Journal Management and Ownership

1. Introduction

The International Journal of Advanced Science Computing and Engineering (IJASCE) is committed to transparent ownership, responsible governance, editorial independence, and ethical journal management.

This policy describes the journal's ownership, governance, editorial structure, institutional relationships, operational responsibilities, and safeguards for editorial independence. It implements the COPE Core Practice on Journal Management and follows the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.

2. Scope

This policy applies to the organizational and operational governance of IJASCE, including:

• journal ownership and publishing responsibility;

• governance and management;

• editorial independence;

• appointment and responsibilities of editors and editorial board members;

• institutional collaborations and sponsorship;

• journal administration and publishing infrastructure;

• financial or in-kind support;

• management of organizational competing interests;

• business and revenue arrangements relevant to journal operations; and

• processes for addressing concerns involving journal governance or management.

3. Journal Ownership

The International Journal of Advanced Science Computing and Engineering (IJASCE) is owned by the Society of Visual Informatics (SOTVI), Indonesia.

Society of Visual Informatics (SOTVI) is a not-for-profit academic organization that supports scholarly communication, research collaboration, and related academic activities.

SOTVI is the organizational owner of IJASCE and is responsible for maintaining the institutional framework within which the journal operates.

Academic institutions, research centers, professional organizations, conference organizers, or other collaborating organizations are not owners of IJASCE unless ownership is expressly stated by the journal.

4. Ownership and Academic Collaboration Are Distinct

IJASCE may collaborate with universities, research centers, scholarly societies, professional organizations, and other academic partners. Such relationships may include academic cooperation, scholarly networking, reviewer development, editorial expertise, conference collaboration, technical assistance, or other forms of support.

Where the Soft Computing and Data Mining Centre, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia, or another institution collaborates with or supports IJASCE, that relationship does not constitute ownership of the journal unless explicitly stated otherwise in an official ownership declaration.

Institutional collaboration, sponsorship, financial support, or provision of infrastructure does not confer authority over individual manuscript decisions.

5. Not-for-Profit Publishing Orientation

IJASCE operates within the not-for-profit scholarly activities of SOTVI. Its publishing activities are intended to support scholarly communication and dissemination rather than distribute journal publishing profits to private owners.

IJASCE currently operates under a diamond open access model. Authors are not charged article processing charges, submission fees, peer review fees, page charges, or publication fees, and readers are not charged subscription or access fees for published journal content.

The journal's financial model, organizational support, and other revenue sources should be disclosed transparently and must remain independent of individual editorial decisions.

6. Editorial Independence

Ownership of IJASCE by SOTVI does not give the owner authority to determine the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts on financial, organizational, personal, institutional, political, or other non-scholarly grounds.

Editorial decisions are made through the journal's established editorial and peer review processes and must be based on factors such as:

• fit with the journal's aims and scope;

• scholarly contribution and originality;

• methodological and technical quality;

• validity and reliability of the work;

• clarity and adequacy of reporting;

• research and publication ethics;

• independent peer review where applicable; and

• relevance and value to the journal's scholarly community.

SOTVI, sponsors, institutional partners, funders, advertisers, conference organizers, or other external parties must not direct the editorial outcome of an individual manuscript.

The Editor-in-Chief or appropriately designated handling editor retains responsibility for the final editorial decision in accordance with the IJASCE Peer Review Process.

7. Relationship Between the Owner and Editorial Leadership

SOTVI is responsible for supporting an appropriate governance environment for the journal while respecting editorial independence.

The respective responsibilities of the journal owner and editorial leadership should be sufficiently clear to avoid inappropriate interference in editorial decisions.

SOTVI may appropriately participate in organizational matters such as:

• journal strategy and sustainability;

• appointment and administrative oversight of senior editorial leadership;

• publishing infrastructure and technology;

• financial and administrative support;

• legal and organizational responsibilities;

• development of journal-wide policies;

• long-term preservation and continuity planning;

• ethical governance; and

• assessment of journal performance and sustainability.

Such responsibilities must not be used to predetermine the scholarly outcome of individual manuscript assessments.

8. Editors-in-Chief

The Editors-in-Chief provide academic and editorial leadership for IJASCE and are responsible for maintaining the quality, integrity, independence, and appropriate scholarly direction of the journal.

Their responsibilities include, as applicable:

• maintaining the journal's aims, scope, and editorial standards;

• overseeing manuscript assessment and peer review;

• ensuring that editorial decisions remain independent;

• managing editorial competing interests;

• implementing publication ethics policies;

• coordinating the editorial board;

• addressing complaints, appeals, and integrity concerns through the appropriate journal procedures;

• maintaining appropriate standards for corrections and other post-publication actions; and

• working with SOTVI on journal development without compromising editorial independence.

Where an Editor-in-Chief has a competing interest concerning a manuscript or complaint, responsibility must be transferred to another appropriately independent editor or authority in accordance with the relevant IJASCE policy.

9. Editorial Board

IJASCE maintains an editorial board composed of scholars and professionals whose expertise is relevant to the journal's stated aims and scope.

Editorial board members should be selected on the basis of appropriate factors such as:

• subject expertise;

• research and scholarly experience;

• publication and peer review experience;

• professional integrity;

• ability to contribute meaningfully to the journal; and

• the journal's need for appropriate disciplinary and international representation.

The journal should maintain accurate and current information concerning editorial board members, including names and institutional affiliations. Individuals must agree to serve before being publicly listed as editorial board members.

Editorial board membership should be reviewed periodically to ensure that the board remains active, relevant, appropriately qualified, and aligned with the journal's scope.

10. Editorial Board Responsibilities

Depending on their assigned roles, editorial board members may:

• advise on journal scope and scholarly direction;

• support development of editorial policies;

• provide subject expertise;

• assist in identifying appropriate peer reviewers;

• participate in editorial assessment where formally assigned;

• promote ethical and rigorous scholarly publishing practices;

• advise on developments in the journal's fields; and

• support the journal's academic development.

Editorial board membership does not entitle an individual to preferential publication, influence over manuscripts in which they have a competing interest, or access to confidential manuscript information unrelated to their assigned editorial responsibilities.

11. Editorial and Publishing Staff

Journal staff may support manuscript administration, communications, production, metadata preparation, website operation, technical publishing workflows, and other administrative functions.

Staff involved in journal operations must:

• maintain manuscript confidentiality;

• protect personal and editorial information;

• follow applicable publication ethics policies;

• avoid unauthorized influence on editorial decisions;

• disclose relevant competing interests; and

• use journal systems and information only for legitimate journal purposes.

12. Sponsorship, Institutional Support, and Collaboration

IJASCE or SOTVI may receive financial, infrastructural, technical, academic, or in-kind support from institutions or other organizations.

Where such support is materially relevant to journal operation, it should be disclosed transparently.

Supporters and collaborating organizations must not control:

• selection of individual manuscripts;

• selection or recommendations of reviewers for the purpose of securing a predetermined outcome;

• peer review reports;

• editorial recommendations;

• acceptance or rejection decisions; or

• post-publication editorial decisions.

Any competing interest created by sponsorship or institutional collaboration must be handled in accordance with the IJASCE Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests Policy.

13. Special Issues, Conferences, and Partner Activities

Ownership, sponsorship, conference collaboration, or institutional partnership must not result in reduced editorial or peer review standards.

Manuscripts associated with a conference, special issue, invited collection, or institutional collaboration remain subject to applicable IJASCE editorial, ethical, and peer review requirements.

Guest editors, conference organizers, sponsors, or collaborating institutions must not guarantee publication or require acceptance of specific manuscripts.

Where a different editorial process applies to a special issue or other collection, the journal must describe the relevant process transparently.

14. Business Model and Revenue Independence

IJASCE's business and operational arrangements must be transparent and must remain independent of individual editorial decisions.

Revenue or support may include legitimate organizational, institutional, sponsorship, grant, donation, conference-related, or other sources used to support journal operation. Such financial arrangements must not determine whether an individual manuscript is accepted or rejected.

IJASCE currently does not charge authors fees for manuscript submission, peer review, article processing, pages, or publication.

Where the journal introduces, changes, or receives material forms of financial support, sponsorship, advertising, or other revenue, the relevant arrangements should be disclosed through the journal's applicable business-practices information.

15. Advertising and Commercial Influence

If IJASCE accepts advertising or other commercial promotion in the future, advertising decisions must remain separate from editorial decision-making.

Advertising, sponsorship, institutional relationships, or commercial interests must not be linked to acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts or influence the interpretation or presentation of scholarly content.

If the journal does not accept advertising, that status should be stated clearly in the journal's business-practices information.

16. Publishing and Editorial Infrastructure

IJASCE uses an electronic journal management and publishing platform to support manuscript submission, editorial processing, peer review, publication, and dissemination.

The journal should maintain appropriate procedures and infrastructure for:

• secure manuscript management;

• editorial workflow and peer review;

• metadata management;

• persistent identification of published articles;

• website and publication maintenance;

• backup of operational data;

• protection of confidential editorial information; and

• long-term preservation of the published scholarly record.

The specific long-term preservation service or mechanism used by IJASCE should be stated in a separate Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy once the active preservation arrangement has been verified. IJASCE will not claim participation in a preservation service that has not actually been implemented for the journal.

17. Governance Conflicts and Editorial Interference

Concerns regarding inappropriate interference by an owner, sponsor, partner, editor, staff member, or other person in journal governance or editorial decision-making may be raised through the journal's established complaints process.

Examples may include:

• pressure to accept or reject a manuscript for non-scholarly reasons;

• interference with reviewer selection to achieve a predetermined result;

• attempts to suppress legitimate corrections or retractions;

• undisclosed financial or institutional influence over editorial decisions;

• preferential treatment resulting from organizational relationships;

• inappropriate access to confidential editorial information; or

• other conduct that compromises editorial independence.

18. Handling Governance Concerns

Governance or management concerns will be assessed according to their nature and the role of the person or organization involved.

A complaint must not be controlled solely by the individual whose conduct is the subject of the complaint.

Where a concern involves an Editor-in-Chief, another independent Editor-in-Chief, an appropriate representative of SOTVI, or another suitably independent person should handle the matter.

Where a concern involves SOTVI itself or a senior person responsible for journal governance, an appropriately independent person or advisory mechanism should be used where practicable to avoid self-review.

Possible actions may include:

• clarification of governance responsibilities;

• management of a competing interest;

• reassignment of editorial responsibility;

• independent review of an affected editorial process;

• correction of an editorial or administrative procedure;

• revision of journal policy;

• appropriate disclosure;

• changes to editorial or governance responsibilities; or

• another proportionate organizational response necessary to restore editorial independence or publication integrity.

19. Responsibilities

Society of Visual Informatics (SOTVI), as journal owner, is responsible for maintaining an appropriate organizational framework, supporting journal sustainability and infrastructure, respecting editorial independence, and ensuring that organizational interests do not improperly determine editorial outcomes.

Editors-in-Chief and editors are responsible for scholarly and editorial decision-making, implementation of journal policies, integrity of peer review, management of editorial competing interests, and protection of editorial independence.

Editorial board members are responsible for performing their assigned scholarly and advisory responsibilities ethically and disclosing relevant competing interests.

Journal staff are responsible for efficient, confidential, secure, and policy-compliant administration of journal processes.

Sponsors, institutional partners, and collaborators must respect editorial independence and must not attempt to determine the outcome of individual manuscript decisions.

20. Related Policies and References

• COPE Core Practice — Journal Management

• COPE Ethics Toolkit for a Successful Editorial Office

• COPE guidance on ethical editing and journal management

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME

• Society of Visual Informatics (SOTVI)

• IJASCE Peer Review Process

• IJASCE Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests Policy

• IJASCE Complaints and Appeals Policy

• IJASCE Allegations of Misconduct Policy

• IJASCE Author Fees Policy

21. Review and Updates

This policy was reviewed in September 2026. IJASCE will review and update the policy whenever there is a material change in ownership, governance, management, editorial structure, institutional collaboration, business model, or relevant COPE guidance.