Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Prepare an editable Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) manuscript using the selected journal's official template. PDF-only files do not replace the editable manuscript for initial evaluation. Check the journal's Author Guidelines for the maximum file size, supplementary file requirements, and any additional permitted formats. Use the current template and follow any announced implementation date. If an essential file exceeds the upload limit, ask the editorial office for an approved submission method.

Read the selected journal's Author Guidelines and download its official template from the Article Templates section or sidebar. Available language versions and formatting requirements may differ between journals. Check Announcements for template updates or changes affecting a particular volume or publication year. Do not use another journal's template simply because both journals belong to the same publisher.

Remove author names, affiliations, email addresses, identifying acknowledgements, and identifying document properties from the manuscript intended for review. Check comments, tracked changes, supplementary files, and repository references for information that could reveal the authors. Enter complete author details separately in OJS and provide a separate title page if requested. Follow the Author Guidelines for handling identifying funding and contribution statements during review. Complete author information must be restored and verified in the final publication version.

Accepted article types may include original research, review articles, technical papers, system implementations, and case studies, depending on the journal. Read Accepted Manuscript Types and Manuscript Structure & Requirements in the selected journal's Author Guidelines for the applicable length and structure. Research articles generally follow an IMRAD-based structure, while reviews and technical papers may require different sections. Follow the limit for your article category and check whether references are included in the page count. If the instructions appear inconsistent, request clarification before submitting.

Check the selected journal's Language Policy and Author Guidelines for accepted manuscript languages and any bilingual abstract requirement. Follow its instructions for title length, abstract length and structure, keyword count, and keyword separators. Where bilingual abstracts are required, both versions must accurately represent the same study and findings. Authors are responsible for clear academic language, and editors may request proofreading or language refinement before peer review.

Send a written request to the handling editor or editorial office, stating the submission ID, reason for withdrawal, and confirmation that all authors agree. The request will be assessed according to the manuscript's editorial stage and the journal's withdrawal terms. Obtain written confirmation that the submission has been withdrawn before submitting the same manuscript elsewhere. If acceptance, payment, or production has already occurred, consult Publication Fees and request clarification about any applicable financial consequences.

No. A manuscript must not be under concurrent evaluation by another journal or conference, including another journal managed by the same publisher. Submissions must be original and meet the receiving journal's prior-publication requirements. Distinct manuscripts may be submitted to different venues at the same time, provided they do not constitute duplicate or substantially overlapping work. Disclose related manuscripts or earlier versions when their relationship could affect the originality assessment.

Every listed author must satisfy all four authorship criteria:

• Make a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
• Draft the manuscript or critically revise its important intellectual content.
• Approve the final version to be published.
• Accept accountability for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Describe contributions using CRediT. Administrative, financial, translation, or routine technical assistance alone does not qualify a contributor for authorship and should be acknowledged appropriately. Ghost, guest, and honorary authorship are prohibited. Proposed changes to author names, membership, or order after submission require a documented explanation, written agreement from all affected authors, and editorial approval. Read Authorship Criteria and Ethical Guidelines for details.

Enter author ORCID iDs in OJS where requested and ensure that each identifier belongs to the correct contributor. Read the selected journal's Author Guidelines for identifier requirements. Preprint eligibility is a separate matter: consult its prior-publication policy or ask the editorial office before submitting. Disclose any preprint, including its posting date and identifier. Do not assume that preprints are automatically allowed or prohibited across all journals.

The corresponding author coordinates communication with the editorial office and co-authors throughout submission, review, revision, and production. They must verify author names, order, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID iDs; ensure that all authors approve the submission and final version; include the required declarations; and respond to editorial requests. OJS metadata, the separate author information, and the final galley must be consistent, while the review manuscript remains anonymous. The corresponding author also coordinates any applicable APC arrangements after acceptance and checks the final proofs carefully. Read Corresponding Author Responsibilities in the Ethical Guidelines.

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening undergo double-blind peer review by independent experts. Author identities are withheld from reviewers, and reviewer identities are withheld from authors. Reviewers assess the scholarly contribution, methods, evidence, technical soundness, clarity, and ethical compliance. The editor considers their assessments and makes the editorial decision. Read the selected journal's Peer Review Process for the required number of reviewers and its detailed workflow.

Read the selected journal's About the Journal and Peer Review Process for its screening, review, acceptance, and publication targets. These timelines are not identical across journals and are not guarantees for every manuscript. Reviewer availability, additional review rounds, author revisions, and production readiness can affect processing time. The decision letter specifies your revision deadline. If a delay substantially exceeds the stated target without an update, contact the editorial office with your submission ID.

The handling editor checks scope alignment, article type, originality, template compliance, language quality, submission completeness, and research integrity. This includes similarity screening and verification of the AI Usage Statement, Author Contributions, Funding Statement, and Conflict of Interest Statement. Ethics documentation is checked where applicable. A manuscript may be returned for correction or declined before external review if it does not satisfy the journal's basic requirements.

Common editorial decisions include:

• Accept Submission: the manuscript meets the journal's publication requirements and proceeds to production.
• Revisions Required: minor changes or clarifications are needed before further assessment.
• Resubmit for Review: substantial revisions are needed before another evaluation.
• Resubmit Elsewhere: the work may be suitable for another publication venue but falls outside the receiving journal's scope.
• Decline Submission: the manuscript is rejected because it does not meet the journal's scholarly, methodological, or ethical requirements.

Read the decision letter carefully. A request for revision is not acceptance and does not guarantee a positive final decision.

Minor revisions address limited issues such as technical clarification, presentation, references, or small corrections and may be checked by the editor.
Major revisions require substantial changes to methods, analysis, evidence, interpretation, or manuscript structure and may involve further external review. The decision letter determines the required work and deadline. Authors must address all comments regardless of the revision category.

Upload the revised manuscript with a point-by-point response letter or response matrix. Address every comment, explain the changes, and identify the relevant sections or pages. If you disagree, provide a respectful, evidence-based explanation. Supply clean and marked versions where requested and maintain anonymity during double-blind review. If you need an extension, contact the handling editor before the deadline, explain the circumstances, and propose a revised completion date. Extensions require editorial agreement.

Sign in to the receiving journal's OJS site, open Submissions, and select your manuscript. Check the available workflow stages, editorial discussions, uploaded files, and revision requests. Review both the submission record and your registered email regularly. A stage label alone does not indicate acceptance; rely on the formal editorial decision. For status inquiries, include the submission ID and manuscript title.

An editor may recommend a more suitable journal, but a recommendation does not guarantee a formal transfer service or acceptance. Ask the editorial office whether transfer arrangements are available. Any transfer requires author consent, and the receiving journal applies its own scope, formatting, review, and fee requirements. If a new submission is necessary, ensure that the original evaluation has ended before submitting elsewhere. Read the proposed journal's About the Journal and Author Guidelines first.

Provide reviewer suggestions only where the submission instructions permit them. Suggested reviewers must have relevant expertise and no relationships that could compromise impartiality. Disclose any relevant connection; the editor independently decides whom to invite. Special Issue manuscripts must meet the journal's standard scholarly and ethical requirements and follow its double-blind review policy. Read Author Guidelines, Special Issue Policy, and the relevant Announcements for specific instructions.

Read Publication Frequency & Scheduling on the selected journal's About page for its issue frequency and publication months. Check Announcements for calls for papers, Special Issues, deadlines, and policy updates. Publication schedules differ between journals. Submission or acceptance does not automatically reserve a place in a particular issue; issue assignment follows the journal's editorial and production arrangements.

Accepted manuscripts proceed through copyediting, typesetting, author proof review, DOI registration, and online publication. Check the title, author names and order, affiliations, abstracts, figures, tables, formulas, references, declarations, and publication metadata carefully. Respond promptly to production queries and obtain co-author confirmation where needed. Proof review is intended to verify accuracy, not introduce substantial new research. Publication follows the journal's schedule and completion of the required production and fee arrangements. Read Peer Review Process & Workflow and Publication Fees for details.

Online First or Early Access is available only where the selected journal expressly supports it. A stated acceptance-to-publication target does not necessarily indicate publication ahead of issue assignment. Read Publication Frequency & Scheduling or contact the editorial office for confirmation. Once an article is officially published, cite the version, date, and DOI shown on its article page rather than treating an acceptance letter or proof file as a published article.

The availability and issuance procedure for a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) or publication certificate depend on the journal's administrative arrangements. A formal acceptance letter can only confirm an actual editorial acceptance decision; it cannot be issued as proof of acceptance while review or revision is ongoing. Ask the editorial office through the journal's Contact page and provide your submission ID. Certificates should not be assumed to be automatic or available for every journal.

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) provides a persistent identifier for a published article. Our publication workflow includes DOI registration through Crossref, and the identifier is displayed on the published article record. Use the DOI when citing or sharing the article. DOI registration is distinct from inclusion in an indexing database or national accreditation. Read About the Journal for identifier information and Abstracting & Indexing for database coverage.

Our journals follow a Gold Open Access publishing model: published articles are freely available without reader subscriptions or registration. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), the work may be shared and adapted, including commercially, with appropriate attribution, a license reference, and an indication of changes. Read the journal's Open Access Statement, Copyright Notice, and Copyright and Licensing Terms, and check the license displayed on the specific article.

Read the selected journal's Citation Style and Manuscript Structure & Requirements in its Author Guidelines. Use the prescribed reference style rather than assuming one style applies to every journal. A reference manager can help, but authors must verify citations, bibliographic details, and DOI links. Follow the journal's figure resolution, numbering, caption, and editable-table requirements. Obtain any necessary permission for third-party material and acknowledge its source and license appropriately.

Notify the editorial office promptly with the article title, DOI, location of the error, and proposed correction. Minor typographical, spelling, or layout errors that do not affect scientific findings or authorship may be handled through a silent correction. Substantive errors in formulas, calculations, data tables, or author lists require a separate, citable Corrigendum or Erratum linked to the original article. The editor determines the appropriate action. Read Post-Publication Discussions & Corrections in the Ethical Guidelines.

Read the selected journal's Abstracting & Indexing, accreditation information, and Digital Preservation & Archiving policy. Database coverage, accreditation rank, and valid volume ranges are journal-specific and do not extend automatically to other journals under the same publisher. Verify current status through the relevant official records. Preservation services and repository deposit arrangements must be checked for the selected journal. For self-archiving, follow its stated policy and preserve the article's DOI, citation details, and license information.

Yes. Manuscript submission and peer review are free of charge. An Article Processing Charge (APC) applies only after formal acceptance under the journal's publication fee policy. Payment is not required to obtain a review or secure a favorable editorial decision. Read the selected journal's Publication Fees page before submitting to understand the charges that may apply after acceptance.

The APC supports publication services such as typesetting, DOI registration, and digital preservation. Read the selected journal's Publication Fees page for the current amount, services covered, applicable author categories, and optional services. Rates and administrative arrangements may differ between journals. An APC does not purchase acceptance, guarantee publication in a particular issue, or guarantee inclusion in an external indexing database.

Waivers or reductions are considered only under the selected journal's published financial assistance policy. Read Publication Fees for eligibility, required documentation, application timing, and available assistance. Contact the editorial office early if you need clarification. A request does not establish automatic entitlement to a waiver, and financial arrangements must remain separate from assessment of the manuscript's scholarly merit.

Pay only after formal acceptance and receipt of the journal's official invoice or authorized payment instructions. Verify payment details through the editorial office and keep your receipt. Under the publication terms, APC payments are non-refundable once production or typesetting has started. APCs paid for subsequently retracted articles are also non-refundable. Read Publication Fees, Copyright Notice, and Retraction Policy for the applicable terms. If cancellation or withdrawal occurs before production, request written clarification rather than assuming a refund is available.

No APC is due for a manuscript rejected before acceptance. Submission and peer review remain free. Any additional or optional services, including printed copies where offered, must follow the charges disclosed on the selected journal's Publication Fees page. Do not assume that extra-page, figure, certificate, or administrative charges apply unless they are explicitly stated in the official terms.

Submissions undergo similarity and integrity screening using the tools identified in the journal's policies. Read Plagiarism Screening in the Author Guidelines for the maximum similarity threshold and applicable exclusions. Manuscripts exceeding the limit may be returned for substantial revision or declined. A similarity score is not a standalone determination of plagiarism: editors also consider attribution, the nature of the overlap, and its context. Verbatim copying, uncredited paraphrasing, fabricated or falsified data, inappropriate image manipulation, and duplicate publication are unacceptable regardless of the overall score.

Substantial, undisclosed reuse of your own earlier text, data, figures, or results may constitute inappropriate text recycling or self-plagiarism. Publishing substantially the same research more than once without an acceptable basis and transparent disclosure may constitute duplicate publication. Cite and disclose relevant prior work, including related articles, theses, dissertations, preprints, and conference papers. Read Ethical Guidelines and the journal's originality requirements before submitting work derived from an earlier version.

Eligibility depends on the receiving journal's originality and prior-publication requirements. A published conference paper is not automatically eligible simply because it has been expanded, and a thesis-derived article must be disclosed appropriately. Read Author Guidelines, Submission Preparation Checklist, and Copyright Notice. Explain the relationship to the earlier work, cite it where appropriate, and confirm any reuse permissions. If the policy does not clearly address your situation, ask the editorial office before submitting.

Retraction may be necessary for fabricated data, serious unresolved research flaws, redundant publication, severe plagiarism, or research ethics violations. Retraction procedures follow COPE Retraction Guidelines and the journal's Retraction Policy and Archival Integrity. Retracted articles remain in the archive: the article title is marked as retracted, the retained PDF is watermarked RETRACTED, and a separate, citable retraction notice explains the reasons and links to the article. Retraction corrects the scholarly record and is not replaced by silently deleting the publication. Paid APCs are non-refundable for retracted papers.

Research involving human participants, user testing, interviews, surveys, or sensitive personal information must meet the journal's ethical requirements and applicable institutional rules. Provide the required approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee and describe documented informed consent, privacy protection, and relevant approval details in the manuscript. Read Research Involving Human Participants in the Ethical Guidelines and the ethics requirements in the Author Guidelines. If you believe an institutional exemption applies, provide its documentation and ask the editor whether it satisfies the journal's policy; do not assume that approval requirements can be waived.

AI assistance in manuscript preparation is limited to language proofreading, translation support, grammar, and stylistic enhancement. AI tools cannot be listed as authors or replace the authors' intellectual responsibility for study design, analysis, and substantive conclusions. They must not fabricate data or references or create or alter research images and results. Authors must verify all content and disclose the tool name, version, and purpose in the AI Usage Statement. A statement is also required when no AI-assisted tools were used. Read the selected journal's Artificial Intelligence Policy and Mandatory Declarations for the complete requirements.

Include the following 4 Mandatory Declarations in dedicated sections before the References:

• AI Usage Statement: disclose permitted AI assistance, including the tool name, version, and purpose, or explicitly state that no such tools were used.
• Author Contributions: describe each author's roles using the CRediT taxonomy and confirm approval of the final manuscript.
• Funding Statement: identify financial or institutional support and relevant grant numbers, or explicitly state that no external funding was received.
• Conflict of Interest Statement: disclose relationships that could influence the work, or explicitly state that no competing interests exist.

Do not omit a declaration simply because there is nothing to disclose. Use accurate statements rather than copying examples that do not reflect the study. Read Mandatory Declarations Prior to References and the current Article Template for wording, placement, and implementation requirements. Follow anonymization instructions during review.

Read the selected journal's Author Guidelines and any Data Availability or supplementary material policy for its requirements. Sharing appropriately licensed data, source code, software versions, and evaluation materials can support reproducibility, but it must respect participant consent, privacy, intellectual property, security, and contractual restrictions. Explain access limitations where required, and do not publish sensitive information or proprietary materials without authorization. Publicly sharing research materials is separate from providing them confidentially for authorized editorial assessment.

Contact the Editor-in-Chief through the journal's Contact page, providing the submission ID or article DOI, a clear explanation, and supporting evidence. Concerns involving the Editor-in-Chief should be addressed to the publisher through its designated contact route. Read Ethical Concerns, Appeals & Complaints Procedure before submitting a complaint or appeal. Investigations follow relevant COPE procedures, including objective assessment, a right of reply, documented proceedings, and institutional notification where necessary. An appeal should identify a specific factual, procedural, or scholarly concern; disagreement alone does not guarantee reversal of a decision.

Reviewers and editors must keep unpublished manuscripts, data, code, and editorial communications confidential and must not use them for personal or institutional advantage. Confidential material must not be uploaded to third-party generative AI platforms. Potential financial, collaborative, institutional, or personal conflicts must be disclosed promptly, with recusal where impartiality could be compromised. Reviews must be objective, constructive, evidence-based, and timely. Editorial decisions must rest on scholarly merit and ethical compliance, independent of commercial, institutional, or political pressure. Read Peer Reviewer Standards, Editorial Responsibilities, and Conflict of Interest Policy in the Ethical Guidelines.

Open the selected journal's site and choose Register. Complete the required profile information and enable the Author role where offered. Follow any verification instructions sent to your email. If you already have an account on the same OJS installation, sign in first rather than creating another account. If author access is unavailable, contact the journal's support team through its Contact page. Keep your account information accurate and separately verify all submission metadata.

Journals hosted within the same OJS installation can share a user account, although roles and access are assigned separately for each journal. You may need to enroll as an author in an additional journal. Journals on separate installations may require separate accounts even when they share a publisher. If your account exists but cannot access the required journal or submission function, ask the support team through the relevant Contact page. Avoid creating duplicate accounts on the same installation.

Select Forgot your password? on the login page and enter your registered email address. Follow the system's password reset instructions. Check Spam or Junk if the message does not arrive and confirm that you are using the correct site and email address. If the problem continues, contact technical support through Contact. Never share your password or reset link, and do not create a new account simply to regain access to an existing submission.

Check Spam or Junk, verify your profile email address, and review notification settings where available. Institutional filters may block automated messages; ask your mail administrator to allow the journal's sender address if necessary. Check the OJS submission record directly for editorial discussions and requests. If messages are still missing, contact technical support with your username, submission ID where relevant, and a description of the issue. Do not include passwords or private reset links.

Contact the journal whose scope matches your expertise and provide a short CV, relevant publications, research interests, and scholarly profile identifiers. Complete reviewer interests in OJS where supported. Read Peer Reviewer Standards before accepting an assignment. Reviewer selection remains at the editors' discretion and depends on expertise, availability, and conflicts of interest. Certificates or other recognition follow each journal's administrative arrangements; ask through Contact rather than assuming they are automatically issued.

Read the relevant journal's Contact page and select the appropriate editorial or technical support contact. Include the journal name in your message, your name, the submission ID or article DOI where applicable, and a concise description of your request. For technical problems, provide the error message, browser information, and a screenshot with sensitive details removed. Questions about scope, decisions, ethics, fees, or publication should be directed to the editorial office. Response hours and service arrangements are those stated by the receiving office.