The Journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. Our policies and practices adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, ensuring transparency, integrity, and fairness throughout the publication process.
Our Ethics Statement sets out responsibilities for authors, editors and reviewers and includes our policies and practices on key areas such as ethical oversight, authorship and contributorship, conflicts of interest, data sharing and reproducibility, intellectual property, post-publication discussions and corrections, and complaints and appeals.
Responsibilities of Authors:
• By submitting a manuscript to Accounting, Finance and Governance Review, author(s) attest that the manuscript is an original work and that it has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
• Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in the research work.
• Authors are not permitted to use Generative AI tools, with the exception of use for English language improvement, and possible assistance in statistical analysis.
• Authors should provide complete and accurate data, ensuring reproducibility of their findings. Data sharing and adherence to relevant data-sharing policies is strongly encouraged.
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the submitted manuscript. The corresponding author should ensure that all authors have agreed to its submission for publication.
• Authors must adhere to their institution’s guidelines for informed consent, privacy protection, and confidentiality.
• Authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be acknowledged.
• Authors must obtain necessary permissions for any copyrighted material used in their submissions, respecting relevant intellectual property rights and plagiarism guidelines.
• Authors should promptly notify the editors of any corrections which result from discovery of significant errors or inaccuracies in their published works. Where the editors or the publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains an error, it is the obligation of the author to cooperate with the editors, including providing evidence to the editors where requested.
Responsibilities of Editors:
• Editors are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be reviewed or published.
• Editors should evaluate each manuscript solely on its intellectual contents.
• Editors should ensure the integrity of the publication review process. As such, editors should not reveal either the identity of authors of manuscripts to the reviewers, or the identity of reviewers to authors.
• Editors will select reviewers who have suitable expertise in the relevant field, taking account of the need for appropriate, inclusive and diverse representation. Editors will review all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and suggestions for self-citation made by reviewers in order to determine whether there is any potential for bias.
• Editors will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent of the author(s).
• Editors shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others. In no case shall a journal or its editors encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.
• Editors will work to safeguard the integrity of the publication by reviewing and assessing reported or suspected misconduct in conjunction with the Irish Accounting and Finance Association. This will generally include first contacting the author(s) of the paper and may also include communicating with the relevant institutions and research bodies.
• Editors presented with convincing evidence of misconduct will arrange with the Irish Accounting and Finance Association prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other correction to the record, as may be relevant.
• If an author disagrees with an editorial decision (e.g., rejection), they can appeal to the Editors. Appeals should be submitted within a specified timeframe (usually 30 days) after the decision. The appeal should include a detailed explanation of the grounds for disagreement. An independent panel, separate from the original decision-making process, reviews appeals. The panel’s decision is final. The Editors maintain confidentiality during this process, respecting the privacy of all involved parties.
• Authors or reviewers who believe there has been a procedural error, bias, or misconduct during the review process can submit a formal complaint. Formal complaints are not sent to the Editors. Complaints should be sent to the Council of the Irish Accounting & Finance Association via email (info@iafa.ie), clearly outlining the issue. The Council will investigate complaints promptly and impartially, involving relevant parties as needed.
Responsibilities of Reviewers:
• Reviewers should only accept an invitation to review if they feel qualified to review the manuscript and are in a position to carry out the review in a timely manner according to the timeline set out in the letter from the editor.
• Reviewers should notify the editor immediately if they are unable to accept the review request.
• Reviewers should conduct the review objectively without personal criticism of the author. They should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Reviewers must not disclose any information regarding a submitted manuscript. All manuscripts received for review are to be treated as confidential and privileged information.
• Reviewers should review manuscripts within the specified time period and notify the editors if unable to review the manuscript within this timeframe.
• Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscripts.
• Reviewers should not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent of the author(s).
• Reviewers are not permitted to use Generative AI tools, with the exception of use for English language improvement.
• Reviewers should be alert to potential ethical issues in the paper such as similarity or overlap with other published work and should bring these to the attention of the editor.