سید آیت الله میرزایی

The purpose of this research was to study the peer-review process for articles in Iran's accredited scientific journals. The study considered the types of refereeing currently practised, the decision-making methods and criteria for acceptance of articles, the major decision makers, and the current norms in the peer-review process. The method used was a survey, and the data-collecting tool was a questionnaire. The statistical population of this research included 245 scientific journals. The results of the study show that, currently, the predominant type of refereeing for articles submitted to these journals is ‘double blind’ and the prevailing method of informing authors about the results of manuscript evaluation is ‘commenting on the manuscript after refereeing it and after consideration in an editorial board meeting.’ The findings also indicate that two criteria—‘Originality and creativity of the research’ and ‘Being within the journal's scope’—play the most important role in article acceptance. Of the five main parties cooperating in the peer-review process for these journals, the editorial board plays the most fundamental role.

The ethic of education is a set of professional rules and regulations agreed upon by the scientific community that obliges actors to comply with codes of conduct in the science education process. This article is asking about levels and types of academic dishonesty and recognizing factors affecting it in Iran’s social sciences education. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with Ph.D. students of public Universities in Tehran were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Research findings show that academic dishonesty and factors affecting it are evident in the education of social science at two levels of micro and macro. At the micro or actor’s level, individual characteristics and personality traits of students and professors impact on the occurrence of academic dishonesty. Moreover, at the macro or structural level, the way of distribution of resources and rules in the education paves the way for and facilitates the occurrence of academic dishonesty. Consequently, dishonesty in the education of Iran’s social sciences and factors affecting it can be explained in the light of a structuration approach.