Research Misconduct

Before publication, the JFE editors take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of manuscripts that show evidence of research misconduct, which includes but is not limited to plagiarism, citation manipulation, result fabrication, and data falsification or fabrication. After publication, if the JFE editors or Elsevier are made aware of an allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in the journal, the allegation will be addressed by the editor-in-chief or the assigned editor, who will follow the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Coercive Citations

Wilhite and Fong (2012) present evidence that some editors across different business disciplines have engaged in coercive practices with regard to citations. The authors define coercive citations as requests that give no indication the manuscript is lacking in attribution but instead simply guide authors to add citations to the editor’s journal. They suggest that such practices are motivated by an intent to increase measured journal impact factors.

The editors hereby affirm that it has been, and will continue to be, the policy of the JFE to avoid coercive citation practices. While we retain professional discretion to suggest that authors cite particular manuscripts, we will do so only when scientifically appropriate, and without regard to the journal where the cited manuscript is published.