Research ethics
All human-participant research must name its approving ethics committee and reference number. Studies without appropriate approval are not considered.
A peer-reviewed, open-access journal of LOVE AND BLISS, published by LAB Press.
JPPAS · Policies
Open access, copyright and publication ethics
Every JPPAS article is free to read and free to publish. Authors keep their copyright, and all content is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Open access policy
Journal of Positive Psychology, Agapology and Spirituality is fully open access (diamond/platinum): there are no subscription fees for readers and no article processing charges for authors. LAB Press bears the cost of publication as part of the institute's public-benefit mission, so scholarship on flourishing remains available to the communities it concerns.
Published articles are deposited in the LAB institutional repository with a permanent link, citation and registered DOI.
Publication Contribution policy
Publication in a LAB Press journal is decided on scholarly merit alone. Contributions are never a condition of publication and are never considered in editorial assessment.
Following acceptance, corresponding authors are invited to select a Publication Contribution pathway. Contributions support the scholarly infrastructure on which open publication depends: DOI registration, hosting, digital preservation, editorial systems, research-integrity screening, accessibility and the staff who maintain them. Contributions sustain infrastructure; they do not purchase publication.
Authors without institutional or grant support select the Hardship Support Pathway. Selection requires a single self-certification. No financial documentation is requested, none is retained, and the pathway is never refused, limited or capped. Articles published under this pathway are indistinguishable in every respect — in handling, timing, presentation and standing — from any other article in the journal.
Contribution information is held in an administrative system of record to which editors and reviewers have no access. Contribution pathways are offered only after a final acceptance decision has been recorded. No editorial decision may be revisited, delayed or conditioned on any contribution matter.
Read the LAB Publishing Charter →Licensing: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Unless stated otherwise, all content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International licence. You may share and adapt the material for non-commercial purposes provided you credit the authors and journal and license adaptations under the same terms.
Read the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence →Author rights
- Authors retain full copyright in their work; no transfer of copyright is required.
- Authors grant JPPAS a licence to publish, archive and distribute the article.
- Authors may deposit the published version in any repository, website or institutional archive.
- Authors may reuse their own figures, tables and text in teaching, theses and later work.
Reader rights
- Read, download and print every article free of charge, with no subscription or registration.
- Share and redistribute the article in any medium or format with attribution.
- Adapt and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes, sharing adaptations alike.
- Text- and data-mine the corpus for non-commercial research.
Copyright and reuse
Copyright in each article remains with its authors. LAB Press holds copyright in the journal as a collective work, its design and its editorial matter. Requests for commercial reuse, translation or republication should be sent to journal@loveandbliss.org.
Publication ethics
Authorship
Authorship requires substantive intellectual contribution. Ghost, gift and guest authorship are grounds for rejection or retraction.
Originality and plagiarism
Submissions must be original and not under review elsewhere. All manuscripts are screened for text overlap.
Conflicts of interest
Authors, reviewers and editors declare financial, institutional and personal interests. Editors recuse themselves from handling their own work.
Use of AI
Generative AI may not be listed as an author. Any use in drafting or analysis must be disclosed in the manuscript.
Corrections and retractions
Errors are addressed through published corrections, expressions of concern or retraction notices; the original record is never silently altered.
Complaints and appeals
Appeals against editorial decisions are reviewed by an editor not involved in the original decision. Write to editor@loveandbliss.org.
Ready to share your research?
Open the submission workspace to create your submission record, upload your manuscript and supporting files, and receive a Submission ID the moment automated governance screening begins.