【Korea Association of Japanology Regulations on Research Ethics】

            

Preamble

Korea Association of Japanology is an academic research organization which aims to promote Japan related studies in Korea through the research activities and the publication of academic journals relating to the research outcomes, academic presentations, academic exchange, and educational activities. Among many activities of the association, the publication of journals is an important activity which mostly explicitly shows the meaning of the association's existence. These regulations define the principles and standards for research ethics that the members of the association must abide by in academic and research activities.

Research is a social activity and must be restricted by the regulations that are commonly accepted within the society, and the society asks researchers and research organizations to compete consistently and evaluate research capabilities. The outcomes of researches are having growing impact on the society and often cause a very sensitive gain and loss issues. Furthermore, changes in circumstances ask for new code of conduct in relation to research activities.

By reflecting such trends, these regulations on research ethics clearly defines the level of ethics that the association aims at in relation to the preparation and evaluation of thesis and the editing of the journal although most of the regulations have already been observed customarily. These regulations include the ethics that the authors of thesis as well as the editorial staff of academic journals and examiners shall observe. Members are asked to observe these regulations to have the fair values of their researches acknowledged and fulfill the duties of professional researchers who are trusted when researching and presenting research outcomes in order to contribute to the true academic advancement.

            

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose) These regulations intend to establish research ethics and integrity of the Korea Association of Japanology (hereinafter, referred to as "Association") to prevent research misconducts in advance and stipulate the installation and operation of the Committee on Research Integrity (hereinafter referred to as "Committee") and verify the integrity on research misconducts fairly and systematically.

Article 2 (Objects of Application) These regulation apply to all members of the association who are directly or indirectly involved with research activities.

Article 3 (Scope of Application) The application scope of these regulations are limited to the establishment of research ethics in the humanities and social studies field and overall matters concerned with the verification of research integrity.

Article 4 (Definitions)
① “Research Misconduct” (hereinafter, referred to as “Misconduct”) refers to forgery, modification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and redundant publication that occur in relation to the proposal for and the execution of research, report and presentation of research results. (Refer to Article 5 for the definition of forgery, modification, and plagiarism.)
② "Informer" refers to a person who informs Korea Association of Japanology or research support institute of the fact of the misconducts or the relating evidences of a breach of ethics or misconduct.
③ "Examinee" refers to a person who becomes subject to examination for misconduct upon information or recognition of Korea Association of Japanology or the presumption that he or she has engaged in the misconduct in the course of examination, excluding testifier or witness in the examination process.
④ "Preliminary examination" refers to the process followed in order to determine whether official examination of the suspicion of misconduct is required.
⑤ "Main examination" refers to the substantiation process involved in determining whether misconduct has taken place.
⑥ "Judgment" refers to the process of making the final decision and notifying the informer and examinee of the examination results in writing.

Chapter 2 Code of Ethics

Article 5 (Code Ethics for Author)
① Plagiarism
If the author presents a part of the research or claim that does not belong to him or her as though it is his or hers or uses someone else's research outcomes as his or hers without indicating the source, it is called “plagiarism” and is a misconduct.
② Forgery
If the author falsely produces non-existing data or research outcomes, it is called “Forgery” and is a misconduct.
③ Modification
If the author manipulates research data or process artificially or distorts the contents or results of the research by arbitrarily modifying or deleting data, it is called “Modification” and is a misconduct.
④ Duplicate or Redundant Publication
For the research results that have already been published inside or outside the country, the author must not publish such research outcomes duplicately or redundantly as though they are new without mentioning the previous publications. To republish the research results that have already been published, the author must indicate the information about the previous publication to check whether it would be considered as duplicate publication.
⑤ Publication Records
1. The author shall shoulder responsibilities or gain recognition for the achievement as the author only for the research that he or she conducted or contributed to.
2. The indication of the author for thesis or other publication records or the order of indication must be reflected correctly in the order of the contributions the authors made to the research regardless of the rank.
⑥ Excerpts and References
To quote the open academic data, the author must describe such data precisely and also must clearly indicate the source.
⑦ Modification of Thesis
The author must make efforts to accept and reflect the opinions of examiners suggested in the course of reviewing thesis.
⑧ Observation of Committee Requirements
The author must sincerely respond to the requests made by the committee in relation to these regulations concerning the thesis published in the association's journal.
Article 6 (Code of Ethics for Editorial Staff)
① The editorial staff must review the submitted thesis fairly based on the qualitative level of the thesis and the thesis review regulations regardless of the sex, age, and organization of the author or the preconception influenced by personal relationship with the author.
② For the submitted thesis, the editorial staff must select and request the examiner with expert knowledge regarding the thesis and the ability to make a fair judgment to examine the thesis objectively.
③ The editorial staff must determine the publication of the submitted thesis, respecting the personality of the author and his or her independence as a researcher. Disqualified theses shall be kept secret from outside.
④ The editorial staff must not disclose the information about the author or the contents of the thesis until the publication of the thesis is confirmed.
Article 7 (Code of Ethics for Examiner)
① The examiner shall review the thesis sincerely within the period indicated by the regulations.
② The examiner shall review the thesis objectively and fairly solely based on objective criteria excluding subjective opinions such as his or her own personal logical inclination or views.
③ The examiner shall respect the personality and academic independence of the author. If the thesis requires correction or supplementation, the examiner shall clearly explain the reason in the review sheet using respectful expressions.
④ The examiner must not disclose matters related with the thesis until the publication of the submitted thesis is confirmed.

Chapter 3 Committee Assembly and Governance

Article 8 (Organization)
① This committee shall be composed of 15 members including the chief editor, vice-president, general affairs director, academic director, editorial director, and 3 or more editorial staff members in related field, and the chair and members of the committee are appointed by the president of the association.
② The term of the chair and members shall be 2 years, however, the chair and members can be reappointed.
Article 9 (Chair) The chair represents the committee and preside over committee meetings.

Article 10 (Secretary) The committee can have a secretary to handle overall administrative affairs.

Article 11 (Function) The committee shall review and resolve the following matters.
1. Matters related to the establishment and operation of systems related to research ethics and integrity;
2. Matters related with the establishment and revision of the regulation on research ethics;
3. Matters related with the reception of information on misconduct and examination;
4. Matters related with whether the main examination shall be conducted, the decision for and approval of examination result, and reexamination
5. Matters related to guaranteeing the protection of the informer and examinee;
6. Matters related with treatment and subsequent action of the research integrity verification results; and
7. Other matters submitted by the chair.
Article 12 (Meeting)
① The chair shall convene and chair the meeting.
② The meeting resolves issues by the attendance of the majority of registered members and the agreement of two thirds of the attending members. The attendance of the chair is acknowledged, however, not the voting right.
③ In principle, the meeting shall be held as a closed meeting; however, it may have other parties attend if necessary.

Chapter 4 Information and Receipt

Article 13 (Information and Receipt of Misconduct)
① The informer may, in principle, inform the association with all available methods such as, oral and written statements, telephone calls, e-mails, and the like, by using the real name.
② Evidences must be submitted in writing and if an informer chooses to remain anonymous, he or she is required to submit the title of the research project, thesis title, and contents and evidence of specific misconduct using a writing or email.
③ Any informer who reported the information that was known as false or could be identified as false shall not be included in the subject for protection.
④ As a rule, the misconduct which took place 7 years before the date of information will not be processed even after the information is received.
Article 14 (Right Protection and Confidentiality of Informer and Examinee)
① In any case, the identity of the informer shall not be directly or indirectly exposed and the name of the informer shall not be included in the examination report for protecting and safeguarding the identity of the informer unless it is positively necessary.
② In the event that the informer receives disadvantages such as punishment, discrimination of work conditions, unjust pressure or harm due reporting alleged misconduct, the committee shall recover the damage or take necessary measures for the informer.
③ Until verification of misconduct is complete, the committee shall not violate, discredit, or damage the honor, right, or academic standing of the examinee, and make efforts to restore honor of the examinee who has been determined as not guilty.
④ All matters related with the examination such as information, examination, review, resolution, and suggestion, shall be kept confidential, and those who participated in the examination directly or indirectly shall not expose any information acquired during the course of examination. However, if it is necessary to disclose any reasonable information, it may be disclosed with the resolution of the committee.
Article 15 (Guarantee of Objection and Defense Right) The committee shall guarantee the informer and the examinee equivalent rights to state opinions and or to make a defense and notify them of related processes in advance.

Chapter 5 Preliminary Examination

Article 16 (Period and Method of Preliminary Examination)
① The preliminary examination shall begin within 10 days from the date when the allegations are received and end within 30 days after the examination began.
② The preliminary examination shall review matters pertaining to the following.
1. Whether or not the contents of information is relevant to the misconduct under Article 4.1;
2. Whether or not the content of information is concrete and clear to pursue the main examination; and
3. Whether or not seven years have elapsed from the date of the initial allegation.
Article 17 (Report of Preliminary Examination Results)
① Results of the preliminary examination shall be notified in writing to the informer within 10 days of the committee’s resolution, however, not in the case where the informer chooses to remain anonymous.
② Result report of preliminary examination shall include the contents of the following.
1. Contents of information
2. Suspicion of misconduct subjected to examination and related research projects
3. Whether main examination shall be conducted and the reason
4. Other relevant evidentiary materials

Chapter 6 Main Examination

Article 18 (Period of Main Examination)
① The main examination shall begin within 20 days after the committee decides to carry out the main examination.
② The main examination shall be completed within 60 days from the commencement date.
③ If the examination committee determines that it cannot finish the examination within the period stipulated in Paragraph 2, it may request for the extension of the period once.
Article 19 (Request for Attendance and Material Submission)
① The examination committee may request the informer, examinee, witness and testifier to attend the examination for statement and in this case the examinee must be accept the request.
② The examination committee may request the examinee to submit related materials, and the examinee shall provide the materials requested with unlimited liability. If the examinee does not cooperate with the examination, the committee may request for disciplinary action on the association's level and also transfer the entire body of related materials to the corresponding organization (university) to request for severe penalty.
Article 20 (Submission of Main Examination Result Report)
① The examination committee shall prepare the main examination result report (hereinafter, referred to as "Final Report") based on objections and defenses.
② The final report shall include the following.
1. Contents of information;
2. Misconduct suspicion and concerned research project subject to examination;
3. Roles of the examinee and whether or not the suspicion is true for the respective research project;
4. Relevant evidence and witnesses;
5. Examination results;
6. List of committee members; and
7. Other information required for the preparation of the report
Article 21 (Judgment)
① The committee shall finalize the examination contents and results based on the contents of objections or defense.
② The committee shall also notify the examinee and the informer of the examination results and also decide the contents of disciplinary action.
Article 22 (Objections and Reexamination) The informer or the examinee may request for reexamination by stating proper reasons to the committee in writing within 30 days after the result is notified if he or she is not satisfied with the decision. However, the reexamination is held only by the unanimous decision of the committee members and the ratification by the president of the association.

Chapter 7 Measures after Main Examination

Article 23 (Report to the University, Etc.) The final report can be submitted upon the request of the university concerned with the approval of the president of the association. Materials related to the examination may also be submitted.

Article 24 (Disciplinary Action against Misconduct)
① When the disciplinary action or measure is decided, the chair of the committee shall notify the decision to the corresponding researcher in writing.
② The committee can take following disciplinary actions against the those who are related with the misconduct.
1. Issue of the association's letter of reprimand
2. Cancellation of the corresponding research outcomes in the journal
3. Restriction on eligibility for contribution for 3 years
4. Expulsion
5. Report to the researcher's organization
6. Report to an institute of law ③ The committee shall notify all members of the examination results through the association's organ.
Article 25 (Preservation and Disclosure of Records)
① The records related with preliminary examination and main examination shall be kept by the committee for 3 years.
② The final report may be disclosed after judgment is completed. However, the information related to identity, such as the list of informer, examination committee members, witnesses, references, and other participants, may be excluded from the disclosure record if the information therein poses possible injury to those involved in the examination.

Chapter 8 Supplementary Rules

Article 26 (Expenses) The budget required for the operation of a committee and examination can be determined and provided separately.

Article 27 (Adaptation) Matters not specified in these regulations in relation to the verification of the integrity of the research shall be determined based on related laws.

Addendum

These regulations shall come into effect on June 1, 2009.
Revised regulations shall come into effect on December 1, 2013.