1. Policies
  2. Policies

Policies

 

Management of the Journal

IJIMAI is owned, managed and funded by Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, S.A. Its editorial management is carried out by a team of experts worldwide in artificial intelligence, interactive multimedia and related fields.

The Editor in Chief (EiC) leads the Editorial Board, ensuring that the journal maintains a coherent and relevant thematic focus. Besides, the EiC, together with the Managing Editors oversee the entire editorial process, from manuscript submission to final publication, coordinating the peer review process and making decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles. They are also responsible for ensuring the scientific and ethical quality of the content by implementing rigorous processes and managing the possible conflicts of interest. 

The Advisory Editors advise on strategic editorial policy. They provide expert guidance to ensure the journal keeps high academic and ethical standards, suggesting improvements for editorial processes, recommending suitable reviewers and supporting the implementation of rigorous ethical guidelines. They advice on thematic focus based on emerging trends in the field. Besides the enhance the journal's visibility by encouraging high-quality submissions and fostering collaborations within the academic community  

The Associate Editors manage the peer review process of assigned manuscripts, selecting and managing peer reviewers. They must comply with ethical standards in publication, including detecting plagiarism, conflicts of interest, and research misconduct. Based on reviewer feedback and their own assessment, they make informed recommendations to the EiC. Besides, they can provide suggestions on editorial policies and strategies for journal improvement.

All Editorial Board members have the right to contribute to the journal’s editorial policies, provide recommendations on decisions to be taken regarding submitted manuscripts within their field of expertise, and receive recognition for their role. Their responsibilities include ensuring the quality and ethical integrity of publications, advising and participating on peer review processes, supporting the journal’s visibility and impact, and promoting high-quality submissions.

The team in charge of Editorial Coordination is responsible for communicating with authors once the evaluation process has been completed. It is also responsible for the dissemination of the published articles, by preparing the newsletters and sending them to the subscribers, managing the journal's profiles on social networks, updating the website and answering queries.

The team in charge of Indexing and Metrics is responsible for ensuring that the journal is included in the main academic indexes, such as Scopus and Web of Science, rigorously complying with the required technical and editorial standards. In addition, it monitors and analyses bibliometric metrics  to assess the journal's performance and its impact on the scientific community. It also optimises article metadata to improve article visibility in search engines and academic databases. 

The Layout and Graphic Edition Team is responsible for formatting accepted manuscripts according to the journal’s guidelines, ensuring consistency in typography and overall design. They integrate figures, tables, and references correctly, apply final editorial corrections, and check for compliance with publishing standards. Additionally, they optimize document readability, enhance image quality and ensure proper handling of graphics. They also collaborate with authors and editors to resolve formatting and visual presentation issues.Their work ensures a professional  final version of each article before publication.

Peer Review Process

Peer review in IJIMAI is designed to ensure that the research published is 'good science'. Manuscripts that span a wide range of scientific interests are considered, but only if results and conclusions are scientifically justified and not misleading. Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by external experts.

If the Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, he/she assigns the manuscript to a minimum of two reviewers for peer-review. The peer-review process of this journal is a single blind peer review process. Therefore, the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.

A submitted article is evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • The article clearly states its research topic and main findings.

  • The topic falls within the scope of IJIMAI.

  • The article presents sufficient new material and contributes new knowledge or advances to the field.

  • The article includes proper references to relevant and recent literature.

  • The presentation is well-structured, concise, and organized.

  • The theoretical or mathematical proofs are correct and well-documented.

  • The experimental methods are described clearly and with sufficient detail.

  • The research design does not contain methodological flaws or biases that could lead to erroneous conclusions.

  • The discussion section effectively interprets the results and relates them to the research objectives.

  • The conclusions are justified by the data,

  • The writing is clear, precise, and grammatically correct, ensuring readability and comprehension.

  • Figures, tables, and supplementary materials are relevant, well-presented, and contribute to the understanding of the paper.

  • The study adheres to ethical guidelines.

 

The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:

  • Publish Unaltered
  • Consider after Minor Changes
  • Consider after Major Changes
  • Reject: Manuscript is flawed or not sufficiently novel

When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations:

  • Publish Unaltered
  • Consider after Minor Changes
  • Consider after Major Changes
  • Reject
     

Authors should hear the outcome of the first round of review within 8 weeks. When a paper is submitted to be considered in a Special Issue, please consult the specific schedule in the Call for Papers.

If the Editor recommends “Publish Unaltered”, the manuscript is accepted for publication. 

If the Editor recommends “Consider after Minor Changes” or “Consider after Major Changes", the recommendation is communicated to the authors. The authors are expected to revise their manuscripts in accordance with the changes recommended by the reviewers and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner within 4 weeks after the decision is communicated. The authors must attach a detailed response stating how the revision requests of referees have been addressed in the new version of the manuscript. Once the revised manuscript is submitted, together with the responses to reviewers' comments, it may be sent to the previous or new reviewers, for another round of reviews.  The Editor can then make an editorial recommendation which can be “Publish Unaltered”, “Consider after Minor Changes”, "Consider after Major Changes" or “Reject.”

If the Editor recommends rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. Also, if two of the reviewers recommend rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. A rejected paper cannot be sent to the journal anymore, even if it is improved.

The editorial workflow gives the Editors the authority in rejecting any manuscript because of inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results. The Editor cannot assign himself/herself as an external reviewer of the manuscript. This is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal, since any manuscript must be recommended by one or more external reviewers along with the Editor in charge of the manuscript in order for it to be accepted for publication in the journal.

Accepted articles enter the editing process (style correction, layout, etc.), to be subsequently included in the corresponding issue, according to the decision of the editorial management, which reserves the right to decide on the inclusion of the contributions in the issues it deems appropriate. Once the editorial process is completed, the preliminary layout of the text will be sent to the authors for final review and approval. The editing process usually takes a maximum of two months. Prior to final publication in a specific isssue, articles are published in an in-press version with a definitive doi.

The total time between the reception of an article and its publication can typically take between 6 and 12 months.

 

Submission and review process flowchart

BPMN Review Process

Authorship

To qualify as an author, individuals must meet the following criteria:

  • Substancial contribution to the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.

  • Active involment in drafting the article or revising it critically.

  • Final approval of the version submitted.

  • Agree to take responsibility for all aspects of the work, ensuring its integrity and accuracy.

Contributors who do not meet all these criteria should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgments" section rather than be listed as authors.

The order of authorship should be jointly determined by the co-authors based on their relative contributions. Authors must provide a statement detailing each author's specific contributions to the work, using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) model. This statement will be published in the article to ensure full transparency of each author's role. 

Once an article has been submitted, changes to authorship are not generally considered so it is important that authors carefully consider the author list at original submission. Changes in authorship after submission must be justified, approved by all co-authors and by the journal editor.

Funding and Acknowledgements

To ensure transparency and proper recognition of research support, authors must disclose all sources of funding related to the research described in the article. Authors must identify the agencies, institutions, or organizations that have provided financial support for the research.They must specify the full name of the funding agency or entity, as well as the project reference numbers or grant identification codes. This information will appear in the Acknowledgment section of the article.

In addition to the funding sources, authors should acknowledge any individuals or institutions that have contributed to the research but do not meet the authorship criteria. This may include technical assistance, language editing, access to resources, or administrative support.

Ethics

This journal reject papers that raise concerns about possible misconduct. The most common forms of scientific misconduct include (following are based on an excellent ORI publication online avaible at http://ori.hhs.gov/plagiarism-0 -- 28 Guidelines at a Glance on Avoiding Plagiarism -- ) :

  • Plagiarism: The appropriation of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another without crediting their true source, and representation of them as one's own original work. The plagiarism checker Turnitin is used to detect plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to IJIMAI. If plagiarism is detected before or during the peer-review process, the paper is rejected. If plagiarism is detected once a paper has been published, this will be removed from the journal website and the author's institution will be informed about the plagiarism fact.
  • Improprieties of authorship: Improper assignment of credit, such as excluding others, misrepresentation of the same material as original in more than one publication, inclusion of individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published; or submission of multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.
  • Misappropriation of the ideas of others: an important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.
  • Violation of generally accepted research practices: Serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.
  • Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct: this includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, failure to report known or suspected misconduct, withholding or destruction of information relevant to a claim of misconduct and retaliation against persons involved in the allegation or investigation.

    Authors must comply with this policy ethics. The submission form includes acceptance of these rules.

 

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The writing must be original by the authors. Therefore, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for article writing is prohibited, except to improve readability and language of the manuscript. If AI is used, this must be declared adding an statement at the end of the manuscript in a section titled "Declaration of the use of AI technologies in the writing process". The statement must indicate the specific technology used and the purpose, as well as a declaration stating that authors have reviewed and edited the result accordingly and take the full responsability for the content of the published article. This declaration does not apply when an AI tool is only used to check grammar, spelling, or format. The use of AI to create or alter images is not allowed, except if the use of AI is part of the research design or methods, which should be described in the Methods section with all the details to allow replicability. The use of AI is not allowed in the peer-review process. When researchers are invited to review a manuscript, they must handle it as a confidential document. Reviewers must not upload the submitted manuscript or any portion of it to an AI tool, as doing so could compromise the authors' confidentiality and proprietary rights.

Use of Inclusive Language

Authors should use inclusive language. Inclusive language acknowledges diversity and expresses respect to all people. Here are some guidelines to help in the use of inclusive language.

We suggest to apply gender neutrality by using plural nouns, such as students, clients, they, etc., avoiding the use of “he”, “she”, or “he/she”.

The words “sex” and “gender” should be used properly. Sex-related biological or physiological characteristics should be mentioned as “sex” rather than “gender” characteristics, as gender refers to how individuals perceive and understand themselves and how they want to interact with the society.

Language that reinforces gender stereotypes must be avoided. Descriptions should be based on objective observations avoiding assumptions based on gender roles or expectations. 

Content should avoid descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, and health condition unless it is relevant for the research described.

Last, content should not mean that one person is superior to another based on gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, etc., and should not assume religious, political or any kind of beliefs of any reader.

 

Copyright

Authors transfer copyright of the article to the publisher UNIR and agree that the article will be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported License, which permits at any time to make digital or hard copies of the work, share, link, distribute, remix, transform, and build upon the work, giving the appropriate credit to the Authors and IJIMAI, providing a link to the license and indicating if changes were made.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Authors are encouraged to deposit or disseminate accepted articles in their institutional repositories, public repositories (SSRN, Zenodo, etc.),  social networks, personal or institutional websites, blogs, etc., including all the bibliographic data of the publication and license.

Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit supplementary materials, including at least the research data underlying their publications, in institutional or thematic open-access repositories federated within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). This practice enhances transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility of scientific finding.

Digital Preservation

The preservation policy includes the assignment of DOI to each article.

This journal is supported by the services of the university repository RE-UNIR of Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, through the deposit of all its publications.

Authors are recommended to deposit or disseminate accepted articles in:

  • Institutional repository of their university and public repositories (SSRN, Zenodo, etc.).
  • Google Scholar, ORCID, Dimensions, PlumX, etc.
  • Scientific social networks.
  • Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).
  • Personal or institutional websites, blogs, etc.

It is required that all the bibliographic data of the publication be detailed in these publications.

Archiving

This journal utilizes the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to register permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

 

Articles and Submissions Processing Charges

IJIMAI does not ask for articles processing (APC) or submissions charges.

 

Cookies Policy

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Privacy Policy

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Legal Notice

Click on this link to read the Legal Notice of UNIR.