Publication Policies and Procedures

Review Process

All journal submissions are double blind, peer reviewed by members of the Editorial Review Board. The Editor strives to maintain an acceptance rate of 20-25% or less for first time submissions. The steps of the review process are as follows:

  1. The journal Editor reviews papers for appropriateness, and uses a plagiarism verification tool to ensure the work has not been plagiarized.
  2. The Editor sends out the manuscript to two reviewers, without disclosing the identities of the authors or other reviewer.
  3. The review results are confidentially delivered to the Editor, who then reviews the reviewer feedback to ensure the comments are relevant and non-discriminatory before sending the comments back to the authors.
  4. The reviewer feedback and Editor’s decision is sent to the authors without disclosing the identity of the reviewers, and the authors are instructed on what to do if they wish to revise and resubmit their papers.
  5. Revised papers are sent back to the Editor who sends the revised paper back to the original reviewers.
  6. Feedback from the second round of reviews are processed the same way. In some cases, authors are given a second chance to revise and resubmit their papers should they not be found acceptable after the first revision.
  7. If accepted for journal publication, the authors are notified by the Editor and provided with instructions on how to submit their paper for publication.
Accepted Journal Article Requirements

The requirements for journal publication are as follows:

1. The paper must be formatted according to the Formatting Guidelines (PDF).
2.  All authors must read and agree to the terms of the Licensing Agreement.
3. The IGBR is a member supported non-profit organization. As such, we request that each author be a member of the organization. Membership includes the ability to publish in any one of the IGBR sponsored journals. Membership is included in the price of conference registration, or is $100 per year. No other publication or submission fees are required. IGBR offers scholarships for authors who are unable to afford membership.

Ethics Policy

Publication Ethics Policy follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, reviewers and authors. Here is a breakdown of the standards:

Journals remain transparent and neutral to regions, religion, and should not discriminate based on the age, gender, race, and people that are physically challenged. We strictly abide by the review for publication ethics as recommended by the COPE and remain transparent in acknowledging the source while publishing the information on a collaborative mode.

Authors Verify:

Submitted manuscripts are the original work of the author(s), and that all contributing authors are listed and given credit. Manuscripts have not been published nor are under consideration by another journal concurrently. All sources of data used in the development of the manuscript are properly cited.

Reviewers Verify:

Manuscripts are reviewed based on the intellectual content of the paper without regard of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenry or political values of author(s). Conflicts of interest during the review process must be communicated to the Editor. Manuscript information is kept confidential. Any concerns regarding the review of a manuscript are communicated to the Editor.

Editors Verify:

Manuscripts are evaluated in fairness based on the intellectual content of the paper without regard of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenry or political values of authors. Conflicts of interest pertaining to submitted manuscripts must be disclosed. Manuscript information is confidential. Publication decisions of submitted manuscripts based on the reviewer’s evaluation of the manuscript, policies of the journal editorial board and legal restrain acting against plagiarism, libel and copyright infringement rest with the Editorial Board.

Additional Policies

Right of Editors and Reviewers to Publish in Journals:

Editors and reviewers are allowed to publish their original research in the journals for which they review. If an Editor wishes to have a paper considered for publication, either the Co-Editor or Associate Editor will send that paper out for review. The review process for papers by Editors and Reviewers is the same as any other paper and no preference is given. A strict blind review process is maintained in all cases.

Discontinued Journals:

Journals that are discontinued for any reason will remain archived on the Journal’s website indefinitely. These discontinued journals will be open to the general public and continue to be available in various indexes and repositories.

Retractions and Corrections:

Should any paper need to be removed or edited from a Journal that has already been published, that Journal will be updated accordingly and republished to the Journal’s website.

Journal Accessibility:

All journals are published in Gold Open Access format and are freely and permanently accessible for everyone, immediately after publication. Authors retain copyright for the article and most of the permission barriers are removed (see Licensing Information for more details). Journals will also be listed in a number of prominent indexes in order to make research openly accessible. Our aim is to foster the spread of knowledge and ideas, and to increase the visibility of authors’ research.

Publication Frequency:

Each journal is currently published at least once per year. We plan to publish two issues per year beginning in 2019. The tentative publication schedule is June and December. However, we will make “in press” issues available for viewing on our website throughout the year.

Advertising:

Decisions regarding advertising in a Journal are made by the Board of Directors. Advertising that may be suitable include, but are not limited to: Higher education institutions, research organizations, publishing companies, academic organizations, writing assistance and translation services, journal indexing companies, conference organizers and the like. Types of advertising currently accepted include image and text ads placed on the Journal website, as well as image and text ads included in the body of the Journal itself.

Licensing Information:

The IGBR Journals are licensed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 4.0 International License. Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License

By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License (“Public License”). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.

Section 1 – Definitions.

  1. Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.
  2. Adapter’s License means the license You apply to Your Copyright and Similar Rights in Your contributions to Adapted Material in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Public License.
  3. Copyright and Similar Rights means copyright and/or similar rights closely related to copyright including, without limitation, performance, broadcast, sound recording, and Sui Generis Database Rights, without regard to how the rights are labeled or categorized. For purposes of this Public License, the rights specified in Section 2(b)(1)-(2) are not Copyright and Similar Rights.
  4. Effective Technological Measures means those measures that, in the absence of proper authority, may not be circumvented under laws fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, and/or similar international agreements.
  5. Exceptions and Limitations means fair use, fair dealing, and/or any other exception or limitation to Copyright and Similar Rights that applies to Your use of the Licensed Material.
  6. Licensed Material means the artistic or literary work, database, or other material to which the Licensor applied this Public License.
  7. Licensed Rights means the rights granted to You subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, which are limited to all Copyright and Similar Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material and that the Licensor has authority to license.
  8. Licensor means the individual(s) or entity(ies) granting rights under this Public License.
  9. NonCommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. For purposes of this Public License, the exchange of the Licensed Material for other material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights by digital file-sharing or similar means is NonCommercial provided there is no payment of monetary compensation in connection with the exchange.
  10. Share means to provide material to the public by any means or process that requires permission under the Licensed Rights, such as reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution, dissemination, communication, or importation, and to make material available to the public including in ways that members of the public may access the material from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
  11. Sui Generis Database Rights means rights other than copyright resulting from Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, as amended and/or succeeded, as well as other essentially equivalent rights anywhere in the world.
  12. You means the individual or entity exercising the Licensed Rights under this Public License. Your has a corresponding meaning.

Section 2 – Scope.

  1. License grant.
    1. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:
      1. reproduce and Share the Licensed Material, in whole or in part, for NonCommercial purposes only; and
      2. produce, reproduce, and Share Adapted Material for NonCommercial purposes only.
    2. Exceptions and Limitations. For the avoidance of doubt, where Exceptions and Limitations apply to Your use, this Public License does not apply, and You do not need to comply with its terms and conditions.
    3. Term. The term of this Public License is specified in Section 6(a).
    4. Media and formats; technical modifications allowed. The Licensor authorizes You to exercise the Licensed Rights in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter created, and to make technical modifications necessary to do so. The Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any right or authority to forbid You from making technical modifications necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including technical modifications necessary to circumvent Effective Technological Measures. For purposes of this Public License, simply making modifications authorized by this Section 2(a)(4) never produces Adapted Material.
    5. Downstream recipients.
      1. Offer from the Licensor – Licensed Material. Every recipient of the Licensed Material automatically receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the Licensed Rights under the terms and conditions of this Public License.
      2. No downstream restrictions. You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed Material.
    6. No endorsement. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be construed as permission to assert or imply that You are, or that Your use of the Licensed Material is, connected with, or sponsored, endorsed, or granted official status by, the Licensor or others designated to receive attribution as provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i).
  2. Other rights.
    1. Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity, privacy, and/or other similar personality rights; however, to the extent possible, the Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any such rights held by the Licensor to the limited extent necessary to allow You to exercise the Licensed Rights, but not otherwise.
    2. Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License.
    3. To the extent possible, the Licensor waives any right to collect royalties from You for the exercise of the Licensed Rights, whether directly or through a collecting society under any voluntary or waivable statutory or compulsory licensing scheme. In all other cases the Licensor expressly reserves any right to collect such royalties, including when the Licensed Material is used other than for NonCommercial purposes.

Section 3 – License Conditions.

Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions.

  1. Attribution.
    1. If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:
      1. retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:
        1. identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed Material and any others designated to receive attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by the Licensor (including by pseudonym if designated);
        2. a copyright notice;
        3. a notice that refers to this Public License;
        4. a notice that refers to the disclaimer of warranties;
        5. a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the extent reasonably practicable;
      2. indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications; and
      3. indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, this Public License.
    2. You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Share the Licensed Material. For example, it may be reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information.
    3. If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.
    4. If You Share Adapted Material You produce, the Adapter’s License You apply must not prevent recipients of the Adapted Material from complying with this Public License.

Section 4 – Sui Generis Database Rights.

Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material:

  1. for the avoidance of doubt, Section 2(a)(1) grants You grant the right to extract, reuse, reproduce, and Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database for NonCommercial purposes only;
  2. if You include all or a substantial portion of the database contents in a database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights, then the database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights (but not its individual contents) is Adapted Material; and
  3. You must comply with the conditions in Section 3(a) if You Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database.

For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 4 supplements and does not replace Your obligations under this Public License where the Licensed Rights include other Copyright and Similar Rights.

Section 5 – Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability.

  1. Unless otherwise separately undertaken by the Licensor, to the extent possible, the Licensor offers the Licensed Material as-is and as-available, and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the Licensed Material, whether express, implied, statutory, or other. This includes, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not known or discoverable. Where disclaimers of warranties are not allowed in full or in part, this disclaimer may not apply to You.
  2. To the extent possible, in no event will the Licensor be liable to You on any legal theory (including, without limitation, negligence) or otherwise for any direct, special, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or other losses, costs, expenses, or damages arising out of this Public License or use of the Licensed Material, even if the Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such losses, costs, expenses, or damages. Where a limitation of liability is not allowed in full or in part, this limitation may not apply to You.
  1. The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and waiver of all liability.

Section 6 – Term and Termination.

  1. This Public License applies for the term of the Copyright and Similar Rights licensed here. However, if You fail to comply with this Public License, then Your rights under this Public License terminate automatically.
  2. Where Your right to use the Licensed Material has terminated under Section 6(a), it reinstates:
    1. automatically as of the date the violation is cured, provided it is cured within 30 days of Your discovery of the violation; or
    2. upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.

    For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 6(b) does not affect any right the Licensor may have to seek remedies for Your violations of this Public License.

  3. For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor may also offer the Licensed Material under separate terms or conditions or stop distributing the Licensed Material at any time; however, doing so will not terminate this Public License.
  4. Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination of this Public License.

Section 7 – Other Terms and Conditions.

  1. The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional or different terms or conditions communicated by You unless expressly agreed.
  2. Any arrangements, understandings, or agreements regarding the Licensed Material not stated herein are separate from and independent of the terms and conditions of this Public License.

Section 8 – Interpretation.

  1. For the avoidance of doubt, this Public License does not, and shall not be interpreted to, reduce, limit, restrict, or impose conditions on any use of the Licensed Material that could lawfully be made without permission under this Public License.
  2. To the extent possible, if any provision of this Public License is deemed unenforceable, it shall be automatically reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. If the provision cannot be reformed, it shall be severed from this Public License without affecting the enforceability of the remaining terms and conditions.
  3. No term or condition of this Public License will be waived and no failure to comply consented to unless expressly agreed to by the Licensor.
  4. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be interpreted as a limitation upon, or waiver of, any privileges and immunities that apply to the Licensor or You, including from the legal processes of any jurisdiction or authority.