formal correction notice. Substantive errors that affect interpretation but do not invalidate the findings may be addressed through a citable correction notice linked to the original article. An article may be retracted where results are proven unreliable due to error or misconduct, where fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or serious ethical violations are identified. Retraction notices will clearly state the reason and remain permanently linked to the article.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal constitutes agreement to grant the journal a Licence to Publish if the manuscript is accepted. This licence permits the journal to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive, and disseminate the work through recognised databases and repositories. If a manuscript is rejected, the licence terminates automatically. The policy further states that the publication is open access and that copyright for each article resides with the publisher. Editorial decisions are made independently and are based solely on scientific merit, originality and innovation, methodological rigour, relevance to STEM and Humanities disciplines, clarity, and scholarly contribution. Institutional support from the College of Postgraduate Studies and the Federal University of Lafia does not interfere with editorial decisions.