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Cationic redistribution in spinel ferrite systems greatly influences the magnetic ordering and theassociated phenomena. Here, the effect of the synthesis condition on the cationic redistributionand its correlation with the magnetic properties were explored in the Cu2+ substituted ZnFe2O4spinel ferrite. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction studies reveal that thevariation of sintering temperature redistributes the cations between tetrahedral and octahedralsublattices. Results from low field dc-magnetic susceptibility measurements show that thesusceptibility increases with decreasing sintering temperature of the sample. Furthermore, theac-susceptibility results suggest that the sample sintered at 1048 K (1148 K) exhibits spin-glassbehavior with a glass transition temperature of ∼49.2 K (47.1 K) and a cluster-glass behavior ata higher temperature of ∼317 K (330 K), characteristics that are absent in the sample sintered at1248 K. The sample annealed at 1048 K exhibits a magnetocaloric effect with a maximumisothermal entropy change of ∼1.21 J kg−1 K−1 at μ0H = 5 T.