Policies
Peer Review Policy
The Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina employs a double-blind peer review process to ensure fairness, objectivity, and scholarly rigor. All manuscripts undergo an initial editorial screening to assess their suitability, originality, and alignment with the journal's aims and scope. Manuscripts deemed appropriate are then reviewed by at least two independent experts in the field.
Authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review process. Editorial decisions are based on reviewer recommendations, methodological quality, theoretical contribution, and relevance to teacher education research and practice. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to make the final decision regarding publication.
Publication Ethics and Research Integrity Policy
The journal is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. Authors must ensure that submitted work is original, accurately reported, and free from fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or inappropriate data manipulation.
Research involving human participants must demonstrate compliance with institutional ethical standards and, where applicable, approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee. Authors must obtain informed consent from participants and protect participant confidentiality.
Any allegations of research misconduct will be investigated according to internationally recognized ethical guidelines, and appropriate corrective actions may be taken, including correction, retraction, or withdrawal of articles.
Originality and Plagiarism Policy
Submitted manuscripts must represent original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal or publisher. All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software before entering the review process.
The journal considers plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unauthorized use of copyrighted material to be serious violations of academic integrity. Manuscripts found to contain substantial overlap with previously published work may be rejected immediately. Published articles later found to violate originality standards may be retracted.
Open Access and Copyright Policy
The journal promotes the broad dissemination of knowledge in teacher education. Authors retain copyright to their published work while granting the journal the right of first publication.
Published articles may be made available under an appropriate Creative Commons license to facilitate access, sharing, and educational use. Authors are responsible for securing permission to reproduce copyrighted materials, including figures, tables, images, and extensive quotations.
The journal encourages authors to share their published work through institutional repositories and professional networks to increase scholarly visibility and impact.
Conflict of Interest and Transparency Policy
Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence, or appear to influence, the research, review, or publication process.
Authors must include a conflict-of-interest statement within their manuscript. If no conflicts exist, authors should state: "The author(s) declare no conflict of interest."
Reviewers and editors who identify potential conflicts must recuse themselves from participating in the evaluation or decision-making process. The journal is committed to maintaining transparency and preserving public trust in scholarly publishing.
Corrections and Retractions Policy
The journal reserves the right to publish corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other editorial notices whenever necessary to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
These five policies provide a strong foundation for a new teacher education journal and align with common standards used by reputable international scholarly publications.