Transparent, COPE-aligned, on record
Our complete policy framework — peer review, ethics, plagiarism, open access, copyright, archiving and appeals.
Peer Review Process
Double-blind. Minimum two reviewers. Reviewer identities protected. Editors recuse themselves on conflicts. Each stage — pre-check, assignment, review, decision, revision, acceptance — is timestamped on the article's public, blockchain-anchored lifecycle page.
Publication Ethics & Malpractice
COPE-aligned and ICMJE-compliant. Clear policies on authorship, conflicts of interest, AI-tool disclosure, and corrections / retractions. All declarations on funding, conflict of interest, data availability and AI-tool usage are mandatory at submission.
Research Misconduct
Plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate submission and authorship disputes are investigated per COPE flowcharts. Confirmed misconduct results in rejection or retraction and institutional notification.
Plagiarism Policy
Every manuscript is screened with iThenticate at submission and again pre-publication. The UGC 2018 similarity threshold of ≤10% (excluding references) is enforced. The similarity result is recorded on the article's lifecycle page.
Open Access & Copyright
All content is immediately and permanently open access under CC BY 4.0. Authors retain copyright; readers may reuse with attribution. Licensing is consistent with the Indian Copyright Act 1957 and the Berne Convention.
Archiving & Preservation
Permanent preservation via CLOCKSS and Portico. Content survives even if the publisher ceases operations.
Data Sharing
Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in open repositories (Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad) and include a data availability statement.
Appeals & Complaints
Authors may appeal editorial decisions in writing. Appeals are reviewed by an editor not involved in the original decision. Complaints are handled transparently and on record.