Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement
PANCHAL: International Journal of Archaeology & Cultural Heritage is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, transparency, accountability, and responsible scholarly communication.
The journal’s editorial and publication practices are designed to be consistent with internationally recognized principles of ethical scholarly publishing, including relevant guidance provided through the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.
All participants in the publication process—including authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and the publisher—are expected to act responsibly, independently, transparently, and ethically throughout manuscript submission, peer review, editorial assessment, publication, and post-publication activities.
PANCHAL places particular importance on the responsible study, documentation, interpretation, conservation, and publication of archaeological sites, artefacts, cultural materials, human remains, indigenous knowledge, historical records, and cultural heritage resources.
Ethical Standard: COPE Core Practices and recognized scholarly publishing principles
Peer-Review Model: Double-Blind Peer Review
Plagiarism Policy: Strict Zero Tolerance for plagiarism and deliberate academic misconduct
Publication Frequency: Triannual
Responsibilities of Authors
Authors submitting manuscripts to PANCHAL are expected to comply with established principles of responsible research and scholarly publishing.
Authors should:
• Submit original work that has not been previously published and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
• Clearly distinguish original findings, interpretations, arguments, images, data, and materials from information obtained from other sources.
• Provide accurate citations and appropriate acknowledgment for all sources, publications, datasets, images, archival materials, artefacts, maps, photographs, illustrations, and intellectual contributions used in the manuscript.
• Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, data manipulation, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, and other forms of research misconduct.
• Present research methods, evidence, data, findings, interpretations, and limitations accurately and transparently.
• Ensure that authorship is limited to individuals who have made meaningful scholarly contributions to the conception, research, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or substantial revision of the manuscript.
• Obtain the approval of all listed authors before manuscript submission.
• Ensure that all authors agree with the submitted version of the manuscript and accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.
• Disclose all relevant funding sources, institutional support, financial relationships, competing interests, and potential conflicts of interest.
• Report applicable ethical approvals, excavation permissions, survey permissions, collection permissions, institutional approvals, museum permissions, community consent, or other relevant authorizations where required.
• Respect applicable laws, institutional policies, professional standards, and cultural considerations relating to archaeological sites, cultural heritage, artefacts, protected monuments, human remains, sacred materials, indigenous knowledge, and sensitive cultural information.
• Avoid publishing sensitive archaeological location information where disclosure could contribute to looting, vandalism, illicit excavation, trafficking, or damage to cultural heritage resources.
• Notify the editorial office promptly if a significant error, inaccuracy, ethical concern, or other problem is identified after submission or publication.
• Cooperate fully with editorial inquiries concerning research integrity, authorship, data, permissions, ethics, or other publication-related matters.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Peer reviewers play an important role in maintaining the scholarly quality, credibility, fairness, and integrity of PANCHAL.
Reviewers are expected to:
• Provide objective, constructive, evidence-based, and academically relevant evaluations.
• Assess manuscripts solely on scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, relevance, evidence, interpretation, and contribution to the journal’s scope.
• Treat manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and unpublished research materials as confidential.
• Not disclose, reproduce, distribute, discuss, share, or use unpublished manuscript content for personal, academic, commercial, competitive, or other unauthorized purposes.
• Identify relevant published research that authors may have overlooked where this is academically appropriate.
• Inform the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or falsified data, inappropriate citation practices, ethical concerns, or other possible misconduct.
• Declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest before accepting a review assignment.
• Decline a review where personal, professional, financial, institutional, academic, or competitive relationships could compromise impartiality.
• Refrain from requesting unnecessary citations to the reviewer’s own publications or other works for the purpose of increasing citation counts.
• Avoid personal criticism, discriminatory comments, abusive language, or statements unrelated to the academic quality of the manuscript.
• Complete reviews within the requested timeframe or promptly inform the editorial office when additional time or withdrawal from the assignment is necessary.
• Respect ethical, cultural, legal, and professional considerations concerning archaeological resources, cultural heritage, communities, artefacts, and sensitive research materials.
Responsibilities of Editors
Editors are responsible for maintaining a fair, independent, confidential, transparent, and academically sound editorial process.
Editors should:
• Evaluate manuscripts primarily on scholarly merit, originality, relevance, methodological quality, ethical integrity, and contribution to knowledge.
• Apply editorial policies consistently and without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, institutional affiliation, geographic location, religion, political belief, professional status, academic seniority, or other characteristics unrelated to scholarly quality.
• Maintain strict confidentiality concerning submitted manuscripts, authors, reviewers, editorial discussions, and unpublished research materials.
• Select reviewers with appropriate subject expertise and make reasonable efforts to avoid conflicts of interest.
• Protect the independence and integrity of editorial decisions.
• Consider reviewer recommendations critically rather than treating them as automatic publication decisions.
• Ensure that final editorial decisions are based on academic and ethical considerations.
• Take appropriate action when concerns involving plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflicts, unethical research, or other misconduct are raised.
• Ensure that allegations of misconduct are assessed fairly and without premature conclusions.
• Maintain appropriate documentation of significant editorial decisions where necessary.
• Prevent unauthorized use of unpublished manuscript information.
• Facilitate corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other post-publication actions when justified.
• Recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where significant conflicts of interest could compromise editorial independence.
Responsibilities of the Publisher
The publisher is expected to support the editorial independence, academic integrity, transparency, and responsible operation of PANCHAL.
Publisher responsibilities include:
• Supporting the independent functioning of the editorial process.
• Maintaining accurate publication records and published journal content.
• Providing appropriate infrastructure for manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, publication, and archiving.
• Supporting the long-term accessibility and preservation of published scholarly content.
• Facilitating corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other post-publication notices where necessary.
• Respecting the confidentiality of editorial and peer-review processes.
• Supporting transparent journal policies concerning peer review, ethics, copyright, licensing, access, and publication procedures.
• Ensuring that commercial, financial, institutional, sponsorship, or administrative considerations do not improperly influence editorial decisions.
• Cooperating with editors when credible allegations of publication or research misconduct require investigation.
Prohibited Publication Malpractice
PANCHAL does not accept practices that compromise the integrity, reliability, originality, fairness, legality, or transparency of scholarly research and publication.
Prohibited practices include, but are not limited to:
• Plagiarism and textual appropriation.
• Self-plagiarism or substantial reuse of previously published material without proper acknowledgment.
• Data fabrication.
• Data falsification or manipulation.
• Fabrication or alteration of archaeological, historical, scientific, archival, or field evidence.
• Duplicate or redundant publication.
• Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals.
• Guest, gift, honorary, or ghost authorship.
• Undisclosed use of another person’s intellectual contribution.
• Inappropriate manipulation of authorship order.
• Peer-review manipulation.
• Fabricated reviewer identities or reviewer accounts.
• Interference with or manipulation of editorial processes.
• Citation manipulation or coercive citation practices.
• Excessive or irrelevant self-citation intended to artificially influence citation metrics.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Misrepresentation of ethical approvals, research permissions, institutional approvals, excavation permits, or other authorizations.
• Unauthorized publication or reproduction of copyrighted images, photographs, maps, manuscripts, museum materials, archival documents, or datasets.
• Misrepresentation of archaeological provenance, ownership, collection history, excavation context, or artefact origin.
• Research involving illicitly excavated, unlawfully traded, stolen, or improperly acquired cultural materials without appropriate scholarly and ethical justification.
• Deliberate disclosure of sensitive archaeological information that may expose sites or cultural resources to looting, vandalism, illegal trafficking, or destruction.
• Unethical treatment, documentation, display, or publication of human remains or culturally sensitive materials.
• Manipulation of images, figures, photographs, maps, or digital reconstructions in ways that materially misrepresent research evidence.
• Misrepresentation of research results, conclusions, affiliations, funding, or institutional relationships.
Authorship and Contributorship
Authorship should accurately reflect meaningful scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript.
Individuals should be listed as authors only when they have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the research, acquisition or interpretation of evidence, analysis, drafting of the manuscript, or significant intellectual revision.
All listed authors should:
• Approve the final submitted manuscript.
• Agree to its submission for publication.
• Accept responsibility for their contribution.
• Be able to identify and take responsibility for the integrity of the work in which they participated.
Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged where relevant.
Administrative authority, institutional position, financial support, supervision alone, or personal relationships do not automatically justify authorship.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors, reviewers, editors, and other participants in the publication process must disclose relevant financial, institutional, professional, academic, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their judgment.
Potential conflicts may include:
• Financial interests.
• Employment or institutional relationships.
• Research collaborations.
• Academic competition.
• Personal or professional relationships.
• Funding arrangements.
• Consultancy roles.
• Intellectual property interests.
• Institutional or organizational affiliations.
Disclosure of a conflict does not automatically prevent publication or participation in the editorial process; however, relevant conflicts must be transparently declared and appropriately managed.
Research Involving Archaeological Sites and Cultural Heritage
Research concerning archaeological sites, monuments, protected heritage, museum collections, artefacts, archives, indigenous heritage, sacred materials, or culturally sensitive resources must comply with relevant legal, institutional, professional, and ethical requirements.
Authors should provide information regarding applicable permissions, permits, approvals, ownership, provenance, or institutional authorization where relevant.
Research should not encourage or facilitate:
• Illegal excavation.
• Looting.
• Destruction of archaeological contexts.
• Illicit trafficking of cultural property.
• Unauthorized removal of artefacts.
• Misappropriation of indigenous or community heritage.
• Unethical commercialization of archaeological or cultural materials.
Where precise archaeological site locations or other information may create a risk to heritage resources, authors and editors may limit or withhold sensitive details when academically and ethically appropriate.
Human Remains, Indigenous Communities and Sensitive Cultural Materials
Research involving human remains, funerary contexts, indigenous communities, traditional knowledge, sacred objects, or culturally sensitive heritage requires particular ethical care.
Authors should comply with applicable laws, institutional policies, professional guidelines, and community or cultural protocols.
Where appropriate, authors should:
• Obtain relevant permissions or approvals.
• Respect community expectations and cultural sensitivities.
• Avoid unnecessary identification or exposure of sensitive individuals, communities, sites, objects, or practices.
• Clearly explain the ethical basis for studying, documenting, reproducing, displaying, or publishing sensitive materials.
• Avoid exploitative, disrespectful, sensational, or decontextualized representation.
Human Participants and Personal Data
Research involving human participants, interviews, community members, personal information, identifiable individuals, oral histories, or other sensitive data should comply with applicable ethical and institutional requirements.
Where required, authors should obtain informed consent and appropriate ethical approval.
Authors must take reasonable measures to protect participant privacy, confidentiality, personal information, and sensitive cultural data.
Identifiable personal information should not be published without appropriate consent or other legitimate ethical and legal justification.
Data Integrity and Research Records
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, reliability, and appropriate presentation of research data and evidence.
Research records may include:
• Archaeological field notes.
• Excavation records.
• Survey data.
• Laboratory results.
• Photographs.
• GIS data.
• Maps.
• 3D models.
• Artefact catalogues.
• Museum or archival records.
• Interviews.
• Statistical data.
• Scientific measurements.
Authors should retain relevant research records and supporting documentation where appropriate and legally permissible.
Data should not be fabricated, falsified, selectively manipulated, or presented in a misleading manner.
Plagiarism Policy
PANCHAL maintains strict standards concerning plagiarism and academic originality.
Submitted manuscripts may be examined using plagiarism-detection tools and editorial review procedures.
Plagiarism includes presenting another person’s words, ideas, data, images, interpretations, research findings, or intellectual contributions as one’s own without appropriate acknowledgment.
Substantial unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, deliberate self-plagiarism, or other serious forms of textual or intellectual appropriation may result in rejection, withdrawal, retraction, notification to relevant institutions, or other appropriate editorial action depending on the circumstances.
Use of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, analysis, interpretation, and ethical compliance of all submitted manuscript content.
Artificial intelligence or automated tools must not be credited as authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.
Where AI-assisted tools have been used substantially in preparing, analyzing, translating, editing, generating, or processing manuscript content, authors should disclose such use when relevant and consistent with the journal’s applicable policy.
The use of automated tools must not result in fabricated references, false evidence, manipulated research findings, misleading images, invented archaeological information, or inaccurate scholarly claims.
Allegations of Misconduct
Credible allegations involving publication or research misconduct will be assessed carefully, objectively, confidentially, and proportionately.
The journal may request explanations, supporting documentation, raw data, ethical approvals, permissions, research records, authorship statements, or other relevant evidence when necessary.
Depending on the circumstances, the journal may:
• Seek clarification from the authors.
• Consult reviewers or editorial board members.
• Contact relevant institutions where appropriate.
• Suspend editorial consideration while concerns are investigated.
• Reject a manuscript.
• Publish a correction.
• Issue an Expression of Concern.
• Retract a published article.
• Take other proportionate editorial action.
Where appropriate, such matters may be handled with reference to relevant COPE guidance and recognized principles of publication ethics.
Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern
PANCHAL is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
Corrections may be issued when an error affects the accuracy, clarity, attribution, metadata, or interpretation of a published article but does not invalidate its principal findings.
A retraction may be considered when there is reliable evidence of serious problems such as:
• Fabricated or falsified research.
• Serious plagiarism.
• Duplicate publication.
• Unethical research.
• Invalid or unreliable findings.
• Unauthorized use of protected or sensitive materials.
• Serious authorship misconduct.
• Major undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Other substantial violations affecting the reliability or integrity of the publication.
An Expression of Concern may be issued when significant questions regarding a publication remain unresolved while further investigation is underway.
Post-publication actions should be clearly identified and linked to the original article wherever technically possible.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are made independently based on academic quality, originality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, relevance to the journal’s scope, and contribution to knowledge.
Commercial relationships, sponsorship, advertising, institutional interests, administrative pressure, personal relationships, or other non-academic considerations must not improperly influence editorial decisions.
Ethics and Integrity Commitment
PANCHAL: International Journal of Archaeology & Cultural Heritage is committed to protecting the integrity of the scholarly record and promoting ethical, transparent, responsible, and culturally sensitive research and publication practices.
By submitting a manuscript to PANCHAL, authors acknowledge their responsibility to comply with the journal’s publication ethics, research-integrity, authorship, disclosure, copyright, cultural heritage, and editorial policies throughout the submission and publication process.
