Editorial Policies

Ilmues Open Journals is committed to maintaining the highest standards of editorial integrity, transparency, and scholarly independence. These Editorial Policies define the principles, responsibilities, and procedures governing editorial decision-making across all journals published under the Ilmues platform.

Editorial Independence

All journals published by Ilmues Open Journals uphold full editorial independence. Editorial decisions regarding manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection are made solely on the basis of scholarly merit, originality, scientific and methodological rigor, and relevance to the individual journal’s scope.

Editorial decisions are not influenced by authors’ institutional affiliations, funding sources, nationality, or personal characteristics. The publisher and journal management do not interfere with editorial decision-making.

Editorial Structure and Responsibilities

Each journal published under Ilmues Open Journals operates under a clearly defined editorial structure designed to ensure academic quality, transparency, and editorial independence.

• Editor-in-Chief

  The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the scientific content, editorial direction, and integrity of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief oversees editorial policies, makes final decisions on manuscript acceptance or rejection, and ensures compliance with ethical standards and peer review procedures.

• Managing Editor

  The Managing Editor coordinates the editorial workflow, manages manuscript submissions, and facilitates communication among authors, editors, and reviewers. The Managing Editor does not influence editorial decisions regarding scholarly content.

• Associate Editors

  Associate Editors are appointed based on subject-matter and methodological expertise. They manage the peer review process within assigned disciplinary or methodological domains, including initial manuscript assessment, reviewer selection, evaluation of reviewer reports, and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief.

  For multidisciplinary journals, Associate Editors may be appointed to cover broad domains rather than narrowly defined subject areas.

• Editorial Board Members

  Editorial Board Members provide subject expertise, advise on journal development, contribute to peer review, and promote the journal within the academic community. They do not make final editorial decisions.

• Publisher

  The publisher is responsible for journal production, platform maintenance, dissemination, archiving, and administrative support. The publisher respects editorial independence and does not influence editorial decisions.

• Separation of Roles

  Editorial responsibilities are clearly separated from commercial, administrative, and publishing functions. All editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical standards.

Ethical Principles and Research Integrity

Ilmues Open Journals is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical scholarly publishing and research integrity. All journals adhere to internationally recognized guidelines, including those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, where applicable, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

The journals maintain neutrality with regard to jurisdictional claims in published content and institutional affiliations.

All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to comply with ethical standards relating to authorship, data integrity, conflict of interest disclosure, and responsible research conduct.

Manuscripts involving fabrication, falsification, manipulation of data, images, or simulation results, plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), or duplicate publication are not acceptable and may result in rejection or retraction, in accordance with established ethical procedures.

Allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, and other forms of unethical research behavior are taken seriously and are investigated following COPE recommendations and the relevant journal’s Publication Ethics policies.

All submissions must represent original work and must not be under consideration by another journal. Manuscripts may be subject to plagiarism screening prior to or during the peer review process.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authors must meet all of the following criteria:

• Substantial contribution to conception, methodology, or analysis
• Participation in drafting or revising the manuscript
• Approval of the final version of the manuscript
• Accountability for the integrity of the work

Ghost, guest, and gift authorship are strictly prohibited. Contributor roles may follow the CRediT taxonomy where appropriate.

Data and Reproducibility

Authors are expected to ensure that the data, models, and procedures underlying their research are transparent and reproducible to the extent reasonably possible. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and reliability of all data and materials presented in their manuscripts.

Where appropriate, datasets, source codes, models, and supplementary materials should be made available to support reproducibility. Any restrictions on data access must be clearly justified. Authors should retain original data and related materials and be prepared to provide access upon reasonable request, subject to legal, ethical, or confidentiality considerations.

A data availability statement may be required, depending on the nature of the research and applicable disciplinary standards.

Peer Review Policy

• All manuscripts submitted to journals published by Ilmues Open Journals undergo a rigorous peer review process
• Peer review model: Double-blind peer review (unless otherwise stated by the journal)
• A minimum of two independent reviewers
• Reviewers are selected based on subject expertise and absence of conflicts of interest
• Editorial decisions are based on reviewer reports and editorial judgment

Special Issue Policy

Journals published by Ilmues Open Journals may publish special issues or themed collections that focus on emerging, interdisciplinary, or topical areas within the journal’s scope.

All special issues are subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief of the respective journal. Proposals must clearly define the theme, scope, objectives, and proposed editorial team, including any guest editors.

Guest Editors may be appointed to manage special issues under the supervision of the Editor-in-Chief or a designated Associate Editor. Guest Editors must adhere to the journal’s Editorial Policies, Publication Ethics, and Peer Review Policy and must declare any potential conflicts of interest.

All manuscripts submitted to special issues undergo the journal’s standard peer review process. The Editor-in-Chief retains final responsibility for acceptance or rejection decisions.

The publisher reserves the right to modify, postpone, or cancel a special issue if ethical concerns, quality standards, or editorial requirements are not adequately met.

Reviewer Selection and Responsibilities

Reviewers may be drawn from:

• Academic institutions
• Research organizations
• Industry and professional sectors with demonstrated expertise

Reviewers are expected to:

• Provide objective, constructive, and timely reviews
• Maintain confidentiality
• Declare any conflicts of interest

Conflict of Interest (Editors and Reviewers)

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could affect objectivity. Editors recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where conflicts exist.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a written justification. Appeals are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or an independent senior editor. Complaints are handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Confidentiality

All submitted manuscripts and peer review materials are treated as confidential.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

In accordance with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Ilmues Open Journals recognizes that generative AI tools may be used to support aspects of research and writing.

The responsible use of AI-assisted tools is permitted solely for language editing, formatting, or code optimization, provided that such use does not compromise the originality, integrity, or transparency of the research.

Generative AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship implies accountability for the intellectual content of the work, which cannot be attributed to AI systems. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content, including any material generated or assisted by AI tools.

The use of generative AI to produce scientific content, interpret data, generate results, fabricate references, or replace substantive intellectual contribution is not permitted.

Where generative AI tools have been used, authors should provide a transparent disclosure describing the nature and extent of such use, where appropriate. Failure to disclose inappropriate use of AI tools may be considered a breach of editorial policy.

Editors and reviewers may use AI-assisted tools in a limited manner to support editorial tasks, provided that confidentiality is maintained and unpublished content is not uploaded to third-party systems that do not guarantee data protection.