Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

The manuscript was written for Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang. It should be an original research paper, either theoretically or empirically, that sufficiently contributes novelty to the accounting literature. This journal provides immediate access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global knowledge exchange. Maksimum is published by Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, Muhammadiyah University of Semarang and Supported by IAI-KAPd (Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia - Kompartemen Akuntan Pendidik). It covers the following topics:

  • Financial Accounting and Reporting
  • Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Green Accounting
  • Managerial and Cost Accounting
  • Performance Management and Measurement
  • Sharia Accounting
  • Public Accounting 
  • Public Investment and Procurement
  • Auditing
  • Taxation (Accounting and Compliance)
  • Accounting Information System
  • Investment Analysis and Management
  • Capital Markets Analysis
  • Behavioral in Investment and Finance
  • Sustainability Investment
  • Banking
  • Intellectual Capital
  • Good Governance Issues
  • Fraud Mitigation
  • Whistleblowing

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Publication Frequency

Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang publishes a new issue every March and September.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This journal is an open-access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to users or / institutions (for online version only). Users or people can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to full-text articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or author. Hence, there is no subscription fee to access the online version of Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang articles.

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Archiving

This journal utilizes Indonesia one search and Garuda (Garba Rujukan Digital) to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries. It permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

 

Article Processing Charge

All accepted manuscripts are subject to "Article Processing Charges" (APC) to provide free access to readers and cover the costs of peer review management, journal production, online hosting, and long-term archiving. This APC is valid for the current calendar year and may be changed at any time at the publisher's discretion. The submitting author is responsible for payment of the APC and must confirm, at the time of submission, that he/she/they would organize payment of the APC, should the article be accepted for publication. This responsibility may not be delegated to any third party unless agreed to by the publisher. Be noted that APC will be billed only after the article "Accepted" and will not affect the peer review process. APC that is applied by Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang as the following:

  1. The cost of article submission IDR 0,-
  2. Processing Fees for the publication of accepted article is IDR 700,000.- 

 

Publication Ethics Statement

Our ethical statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Hasil gambar untuk committee on publication ethics logo

Statement

Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang is a peer-reviewed and open-access journal published by Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang in collaboration with The Association of Accounting Department of Muhammadiyah Higher Education Institutions (APSA PTM), The Forum of Economics and Business Journal Managers of Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah Higher Education Institutions (FORJAFEB PTMA), and the Institute of Indonesia Chartered Accountant that committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against publication malpractice. This statement clarifies the ethical behaviour of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in this journal, including the author, editor, editorial board, reviewer,­­­­­ and publisher. This statement is based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Our responsibility is to publish original work of value to the intellectual community in the best possible form and to the highest possible standards. We expect similar standards from our reviewers and authors. Honesty, originality, fair dealing on the part of authors, as well as fairness, objectivity, and confidentiality on the part of editors and reviewers, are among the critical values that enable us to achieve our goal. Journal of Accounting and Investment is committed to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions and to provide a legal review if necessary.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions

The editors of the Journal of Accounting and Investment ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer review by at least two reviewers who are experts in the field. The editor is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers to make this decision.

Fair Play

Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively based on their academic merit (importance, originality, study’s validity, clarity) and their relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. The policies of governments or other agencies outside the journal itself do not determine decisions to edit and publish. The editor-in-chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.

Confidentiality
The editors and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

The Editors will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for research purposes without the author’s explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors while handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their advantage. Editors will recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the papers; instead, they will ask another editorial board member to handle the manuscript. 

Management of unethical behaviour(s)

The editors and the publisher(s) should take rationally responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented regarding a submitted manuscript or published article. Every reported act of unethical publishing behaviour will be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. For this reason, Journal of Accounting and Investment has legal experts in the field of Intellectual Property rights established by Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang.
 
Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive, while editorial ‘opinion’ or perspective pieces should be identified as such. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review. They should be prepared to provide public access and, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism takes many forms, from 'passing off' another's paper as the author's paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. We will check each manuscript using a plagiarism checker (Turnitin) to ensure the originality of the article. Furthermore, each submitted article should be accompanied by a letter of statement from the author(s) stating that the article is free from plagiarism. 

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

Papers describing the same research should not be published in multiple journals or primary publications. Hence, authors should not submit a manuscript already published in another journal for consideration. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of sources

Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others and cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately (from the conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Authors should not use information obtained while providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

Authorship of the paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, the author must promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.
 
Hazards and human subjects

If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must identify these in the manuscript. If the work consists of the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them. The authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.
For human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out following The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans.  

Declaration of competing interests

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing (bias) their work. All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed, as should the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, this should be stated. The author must declare competing interests in the manuscript/paper template.

Image Integrity

Enhancing, obscuring, moving, removing, or introducing a specific feature within an image is unacceptable. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Manipulating images for improved clarity is accepted, but manipulation for other purposes could be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. Authors should comply with any specific policy for graphical images applied by the relevant journal, e.g. providing the original images as supplementary material with the article or depositing these in a suitable repository.
 
Duties of Peer Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper.
 
Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge. 

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts with conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

 

Plagiarism Policy

Maksimum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang applies Zero tolerance towards plagiarism. Every manuscript submitted into the Maksumum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah would be scanned using Turnitin (similarity check) then the editor decides the case of possible plagiarism. A similarity report would be provided to the author(s), and the Maksumum editor would conduct the following actions:

  1. Similarity check result is more than 40%: The manuscript would be rejected (due to poor citation and/or poor paraphrasing, manuscript outright rejected, NO RESUBMISSION accepted).
  2. Similarity check result is around 20-40%: The manuscript would be sent to the author for amendment (provide correct citations to all places of similarity and do good paraphrasing even if the citation is provided).
  3. Similarity check result is lower than 20%:  Would be proceeded to substantive review or citation improvement may be required (proper citations must be provided to all outsourced texts).

In cases 2 and 3: The authors should revise the article carefully, add required citations, do good paraphrasing to outsourced text, and then resubmit the manuscript with a new Turnitin report showing NO PLAGIARISM and similarity should be lower than 20%.

 

Withdrawal of Manuscripts

General Policy of Article Withdrawal

It is a general principle of scholarly communication that the journal editor is solely and independently responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal shall be published. In making this decision, the editor is guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by applicable legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. An outcome of this principle is the importance of the scholarly archive as a permanent and historical record of scholarly communication.

Articles that have been published shall remain extant, exact, and unaltered as far as possible. However, under exceptional circumstances, an article may need to be retracted or removed. Such actions must not be undertaken lightly. In addition, the Author(s) and/or their institution may be subject to sanctions for unethical article withdrawal, including temporary or permanent submission bans.

This policy has been designed to address these concerns and to reflect current best practices in scholarly and library communities. As standards evolve, this policy may be revised. All Article Withdrawal Policies in MAKSIMUM(including Withdrawal of Manuscripts, Article in Press, Article Retraction, Article Removal, and Article Replacement Policies) are adopted from the Elsevier Article Withdrawal Policy.

Article Withdrawal by Author(s)

Author(s) are not permitted to withdraw a manuscript once it has entered the peer review process, as such withdrawal wastes the time, effort, and resources of the Editor and peer reviewers.

If the Author(s) request withdrawal after the manuscript has undergone peer review (including Round 1, Round 2, or subsequent review stages), the following sanctions apply:

  1. The Author(s) will be subject to a submission ban for a maximum of 6 issues (3 volumes or 3 years); and

  2. The Author(s) will be required to pay a withdrawal fee of IDR 850,000.

The withdrawal fee is imposed to compensate for editorial handling and peer review costs incurred during the review process.

Manuscript withdrawal prior to the initiation of peer review is not subject to any withdrawal fee or penalty.

Withdrawing a manuscript because it has been accepted by another journal is considered highly unethical.

Withdrawal After Acceptance

Withdrawal of a manuscript after it has been accepted for publication is considered a serious violation of publication ethics. In such cases, the Author(s) may be sanctioned with a submission ban for a maximum of 20 issues (10 volumes or 10 years).

Withdrawal under this policy also includes failure to submit revisions within the time limit specified by the Editor without proper notification. If the Author(s) do not revise or communicate by the deadline, they may be banned for a maximum of 12 issues (6 volumes or 6 years).

Repeated Withdrawal

Author(s) who withdraw more than one manuscript may be permanently banned from submitting to MAKSIMUM. Such sanctions may also be extended to the Author’s institution. The MAKSIMUM Editorial Board reserves the right to publicly announce these sanctions on the journal website and/or inform other journal editors or publishers as part of the enforcement of publication ethics.

 

Journal Scientific Statement

The articles published in MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang are scientifically proved the following the ethics code of scientific publication. The ethics code itself upholds three values of ethics in publications, namely, (1) Neutrality (free from conflicts of interest in the management of publications); (2) Justice (giving the right of authorship to the beneficiary as the author); and (3) Honesty (free from duplication, fabrication, falsification and plagiarism) in the publication. The articles published also follow the certain procedures or orders, such as double blind review and revision process that consistent with the journal’s regular review, to ensure that the quality is maintained properly.

 

Indexing

MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang, with registered number e-ISSN: 2580-9482, ISSN: 2087-2836. Finally, accepted papers will be freely accessed in this website and the following abstracting & indexing databases:

 

Licensing Terms

Authors who publish with MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang agree to the following terms :

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License that allows others to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) the work for any purpose, even commercially with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang.
  2. Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in MAKSIMUM: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang. 
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as this can lead to productive exchanges and earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

 

About this Publishing System

OJS Editorial and Publishing Process

 

Review Guidelines

Guidelines for Reviewers
Responsibility of Peer Reviewer
Peer reviewers are responsible for critiquing by reading and evaluating manuscripts in their field of expertise, then giving constructive advice and honest feedback to the author of the article submitted. Peer reviewers discuss the article's strengths and weaknesses, how to increase the strength and quality of the paper, and evaluate the relevance and authenticity of the manuscript.

Before reviewing, please note the following:

  • Is the article requested to be reviewed in accordance with your expertise? If you receive a script that covers topics that are not appropriate areas of your expertise, please notify the editor as soon as possible. Please recommend an alternative reviewer.
  • Do you have the time to review this paper? The review process must be completed within two weeks. If you agree and require a more extended period, notify the editor as soon as possible, or suggest an alternative reviewer.
  • Is there any potential conflict of interest? Meanwhile, conflicts of interest will not disqualify you as a reviewer, disclose all conflicts of interest to the editor before reviewing. If you have any questions about potential conflicts of interest, do not hesitate to contact the editorial office.
Review Process
When reviewing the article, please consider the following:
  • Title: Does it clearly illustrate the article?
  • Abstract: does it reflect the contents of the article?
  • Introduction: Does it describe the accuracy of matters submitted by the author and clearly state the problem being considered? Typically, the introduction should summarize the context of the relevant research and explain the findings of the research or other findings, if any, offered for discussion. This research should explain the experiments, hypotheses, and methods.

Content of the Article
To determine the originality and suitability of the journal, are there any elements of plagiarism in over 5% of this paper field? A quick literature search can use specific tools such as Scopus to see if there are similarities from other parts.

  • If other authors had previously done the study, would it still be eligible for publication?
  • is the article relatively new, reasonably deep, and fascinating to be published?
  • does it contribute to knowledge?
  • Does the article adhere to the journal's standards?
  • Scope - Is the article in line with the objectives and scope of the journal?

Method
Comprehensive and perfect:

  • does the author accurately describe how the data is collected?
  • is the theoretical basis or reference used appropriate for this study?
  • Is the exposure design suitable for answering the question?
  • Is there enough information for you to imitate the research?
  • does the article identify the following procedures?
  • are there any new methods? If there is a new method, does the author explain it in detail?
  • is there any appropriate sampling?
  • have the tools and materials used been adequately explained? and
  • does the article exposure describe what type of data is recorded, right in describing the measurement?

Results:
This is where the author must explain the findings of his/her research. It should be laid out and in a logical sequence. You must consider whether the appropriate analysis has been carried out, including statistical tools. If you have better statistical tools to use in this study, notify it; the interpretation need not be included in this section.

Discussion and Conclusion:

  • Do fair results and reasonable support the claims in this section?
  • Does the author compare the research results with those of other previous studies?
  • Do the research results in the article contradict the previous theories?
  • Does the conclusion explain how better scientific research should be followed up on?

Tables and Pictures:
Is it suitable with the referred explanation by showing data which is easy to interpret and understandable for the readers?

Writing Styles

  • Authors must be critical, mostly of the literature and systematic reviews of issues relevant to the field of study.
  • Reviews should be focused on a single topic.
  • All exposure should be in English and written in good and coherent grammar.
  • Easy to understand
  • Interesting to read

Things that need to be considered:

  • Perspective, a unique perspective that describes experiences and situations related to issues in marketing management, finance management, strategic management, operation management, human resource management, e-business, knowledge management, management accounting, management control system, management information system, international business, business economics, business ethics and sustainable, and entrepreneurship.

Originality Research

  • The original data and testing must present data that offers a new approach to improving systems, processes, and the precision of the tools used.
  • Research policy and observational analysis should clarify the research results' feasibility, effectiveness, and implementation. It is not limited to the topics of marketing management, finance management, strategic management, operation management, human resource management, e-business, knowledge management, management accounting, management control systems, management information systems, international business, business economics, business ethics and sustainability, and entrepreneurship.
  • In Practice (case study), The paper should explain the situation regarding the future challenges in marketing management, finance management, strategic management, operation management, human resource management, e-business, knowledge management, management accounting, management control system, management information system, international business, business economics, business ethics and suistainable, and entrepreneurship, within its conclusions, and things which can be learned.

Reference

  • First Person (Interview)
  • Book Reviews
  • Insight Technology (Product Review)

Final Review

  • All results of the review submitted by reviewers are confidential
  • If you want to discuss the article with a colleague, kindly inform the editor
  • Do not contact the author directly.
  • Ethical issues:

- Plagiarism: if you suspect the article is mostly plagiarism from other authors, please let the editor know the details
- Fraud: It is challenging to detect a fraud category, but if you suspect the results in the article are not true, please inform the editor

Please complete "The Review" by the due date to the editorial office. Your recommendation for the article will be considered when the editor makes a final decision, and your honest feedback is highly appreciated.

When you write a comment, please show the part of the comment that is only intended for the editor and parts that can be returned to the author.

Please do not hesitate to contact the editorial office with any questions or problems that you may encounter.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policies

Maksumum: Media Akuntansi Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang Journal recognizes the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI), Large Language Models (LLMs), and other AI-assisted technologies, in research and scholarly communication.

MAKSIMUM supports the responsible, transparent, and ethical use of AI as a supporting tool, while maintaining that human intellectual contribution, scholarly judgment, originality, and accountability must remain central to the research and publication process.

This policy applies to authors, editors, and peer reviewers involved in the submission, evaluation, review, and publication of manuscripts in MAKSIMUM

General Principles

The use of AI in research and scholarly publishing must adhere to the following principles:

  • Human responsibility: AI must supplement rather than replace human intellectual contribution, expertise, judgment, and accountability.
  • Transparency: Material use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must be clearly disclosed.
  • Accuracy and integrity: Users remain fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, validity, originality, citations, references, data, analyses, and other content assisted by AI.
  • Confidentiality: Confidential, unpublished, personal, proprietary, or sensitive information must not be entered into AI systems where confidentiality and data protection cannot be guaranteed.
  • Research integrity: AI must not be used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent research data, findings, evidence, citations, or scholarly contributions.
  • Human oversight: All AI-assisted outputs must be critically reviewed, verified, and, where necessary, substantially revised by the responsible human author, reviewer, or editor.

Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies as supporting tools during the research and manuscript preparation process, provided that such use does not replace the authors' intellectual and scholarly responsibilities.

Permitted Uses

Subject to appropriate human oversight and disclosure where required, AI-assisted technologies may be used for:

  • language refinement, grammar correction, and improvement of readability;
  • copy-editing of text originally written by the authors;
  • translation of author-created content;
  • idea exploration and brainstorming during the preliminary stages of research;
  • assistance in identifying keywords or search strategies for literature searches;
  • classification and organization of literature;
  • coding and programming assistance;
  • methodological exploration, provided that the final methodological decisions are made and justified by the authors;
  • formatting or organizational assistance;
  • preparation of conceptual diagrams, process flow diagrams, graphical abstracts, or research visualizations; and
  • data visualization based on authentic data that have already been collected, verified, and appropriately analysed by the researchers.

All such uses must remain under appropriate human supervision.

Prohibited Uses of AI by Authors

Generative AI must not replace the fundamental intellectual contribution expected from authors.

Authors must not use Generative AI to:

  • generate substantial portions of a manuscript as a substitute for the authors' own scholarly writing;
  • generate an abstract, introduction, literature review, hypotheses, theoretical arguments, methodology, results, discussion, or conclusion without substantive intellectual development, verification, and authorship by the researchers;
  • fabricate or generate research data that are presented as actual empirical observations;
  • substitute synthetic data for missing empirical data without a scientifically valid, explicitly justified, and transparently reported methodology;
  • fabricate, modify, falsify, or manipulate research findings;
  • create fictitious citations, references, sources, or quotations;
  • cite sources that the authors have not appropriately verified;
  • generate statistical findings and report them as authentic research results without independent analysis and verification;
  • manipulate empirical images, figures, documents, or other research evidence in ways that misrepresent the original information;
  • generate interpretations or conclusions that have not been critically evaluated and validated by the authors;
  • conceal plagiarism or reproduce the intellectual work of others without appropriate attribution; or
  • otherwise use AI in a manner that compromises the originality, reliability, validity, transparency, or integrity of the research.

The authors remain fully accountable for every part of the submitted manuscript regardless of whether AI-assisted technologies were used.

AI and Authorship

AI tools, Generative AI systems, Large Language Models, chatbots, and other non-human technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to JAI.

Authorship requires the ability to:

  • make a substantial intellectual contribution;
  • take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work;
  • approve the final version of the manuscript;
  • respond to questions concerning the integrity of the research;
  • declare conflicts of interest;
  • comply with copyright and licensing requirements; and
  • accept accountability for the published work.

These responsibilities can only be assumed by human authors.

Authors are therefore fully responsible for any content produced, edited, translated, analysed, or otherwise assisted by AI technologies.

Disclosure of AI Use

MAKSIMUM requires authors to transparently disclose any material use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the research or manuscript preparation process.

The disclosure should identify:

  1. the name of the AI tool;
  2. the version, where available;
  3. how the tool was used;
  4. the purpose for which it was used; and
  5. the part of the research or manuscript preparation process in which it was applied.

The declaration should be provided in a separate section entitled:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

The following statement may be used:

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME AND VERSION OF AI TOOL] for [PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION OF USE]. The author(s) subsequently reviewed, verified, and edited all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and content of the manuscript.

Where AI has been used as part of the research methodology, data analysis, coding process, or another element that affects the reproducibility of the research, authors must additionally describe such use in the Methods section with sufficient detail to enable appropriate scholarly evaluation.

Routine spelling and grammar checking tools that do not use Generative AI do not normally require disclosure.

Accuracy of References and Citations

Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of all references and citations included in their manuscripts.

AI-generated references must never be incorporated into a manuscript without verification against the original source.

Authors should personally verify that:

  • the cited publication exists;
  • author names, titles, journals, volumes, issues, pages, years, and DOIs are accurate;
  • the cited work actually supports the statement for which it is referenced; and
  • the original source has been appropriately consulted.

Fabricated or unverifiable AI-generated citations may constitute a breach of research and publication integrity.

AI-Generated Images, Figures, and Visual Materials

AI-assisted technologies may be used to create illustrative or conceptual materials, such as:

  • conceptual diagrams;
  • research framework illustrations;
  • process flow diagrams;
  • graphical abstracts; and
  • visualizations based on authentic research data.

Where Generative AI materially contributes to the creation of such content, its use should be appropriately disclosed.

AI-generated images or materials must not be presented as authentic empirical evidence.

Generative AI must not be used to fabricate, alter, conceal, remove, move, or introduce features into research evidence, empirical images, research documents, or figures in a manner that could misrepresent the underlying data or research findings.

All AI-assisted visual materials must comply with applicable copyright, licensing, attribution, and intellectual property requirements.

Research Data and AI

The use of AI must not compromise the authenticity, traceability, or integrity of research data.

Authors must not use Generative AI to fabricate data or generate artificial observations and subsequently present them as genuine data collected from respondents, organizations, financial statements, experiments, interviews, archives, databases, or other research sources.

Where AI or machine-learning methods constitute a legitimate component of the research methodology, their use must be transparently explained in the manuscript, including relevant information regarding the methods, tools, validation procedures, and human oversight applied.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring the reliability, validity, and reproducibility of AI-assisted analyses.

Confidentiality, Data Protection, and Intellectual Property

Authors must exercise particular caution when using third-party AI platforms.

Unpublished research materials, identifiable participant information, proprietary information, copyrighted content, confidential organizational information, or sensitive research data should not be uploaded to AI systems unless appropriate confidentiality, security, legal, ethical, and intellectual property safeguards are in place.

Authors are responsible for reviewing the terms and conditions of any AI platform used and ensuring compliance with applicable:

  • research ethics requirements;
  • privacy and data protection obligations;
  • confidentiality agreements;
  • copyright requirements;
  • intellectual property rights; and
  • institutional or contractual restrictions.

Use of AI by Peer Reviewers

Manuscripts submitted to JAI are confidential scholarly documents.

Peer reviewers must not upload manuscripts, tables, figures, supplementary files, datasets, author information, or other unpublished submission materials into publicly accessible Generative AI tools, Large Language Models, or other external AI systems.

Peer reviewers must not use Generative AI to:

  • summarize a manuscript as a substitute for reading it;
  • evaluate its theoretical contribution;
  • evaluate its methodology;
  • analyse its data or results;
  • assess its originality or novelty;
  • formulate substantive reviewer comments;
  • generate the intellectual content of a peer-review report; or
  • recommend acceptance, revision, or rejection.

Peer-review reports must represent the reviewer's own expertise, critical analysis, professional judgment, and scholarly assessment.

Reviewers may use AI-assisted tools solely for copy-editing or language refinement of a review they have personally written, provided that doing so does not disclose confidential information from the manuscript.

Where Generative AI is materially used for language refinement of a peer-review report, reviewers should transparently disclose such use to the editorial team.

Reviewers remain fully responsible and accountable for the accuracy, rigor, validity, tone, and integrity of their reviews.

Use of AI by Editors

Editors must maintain the confidentiality and integrity of all manuscripts and peer-review materials.

Editors must not upload unpublished manuscripts, supplementary materials, research data, reviewer reports, author information, figures, tables, or other confidential submission materials into publicly accessible Generative AI tools or other AI systems where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

Generative AI must not be used to replace editorial judgment in:

  • evaluating the originality or novelty of a manuscript;
  • evaluating theoretical or methodological quality;
  • determining research integrity;
  • analysing the scientific validity of findings;
  • assessing reviewer recommendations; or
  • making acceptance, revision, or rejection decisions.

All editorial decisions must ultimately be made by qualified human editors.

AI-assisted technologies may be used for authorized administrative or technical purposes only where appropriate safeguards for confidentiality, security, transparency, and human oversight are in place.

AI and Peer-Review Integrity

MAKSIMUM considers the confidentiality and independence of peer review fundamental to scholarly publishing.

Using Generative AI to conduct substantive peer review or editorial evaluation may compromise:

  • confidentiality;
  • intellectual property;
  • data privacy;
  • independent scholarly judgment; and
  • the integrity of the peer-review process.

Unauthorized disclosure of manuscripts to an AI system or inappropriate AI-generated peer review may therefore be treated as peer-review misconduct.

Human Accountability

The use of AI does not transfer responsibility to an AI provider, software developer, platform, algorithm, or technology.

At all stages of publication:

Authors are responsible for their manuscripts.
Reviewers are responsible for their reviews.
Editors are responsible for editorial decisions.

JAI maintains that substantive scholarly judgment and accountability must remain human responsibilities.

Non-Compliance and Editorial Action

Failure to comply with this AI Policy may constitute a breach of JAI's research and publication ethics.

Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, JAI may:

  • request clarification or documentation regarding AI use;
  • require authors to revise or correct the manuscript;
  • require verification of references, data, analyses, images, or other materials;
  • suspend the editorial or peer-review process;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • investigate potential research or publication misconduct;
  • notify relevant parties where appropriate; or
  • take appropriate post-publication action, including correction, expression of concern, or retraction where warranted.

Cases involving suspected research or publication misconduct will be handled in accordance with JAI's publication ethics procedures and relevant internationally recognized standards of publication ethics.

Policy Development and Updates

Artificial Intelligence technologies and standards governing their use in scholarly research and publishing continue to evolve.

The Journal of Accounting and Investment (JAI) therefore reserves the right to revise this policy periodically in response to technological developments, emerging ethical concerns, and evolving international standards and best practices in scholarly publishing.

Policy Basis

This policy has been developed with reference to internationally recognized principles and practices concerning the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in scholarly publishing, including guidance provided by Taylor & Francis on the use of Generative AI in academic publishing and Emerald Publishing's Research and Publishing Ethics and Artificial Intelligence policies, together with established principles of publication ethics and research integrity.