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Ethical Requirements

It is important for all authors publishing with the AAfPE Legal Educator Journal to understand our definition of authorship, citation practices, data reporting standards, and ethical guidelines required in scholarly publishing.

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Definition of Authorship

Who should be listed as an author on your article? The AAfPE definition of authorship will help you answer that question and clarify an author’s responsibilities.

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The AAfPE Legal Educator Journal considers individuals who meet all of the following criteria to be authors:

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  • Made a significant intellectual contribution to the theoretical development, system or experimental design, prototype development, and/or the analysis and interpretation of data associated with the work contained in the article.

  • Contributed to drafting the article or reviewing and/or revising it for intellectual content.

  • Approved the final version of the article as accepted for publication, including references.

 

Contributors who do not meet all of the above criteria may be included in the Acknowledgment section of the article.

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Authorship for Articles with Multiple Authors

If you are collaborating with other authors to publish an article, you will all need to agree on which author will be designated as the corresponding author. The corresponding author is the single point of contact between the authors and the publication where the article is submitted.

In addition to all of the authorship criteria described above, the corresponding author is also responsible for:

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  • Including as co-authors all persons appropriate and none inappropriate.

  • Obtaining from all co-authors their assent to be designated as such, as well as their approval of the final version of the article as accepted for publication.

  • Keeping all co-authors apprised of the current status of an article submitted for publication. This includes furnishing all co-authors with copies of the reviewers’ comments and a copy of the published version, as appropriate.

 

Cite Sources Appropriately

You should always cite any sources used in your journal article. Citation is required in several instances. Follow these guidelines:

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  • Direct Quotation: Place verbatim text from another source in quotation marks. Indent text for longer quotes. Include a citation to the original source.

  • Paraphrase or Summary: Include a citation when restating or summarizing information from another source, including ideas, processes, arguments, or conclusions.

  • Data, Research Results, Information, Graphics, or Tables: Cite the original source when referring to, adapting, or reusing any information from another source.

 

Note that the same rules apply to your own previously published work. When in doubt, cite.

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Plagiarism

The AAfPE Legal Educator Journal defines plagiarism as the use of another’s ideas, processes, results, or words without explicitly acknowledging the original author and source. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and is considered a serious breach of professional conduct, with potentially severe ethical and legal consequences.

All articles submitted to the AAfPE Legal Educator Journal are screened for plagiarism before publication.

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Inappropriate Use of Citations

Citing an irrelevant source for the purpose of artificially inflating citation metrics is considered a breach of ethics. Only cite relevant sources that legitimately contribute to your article according to the criteria outlined above.

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Report Your Data Accurately

Readers of your article rely on you to communicate your research findings fully and report your data accurately. Ensure you are showing the full picture by avoiding fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation during your research and when you are writing or revising your article.

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Avoid:

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  • Fabrication: Inventing data or results.

  • Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results.

  • Image Manipulation: Excessive or inappropriate adjustment of an image that alters the meaning of the image.

 

Publish Original Research

When submitting your article for publication to the AAfPE Legal Educator Journal, it should contain original research that has not been published before and should not be submitted to any other publication while you await a peer review decision.

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We recognize that initial findings are often presented at conferences before being fully developed into journal articles. The AAfPE Legal Educator Journal supports this process provided that:

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  • Both the conference and journal articles undergo standard peer review.

  • The journal article contains substantially more technical information than the conference article.

  • The journal article cites the conference article and clearly indicates how the two articles differ.

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