Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 1 (Name)
These rules shall be called the "Research Ethics Rules of Cultural Territory Studies," the academic journal published by the Research Institute for Cultural Territory (hereinafter "the Institute").
Article 2 (Purpose)
The purpose of these rules is to prevent research misconduct by clearly defining the Institute's research ethics, and to establish standards by which, when a problem arises, research misconduct can be verified fairly and objectively.
Article 3 (Scope of Application)
These rules apply to authors who submit to or publish in Cultural Territory Studies, the journal published by the Institute, regardless of the date of publication.
Article 4 (Definition of Research Misconduct)
"Research misconduct" refers to fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, improper authorship, duplicate publication, and the like, occurring throughout the research process.
① "Fabrication" refers to the act of falsely creating data or research results that do not exist, whether by the researcher, co-researchers, or through AI.
② "Falsification" refers to the act of distorting research content or results by artificially manipulating research materials or processes, or through AI, or by arbitrarily altering or deleting data.
③ "Plagiarism" refers to the act of using the writings, research conceptions, ideas, hypotheses, theories, and the like of others without proper approval or citation. Using AI-generated content without indicating its source is also judged as plagiarism.
④ "Improper authorship" refers to the act of not granting authorship, without justifiable reason, to a person who has made an academic contribution to the research process or results, or of granting authorship to a person who has made no academic contribution.
⑤ "Duplicate publication" refers to resubmitting and publishing in another journal a paper of one's own whose text is completely identical or nearly identical to one's own already published paper, without informing the editor or readers of the existence of the already published paper.
⑥ "Duplicate submission" refers to the act of submitting a paper identical or similar in content to the submitted paper to another society (or institution) before the review is completed.
Article 5 (Scope of Unethical Research Conduct)
The following acts constitute unethical research conduct.
① Intentionally including sources of questionable relevance in the references for the purpose of manipulating the citation index of a journal or paper, or of increasing the likelihood of a paper's publication
② Selectively including in the references only sources favorable to one's own data or theory
③ Dividing research results that should be published as a single paper into several papers, with the intent of inflating one's research achievements
Chapter 2 Composition and Operation of the Committee
Article 6 (Composition of the Committee)
① The Research Ethics Committee is a non-standing body operated to deliberate fairly and objectively on whether research misconduct has occurred.
② The Research Ethics Committee is composed of about five members appointed by the Chairperson of the Institute upon recommendation by the Editorial Board of specialists in the field in which the issue has been raised.
③ The Chair is elected from among the members of the constituted Research Ethics Committee.
④ A person with a direct interest in the informant or the respondent may not be a member of this Committee.
Article 7 (Request for Deliberation)
① Individuals, university departments, academic organizations, and the like may request a judgment as to whether any research conduct of an author who submits to or publishes in Cultural Territory Studies constitutes research misconduct or unethical research conduct, and such a request must be made in writing.
② When deliberation is requested in accordance with the procedure in paragraph ①, the Chair shall promptly convene the Committee.
Article 8 (Committee Meetings)
Committee meetings proceed according to the following procedure.
① Committee meetings are convened by the Chair, who presides over them.
② The presiding officer shall notify each member in writing of the agenda and necessary matters at least one week before the date of the meeting.
③ The proceedings of Committee meetings are not disclosed. However, when necessary, they may be disclosed by decision of the Committee.
Article 9 (Investigation Procedure and Deliberation Results)
① When the Committee deems that a fact-finding investigation is necessary for a case requested for deliberation under Article 7, paragraph ①, it shall commence the investigation immediately.
② The Committee shall guarantee the respondent's right to explain during the investigation procedure.
③ The Committee may request the submission of materials from the informant, the respondent, and related persons, and may, when necessary, have the persons concerned attend and hear their opinions.
④ When the Committee has completed its investigation of a case, it shall notify the informant of the deliberation results in writing within 15 days, and may take appropriate measures against the respondent in writing, such as recommendation, demand for correction, mediation, or sanction.
Article 10 (Duty of Confidentiality)
The Committee has the following duties of confidentiality.
① All matters, including the Committee's investigation process, are kept confidential.
② Persons who have participated in the investigation procedure shall not disclose personal information learned in the course of the investigation or the performance of their duties, either during the investigation or after its conclusion.
Article 11 (Protection of the Rights of Informants and Respondents)
The Committee shall protect the rights of informants and respondents as follows.
① The Committee shall protect the informant from suffering any disadvantage in status, discrimination in working conditions, undue pressure, or harm on account of reporting misconduct.
② The Committee shall take care that the honor or rights of the respondent are not unduly infringed during the investigation and deliberation process.
③ The Committee shall not disclose the identity of the respondent to outside parties until a final decision on research misconduct has been made.
④ Where there is a justifiable reason, such as a direct conflict of interest, the informant and the respondent may request the replacement of a member in accordance with the appropriate procedure.
Chapter 3 Sanctions Related to Research Ethics
Article 12 (Sanctions for Research Misconduct)
The Committee imposes the following sanctions for research misconduct.
① A paper in which research misconduct has been confirmed is withdrawn from publication (submission) and deleted, regardless of the date of publication.
② Prohibition of submission to Cultural Territory Studies
1. In cases of plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification, submission of papers is prohibited for five years.
2. In cases of improper authorship, duplicate publication, and duplicate submission, submission of papers is prohibited for three years.
③ When research misconduct is confirmed, the fact of the research misconduct is announced on the Institute's website and in the first issue of the journal published after the confirmation.
④ Within 30 days after the research misconduct is revealed, the fact of the research misconduct is notified in writing to the institution to which the person who committed it belongs.
Article 13 (Sanctions for False Reports)
The Committee imposes the following sanctions on an informant who has intentionally made a false report.
① Submission of papers to Cultural Territory Studies is prohibited for five years.
② As soon as the false report is revealed, notice is given on the Institute's website, and the fact of the false report is also posted in the first issue of the journal published thereafter.
③ Within 30 days after the false report is revealed, the fact of the false report is notified in writing to the institution to which the person who made it belongs.
Article 14 (Sanctions for Obstruction of Investigation)
The Committee imposes the following sanctions for acts of obstruction of investigation, such as intentionally obstructing an investigation into suspected misconduct by oneself or another person, or causing harm to an informant.
① Submission of papers to Cultural Territory Studies is prohibited for five years.
② As soon as the obstruction of investigation is revealed, notice is given on the Institute's website, and the fact of the obstruction is also posted in the first issue of the journal published thereafter.
③ Within 30 days after the obstruction of investigation is revealed, the fact of the obstruction is notified in writing to the institution to which the person who committed it belongs.
Chapter 4 Detailed Implementation Guidelines
Article 15 (Posting of the Research Ethics Rules)
The "Research Ethics Rules of Cultural Territory Studies" are posted on the Institute's website so that anyone can view them at any time, and research ethics education is provided at academic conferences to promote the spread of research ethics education.
Article 16 (Research Ethics Self-Check)
Those submitting papers to this journal must check in advance, at the time of online submission, whether the submitted paper violates any provision of the Research Ethics Rules by means of the "Self-Check on Research Ethics and Copyright [Checklist]."
Article 17 (Use of Plagiarism Detection Systems)
With reference to the reviewers' opinions, and only for submitted or published papers suspected of research misconduct, the Editorial Secretary must examine whether there is a problem using objectively recognized plagiarism detection tools or AI-writing detection tools, and report the results, together with the tools used, to the Research Ethics Committee.
<Addendum>
These rules apply from September 1, 2026.