Policies
Editorial Policies
Upon submission of a manuscript to the Journal of Science and Technology Management (JSTM), it is understood that all authors have thoroughly reviewed the content and unanimously agreed to its accuracy and compliance with the journal's policies.
Authorship
Authors are strongly advised to verify the accuracy of the author group and the author order during manuscript submission. Changes to authorship, including the addition or removal of authors, and alterations to the author sequence, are not permissible after a manuscript has been accepted. Such changes are also prohibited during the revision stage. In the event of an author's affiliation changing between the research or paper writing stage and the time of publication, the author's current affiliation should be indicated.
Authorship Criteria
Authorship credit should be attributed exclusively to significant contributions in each of the three defined components:
- Conceptualization, study design, data acquisition, data analysis, or interpretation of data;
- Drafting the article or critically revising it for substantial intellectual content;
- Granting final approval for the version to be published.
Participation solely in securing funding or collecting data does not warrant authorship. Merely providing general supervision of the research group is insufficient for authorship. Each contributor must have played a significant role in the work, enabling them to assume public responsibility for specific portions of the manuscript's content. The order of authorship should reflect the individual contributions to the study and manuscript writing. Once submitted, the order cannot be altered.
Affiliations
Authors are required to disclose all relevant affiliations to specify where the research was approved, supported, or conducted. In cases where an author has relocated to a different institution before the article's publication, they should indicate the affiliation where the work was conducted. The author's current affiliation and contact details should be included in the acknowledgment section. A change of affiliation alone does not constitute a valid reason for removing an author from a publication, provided they meet the criteria for authorship.
Citations
The submission must reference relevant, current, and authenticated literature, with preference given to peer-reviewed sources where applicable, to substantiate any claims asserted in the article. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or prearrangements among author groups to unduly cite each other’s work should be avoided, as this behavior may be deemed citation manipulation, a form of misconduct. If there is uncertainty about whether to cite a source, authors are encouraged to seek guidance from the journal editorial office.
Confidentiality
A submitted manuscript is considered confidential material. Academic Journals will not disclose submitted manuscripts to anyone except individuals involved in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted). These individuals comprise editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors. However, in cases of suspected misconduct, a manuscript may be disclosed to members of the Academic Journals’ ethics committees and institutions/organizations that may require access for the resolution of the misconduct.
Appeals and complaints
JSTM welcomes genuine appeals to editorial decisions; however, such appeals must be supported by strong evidence or new data/information in response to the comments from the editor and reviewers. This is crucial, given that the majority of the journal's scholarly articles consist of reviews and original research, relying on accurate scientific data.
Editors do not anticipate frequent appeals, and they seldom reverse their initial decisions. Therefore, if your manuscript is rejected, it is strongly recommended that you consider submitting it to another journal. The decision to reject a manuscript often involves the editor's judgment of priority and importance, factors that authors typically cannot address through an appeal.
Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions
At times, it may become necessary to make changes to a published article. Such changes are implemented after careful consideration by the Editor. Any required modifications will be accompanied by a post-publication notice, which will be permanently linked to the original article. This notice can take the form of a Correction, an Expression of Concern, a Retraction, and, in rare instances, a Removal. The purpose of this mechanism for making permanent and transparent changes is to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.
Copyright Policy
Who Can Submit?
Authors in the field of science and technology management are welcome to submit original manuscripts for consideration for publication in JSTM, provided they either own the copyright to the submitted work or are authorized by the copyright owner(s) to submit the manuscript.
Author Rights
As further detailed in our submission agreement, authors, in consideration for the publication of their article, assign all copyrights to the Journal of Science and Technology Management. The publisher is granted publishing and distribution rights. JSTM operates under a non-exclusive licensing agreement.
Data falsification/fabrication
Deliberate actions aimed at inappropriate manipulation or fabrication of data are considered serious forms of misconduct. Such actions are intended to mislead others and undermine the integrity of the scholarly record, leading to wide-reaching and long-term consequences.
When submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors must ensure that all data contained within it is accurate and faithfully represents their work. In order to facilitate manuscript evaluation, authors are expected to retain all raw data associated with their submissions.
JSTM may request authors to provide the original research data if deemed necessary. Failure to produce the original data upon request may result in the rejection or retraction of a manuscript or published paper.
Desk rejection policy
If the submission exhibits one or more of the following issues, JSTM will make a desk rejection decision:
- The topic/scope of the study is not relevant to the field covered by JSTM.
- There are issues related to publication ethics, non-compliance with the journal’s standard guidelines, or plagiarism (defined by a similarity index higher than 10 percent).
- The topic lacks sufficient impact and fails to contribute new knowledge to the field adequately.
- There are flaws in the study design.
- The objective of the study is not clearly stated.
- The organization of the study is problematic, and/or certain components are missing.
- There are writing problems or significant grammar/style infelicities.
Duplicate submission/publication
Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are not under consideration elsewhere. The detection of a duplicate submission or publication is typically considered a deliberate act.
Funding
JSTM requires authors to declare all sources of funding, including financial support, in their manuscripts. Please ensure that this information is accurate and aligns with your funder’s requirements.
Images and figures
Include images and figures in your article only if they are relevant and contribute value to the reported work. Avoid incorporating purely illustrative content that does not enhance the scholarly work.
When using material in your article that is owned and held under copyright by a third party, including, but not limited to, proprietary text, illustrations, tables, or other materials, ensure that written permission has been obtained. If necessary, the journal may request you to provide proof of permission.
Misconduct
Misconduct constitutes a violation of this editorial policy, journal policies, publication ethics, or any applicable guidelines/policies. Any activities that threaten or compromise the integrity of the research or publication process are considered potential misconduct. The academic misconduct recognized by JSTM includes but is not limited to the following:
- Plagiarism: The unauthorized use of others' research findings, text, or ideas without proper citation or attribution.
- Data Falsification/Fabrication: The intentional manipulation or fabrication of research data to mislead readers or enhance the impact of the study.
- Duplicate Publication: Submitting the same research findings to multiple journals or conferences without proper disclosure or permission.
- Authorship Issues: Involving fictitious authors, underreporting authors, or unauthorized authorship attribution.
- Improper Citation Practices: Engaging in excessive citation, citing non-existent literature, or inappropriately referencing others' work to boost one's own research reputation.
- Unethical Peer Review Conduct: Providing false information to peer reviewers, intentionally obstructing the peer review process, or engaging in improper behavior based on peer reviewers' opinions.
- Unethical Author Conduct: Refusing reasonable revision suggestions, failing to cooperate with journal editors, or violating the submission guidelines of the journal.
Open Access Policy
JSTM is an Open Access journal. All content of the journal is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 4.0 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). All articles published open access will be immediately and permanently free for all to read, download, copy and distribute as defined by the applied license.
Permitting the third party to reuse is defined by the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. This license allows users to copy and distribute the article, provided:
- This is not done for commercial purposes and further does not permit distribution of the Article if it is changed or edited in any way.
- The user gives appropriate credit (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI) and provides a link to the license but not in an any way implying that the licensor is endorsing the user or the use of the work.
- No derivatives including remix, transform, or build upon the material was allowed for distribution.
The full details of the license are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/