1. Introduction

Jurnal Optimasi Sistem Industri (JOSI) is fundamentally committed to ensuring that all research published in its pages is conducted with the highest ethical standards. Ethical oversight is a shared responsibility, involving authors, their institutions, funding bodies, peer reviewers, and the journal itself. This policy outlines JOSI's requirements and procedures for ensuring that research is conducted and reported responsibly, with due respect for the rights, dignity, and welfare of any participants, the integrity of data, and compliance with relevant ethical and legal frameworks. JOSI adheres to the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in this regard.

2. Description

Ethical oversight in the context of scholarly publishing refers to the processes and policies designed to ensure that research is conducted and disseminated in an ethical manner. For JOSI, this primarily involves:

• Protection of Human Participants: Ensuring that research involving human subjects (e.g., in ergonomic studies, workplace analyses, surveys, interviews within industrial or organizational settings) has obtained appropriate informed consent, protected participant privacy and confidentiality, and considered the welfare of vulnerable populations.
• Data Privacy and Confidentiality: Safeguarding sensitive information, whether from individuals or organizations (e.g., proprietary company data used in case studies or optimization models), and complying with data protection regulations.
• Responsible Conduct of Research: Upholding the principles of research integrity by avoiding fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and other forms of misconduct.
• Transparency and Disclosure: Ensuring that all relevant ethical considerations, approvals, and consents are clearly reported in submitted manuscripts.
• Animal Welfare (if applicable): Although research involving animals is not typical for JOSI's scope, should any submitted work involve animals (e.g., in highly specialized human-animal interaction studies within an industrial context), it must adhere to strict ethical guidelines for animal care and use.
• Journal's Ethical Practices: JOSI itself commits to ethical practices in its operations, including its business and marketing activities, ensuring that editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit.

3. Policy

• Compliance with Ethical Standards: All research submitted to JOSI must have been conducted in full compliance with relevant national, local, and international ethical guidelines and legal regulations. Authors are responsible for ensuring such compliance.

• Research Involving Human Subjects:

  • Informed Consent to Participate: For all studies involving human participants, freely given informed consent to participate in the research must have been obtained from each participant, or from their legally authorized representative (e.g., for individuals unable to provide consent). Authors must confirm that such consent was obtained and should be prepared to provide documentation if requested by the journal.
  • Confidentiality and Anonymity: Authors must take all necessary steps to protect the confidentiality and anonymity of human participants. Identifying information (names, specific job titles if identifying, detailed locations that could identify individuals or small groups) should not be included in the manuscript unless it is essential for scholarly purposes and explicit, separate consent for the publication of such information has been obtained from the individuals concerned.
  • Vulnerable Populations: If the research involves individuals or groups who may be considered vulnerable (e.g., employees in precarious work conditions, individuals with disabilities in workplace studies, economically disadvantaged groups), authors must provide a clear justification for their inclusion and describe the additional measures taken to protect their rights, welfare, and privacy, and to minimize any potential risks or coercion.
  • Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval: Research involving human subjects should generally be reviewed and approved (or granted an exemption) by an appropriate independent ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB) before the research commences. Authors must state in their manuscript the name of the ethics committee/IRB that approved the study and provide the approval number or identifier if available. If ethics approval was deemed not necessary or was waived by an ethics committee/IRB, a clear justification for this, citing relevant local regulations or institutional policies, must be provided.

• Research Involving Animals (if applicable):

  • In the rare event that research submitted to JOSI involves animals, it must adhere to institutional and national guidelines for the ethical care and use of laboratory or other animals. Evidence of approval from an appropriate animal ethics committee must be provided.

• Data Privacy, Security, and Organizational Confidentiality:

  • Authors must ensure that all data, especially personal data or sensitive/proprietary data from organizations, are handled, stored, and reported in a manner that respects privacy and confidentiality and complies with applicable data protection laws and regulations.
  • Appropriate measures, such as data anonymization or de-identification, should be employed when reporting sensitive data. If data cannot be sufficiently de-identified, this must be addressed through explicit consent for publication or by restricting data sharing.
  • For research involving specific organizations (e.g., case studies), authors must confirm that they have obtained necessary permissions from the organization(s) to conduct and publish the research, particularly if proprietary or confidential information is included.

• Consent for Publication of Identifiable Information:

  • Beyond consent to participate in research, separate and explicit informed consent for publication must be obtained if a manuscript contains any personally identifiable information (including images, detailed case descriptions, or verbatim quotes that might identify an individual). This also applies to identifiable company information where relevant. JOSI may require authors to provide evidence of such consent for publication.

• Responsible Research Conduct:

  • JOSI expects all authors to have conducted their research with integrity, adhering to established principles of responsible research conduct and avoiding all forms of research misconduct as detailed in JOSI’s "Policy on Allegations of Misconduct."

• Journal's Ethical Business Practices:

  • JOSI is committed to maintaining ethical standards in its own publishing operations. Editorial decisions are based solely on the scientific merit of manuscripts, relevance to the journal's scope, and compliance with ethical standards, without influence from commercial interests, advertising, or marketing considerations.

4. Technicalities to Achieve and Materialise the Policies

• Ethics Statement in Manuscript:

  • Authors are required to include a dedicated "Ethical Considerations" or "Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate" section in their submitted manuscript. This section must provide clear statements regarding:
    • Confirmation that informed consent was obtained from all human participants (if applicable), and how (e.g., written, verbal).
    • The name of the ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB) that approved the study (or granted an exemption), along with any relevant approval numbers or identifiers. If ethics approval was not required by local laws or institutional policy for the type of study conducted, a clear justification must be provided.
    • Confirmation of compliance with relevant data protection and privacy regulations.
    • Details regarding consent for publication of any identifiable personal or organizational information, images, or case details.
    • For studies involving vulnerable populations, a description of the safeguards implemented.

• Documentation and Verification by JOSI:

  • JOSI reserves the right to request authors to provide supporting documentation concerning ethical approvals (e.g., a copy of the IRB approval letter) or consent forms (appropriately anonymized to protect participant privacy).
  • In cases of concern or ambiguity, JOSI may contact the named ethics committee or IRB to verify the information provided by the authors.

• Role of Peer Reviewers and Editors:

  • Peer reviewers and editors are expected to be vigilant for any potential ethical issues in submitted manuscripts. If concerns arise, they must report them to the Editor-in-Chief.
  • Editors will evaluate the ethical statements provided by authors and the overall ethical conduct of the research as part of the manuscript assessment process. Manuscripts that do not meet JOSI's ethical standards will not be accepted for publication.

• Addressing Ethical Concerns and Violations:

  • Any ethical concerns or suspected violations identified either before or after publication will be investigated thoroughly by JOSI in accordance with its "Policy on Allegations of Misconduct" and relevant COPE guidelines.
  • Depending on the severity of the ethical breach, actions may range from requesting clarification and corrections from authors, to contacting authors' institutions, or, in serious cases, issuing an Expression of Concern or retracting the published article.

• Guidance for Authors:

  • JOSI’s "Instructions for Authors" will provide specific instructions on the information required for the ethics statement.
  • Authors are strongly encouraged to consult relevant national and international ethical guidelines (e.g., the Declaration of Helsinki for research involving humans, although its primary focus is clinical, its principles of informed consent and risk minimization are broadly applicable) and their own institutional and funding body requirements before commencing their research.

• Case Studies and Research within Organizations:

  • For case studies or research conducted within specific organizations, authors must confirm that they have obtained all necessary permissions and approvals from the participating organization(s) to conduct the research and to publish the findings. This includes permission to use any organizational data or to identify the organization if it is not anonymized. Confidentiality agreements must be respected.

This Ethical Oversight policy is integral to JOSI's commitment to responsible and trustworthy scholarship. Authors are urged to consider all ethical aspects of their research meticulously from inception through to publication.