Best Practices and Transparency Policy

Document control: Version 1.0 | Effective date 21 October 2026 | Approved by Publisher | Next scheduled review October 2027 | First version.

Purpose is to ensure that journal information, editorial processes, ownership, fees, peer review, ethics, access, and publishing operations are accurate, discoverable, and transparent.

Scope and Commitment

This policy applies to all journals, regular issues, special issues, supplements, and conference-related content. The publisher is committed to transparent scholarly publishing, editorial independence, responsible research practices, and clear communication with authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and indexing services.

Journal Identity and Website Transparency

• Each journal shall use a distinct and non-misleading title and shall display its ISSN/eISSN, aims and scope, target readership, accepted article types, publication frequency, ownership/publisher information, and contact details.

• Journal websites shall use secure HTTPS, be maintained regularly, and avoid misleading claims concerning indexing, metrics, partnerships, impact, acceptance, peer review, or affiliations.

• Policies shall be accessible without unnecessary barriers and shall display their current version or last-updated date.

• Each ISSN/eISSN shall be registered with the ISSN International Centre and match the title as displayed on the website, in article metadata and in any print edition; the journal title shall not be readily confused with an existing title.

• The website shall display, in English: aims and scope, editorial board with affiliations, peer-review policy, publication ethics and malpractice statement, author guidelines, APC/fee information (or a statement that no fees apply), copyright and licensing terms, archiving arrangements, and a physical address and working e-mail for the editorial office.

• Journal website content shall be available in English (bilingual sites may offer additional languages). Every article shall carry an English-language title, abstract and keywords; reference lists shall be presented in Roman script.

Editorial Governance

• The names, affiliations, and editorial roles of the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board shall be displayed and kept current.

• Editorial decisions shall be based on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, and contribution to the field.

• Commercial considerations, APC payments, advertising, sponsorship, institutional relationships, or publication targets shall not determine editorial outcomes.

• Editors shall disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves when impartiality may reasonably be questioned.

• Editorial board members shall be listed with full name, affiliation, country and role; shall have consented in writing to serve; shall have subject expertise and publication records aligned with the aims and scope; and shall collectively reflect the geographic diversity of the field. The Editor-in-Chief shall be identifiable, with a verifiable institutional affiliation.

• Editors, board members and publisher staff shall not, in aggregate, author more than a small minority of the journal's research content in any volume; the journal shall monitor and report author distribution by country and institution.

• An editorial governance document shall define the roles, term lengths, appointment and removal procedures for the Editor-in-Chief and editorial board, and the relationship between the editorial office and the publisher.

Peer Review Transparency

• The journal shall clearly state that it follows double-blind peer review, unless a specific article type is transparently exempted.

• Research articles shall normally be evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with appropriate subject expertise.

• The identity of authors shall be concealed from reviewers and reviewer identities shall be concealed from authors, subject to practical limits of anonymisation.

• Editorial decisions and reviewer recommendations shall be documented in the manuscript-management system.

• The peer-review policy shall be published and shall state: the review model; the minimum number of external reviewers; what is reviewed (all research content) and what is not (e.g., editorials); indicative time to first decision; the basis for decisions; and the appeals route.

• The journal shall maintain a reviewer database with verified identities and areas of expertise, and shall record reviewer activity so that evidence of peer review can be provided to indexing services on request.

• Articles shall display received, revised, accepted and published dates.

Author Fees and Other Charges

• All mandatory and optional author charges shall be clearly stated before submission or at the earliest practical stage.

• Fees, waivers, discounts, taxes, and refund conditions shall be explained transparently.

• No payment shall guarantee acceptance, favourable review, or a particular editorial decision.

• Where a journal charges no fees of any kind, it shall state this explicitly on the website.

Research and Publication Ethics

• The journal shall maintain public policies on authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, research misconduct, human and animal research, informed consent, data availability, image integrity, AI use, complaints and appeals, and corrections/retractions.

• Allegations of misconduct shall be handled fairly, confidentially, and proportionately, with an opportunity for relevant parties to respond.

• The Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement shall be published on every journal website and shall reference the COPE Core Practices.

Copyright, Licensing and Open Access

• Copyright ownership and licensing terms shall be stated separately and unambiguously.

• Open-access content shall carry an open licence whose reuse conditions are clearly displayed in the full text and on the website.

• Third-party material excluded from an article’s open licence shall be clearly identified.

• The licence (e.g., CC BY 4.0) shall be named on the article landing page, in the PDF and in machine-readable metadata (Crossref licence element); authors retain copyright unless a different arrangement is clearly stated.

Archiving, Preservation and Repository Rights

• Each journal shall maintain a documented long-term digital preservation arrangement and disclose the active preservation service(s) used.

• Authors shall be informed of self-archiving rights for preprints, accepted manuscripts, and published versions.

• Persistent identifiers such as DOIs should be used and maintained where available.

• Every article shall be assigned a Crossref DOI at publication, with full metadata (authors, ORCID, affiliations, abstract, funding, licence, references) deposited, and shall be included in the journal's Crossref ‘cited-by’ and reference-linking participation.

Ownership, Management and Advertising

• Publisher ownership and management shall be transparent.

• Advertising and sponsorship decisions shall be independent of editorial decisions and shall not influence acceptance or rejection.

• Sponsored content must be identifiable as such and must not be presented in a way that could mislead readers.

• Direct marketing and solicitation of manuscripts or editorial board membership shall be appropriate, targeted, unobtrusive and accurate; mass, unsolicited e-mail campaigns and misleading invitations are prohibited.

Metrics and Indexing Claims

• Only verifiable indexing, abstracting, archiving, and metric information may be displayed.

• Journal metrics shall not be fabricated, selectively misrepresented, or presented as official metrics when they are not.

• Changes in indexing status should be updated promptly.

• Only official metrics from their owners may be displayed (Journal Impact Factor – Clarivate; CiteScore, SJR, SNIP – Scopus/Scimago/CWTS). Unofficial or purchased ‘impact factors’ shall not be displayed. The journal shall monitor its self-citation rate and annual output.

Publishing Schedule and Version Control

• Each journal shall state its publication schedule and make reasonable efforts to publish accordingly.

• Published articles shall have stable bibliographic information and persistent identifiers where available.

• Corrections, retractions, and other post-publication notices shall be permanently linked to the affected article and clearly labelled.

• Each journal shall publish on schedule, with a stated minimum annual output, and shall not skip or delay issues. Continuous publication models shall be described. Persistent gaps in publication shall be explained on the website.

• Article-level metadata shall include: title, abstract and keywords in English; all author names, affiliations and ORCID iDs; corresponding author e-mail; funding statement with grant numbers; conflict-of-interest statement; data availability statement; ethics approval statement; DOI; volume/issue/article number; and licence.

Language, Readability and Content Quality

• Manuscripts shall be published in clear, grammatically correct English (or the journal's stated language with English abstracts); the journal shall offer or recommend language-editing support without making paid editing a condition of acceptance.

• Published content shall be relevant to the stated aims and scope, shall make an identifiable scholarly contribution, and shall cite current, relevant literature. Editors shall periodically review the journal's citation profile (citations received and given) against comparable titles.

• Abstracts shall be informative (structured where appropriate), stating purpose, methods, principal results and conclusions, and shall be understandable without the full text.

Accessibility, Diversity and Non-Discrimination

Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, disability, political belief, institutional prestige, geographic location, or other characteristics unrelated to scholarly merit. The publisher will seek inclusive participation in editorial and review activities.

Journal websites shall aim to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility guidance, and article PDFs shall be tagged/accessible where technically feasible.

Indexing-Readiness Self-Assessment

Before applying to Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus or DOAJ, and annually thereafter, the publisher shall complete the following checklist for each journal and retain the evidence:

• ISSN/eISSN registered and displayed; title distinct; single official website (HTTPS) with English navigation.

• Aims and scope, target readership and article types stated; content matches scope.

• Editor-in-Chief and full editorial board listed with affiliations and countries; participation confirmed; expertise and geography match scope.

• Published peer-review policy (model, reviewer numbers, timelines, appeals); evidence of review retained for every research article.

• Publication ethics and malpractice statement, COI, authorship, data, AI and corrections/retractions policies published and COPE-aligned.

• Regular publication for at least two years with no missed issues; minimum output achieved; received/accepted/published dates on every article.

• English abstracts, keywords and Roman-script references on every article; clear, correct language.

• Author base geographically and institutionally diverse; editors/board are not dominant authors; self-citation rate monitored.

• Funding, COI, ethics and data statements present on every article; ORCID iDs captured.

• DOIs registered via Crossref with full metadata; licence displayed and machine-readable; content preserved in CLOCKSS/Portico/PKP PN (or equivalent) and listed in the Keepers Registry.

• Fees (or ‘no fees’) and waiver policy displayed and easy to find; no misleading metrics or indexing claims.

Policy Review and Accountability

Policies shall be reviewed periodically and updated when standards, technology, law, or publishing practices materially change. Significant changes should be dated and, where appropriate, communicated to stakeholders.