Ethics & Misconduct
Integrity in every stage of scholarly publishing.
KU8+ International Journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against publication malpractice. Our policies are based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Authorship Criteria
All listed authors must have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work — including conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript drafting. Listing individuals who do not meet these criteria (guest or gift authorship), or omitting qualifying contributors (ghost authorship), constitutes a breach of publication ethics. All authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for the work.
Plagiarism & Originality
All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using industry-standard detection tools. Submissions must present original work that has not been published elsewhere and is not under concurrent consideration by another journal. Extensive self-plagiarism (duplication of the authors' own previously published work) is also considered a violation. A similarity index above 15% will trigger editorial scrutiny.
Data Integrity & Fabrication
Authors must ensure that data reported in their manuscripts are accurate and have not been fabricated, falsified, or selectively omitted to support a desired conclusion. Raw data and research materials should be retained for at least five years post-publication. KU8+ encourages authors to make underlying data openly available in recognised repositories.
Conflicts of Interest
All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the objectivity of the research or the review process. Undisclosed conflicts of interest may result in retraction or correction of the published work.
Research Involving Human Subjects
Studies involving human participants must have been approved by a recognised ethics committee or institutional review board. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants and that the research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Identifying patient information must not be disclosed without written consent.
Retraction & Correction Policy
If a published article is found to contain significant errors, fabricated data, or breaches of ethics, KU8+ will issue a retraction notice linked to the original article. Minor errors that do not affect conclusions may be addressed via a published correction or erratum. Retractions and corrections are handled transparently and remain permanently associated with the original article record.
Report a Concern
Suspected cases of research or publication misconduct should be reported to the editorial office at editor@ku8journal.edu.ng. All reports will be handled confidentially and investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines.