Ethics and Policies

Enterprise Development and Microfinance (EDM) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in academic publishing. The following ethical guidelines and policies apply to all stakeholders involved in the journal, including authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers.

1. Authorship and Originality

  • All submitted manuscripts must be original, unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere.

  • Authorship should accurately reflect individual contributions. All authors must approve the final version and agree to its submission.

  • Plagiarism in any form is strictly prohibited. The journal uses plagiarism detection tools to screen submissions.

2. Peer Review Process

  • EDM follows a double-blind peer review process to ensure objectivity and fairness.

  • Reviewers are expected to evaluate submissions confidentially, provide constructive feedback, and disclose any conflicts of interest.

  • Authors may be asked to revise their work based on reviewer feedback, and resubmission does not guarantee acceptance.

3. Research Ethics and Consent

  • Research involving human subjects, fieldwork, surveys, or interviews must include proof of ethical approval from relevant institutions.

  • Authors should ensure informed consent has been obtained from all participants, where applicable.

  • Research must comply with data privacy, confidentiality, and cultural sensitivity principles.

4. Conflicts of Interest

  • All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest—financial, institutional, or personal—that could influence the content or evaluation of the manuscript.

5. Data Transparency and Availability

  • Authors are encouraged to share data, methodologies, and code where possible to promote research transparency and replication.

  • Supplementary material may be submitted to enhance the quality and usefulness of the research.

6. Corrections and Retractions

  • EDM reserves the right to issue corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern if unethical practices, significant errors, or misconduct are identified post-publication.

  • Authors are expected to cooperate fully in such cases to uphold the scholarly record.

7. Publishing Ethics Violations

  • Any breach of publication ethics—such as falsification, fabrication, duplicate submission, or unethical authorship practices—will result in appropriate actions, including rejection, retraction, and notification to relevant institutions or funding agencies.

8. Open Access and Licensing

  • EDM supports open access under a Creative Commons license, enabling wide dissemination while protecting author rights.

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to publish and distribute the work.

9. Editorial Independence

  • All editorial decisions are made independently based on academic merit, scope alignment, and ethical compliance. No external influence—commercial or institutional—will affect the editorial outcome.