Ethics, Policies & Open Access 

Our Ethical Foundation

Khoinchha is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical publishing, promoting transparency, fairness, and integrity across the research and publication process. We aim to build a trustworthy ecosystem that upholds the quality of scholarship and advances knowledge for societal benefit. Our policies, outlined below, reflect adherence to international guidelines and ensure accountability at every stage.

Adherence to COPE Guidelines

Khoinchha follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) framework, aligning our practices with global standards for ethical publishing. COPE guidelines inform our approach to authorship disputes, peer review integrity, research misconduct, and publication ethics, ensuring consistent and principled decision-making. Our editorial processes are designed to be transparent and impartial, with misconduct investigations conducted per COPE protocols.

Responsible Authorship

Authorship at Khoinchha follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria, ensuring credit and accountability. All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. During submission, authors must provide an Author Contributions Statement detailing their roles (e.g., data analysis, writing), and non-contributors (e.g., honorary authors) are excluded. Disputes are resolved transparently per COPE protocols, maintaining the integrity of authorship recognition.

Zero-Tolerance Plagiarism Policy

Khoinchha enforces a strict no-plagiarism stance, aligned with the University Grants Commission policies. We screen all manuscripts using [e.g., Turnitin], with a similarity threshold of 10% (excluding references and common phrases). Submissions exceeding this limit are rejected, and published articles found plagiarized are retracted following COPE guidelines. Authors must submit a plagiarism report with their manuscript; assistance is available at khoinchha@gmail.com if needed. This policy safeguards originality and credits prior work.

Encouraging Data Sharing 

To promote transparency and reproducibility, Khoinchha encourages authors to make their research data publicly available. This emphasis on data accessibility, enabling peers to verify findings and build upon research, while respecting ethical and privacy constraints.

Managing Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest (e.g., financial, personal, or professional ties) that could bias their work or judgment. Khoinchha manages conflicts by excluding affected parties from decision-making (e.g., reassigning reviewers or recusing editors). Disclosure statement are required at submission and review stages, ensuring editorial decisions remain impartial, per COPE standards.

Addressing Research Misconduct

Khoinchha has established procedures for handling allegations of research misconduct. Khoinchha takes all allegations seriously and investigates them thoroughly following established guidelines. Khoinchha strives to ensure that all parties involved are treated fairly and that the process is transparent and impartial.

Publication Limits and Independence    

To maintain diversity and impartiality:

No Consecutive Publications: We do not publish manuscripts by the same author or co-author in consecutive issues, ensuring varied perspectives across our biannual releases.

Limit on Associated Contributors: Only 10% of each issue’s manuscripts may come from individuals associated with Khoinchha (e.g., editors, staff, or their immediate collaborators), preventing favoritism and promoting external scholarship.

Transparency and Engagement

Khoinchha’s Editorial Board adheres to documented policies on peer review, ethics, and publication, all publicly available at www.khoinchha.in. We engage with the research community to address concerns, refine practices, and ensure openness. Retractions, when necessary, are issued with clear explanations, following COPE guidelines.

Our Goal

By embedding these principles, Khoinchha contributes to a robust, ethical research ecosystem. We believe that integrity in publishing is vital for credible scholarship and societal progress, and we invite feedback at khoinchha@gmail.com to strengthen our commitment.

Our Open Access Vision

Khoinchha is deeply committed to open access, believing that high-quality research should be freely accessible to all. Since our launch in 2023, we’ve embraced this principle to accelerate scientific progress, foster collaboration, and empower researchers globally to advance knowledge without barriers. Our approach ensures that scholarship reaches diverse audiences, from academics to the public, enhancing its impact.

No-Fee Open Access Publishing

Khoinchha operates as a fully open-access journal, making all articles available at www.khoinchha.in immediately upon publication. We charge no author fees, eliminating financial obstacles and democratizing publishing. Operated by volunteers, this model enables researchers from all backgrounds - regardless of funding- to share their work globally, aligning with our equity-focused mission.

Fostering Open Science Practices  

We promote transparency and reproducibility through open science. Authors are encouraged to share data and methodologies via repositories or supplementary files, with guidelines provided during submission. 

Copyright and Licensing 

Authors retain copyright, granting Khoinchha a non-exclusive right of first publication to reproduce, distribute, and display their work in print and electronic formats. This eliminates complex copyright transfers, allowing authors to reuse their articles (e.g., in repositories) with attribution to Khoinchha. Content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, permitting non-commercial reuse with credit to authors and the journal.

Khoinchha Rules and Policies

The rules and policies governing the operation of Khoinchha, including but not limited to submission guidelines, editorial processes, and ethical standards, are the intellectual property of Khoinchha. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized copying, distribution, or modification of these rules and policies is strictly prohibited.