Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Engineering

Editorial policies

The Journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/

Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s policies.

Authors’ right

The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without any restrictions. This journal uses a CC BY-ND 4.0 licensing agreement. The journal follows Sherpa/Romeo's archiving policy.

Article Publishing Charge

Pending  (I have replied to your Emai. You are welcome to include an excepts from my write up as you may deem fit.) 

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The journal does not accept adverts from third parties.

Appeals and Complaints

The journal adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines concerning appeals against editorial decisions and complaints related to the management of the peer review process. We encourage legitimate appeals against editor decisions, provided that substantial evidence or new data/information is presented in response to feedback from the editor and reviewers.

All complaints, concerns, or appeals related to authorship issues or the peer review process, including those arising post-publication, should be directed to the Editors-in-Chief. They will investigate by gathering information from all involved parties and proposing a course of action following COPE's ethical guidelines. The review or publication process may be paused until the issue is resolved. If the Editors-in-Chief are involved in the complaint, the Editorial Board, led by the most senior member, will investigate and determine the appropriate course of action.

Affiliations
It is the author's responsibility to provide a comprehensive list of all relevant affiliations to clearly attribute the approval, support, and conduct of the research in question. In the case of non-research articles, the authors must provide their current institutional affiliation. In instances where an author has transitioned to a different institution before publishing the article in question, it is appropriate to list the affiliation where the work was conducted. The current affiliation and contact details should be included in the acknowledgment section. A change of affiliation does not constitute a valid reason for removing an author from a publication, provided that the author meets the requisite criteria for authorship.

Acknowledgment

Individuals who participated in developing a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. Organizations that provide support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged.

Appeals and complaints

All complaints, concerns, or appeals about authorship issues or the peer-review process, including those raised post-publication, should be directed to the Editors-in-Chief. The Editors-in-Chief shall investigate the claims by first requesting information from all parties involved and second proposing a course of action following the academic ethical principles set forth by the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org/). Submissions may be suspended at any stage of the review or publication process until the matter is resolved. In instances where the Editors-in-Chief are implicated in the dispute, the Editorial Board, under the guidance of the most senior member, shall investigate the allegations and recommend a course of action.

Authorship

Everyone who has made notable contributions should be recognized as co-authors. Those involved in specific significant aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. This approach ensures transparency about who is accountable for the integrity of the content.

Authors included in an article must meet all the following criteria:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the research, whether in the content, study design, execution, data collection, analysis, and interpretation or all these areas.

2. Have prepared, written, substantially revised, or critically reviewed the paper 

3. Reviewed and agreed on all versions of the article and journals before submission, during revision, the final version accepted for publication, and any significant changes at the proofing stage.

4. Take responsibility and be accountable for the article's contents and any questions raised about the accuracy or integrity of the published work.

Article submission in this journal means that authors are obliged not to submit this paper from other sources, or they have strongly confirmed that this article is not under consideration from other sources simultaneously.

Any changes in authorship before or after publication must be agreed upon by all authors, including those being added or removed. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining confirmation from all co-authors and providing a full explanation of why the change was necessary.

However, if a change in authorship is required after the article's publication, this will be amended via a post-publication notice or erratum. Any changes in authorship must comply with our criteria for authorship, and requests for significant changes to the authorship list after the article has been accepted may be rejected if clear reasons and evidence of author contributions cannot be provided.

If an author's affiliation changes between the time the research is conducted or the paper is written and the time of publication, the author's current affiliation should be listed, and where appropriate, the previous affiliation acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section at the copy-editing stage. 

Misrepresentation of affiliation is a form of misconduct, and the journal will handle such cases by contacting all relevant institutions to assist with our investigation.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. Once submitted, the order can only be changed with the written consent of all the contributors. 

Any assistance from AI tools for content generation (e.g., large language models) and other similar types of technical tools that generate article content must be acknowledged within the article. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure the validity, originality, and integrity of their article content

Contribution Details 

Contributors should describe the contributions made by each of them to the manuscript. The description should be divided into categories such as concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search experimental studies, data collection and analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, editing, and manuscript review. Ghost and false authorship are considered misconduct.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

Conflicts of interest (also known as ‘competing interests’) occur when issues outside research could be reasonably perceived to affect the neutrality or objectivity of the work or its assessment. Potential conflicts of interest must be declared – whether or not they had an influence – to allow informed decisions.

Competing interests can be financial or non-financial. To ensure transparency, you must also declare any associations that others can perceive as a competing interest.

Submissions with undeclared conflicts that are later revealed may be rejected. Published articles may need to be re-assessed, have a corrigendum published, or, in severe cases, be retracted.

Confidentiality

A submitted manuscript is treated as confidential. Academic Journals will not disclose the content to anyone except those directly involved in its processing and preparation for potential publication. This includes editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential and actual reviewers, and editors. However, if misconduct is suspected, the manuscript may be shared with members of the Academic Journals’ ethics committees and relevant institutions or organizations needed to resolve the issue. Academic Journals will adhere to the appropriate COPE flowcharts when necessary.

Corrections (Erratum), expressions of concern, and retractions

Sometimes, after an article has been published, it may be necessary to make a change to the published article.

This will be done after careful consideration by the Editor to ensure any necessary changes are done under guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/).

Any necessary changes will accompany a post-publication notice (erratum), permanently linked to the original article. This can be a Correction notice, an Expression of Concern, or a Retraction. The purpose of this mechanism of making permanent and transparent changes is to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.

However, in major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected versions (erratum) will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published. 

A Retraction notice will be issued where a major error (e.g., in the analysis or methods) invalidates the conclusions in the article or where research misconduct or publication misconduct has taken place (e.g., research without required ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, etc.). The decision to issue a retraction for an article will be made following COPE guidelines. Authors and institutions may also request the retraction of their articles if their reasons meet the criteria for retraction.

To help minimize the impact of incorrect or misleading publications, all efforts will be made to issue retractions as soon as possible.

Citations

Research and non-research articles must cite relevant, timely, and verified literature (peer-reviewed, where appropriate) to support any claims made in the article.

You must avoid excessive and inappropriate self-citation or prearrangements among author groups to inappropriately cite each other’s work, as this can be considered a form of misconduct called citation manipulation.

Consent for Publication

For all manuscripts that include details or images relating to a person, written informed consent for the publication of these details must be obtained from that person (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18). 

If the person has died, consent for publication must be obtained from their next of kin. The manuscript must include a statement that written informed consent for publication was obtained.

Authors can use the consent form to obtain consent for publication or a consent form from their own institution or region if appropriate. The consent form must state that the details/images will be freely available on the internet and may be seen by the general public. The consent form must be made available to the Editor if requested and will be treated confidentially.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality and integrity must be maintained throughout the peer review and editorial decision-making process in compliance with all applicable data protection regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is the responsibility of the invited reviewer to declare any competing interests prior to the submission of their report to the journal. Should a reviewer wish to involve a colleague as a co-reviewer for an article, they must request permission from the journal editorial office before sharing the manuscript. When the report is returned, the names, affiliations, and any relevant competing interests of the proposed co-reviewer must be included in the comments for editors.

When investigating an ethical query, the submitted manuscript, author, reviewer, and any other individual (including whistleblowers) involved will be treated with confidentiality. However, the editor may need to share information with third parties, such as the ethics committee and/or the authors' institution.

Copyright and open access policy

Open Access Policy: 

The journal is an open-access journal that provides immediate access to its published contents. Articles published are licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution- NoDerivatives license (CC BY-ND 4.0), which permits re-use (download, read, print, search, copy, distribute the link, etc.) of open-access articles, as long as the original author and source are properly attributed, and provided the articles are not modified or altered.

Copyright and License 
Authors retain copyright over the materials published under an Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) license. 

Data falsification/fabrication

In instances where deliberate action has been taken to manipulate or fabricate data inappropriately, this is regarded as a grave form of academic misconduct. Such actions are designed to mislead others and damage the integrity of the scholarly record, with far-reaching and long-term consequences.

When submitting a manuscript to the journal, the author is responsible for ensuring that the data presented is accurate and correctly represents their work. Authors are required to retain all raw data included in their submissions to facilitate the evaluation of manuscripts.

In the event that the original data cannot be produced upon request, the acceptance of the manuscript or published paper may be declined or retracted.

Desk rejection policy

Duplicate submission/publication

It is the responsibility of the author to declare, at the time of submission, that the manuscript is not currently under consideration by any other journal or publication. If a duplicate submission or publication is identified, it is presumed that the act was deliberate. This encompasses articles that have been previously published in another language. Following ICMJE guidance, authors must seek permission from the publisher and copyright holder of the original article. They must inform the editor of the receiving journal about the history of the original article if they wish to submit a secondary version of the article (e.g., an article translated into English). Furthermore, readers must be informed that the article is a translated version and that they may refer to the original article for additional context.

Funding

The journal requires that authors declare all the funding sources, including financial support, in their manuscript. The authors should describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in any stages, from study design to submission of the manuscript for publication. They should also state if the sponsor(s) had no such involvement. Please ensure that this information is accurate and meets your funder’s requirements.

Images and Figures

Authors should include images and figures in their articles only if relevant and add significant value to the reported work. Please avoid adding content of this type that is purely illustrative and does not contribute to the scholarly work.

As part of the Journal Author Publishing Agreement, you must obtain written permission to include any material in your article owned and copyrighted by a third party. This includes, but is not limited to, proprietary text, illustrations, tables, data, audio, video, film stills, screenshots, musical notation, and any supplemental material.

Authors should be mindful of any cultural sensitivities or restrictions related to images included in their manuscripts. For instance, images of human remains or deceased individuals may be restricted in some cultures. Authors should follow appropriate ethical guidelines, considering the views and approval processes of the affiliated communities.

Experimental photographic images, including those from microscopy, should reflect the original image accurately. If any images have been modified or enhanced, this must be clearly stated with a full explanation in the manuscript and figure legend to avoid misleading readers. Authors should also be prepared to provide the original, uncropped, unannotated, and unprocessed images to the journal's editorial office upon request.

Misconduct

Examples of misconduct include (but are not limited to):

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts are subjected to peer review and are expected to meet the standards of academic excellence. If approved by the editor, submissions will be considered by peer reviewers, whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors and vice versa; identities of authors will remain anonymous to the reviewers (Double-blind peer review). The decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is the responsibility of the editorial board and is based on the recommendations of the reviewers (peer-reviewed process).

Our Research Integrity team occasionally seeks advice outside standard peer review, for example, on submissions with serious ethical, security, biosecurity, or societal implications. We may consult experts and the academic editor before deciding on appropriate actions, including but not limited to recruiting reviewers with specific expertise, assessment by additional editors, and declining to consider a submission further. 

Plagiarism 

As the primary goal of the Publisher is the integrity of research content, people involved in publishing a paper must avoid unethical issues and misconduct. So, we are committed to protecting the authenticity, accuracy, and reliability of the content published by our journals. Therefore, apart from the editorial process in which the content of papers is validated, the iThenticate software is applied to check similarities. Both the publisher and editors detect different facets of plagiarism and misconduct. 

Preprints policy

Authors can share their preprint anywhere at any time. If accepted for publication, we encourage authors to link from the preprint to their formal publication via its Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Authors can update their preprints on arXiv or RePEc with their accepted manuscripts.

Publication Ethics

Editorship Criteria:

The editorial board, particularly the Editor-in-Chief (EIC), determines which articles submitted to the journal should be published. This decision is made in consultation with board members and based on reviewer recommendations while adhering to legal requirements such as libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Editors ensure that the peer review process is conducted fairly, without bias, and promptly. 

The journal has established policies to guarantee an unbiased review process, even for submissions from editorial board members. Editorial decisions are made independently of the manuscript's origin, including the authors’ nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion.

Editors also encourage reviewers to address ethical concerns and potential misconduct in submissions, such as unethical research design or inappropriate data manipulation. Reviewers should remain vigilant for redundant publication and plagiarism. All reviewer comments should be fully shared with authors unless they include offensive language. The contributions of reviewers to the journal are regularly acknowledged.

Finally, editors must take all reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the published material, recognizing that different sections of the journal may have varying aims and standards.

Reviewers Criteria:

Reviewers must keep the research papers confidential and are not permitted to share or publish any manuscript content.

They are required to report to the editors any unethical practices found in manuscripts, such as double submission, duplication, or plagiarism.

If a manuscript presents a conflict of interest for a reviewer, they are ethically required to decline the review process.

Reviewers should submit their comments within the specified deadlines after accepting the editors’ invitation. If they are unable to meet the deadlines, they must promptly inform the editors.

Reviewers are expected to evaluate papers impartially while adhering to the journal's policies.

Reviewers are prohibited from directly contacting authors regarding the manuscripts under review.

Duties of Editors

Publication decisions

The editorial board of the Journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. Members of the board confer and refer to reviewer recommendations in making this decision, constrained by legal requirements related to libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editorial decisions are not affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors.

Confidentiality, disclosure, and conflicts of interest

During the review process, editors must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisers. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's, reviewer’s, or any other reader’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Readers should be informed about who has funded the research or other scholarly work and whether the funders had any role in the research and its publication and, if so, what this was.

Author relations

Editors strive to ensure that peer review at the journal is fair, unbiased, and timely. The journal has established policies for handling submissions from editorial board members to ensure unbiased review. Author instructions provide guidance about the criteria for authorship.

Reviewer relations

The Journal encourages reviewers to comment on ethical questions and possible misconduct raised by submissions (e.g. unethical research design, and inappropriate data manipulation), and to be alert to redundant publication and plagiarism. Reviewers’ comments should be sent to authors in their entirety unless they contain offensive or libelous remarks. Contributions of reviewers to the journal are regularly acknowledged and cease to use reviewers who consistently produce discourteous, poor quality, or late reviews.

Quality assurance

Editors should take all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, recognizing that different sections have different aims and standards. Editors should seek assurances that the research they publish has been approved by an appropriate body (e.g. research ethics committee, institutional review board) where one exists. Editors should be alert to intellectual property issues and work with their publishers to handle potential breaches of laws and conventions. Errors, inaccurate, or misleading statements must be corrected promptly and with due prominence.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Reviewers assist the editorial board in making editorial decisions. Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them to improve the paper. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

Qualification of reviewers

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. References to the ideas of others should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. Authors should be prepared to provide public access to raw data in connection with a paper and retain such data for at least two years after publication. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality, plagiarism, and concurrent publication

Authors should ensure their work is entirely original and that any work and/or words of others have been appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Submitting essentially the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Authorship of the paper

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and work with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Research Data Policy and Data Availability 

Research Data Policy

We acknowledge the importance of making research data accessible to other researchers while adhering to ethical and legal considerations. We have established the following guidelines for including research data statements in submitted manuscripts to support this.

Authors are encouraged to make their data publicly available whenever possible, except in cases where privacy, confidentiality, or legal restrictions apply. Data should be shared to allow others to verify the results and reuse the data for further research.

Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscripts. This statement should indicate where the data supporting the study's findings can be accessed or provide a reason if the data cannot be shared.

The JAIKE journal advocates disseminating research data to facilitate transparency, reproducibility, and the advancement of knowledge within the academic community. It is acknowledged that making data accessible to other researchers is of great importance while respecting the ethical and legal considerations that must be observed. To achieve this objective, the following guidelines have been established for the inclusion of research data statements in submitted manuscripts:

Data Sharing Expectations:

Authors are recommended to make their data available to the public to the greatest extent possible, except in instances where privacy, confidentiality, or legal constraints apply. The data should be made available in a format that allows for verification of results and reuse for further research purposes.

Data Availability Statements

It is a requirement for authors to include a data availability statement in their manuscripts. The statement should explicitly delineate how the data that substantiate the study's findings can be accessed, or provide a rationale for the unavailability of said data. The following examples illustrate acceptable data availability statements:

  1. Data Available in a Public Repository:

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT LINK TO DATASETS].

  1. Data Available on Request:

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

  1. No Data Available:

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Research Ethics and Consent

Research involving humans and animals

Suppose the work involves the use of human subjects. In that case, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out by The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age, and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out by the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated policies, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be shown, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the study results.

Special Issues

Special Issue submissions follow the same process and author guidelines as any other submission. Authors are encouraged to review and adhere to all submission guidelines thoroughly. The editorial team chooses special issue topics, and a call for submissions for these issues is generally included in the special issue release for the year.

Appointment of Guest Editors:

Guest Editors for special issues are selected based on their expertise, academic standing, and prior editorial experience. Nominations for Guest Editors can be made by the journal's editorial board, current editors, or through self-nomination. These Guest Editors are responsible for defining the scope of the special issue, drafting the call for papers, managing submissions, overseeing the peer review process, ensuring the quality and originality of the content, and making final decisions on manuscript acceptance in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.

Setup of Special Issues:
To start a special issue, a comprehensive proposal must be submitted detailing the theme, objectives, target audience, potential Guest Editors, and a timeline. This proposal has been reviewed and approved by the journal's editorial board and the editor-in-chief. After approval, a call for papers is issued and promoted through various channels. A clear timeline for manuscript submission, peer review, and publication is established to ensure that the special issue aligns with the journal’s regular publication schedule.

Manuscripts submitted for special issues are processed through the journal's online submission system. They first undergo an initial screening by the Guest Editors to ensure alignment with the scope and basic quality standards. The manuscripts then go through a double-blind peer review process, with reviewers selected based on their expertise. Authors revise their manuscripts according to reviewer feedback and may need to resubmit them for further review. The Guest Editors recommend whether to accept or reject manuscripts, with the final decision made by the Editor-in-Chief. Accepted manuscripts are formatted, proofread, and published according to the journal’s guidelines. The journal's distribution channels promote the special issue, and post-publication metrics and feedback are monitored to guide future special issues.

Use of third-party material

You must obtain permission to reuse third-party material in your article. These materials may include – but are not limited to – text, illustration, photographs, tables, data, audio, video, film stills, screenshots, or musical notation.

The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that the relevant laws and regulations do not protect these names. The submitting author is responsible for securing any permissions needed to reuse copyrighted materials included in the manuscript. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, concerning the material contained herein.

Use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing

Authors who incorporate AI and AI-assisted technologies into their writing process should do so to enhance readability and language rather than substitute essential authoring tasks such as generating scientific, educational, or medical insights, drawing scientific conclusions, or offering clinical recommendations.

Authors must openly disclose their use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in their manuscripts, and a statement to this effect will be included in the published work. Such transparency fosters trust among authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors and ensures compliance with the terms of use for the relevant tools or technologies. 

Authors should refrain from attributing authorship to AI or listing AI as a co-author. 

Use of AI in peer review

To protect authors' rights and research confidentiality, this journal does not currently allow the use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies such as ChatGPT or similar services for peer review.