The Silk Road Journal on Sustainable Tourism and Cultural Heritage is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, academic integrity, and responsible scholarly communication. The journal expects authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers to uphold honesty, transparency, originality, fairness, and accountability throughout the publication process.

Duties of Authors

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are original, unpublished, and not under consideration by another journal. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their research, data, analysis, and interpretation. Plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, and misleading reporting are strictly prohibited.

Authors must properly cite all sources used in the manuscript, including literature, archival materials, field data, images, maps, cultural documentation, and heritage-related records. Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made significant scholarly contributions to the study.

Research involving local communities, cultural heritage sites, indigenous knowledge, oral histories, interviews, or tourism stakeholders must respect informed consent, privacy, cultural sensitivity, and community rights. Authors must disclose funding sources and any potential conflicts of interest.

Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for making fair and objective publication decisions based on the manuscript’s quality, originality, relevance, ethical compliance, and contribution to sustainable tourism and cultural heritage studies. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by nationality, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political view, or other personal characteristics.

Editors must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and may not use unpublished materials for personal benefit. Editors should take appropriate action when ethical issues arise, including plagiarism, authorship disputes, duplicate submission, data manipulation, or misuse of cultural heritage materials.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, and timely evaluations. Reviews should focus on scholarly quality, clarity, originality, relevance, ethical soundness, and contribution to the journal’s focus and scope.

Reviewers must keep all manuscript materials confidential and must not share or use unpublished content for personal or professional advantage. Reviewers should decline the review invitation if they have a conflict of interest or feel unable to provide a fair assessment.

Plagiarism and Originality

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or improper use of other authors’ work. Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-checking tools. Manuscripts with serious ethical violations may be rejected, corrected, or retracted.

Research Ethics and Cultural Sensitivity

Research related to cultural heritage, local traditions, sacred sites, oral histories, community knowledge, or tourism practices must be conducted with respect, consent, and sensitivity. Authors should avoid exploitation, misrepresentation, or harmful disclosure of cultural information.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity of the publication process.

Corrections and Retractions

The journal may issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions when significant errors or ethical violations are identified after publication. Serious violations include plagiarism, fabricated data, unreliable findings, duplicate publication, and unethical use of cultural or community-based data.