Contributor Resources

Answer: IGI Global has direct guides to help the editor navigate the eEditorial Discovery Submission System.

User Guide for the New Interface

Video Guide for the Old Interface

Guide for Editing Journals

Answer: Editors and managing editors are strongly discouraged from submitting and publishing in the journal that they oversee. If in the event that the editor or managing editor of the journal is granted an exception from the publisher to publish their work in the journal that they oversee, the double-anonymized peer review process must be conducted independent of the editor and managing editors to minimize any bias (understanding that bias cannot completely removed). The Editors or managing editors of the journal must also include an in depth competing interest statement that states that the double-anonymized peer review process was conducted independent of the journal leadership.

Why?:

1. The double-anonymized peer review process can be compromised since the editors and managing editor have the functionality to view the reviewers’ names, affiliations and contact information.

2. The perception of outside parties could be misconstrued if they believe that the work of the editor is being prioritized over research work by individuals not directly affiliated with the journal.

Please see this Committee on Publication Ethics case regarding an Editor as an author in their own journal.

Answer: IGI Global has observed how the indices are changing recently with the peer review process. The publisher is now requesting the editors to strive for three (3) completed reviews on each manuscript that is being considered in the journal before an editorial decision is going to be made.

Should the editor receive three (3) positive Editorial Review Board (ERB) reviews, it is still strongly recommended that the article receive an Associate Editor (AE) review before moving forward.

Should the editor receive two conflicting ERB reviews and cannot get any other individuals to return the review evaluation, the Associate Editor can be the tie breaker between the conflicting reviews. Otherwise, IGI Global recommends that the Editor(s)-in-Chief strive for a third ERB review.

Research articles should not be accepted to publish in the journal without going through a proper peer review process. Authors should always be given the opportunity to revise their work based on the reviewer comments to ensure their work is quality and impactful to the research community.

IGI Global has been ongoingly working with consultants and adjusting our processes to better align with the indices and directories that could help with the discoverability and reach of our journals. IGI Global’s submission system could be audited at any time and should those individuals see that the peer review process is not being followed ethically it could not only hurt the credibility of the journal but of the editor(s) as well.

Peer Review Process

Open Access Editorial Policy

Answer: The peer review process may not be conducted outside the submission system. Since IGI Global is a full member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the publisher must be aware that the double-anonymized peer review process is being upheld and conducted ethically.

Additionally, IGI Global would like to ensure that we have the ability to review how the peer review process is being conducted for our journals. Should there ever be a case opened up against the journal, IGI Global will have to provide requested information to the committee. Should we not have the peer review process accessible to IGI Global internal staff, we will not be able to provide sufficient information to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The submission system was created to make the jobs of the editors, authors and reviewers easier.

Answer: Newly launched journals must be established for about 2-3 years before they can be submitted to the major indices.

It can take upwards of 3+ years to get indexed by Scopus or Web of Science. The criteria to be indexed is incredibly strict. Should a journal be rejected for whatever reason, oftentimes the indices will place a submission embargo on the journal - meaning that the journal will not be able to be submitted back to the major indices until a certain timeframe passes (around 2-5 years, depending on the index). Resubmission of journals also requires a cover letter to show the indices how the journal has improved from its last submission.

Learn More

Answer: It is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief of the journal to ensure that their journal continues to grow with the academic community. Editors can adjust the webpage, topics covered and call for papers at any time to ensure that they are recruiting quality and impactful research. The updated information can be provided to your development editor to be implemented.

Answer: IGI Global recommends no more than a total of 3 editors on one journal. For more information, please see IGI Global's Open Access Editorial Policy.

Answer: IGI Global recommends no more than 2 managing editors on one journal at a time. or more information, please see IGI Global's Open Access Editorial Policy

Answer: It is at the discretion of the editors on how they would like to adjust their review boards. They are free to add or remove anyone as they see fit.

Editors have the functionality to adjust their review boards by accessing their reviewer page in the submission system. IGI Global's journal dashboards provide an overview of the diversity of the entire review board as well for the Editor's convenience.

Answer: IGI Global has a Journal Dashboard for all of our journal publications. Editors can access this dashboard to view the health of their review board, their timeliness and the amount of papers currently in progress.

Answer: Self-Citation is important for the academic community because the development of ideas and research are based on previous findings. Authors should be very aware of what previously published research of their own they are using in their current work and ensure that that work is properly cited to avoid “self-plagiarism.” Routinely mass citing their own work can also lead to “citation farming.”

IGI Global defines “Self-Citation/Self-Promotion” as the act of an author citing their own previously published work excessively in current or future manuscripts on similar studies with the sole intent to boost the citations of those previously published manuscripts.

The use of an author’s previously published work in current writing is acceptable; however, we strongly recommend that the use of the previous research should be cited to show how ideas and theories by the authors have developed or changed over time.

Another form of self-citation is self-citing the previously published content of the journal. This situation can happen in a few different ways:

• Editors asking authors to cite some of the previously published journal content
• Editors should not ask authors to cite previously published work of the journal in a manuscript that may be published in that journal. The excessive citation of research from the journal can hurt the journal's indexing standing or chances because more self citations the journal has, the less an index will see the research as impactful. Learn more.
• No IGI Global Journal has any requirement for citations of that journal in order to be considered for publication in the same journal.
• Authors naturally citing some of the previously published journal content
• While excessive self-citations are not recommended, having a few citations that come naturally in an author's considered and published work is fine. If the editor is seeing that many authors are citing previously published work by the journal, it is recommended that the editors take a closer look at the review process to ensure that authors are not being recommended to cite work by the reviewers. IGI Global also recommends that the editor stay in continual contact with the reviewers to ensure that they are aware of ethical reviewing practices.

Answer: In 2022, all IGI Global journals have shifted to a “Continuous Volume Publication Frequency” and away from our more traditional “issue-level publishing.”

What this means for Publication: IGI Global will ongoingly publish accepted content for our journal publications.

What this means for Editors: Editors are no longer expected to fill a set number of issues throughout the volume year. IGI Global now asks that editors strive to publish the same number of articles as the last completed volume year with a strong recommendation to work towards increasing the number of published content by 15% each year.

What this means for authors: Authors will see their articles move into the publication process quicker. They will also see faster publication times.

HOW:

Once an article is accepted, the editor will choose to place the article into a volume year. For organizational purposes only, IGI Global has retained the “issue” labeling on the “Assign Manuscript Number Page.”

Editors are asked to place all articles into the “first issue” of the volume year*.

EXAMPLE: If a journal is in its 12th volume year, the editor will place all standard non-special issue articles into Volume 12, Issue 1 on the “Assign Manuscript Number Page.”

*Completed special issues will be placed in their own respective issues, starting with the 2nd issue of the volume year.

Answer: The article processing charge will only be requested once the manuscript has been formally accepted to publish in the journal.

Answer: An editor can cancel a special issue at any time. Reasons for cancellation can be:

1. Lack of content

2. Lack of diversity

3. Guest Editors not moving articles in a timely manner

4. Guest Editors not following the peer review process as set by the editor

5. Lack of impact from the research of the submitted/accepted papers

6. Lack of quality

7. Etc.

Please note that it is the responsibility of the editor of the journal to let the guest editors and their development editor know of a special issue cancellation.

Answer: Editors are free to have open dialogues with the guest editors of the special issue to ensure that the guest editors are following all of the rules of the journal and the publisher. If the editor is seeing that a guest editor is not conducting the peer review process ethically, if the guest editor is not doing their jobs in a timely manner or if they are recruiting non-diverse content, editors are free to reach out to the guest editors and ask that they adjust what they are doing.

If the problem persists, editors can then cancel the special issue.

Please note that special issues do impact the journal as a whole. If a special issue is not diverse, if the quality of the articles are not good or if the theme of the special issue is disregarded by accepting papers that don’t fit the scope of the special issue, it can affect the indexing of the journal in the future.

Answer: The more discoverable your journal, the better citations the research will get, which directly affects the indexing of the journal. Learn more.

Answer: Any journal that has “International” or any journal that is directly appealing to a global audience, is expected to have a diverse authorship and review board.

Indices are looking very closely at journals who are appealing to a global audience and want to ensure that there is no bias for any of the published content or reviewers. They also look at any connections of affiliations with the editor as well.

Answer: If your affiliation changes, please be sure to let your development editor know and they can update it on the journal webpage for you. Any change in email can be updated at this time as well.

Answer: IGI Global recommends that editors strive to publish the same amount of content that they published in the previous volume year with a strong recommendation to increase the amount of published content by 15% each volume year. There is no maximum number of articles.

Answer: There is no longer a limit on the number of special issues that are allowed to be published in a journal; however, IGI Global recommends that more standard (non-special issue) content is published than special issue content.

Publishing more special issue content is something that the indices do not like to see as that shows a bias to themed content rather than to the standard (non-special issue) content that is submitted to an editor’s journal.

Please kindly note that IGI Global has ceased the reception of special issue proposals on January 1st, 2023. Any special issues in process for IGI Global journals will continue as normal. Any proposals that were submitted before the aforementioned date that have not received a formal decision yet will be considered as normal as well.

Answer: It is at the discretion of IGI Global on whether or not a journal will change its name.

The benefits of changing the journal’s name:

1. It will help the impact of the journal in the current academic community
2. It will help with the readjustment of the scope of the journal if the academic community is shifting in a different direction
3. It can broaden or tighten the range of topics in the journal to attract more quality papers.

The drawbacks of changing the journal’s name:

1. If a journal that is indexed in Web of Science or Scopus changes its name, the changed title will be provided to those indices and it will go under another evaluation. There is no guarantee that the retitled journal will be included in the previous title's indexing
2. The journal may lose reviewers or long time publishers of the journal if the title and scope changes and does not fit the expertise of those individuals any longer.
3. Editors will have to strive for increased discoverability to help with the citations of the retitled journal.

Answer: The indices recommend that the acceptance rate of any journal should be around 20% as that shows a level of selectivity in the published research.

Answer: Since IGI Global Journals are no longer expected to complete issues (starting in the 2022 volume year), the articles are moved through the publication queue one by one rather than issue by issue. Editors will ongoingly see articles in the proofing environment one by one. The publication of the articles for your journal will follow this same process and be published ongoingly one by one on the journal webpage.

Answer: Once a special issue is accepted for a journal, IGI Global recommends that the Editor(s)-in-Chief of the journal reach out to their development editor regarding this acceptance. This will let prompt the development editor to set up the accepted special issue. At this time, the development editors do not receive emails of accepted special issues, so they will not be set up unless the editors reach out.

Please kindly note that IGI Global has ceased the reception of special issue proposals on January 1st, 2023. Any special issues in process for IGI Global journals will continue as normal. Any proposals that were submitted before the aforementioned date that have not received a formal decision yet will be considered as normal as well.

Answer: IGI Global has direct guides to help the editor navigate the eEditorial Discovery Submission System.

User Guide for the New Interface

Video Guide for the Old Interface

Guest Editor’s Guide

Answer: You can always contact the Editor-in-Chief of the specified journal you have submit your proposal to. You can find the EIC’s information on the journal’s web page, at the bottom under the “Contact” heading.

Answer: Guest Editors do not get unique log-ins when they are managing a special issue. IGI Global will provide access to the guest editor’s primary email for their IGI Global Profile to view any articles that have been submitted to their special issue in the specified journal they are working in.

Answer: As long as the submission date has not expired, you can always find your active call for papers by visiting the journal web page and clicking on the “Special Issues” tab in the upper right corner. You will then find a tab on the left side of the webpage that says “Call for Papers: Special Issue” of which you can click and find your Special Issue listed by scrolling through the list.

Answer: IGI Global recommends that Guest Editors have an open dialogue with the Editor(s)-in-Chief of the journal to ensure that every step of the peer review process is being completed. Guest editors can also consult the Special Issue Guest Editor’s Guide as well. IGI Global has peer review process guidelines that can be consulted as well.

The peer review process cannot be conducted outside of the submission system. IGI Global has to ensure that the double-anonymized peer review process is being conducted ethically and that the editors of the journal can monitor the work of the guest editor as well.

Answer: When guest editors are ready to conclude their special issue, they will mark the articles in the submission system as "Intend to Accept." This action prompts the editors to formally assess the articles the guest editor would like to accept before any final editorial decision is communicated with the authors. The Editors-in-Chief will provide the final editorial decision and let the development editor of the journal know when they can move those articles into the publication queue.

During that time, the development editor of the journal will be in contact with the guest editors to receive a Guest Editorial Preface if they did not already receive one.

Answer: Guest Editors do not have to pay any fees to manage a special issue with IGI Global.

Answer: Guest Editors do not have to pay article processing fees for the authors who are accepted into their special issue.

However, Guest Editors are awarded two APC waivers that they can use for articles submitted into their special issue or on their own articles under Open Access. NOTE: These waivers are only awarded to guest editors of special issues in Open Access Journals.

Answer: Any authors who have submitted and were accepted under the “Open Access Publication Type” will be expected to pay after formal acceptance into the special issue.

Authors affiliated in a developing country can fill out a form here for a publication waiver for Open Access Publishing. Learn More.

*NOTE: Only authors who are affiliated in the countries on the list at the link above should apply for a publication waiver.

Learn more about IGI Global's Transformative Open Access Agreements.

Answer: There is no listed maximum number of articles that you can publish in a special issue, though there is a minimum of 8 articles.

Please note that with this new leniency regarding the total number of accepted and published special issue articles, there is an even heavier demand for diversity in these issues between not only the authors but the universities as well.

Answer: Guest editors are allowed to contribute a maximum of 2 articles within their own special issue. The peer review process must be conducted independent of the guest editor listed as an author.The article that has the guest editor on as an author is also expected to have an competing interest statement at the end of the manuscript that provides a transparent explanation of the peer review process and that it was handled independent of the guest editors.

Answer: Yes, you are free to withdraw a special issue proposal at any time. Please reach out to the editor of the journal and they can forward your inquiry to the proper channels.

Answer: Yes, if you are finding that the special issue is not doing as well as you had hoped, you are free to speak with the editor of the journal to cancel your special issue. They will forward your request to the proper channels.

Answer: The Editor(s)-in-Chief of IGI Global journals can cancel a special issue at any time depending on certain situations:

• Unacceptable peer review process
• The quality of the papers is poor
• The papers do not fit the scope of the journal or the special issue
• Not enough papers were recruited or accepted
• Diversity of the papers is poor
• Other unethical practices

IGI Global recommends that rejection of special issue articles and the cancellation of special issues are done before the articles are formally accepted to the journal, however, the Editor(s)-in-Chief of a journal do have the right to cancel active special issues at any time.

Please see the Guest Editor’s Guide to learn more about the process of a guest editor and to ensure that the above criteria are avoided to have a successful and published special issue in an IGI Global Journal.

Answer: IGI Global has direct guides to help the editor navigate the eEditorial Discovery Submission System.

User Guide for the New Interface

Video Guide for the Old Interface

Answer: Submission: This phase of the process is the very beginning. Authors submit their articles for consideration in the journal and for the peer review process. There are 5 steps in the submission process when an author is uploading their manuscript for consideration. In order to have the article be fully submitted to the journal, the authors are expected to complete all 5 steps and press the formal "submit" button in Step 5.

Revision: This phase is very close to the end of the consideration process for a journal article. If an author is asked to revise, the editor requests changes to the article based off of the peer review process. The author is given a deadline to revise their article as well. When uploading the a revision, the corresponding author is requested to navigate to the "Documents" page. This link is often in the Revision Requested Email that the corresponding author receives from IGI Global's Submission System. Authors are not completing the submission process again when uploading a revision.

Once the corresponding author is on the documents page, they are requested to upload their revision under the "Manuscript/Chapter" File Type. The submission system will automatically mark that a revision has been received when a new revision is uploaded under this file type. Once the submission system marks that a revision has been received, the editor(s) of the journal then receive an email that there is a revision that has been uploaded for an article under consideration for their journal. There is no formal "submit" button in step 5 any longer during this process. Uploading the revision under the correct file type on the "Documents" page is all the authors have to do.

No. When authors submit manuscripts to journals, they sign the author's warranty. This warranty follows the manuscript through the consideration process. When submitting a revision, there is no need to re-submit another warranty. *Note: if a manuscript is rejected, the warranty is null and void.

Answer: Authors have the capacity to adjust their personal profile information themselves both in the eEditorial Discovery Submission and through IGI Global’s main webpage.

Authors can change the following information through the eEditorial Discovery Submission System:

Note: Authors can update the email they are using. At no point should a user create a new profile for themselves in the IGI Global Database. Once a new profile is set up, the original accesses that the author had will not be retained.

Authors can change the same information through IGI Global’s main webpage by clicking on “My IGI Global Portal”:

Please assess all of your information through the "Account Maintenance" box near the left side of the below picture.

Please be sure that the information in your profile is as up-to-date as possible. Correct information in your profile allows for more accurate publishing of authored work and pairing of reviewers with articles that fit their areas of expertise.

Answer: The new interface for IGI Global’s submission system has a bug where authors cannot view their submitted work. Please navigate to the page you normally would and click on the orange button near the top right of the screen that says “Use Old Layout.” Let the page reload. You should be able to view your article then.

If you continue to have trouble, please reach out to the editor of the journal.

Answer: IGI Global’s online eEditorial Discovery Submission System provides authors with a “Phase History” box to the right of the title of their manuscript that shows when the article moves through the editorial processes for the journal.

If an author is seeking more information on the status of their manuscript, they are encouraged to reach out to the editor of the journal. Contact information of the editor(s) can be found on the journal’s web page at the bottom, under the “Contact” heading.

Answer: IGI Global has a wide range of journals in our three core subject areas. IGI Global has 174 Full Gold Open Access Journals and 1 Platinum Open Access Journal. Authors can visit the Journals Page for more information on how to locate the best journal for their research.

Authors can view a full list of Full Open Access Journals:

They can browse by subject or search by keywords. They can also view a full journal list as well:

Answer: All indexing information can be found on the journal web page of the journal you are interested in. Authors can select the “Abstracting & Indexing” option in the navigation box on the left side of the screen to be automatically moved to that section for the journal.

All of the indexing information is managed regularly. If you are not seeing the index you need on the journal webpage, then it is not currently included in that index.

Answer: Authors can withdraw their articles from consideration in a journal at any time before acceptance. Authors will have to reach out to the editor of the journal to request a withdrawal. The editors will transfer the author’s request to the proper channels.

Authors are free to resubmit their article to another journal so long as their article is no longer in process actively for another journal. Any author who submits their article to many different journals at the same time will be subject to having all of their versions of their articles rejected at once.

Please see IGI Global's Withdraw Policy in our Editorial Policy.

For more information on the ethical concerns of duplicate submissions, please view this link from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Answer: No. If your article has already moved into IGI Global's publication process or has already been published, your manuscript cannot be withdrawn. The corresponding author of the article has already signed IGI Global's Author's Warranty and after the article receives acceptance, the article can no longer be withdrawn. It is impossible to withdraw an article after publication, as the internal data surrounding that article cannot be erased from the internet.

Please see IGI Global's Redaction Policy in our Editorial Policy.

Answer: Authors can access the submission guidelines to format their research article here. Formatting and citations should be in APA 7th edition. Authors can find information for formatting and citations under the "For Authors" section on this page.

Answer: Journal article manuscripts are required to have the following information to give credit to the research that s being utilized within them.

• In-Text Citations
• References List

What is the difference?

In-Text Citations are required to be in the body of the text accompanying the research that is not inherently the author's research. In-Text Citations appear most commonly in the beginning of an article as they establish their objective and the research that was already published that supports and contradict their objective. These citations include the author(s) names and the year of the publication. Learn More

The References List is the list of the research that was cited within the article. All in-text citations should have an accompanying reference in the references list at the end of the document. Please note that references that were not cited in the article should not appear in the references list. This is not a bibliography. References for academic articles should be in APA 7th edition format and in alphabetical order. Bracketed references are strongly discouraged. Please view the Submission Guidelines to see how references should be listed in an academic article.

Answer: IGI Global has seen a few scenarios relating to any further actions an author may have after submission:

• If an author has not completed the formal submission process and the phase of their article reads “Incomplete Submission”
• If the phase for the article is reading “Incomplete Submission” in the eEditorial Discovery Submission System, the submission process has not been formally completed and the editor will not be notified of a new submission. Your article will stay in this phase until the submission process is complete and the submit button in the last phase of the process is clicked:
• 
• 
• If the phase of the author’s paper is reading “Initial Assessment” after submission
• There are no further actions an author has to take after their submission is completed as per the publisher. Please keep in mind that the Editor(s) of the journal may request actions from the author at their discretion.

After an article has been accepted, the submission system will send out an automated email requesting that the authors have a final look at their article to see if there are any further changes they would like to make before publication. Authors are given three days to make those changes. If there is nothing further they would like to change, they are encouraged to email the Journal Department to let us know that the article can move into the publication process.

Please keep in mind that IGI Global may reach out to the authors with certain adjustments to their papers at our discretion regarding adherence to the submission guidelines.

Answer: IGI Global is completely transparent about the Article Processing Charge Policies for any open access publication. Authors can locate the article processing charge information for all journals on the journal webpages.

The article processing charge for Full Gold Open Access Journals can differ. IGI Global’s open access publication prices are lower than the industry standard and for all articles that have had the full APC paid for the journal will be provided complimentary line-by-line copyediting.

**Note: IGI Global will never request payment from an author seeking to publish as Open Access before the formal acceptance of their article for the journal. Intention to pay does not have any bearing on the editorial decision for your article.

IGI Global now asks that authors who are affiliated in developing countries submit a form for fee waivers. We provide a list of developing countries that are provided fee waivers on this page.

Answer: Authors can access a complimentary copy of their final published article by using the following steps:

• Login to your IGI Global Portal Account
• Haven’t accessed your Portal account? Use the log in information below:
  • Username: Enter your e-mail address
  • Password: Enter your password.
    • Forgot your password? You may reset it here. 
  • Navigate to “Your Personal Library” and click on “Access Your Personal Library”
  • Filter by Complimentary Content and click on the applicable title.

Please keep in mind that you must be logged in first, in order to access the publication.

Once logged in, you will want to click your name on the upper right hand side, and click “My IGI Global Portal”. From there, you can scroll down on he page and you will see your personal library, as shown below:

You can also click “Personal Library” within the account resources, as shown below:

Answer: Starting in 2022, all IGI Global Journals publish the accepted content ongoingly throughout the volume year online through the journal webpage. Readers can access the published open access content for free without previous subscription or payment.

At the end of the volume year, all of the online published content for journals will be compiled in an end of year print version for the journal. This printed version will include all published content and will be available for purchase.

Regarding where to locate the published content, you can reach out to cust@igi-global.com for more information.

Answer: Please contact journaleditor@igi-global.com for an acceptance letter for your article.

Answer: What kind of manuscripts can journals publish?

IGI Global journals can publish the following types of manuscripts:

• Research Articles
• Research Notes
• Commentaries
• Case Studies
• Position Papers
• Book Reviews
• Invited Papers
• Working Papers

Please note that the choice to publish book reviews, while accepted by the publisher, is formally accepted by the current editor of the journal. Please ensure that you reach out to the editor first before submitting any research notes, commentaires, case studies, position papers and/or book reviews if you are unsure if the journal editor publishes them in the journal.

Answer: It typically takes about 6-8 months for Web of Science and Scopus to index currently published content from an indexed journal. If you are finding that your article has not been indexed and it has been out for longer, please reach out to indexing@igi-global.com for more information.

Answer: Please contact the editor of the journal to receive status updates on your article. If you do not hear from the editor for longer than a few weeks, please feel free to reach out to the publisher. As per IGI Global’s Editorial Policies, any articles that are in phases that require editorial decision or attention are encouraged to be moved in a two-week period. The phases that require editorial decisions are:

• Initial Assessment
• Assess and Approve Editorial Review Board Evaluations
• After the necessary amount of reviews have been received for the article
• Assess and Approve Associate Editor Evaluations
• After the necessary amount of reviews have been received for the article
• Revision Received

The peer review process takes about 12-14 weeks roughly. Please note that this time frame can take longer or shorter depending on the availability of the reviewers for the journal at that time. Authors are free to reach out to the editor of the journal at any time during the editorial process.

Answer: Unfortunately, authors cannot provide a list of reviewers to review their own paper. Providing people that they know to review their own article manuscript directly compromises the double-anonymized peer review process.

However, authors are free to recommend the journal to their colleagues or professional networks to see if any individuals would be interested in applying for a reviewer position.

Answer: Competing interest occurs when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal (or self-serving) interests and professional duties or responsibilities and can be highly detrimental to academic publications. If an author perceives that there may be competing interests for their submitted work, they should include a declaration of any competing interests along with the article manuscript upon submission.

The competing interest declaration should be placed after an acknowledgement and before the funding agency information. Competing interest statements should state whether all, some, or none of the authors have conflicting ideas, research, beliefs, etc.

If all or some of the authors have a competing interest, each author should provide their statement in this section.

If none of the authors have competing interests, the statement can simply say, “The authors of this publication declare there is no conflict of interest.”

Please see our Competing Interest section in IGI Global's Submission Guidelines for more information.

Answer: Please ensure that if you are accidentally assigned as a reviewer on your own article that you decline the review and reach out to the editor right away to ensure that they know that a new reviewer will have to be assigned.

Please do not complete the review of your own article.

Answer: IGI Global has newly included a section for an author’s research organization. Research Organizations are provided by The Research Organization Registry (ROR). By associating your work with a research organization within ROR, you are helping increase your research discoverability. The associations you are linking in the Research Organization section are not used to construct your affiliation within the published work. To learn more about ROR visit https://ror.org/.

When inputting author information for a manuscript that is being submitted, there will be a box under the heading “Research Organization.” Please begin typing your affiliation within this box. If your affiliation populates in a menu below, please select that listing.

If your affiliation does not populate for you to click, please then select the checkbox underneath that says, “I cannot find my Research Organization(s).”

Answer: As a full member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), IGI Global has a zero-tolerance policy on redundant or duplication submission and publication. According to COPE, the re-publication of the same material to different journals lowers the impact of the research and wastes the resources of the journal(s) that the article is being considered in and the resources of the publisher(s). Authors who are found attempting to re-publish their work in any IGI Global journals without proper justification or proper acknowledgement will have their articles withdrawn from consideration in any IGI Global journal. Editor(s)-in-Chief have the right to contact an author’s institution if need be:

COPE Redundant (Duplicate) Publication in a Submitted Manuscript

COPE Redundant (Duplicate) Publication in a Published Manuscript

COPE Definition of Redundant (Duplicate) Submission/Publication

Redundant/duplicate submission or publication constitutes as plagiarism if the same text from a previous publication, that is usually un-cited, is found within a new submission by the same author. Since this previously published work is not cited within a newly submitted or newly published article, the usage of that information becomes what COPE defines as “Text Recycling” and is a form of self-plagiarism. IGI Global outlines our policies duplicate submission and self-plagiarism on our Ethics and Malpractice page.

Answer: The article processing charge must be paid in full in order to qualify for complimentary copyediting. Should your article receive a waiver or discount, the article will not go through copyediting.

Please note: As per IGI Global’s submission guidelines, it is strongly recommended that authors do have their work professionally copyedited before submission to improve the chances of the article being accepted for the journal.

Learn more about Open Access

Answer: Yes, reviewers are free to submit and publish in the journals that they serve on.

NOTE: If you are accidentally added as a reviewer for your own article, please ensure that you decline the review and reach out to the editor as soon as possible.

Please do not complete the review of your own article.

Answer: IGI Global’s eEditorial Discovery Submission System needs the research areas uploaded into their IGI Global profile to better help the editor assign submitted manuscripts to the reviewers whose expertise aligns.

Answer: Having incomplete or no affiliation uploaded into the submission system or through your IGI Global portal will also show incompletely on the journal webpage. The indices look very closely at the affiliations of the review boards for our journals and even if one individual is missing their affiliation, the journal could be rejected or dropped from an index or abstracting service.

Additionally, having incomplete or no affiliations uploaded into the submission system or through your IGI Global portal also is perceived negatively by potential authors or readers of the journal.

Answer: Please follow the steps below to access your review:

1. Please ensure that you are logged into the submission system before clicking on the links that appear in the review request emails.
2. Double check the email being used is the same the request for review was sent to
3. Log out and log back in
4. Reset password: https://www.igi-global.com/submission/account/password/
5. Create an account: https://www.igi-global.com/login/create-account/

If you continue to have troubles accessing your review, please reach out to the editor.

Answer: Yes. We prefer that you decline a reviewer request rather than ignoring, as this shows us that you are still an active member of the review board. Ignoring requests can result in demotion or removal from the review board altogether.

Please note that IGI Global does recommend that reviewers strive not to decline too many reviews as they do affect your reviewer dashboard and could also potentially lead to a demotion or removal from the review board.

Answer: Yes, editors can monitor the activity of the reviewers that are on the board for their journal(s) through their reviewer dashboard.

Answer: The most common way an individual can become an Associate Editor or Editorial Review Board Member for a journal is by serving as an ad-hoc reviewer first and get promoted by providing timely and quality reviews to the authors who have submitted to that journal.

Quality Review for an Associate Editor

Quality Review for an Editorial Review Board Member

Individuals can also reach out to the editor of their chosen journal(s) and nominate themselves to become an Associate Editor or Editorial Review Board Member. These nominations must be sent to the editor of the journal. Individuals should provide an explanation as to why they would be a good fit to be a permanent reviewer for the journal as well as provide an updated CV for the editor to review.

Answer: Typically, a demotion can happen if you have been inactive or uninvolved in reviewer activities such as ignoring requests or declining too many reviews. For more information on the reasoning behind the editor's decision, please reach out directly to the editor of the journal.

Answer: IGI Global strongly encourages authors to connect their ORCID iDs to their IGI Global profiles. Having the ORCID iD attached to your IGI Global profile allows for readers, indices and other parties to validate your work as a professional in the field.

It also allows for activity through IGI Global to be recorded easily on your ORCID account.

Learn More.

Answer: Yes, IGI Global approves reviews completed for IGI Global journals through Publons. Reviewers are encouraged to submit their completed reviews into Publons and upon an internal review, IGI Global will make a decision on whether or not to credit the review. For more information on how to submit your completed evaluations to Publons, please see here.

Answer: Yes. IGI Global recommends that if an individual is seeking to serve on more than one review board that that individual have the time to dedicate to all of the review boards they serve on.

Answer: IGI Global strongly recommends that if a reviewer is recommending their own previously published work to an author to utilize in their current study that the recommended work strongly relates to the current study; however, the publisher strongly advises against reviewers recommending their own published work to authors at all as the perception then could be misconstrued that the reviewer has a conflict of interest and is only in this position to increase the citations of their own previously published work. Please see IGI Global's Citation Manipulation section in our Editorial Policy for more information.

Answer: Should an editor step down from a journal, reviewers of that journal will be extended an offer to provide their CVs to take over that journal if they are interested. Please note that the individual must be an expert in the field with their PhD or equivalent degree. Individuals interested in taking over an abandoned journal are also recommended to Have academic and professional experience, and a well-established and diverse network.

If a reviewer has led one or more of the following, that is a plus, but is not required when assessing credibility for editorship:

• Book editor
• Book author
• Journal editor
• Journal managing editor
• Guest editor
• Associate editor