All IJIGSP research content is published with immediate open access. Readers may access, read, download, print, link to, and share published articles in accordance with the applicable Creative Commons license.
Licensing and Copyright Policy
IJIGSP articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Authors retain copyright in their work and grant MECS Press the non-exclusive right to publish, identify itself as the original publisher, distribute the Version of Record, register and maintain the DOI and metadata, and perform the technical changes necessary for publication and preservation.
CC BY 4.0 permits use, distribution, adaptation, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided that appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is supplied, and changes are indicated.
Archiving and Repository Policy
Authors may deposit submitted, accepted, and published versions of their articles in institutional repositories, subject repositories, funder repositories, and personal academic websites, provided that the published version is properly cited and linked where applicable.
The content of the 10 MECS Press journal websites is hosted on a dual-server redundancy architecture and synchronously backed up to local servers. In the event of a failure of either primary server, the system will automatically switch to the standby server, with an estimated service recovery time of 3–5 hours. Furthermore, the full-text content of MECS journals has been long-term archived by the Internet Archive, ensuring the persistent accessibility and integrity of academic resources.
Academic editorial decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized Associate Editor on the basis of scholarly quality, validity, originality, relevance, ethical compliance, and the adequacy of peer review.
MECS Press provides administrative, technical, legal, financial, production, and research-integrity support but does not interfere with academic editorial decisions. Fees, subscriptions, advertising, sponsorship, institutional relationships, and potential citation impact do not influence reviewer selection or manuscript decisions.
Editors must disclose and avoid conflicts of interest. A conflicted editor is excluded from reviewer selection, editorial discussion, and the final decision, and the manuscript is assigned to another qualified editor.
Quality Control and External Peer Review
IJIGSP operates a double-blind external peer-review process. The identities of authors are concealed from reviewers, and reviewer identities are concealed from authors.
Every primary research article and review article that passes editorial screening is evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers. External reviewers are not members of the IJIGSP Editorial Board or employees of MECS Press and must have relevant expertise and no conflict of interest with the authors or manuscript.
Editorial Board members provide academic oversight, select external reviewers, supervise review, and make or recommend editorial decisions. They do not replace the two required external reviewers.
Reviewers provide recommendations. The handling editor evaluates the reports and authors' responses and submits a recommendation. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized Associate Editor who has no conflict of interest.
Special issue, invited, and Editorial Board submissions are subject to the same standards. A submission from an editor or Board member is handled by an independent editor, and the submitting editor has no access to reviewer selection, reviewer identities, editorial discussion, or the decision.
Plagiarism and Similarity Screening
Manuscripts are screened using iThenticate or another appropriate similarity-checking service at submission and may be screened again during revision or before publication.
Similarity reports are interpreted by qualified editorial staff and editors; no single percentage automatically determines plagiarism. The journal considers the amount, nature, attribution, location, and scholarly context of overlapping material.
Suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, text recycling, image duplication, or unattributed use is investigated fairly. Authors are given an opportunity to respond where appropriate. Confirmed concerns may result in revision, rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or notification of relevant institutions, depending on severity and evidence.
Authorship is limited to persons who made substantial scholarly contributions, approved the submitted version, and agree to be accountable for the work. Persons who contributed but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their permission.
The corresponding author ensures that the author list and order are accurate, all authors have approved submission, and all required declarations are complete.
Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must include a written explanation and the written agreement of all authors. Requests made after acceptance are considered only in exceptional circumstances and may delay publication. Suspected authorship misconduct is investigated using appropriate publication-ethics guidance.
Conflicts of Interest and Funding
Authors, reviewers, editors, Guest Editors, and Editorial Board members must disclose financial and non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence their work or judgment.
Authors must identify all funding sources and describe the funders' roles in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, and publication decisions. If the funder had no role, this should be stated.
Reviewers or editors with a relevant conflict must decline or be removed from the assignment. Undisclosed conflicts discovered before or after publication are investigated and may require an editorial notice or other corrective action.
Protection Against Publication-Process Manipulation
IJIGSP does not tolerate fabricated reviewer identities, peer-review rings, undisclosed paper-mill involvement, fraudulent authorship, manipulated citations, fabricated or falsified data, image manipulation, or attempts to interfere with independent editorial evaluation.
The journal verifies reviewer identities where necessary and monitors unusual submission, review, authorship, citation, and email patterns. Manuscripts may be paused or rejected while concerns are investigated. Published articles may be corrected, marked with an expression of concern, or retracted when warranted.
Editors and reviewers must not request citations for personal, journal, or institutional benefit unless the citations are academically relevant and the reason is clearly justified.
IJIGSP does not charge submission or peer-review fees.
For manuscripts originally submitted on or after 1 April 2026, an Article Processing Charge applies only after successful peer review and formal acceptance. Full or partial waivers may be requested by eligible authors who lack sufficient institutional or research funding.
Payment and waiver processing are separate from the editorial process. Editors and reviewers are not informed of an author's ability to pay or waiver request, and such information does not influence peer review, editorial decisions, or publication priority.
Manuscripts originally submitted before 1 April 2026 remain subject to the previous no-fee policy. Journal subscriptions are voluntary and are not a condition of acceptance or publication.
Complaints about journal administration should be sent to ijigsp@mecs-press.org. Confidential concerns about publication ethics, reviewer conduct, editorial conduct, peer-review integrity, or published articles should be sent to integrity@mecs-press.org.
Complaints are acknowledged and assessed objectively. The person handling a complaint must have no conflict of interest. Relevant authors, reviewers, editors, or institutions may be invited to respond. Confidentiality is protected as far as possible while allowing a fair investigation.
Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they identify a material factual or procedural error. An appeal must provide clear grounds and supporting evidence. Mere disagreement with academic judgment is not sufficient. Appeals are considered by the Editor-in-Chief or another senior unconflicted editor who was not involved in the original decision. An independent expert may be consulted.
Withdrawal of Unpublished Manuscripts
Authors may request withdrawal of a submitted or accepted but unpublished manuscript by providing a reasoned written request approved by all authors and identifying the manuscript title and reference number.
The journal considers the stage of processing, the reason for withdrawal, author agreement, and any ethical or legal concerns. No punitive withdrawal charge is imposed. Withdrawal does not prevent the journal from investigating suspected duplicate submission, authorship disputes, misconduct, or other ethical concerns.
Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
The journal maintains the integrity of the scholarly record through corrections, retraction notices, expressions of concern, and other appropriate post-publication updates.
A correction is issued when an otherwise reliable article contains an error that affects interpretation, attribution, or metadata but does not invalidate the central findings. The correction is freely accessible and linked to the article.
An expression of concern may be issued when serious questions arise but an investigation is incomplete or inconclusive. It is linked to the article and updated when the matter is resolved.
A retraction may be considered when findings are unreliable because of major error or misconduct, when research was conducted unethically, when publication or peer review was manipulated, when plagiarism or unauthorized duplicate publication is confirmed, or when another serious problem makes the article unreliable.
Retracted articles remain permanently available as part of the scholarly record and are clearly marked "Retracted". A freely accessible retraction notice is published and linked bidirectionally to the article. The notice identifies the article, states the reason for retraction, and indicates who initiated the retraction. Metadata are retained and updated. Retraction is intended to correct the literature, not to punish authors.
Final decisions on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized independent editor. The publisher may provide legal, administrative, production, and integrity support but does not make the decision for commercial reasons.
Names, email addresses, manuscript files, reviewer reports, and other personal information supplied to the journal are used for editorial, peer-review, production, integrity, preservation, and legal purposes connected with publication. Information is not used for unrelated purposes or disclosed to unrelated third parties except where required by law, necessary to investigate a credible ethical concern, or authorized by the person concerned.
The journal protects author and reviewer identities in accordance with its double-blind review policy and applicable privacy requirements.