SDEWES Journals Policies

The SDEWES Journals Policies provide an integrated framework for ethical, independent and transparent scholarly publishing. The policies explain the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors and SDEWES Centre and establish procedures for addressing ethical, editorial and publication-related matters.

Publishing Ethics 

Establishes the overarching ethical responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors and SDEWES Centre and explains how concerns about research integrity, publication misconduct and professional conduct are assessed.

Keywords: publication integrity · professional responsibilities · misconduct concerns

Editorial Independence 

Protects editorial decisions from financial, institutional, conference-related, commercial, personal or other non-scientific influence and defines the respective responsibilities of editors and SDEWES Centre.

Keywords: independent decisions · editorial governance · non-interference

Peer Review Policy 

Explains the principles and procedures for initial editorial assessment, reviewer selection, confidentiality, competing-interest management, reviewer conduct, manuscript revision and editorial decision-making.

Keywords: expert assessment · reviewer responsibilities · confidentiality

Authorship and Contributorship 

Defines who qualifies for authorship, the responsibilities and accountability of authors, the use of contribution statements and the recognition of contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria.

Keywords: authorship criteria · CRediT contributions · author accountability

Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes 

Establishes procedures for adding, removing or reordering authors, changing corresponding authorship, correcting author information and handling inclusive author name changes respectfully and confidentially.

Keywords: author-list changes · metadata corrections · inclusive name changes

Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure 

Explains what authors, reviewers, editors and other participants must disclose and how competing interests, funding sources, sponsor involvement and independent manuscript handling are assessed and managed.

Keywords: competing interests · funding transparency · independent handling

Generative AI Policy 

Sets requirements for the responsible, transparent and accountable use of generative AI by authors, reviewers, editors and SDEWES Centre while protecting confidentiality, accuracy, copyright and human responsibility.

Keywords: AI disclosure · human accountability · confidential information

Research Ethics 

Establishes requirements concerning ethics approval, informed consent, vulnerable groups, personal and confidential information, fieldwork, environmental permits, hazardous procedures, animal research and protected species.

Keywords: ethical approval · informed consent · responsible research

Research Data and Transparency 

Sets expectations for Data Availability Statements, repositories, data and software citation, code and model transparency, reproducibility, legitimate access restrictions and the responsible handling of research-data concerns.

Keywords: data availability · reproducibility · research transparency

Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawals 

Explains when and how corrections, editorial notes, expressions of concern, retractions, manuscript withdrawals, removals, replacements and other amendments to the scholarly record are issued.

Keywords: scholarly record · post-publication notices · corrective action

Editorial Decision Appeals and Complaints 

Provides procedures for submitting and independently assessing appeals against editorial decisions and complaints concerning peer review, editorial conduct, communication, delays, policy application or publication handling.

Keywords: editorial appeals · complaints handling · procedural fairness

Copyright & Licensing 

Explains copyright ownership, the licence granted to SDEWES Centre, Creative Commons licensing, author reuse, article sharing, repository deposit and permissions for third-party material.

Keywords: author rights · open-access licensing · third-party permissions

Privacy

Explains how personal data and confidential information are collected, used, protected, retained and disclosed throughout submission, peer review, publication, post-publication handling and privacy-incident management.

Keywords: personal data · confidentiality · privacy rights