Editorial Policies

All publications on this website are published under the Open Access model, without any subscription, registration, or access fees required from the user or his/her institution. In accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative's (BOAI) definition of Open Access, users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full text versions of all Chapters. To read more about our Open Access Statement click here.

For Editorial Policies for journals please consult individual journal pages.

Copyright Policy

All published Book Chapters are licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Monographs are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license granted to all others. Journal Articles are licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 International License. Our Copyright Policy aims to guarantee that original material is published while at the same time giving significant freedom to our Authors. IntechOpen upholds a flexible Copyright Policy meaning that there is no copyright transfer to the publisher and Authors hold exclusive copyright to their work.

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Attribution Policy

With the purpose of protecting our Authors' copyright and the transparent reuse of Open Access content, IntechOpen has developed an Attribution Policy for works published under Creative Commons licenses.

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Ethics Standards

IntechOpen is committed to disseminating high-quality scientific research in a manner that exemplifies the best practice in scholarly publishing. IntechOpen is an official member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which advocates the maintenance of the highest ethical standards for all parties involved in the act of publishing, including Authors, Academic Editors of the book, Journal Editors, Peer Reviewers, the publisher and societies, where applicable.

Conflicts of Interest Policy

In line with publication ethics practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and other similar organizations, IntechOpen's contributing Authors, Academic Editors, and Peer Reviewers are required to declare fully all possible and actual conflicts of interest.

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Authorship Policy

IntechOpen's Authorship Policy is based on ICMJE criteria for authorship. In order to be identified as an Author, the following requirements must be met:

  • A substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
  • Participation in drafting or revising the work
  • Approval of the manuscript version to be published

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Peer Review Policies

All scientific works are subject to Peer Review prior to publishing. IntechOpen is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and all participating referees and Academic Editors are expected to review submitted scientific works in line with the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers where applicable.

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Prior Publication Policy

The Internet has changed the dynamics of scholarly communication and publishing which is why we find it necessary to clearly indicate our stance on what we consider to be a published scientific work. A significant number of working papers, early drafts, and similar works in progress are shared openly online between members of the scientific community. It has become common practice for researchers to announce their work on a personal website or a blog in order to gather comments and suggestions from other researchers. Such works and online postings are ‘published’ in the sense that they are made publicly available, but this does not mean that if submitted for publication by IntechOpen they are not original works. We differentiate between reviewed and non-reviewed works when determining whether a work is original and has been published in a scholarly sense or not.

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Quality Standards

IntechOpen strives to uphold the highest research, ethical, and quality standards set by the industry for the manuscripts we receive and publish, regardless of their format. Our research integrity team monitors the adherence to these standards of all parties involved, including the Authors and the Editors. If we suspect any breach of research or ethical standards, or any other type of scientific misconduct at any stage of the publishing process before the publication, we will investigate it thoroughly and might consult independent bodies such as Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for guidelines. If the suspicion is confirmed, the submission may be rejected and removed from the process before the publication regardless of their current stage. These sets of rules apply to the work of Academic Editors as well: if any kind of misconduct is confirmed, we reserve the right to remove the Editor from the process and assign a new one. For editorial decisions regarding potential breach of above-mentioned standards applied after a formal publication of the manuscript please refer to our Retraction and Correction Policy.

Retraction and Correction Policy

To identify instances of fraud and misconduct during the publishing process, IntechOpen implements a robust policy governing such occurrences. In line with our general commitment to openness, and in order to maintain the highest scientific standards, we are committed to  transparency about our editorial policy regarding retractions and corrections.

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Citation Policy

The author(s) must avoid any kind of citation manipulation as it is considered a form of misconduct. Citation manipulation can be identified by the fact that the citations do not contribute to the scholarly content of the book chapter or journal article and have been included solely for the purpose of increasing citations. Please read the COPE guidance on citation manipulation.

Self-citation itself is not forbidden, as long as it is not used excessively and inappropriately as a form of citation manipulation.

The author’s references should not be biased towards a particular author, institution/organization, research group, or publication. Behaviours aimed at inflating citation counts for personal gain will be dealt with in accordance with COPE’s best practices. 

Dealing with Misconduct

When faced with potential misconduct, IntechOpen accepts its responsibility to maintain the integrity of the academic record. For particularly complex cases, IntechOpen might ask for the assistance of formal industry bodies or seek advice from an appropriate team of advisors.

IntechOpen's advisors are professionals and scholars with broad knowledge and understanding of different aspects of the scientific publishing process: editorial, authorship, and reviewing roles; publication ethics, copyright, and general legal issues; as well as bibliographic and technical standards.

In order to provide us with unbiased insights, without compromising the privacy of third parties, IntechOpen presents problematic cases to its advisors in an anonymized format.

Translation Policy

IntechOpen publishes books in the English language. If you are interested in the translation of Book Chapters, please check IntechOpen's Translation Policy.

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Equity and Bias-Free Communication

IntechOpen encourages authors to follow the SAGER guidelines on sex and gender equity in research, where relevant. Authors should use the terms sex and gender carefully, being clear about which their study applies to and/or how work linked with sex (biological attributes) or gender (shaped by societal and cultural environments) is described. When communicating research conducted on different groups by ethnicity, race, religion, age, disability, disease, etc. a non-discriminatory and bias-free language should be used. The reasoning and the definitions for such grouping categorization should be provided, including potential research funding requirements. When reporting demographic information in the study, It is advisable to use terms that designate ethnicity instead of race.

Unless essential in reporting the research outcomes, the derogatory descriptions or offensive language should be avoided.

Advertising Policy

In line with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, you can access a more detailed description of IntechOpen's Advertising Policy.

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Refund Policy

At IntechOpen we realize that exceptional circumstances can occur, resulting in a request for a refund. We will honor all justified requests in the specific instances outlined in our Refund Policy.

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Online First Policy

All chapters will be published via IntechOpen's 'Online First' service meaning chapters will be published individually, immediately after review and before the entire book is ready for publication, allowing content to be shared, searched and cited straightaway, thereby generating early stage interest and momentum for Authors' research

Online First chapters are considered published on the day they are posted and are citable from that date.

Chapters will remain listed as Online First until the final versions of the books are published online. Following publication of the entire book, chapters will be redirected from the Online First version and will be available only through the final link of the official published page.

If there are supplemental materials to the chapter, these will be published at the time the final book is published online.

Readers and Authors can notify us if they find any errors in the works published under Online First. All major errors will be accompanied by a separate correction notice, erratum or corrigendum (Retraction and Correction Policy.)

Since the publication of the Online First chapters precedes the completion of the entire book, in the unlikely event of circumstances beyond publisher’s control that prevent the publication of the book, the publisher reserves the right to transfer the Online First chapters to another title in agreement with the Authors. Should the Authors disagree with the transfer or the publisher can not allocate suitable title in the publishing portfolio, a Cancellation Notice will be issued along with the Online First.

Access Policy

IntechOpen books are available online by accessing all published content on a chapter level.

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Types of publications

IntechOpen publishes different types of publications.

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