Sustainability and Sports Science Journal (hereafter SSSJ) takes 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 SSSJ and/or its editors encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. In the event that a journal's publisher or SSSJ editors become aware of any allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in our journal, SSSJ shall follow COPE's guidelines (The Core Practices, 2017) in dealing with allegations.

Duties of the Editor and the Editorial Board

Publication decisions. The Editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The publication decision should be guided by the policies of the journal’s Editorial Board and should be based exclusively on academic merit and reviewers’ recommendations. The Editor must comply with current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor may make publication decisions in consultation with reviewers or members of the Editorial Board. The Editor should take reasonable and responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

Fair play. The Editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality. The Editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in the Editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. The Editor should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest. Where appropriate, a co‑editor, associate editor, or another member of the Editorial Board should handle the manuscript. The Editor should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations. SSSJ will respond to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or members of the Editorial Team. Cases of possible plagiarism or duplicate/redundant publication will be assessed by the journal. In other cases, the journal may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies.

Duties of the Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions. Peer review assists the Editor in making editorial decisions and may also assist the author in improving the paper through editorial communication.

Promptness. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the Editor.

Standards of objectivity. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the Editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider 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 papers.

Reviewer misconduct. The Editor will take reviewer misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of serious reviewer misconduct, such as plagiarism, will be taken to the institutional level.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards. Authors reporting results of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Originality and plagiarism. Authors should adhere to publication requirements that: (i) submitted work is entirely original, (ii) is not plagiarized, (iii) has not been published elsewhere, and (iv) if the authors have used the work and/or words of others this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication. An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of sources. Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of a manuscript. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be named in an Acknowledgement section. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list of the manuscript, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards. If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest. All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works. When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the Editor or publisher and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy.

This policy forms an integral part of the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement of Sustainability and Sports Science Journal and applies to all manuscripts submitted to the journal. This policy follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and internationally accepted best practices for ethical and transparent scholarly publishing.

General principles. Sustainability and Sports Science Journal is committed to the highest standards of research integrity, transparency, and author accountability. Artificial intelligence (AI) and AI‑assisted technologies may be used in the manuscript preparation process only as supportive tools. They must not replace human intellectual contribution, critical thinking, scientific judgment, or author responsibility. Authors remain fully and exclusively responsible for the intellectual content of their manuscripts, including any content generated or assisted by AI tools. AI tools cannot meet the criteria for authorship and therefore must not be listed as authors or co‑authors.

Permitted uses of AI. The limited and responsible use of AI‑assisted technologies may be acceptable for purposes such as: (i) improving language quality, clarity, and readability; (ii) correcting grammar, spelling, and minor stylistic issues; and (iii) assisting with the editing or restructuring of text originally written by the authors. In all cases, AI tools must be used under meaningful human oversight, and the final manuscript must reflect the authors’ own scientific reasoning, interpretation, and conclusions.

Non‑permitted uses of AI. The use of AI tools is not permitted for: (i) generating original research findings, hypotheses, or scientific interpretations; (ii) creating, fabricating, falsifying, or manipulating data, analyses, tables, figures, references, or citations; (iii) producing discussion sections or conclusions without substantial and demonstrable human intellectual input; or (iv) replacing author accountability or responsibility for the work. AI‑generated content must not be presented as original scientific research.

Mandatory disclosure of AI use. Authors must explicitly disclose any use of generative AI or AI‑assisted technologies during manuscript preparation. The disclosure must specify the name of the AI tool used and the purpose for which it was used. This statement may be included in the manuscript (e.g., in the Methods section, Acknowledgements, or a dedicated disclosure section) or in the cover letter submitted at the time of submission. The use of basic tools solely for grammar, spelling, or reference formatting does not require disclosure.

Editorial screening and verification. As part of the editorial process, manuscripts submitted to Sustainability and Sports Science Journal may be screened using professional plagiarism‑detection and AI‑detection software to support editorial assessment. Automated screening tools are used solely as supportive indicators and do not replace editorial judgment, peer review, or COPE‑based editorial procedures. The results of such tools do not constitute conclusive evidence of research misconduct. All editorial decisions are based on informed human evaluation.

Editorial actions. If concerns arise regarding undisclosed, inappropriate, or unethical use of AI tools, the editorial team may request clarification or additional information from the authors, require revisions to ensure compliance with ethical standards, or reject the manuscript in cases of serious or unresolved breaches of publication ethics. All actions will be conducted following fair, transparent, and documented editorial procedures.

Policy review. Given the rapid evolution of AI technologies, this policy may be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure continued alignment with ethical standards and best editorial practices.