4.Editorial Policy

4.1 Preface

The International Journal of Business and Social Dynamics (IJBSD) is a peer-reviewed, Open Access journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in Business, Economics, Finance, and related disciplines. To ensure fairness, transparency, academic rigor, and editorial independence, IJBSD maintains a formal Editorial Policy that guides operations, peer review, and manuscript handling while adhering to COPE Core Practices and internationally accepted publishing norms.

4.2 Editorial Objectives

The editorial goals of IJBSD include:

  • Upholding academic excellence in business and Management sciences
  • Ensuring impartial and rigorous peer review
  • Maintaining transparency and consistency in editorial decisions
  • Supporting Open Access and knowledge dissemination
  • Preventing editorial bias and unethical publishing practices
  • Facilitating continuous improvement in the editorial process

4.3 Editorial Structure

The editorial operations of IJBSD are overseen by the following roles:

4.3.1 Editor-in-Chief

  • Provides strategic direction for the journal
  • Oversees the editorial process and ensures compliance with ethical standards
  • Makes final decisions on manuscript acceptance or rejection
  • Represents the journal in academic and professional forums

4.3.2 Associate/Assistant Editors

  • Manage manuscripts within specific subject areas
  • Assign reviewers, assess reviews, and recommend decisions
  • Ensure quality control within their domains

4.3.3 Editorial Board Members

  • Serve as ambassadors for the journal
  • Provide expert advice and assist with peer review
  • Contribute to special issues and editorial initiatives

4.3.4 Editorial Assistant

  • Handle day-to-day operations of manuscript submission and tracking
  • Communicate with authors, reviewers, and editors
  • Coordinate production and post-acceptance workflows

4.4 Editorial Responsibilities

All editorial team members are expected to:

  • Treat submissions with confidentiality and impartiality
  • Ensure timely and transparent communication with authors and reviewers
  • Disclose any conflicts of interest affecting editorial decisions
  • Base decisions on scholarly merit
  • Avoid discrimination based on race, gender, institutional affiliation, or personal belief
  • Maintain editorial independence from commercial or personal interests

4.5 Editorial Independence

IJBSD maintains full editorial independence. Editorial decisions are never influenced by:

  • The journal or publisher’s commercial interests
  • Advertising or sponsorship
  • Political, institutional, or personal agendas

All decisions are based solely on academic quality, relevance to the journal scope, and peer review outcomes.

4.6 Editorial Decision-Making Process

  1. Initial Screening / Desk Review
    • Editorial office checks scope, format, and plagiarism using standard tools
  2. Editorial Assignment
    • Manuscript is assigned to an Associate or Assistant Editor
  3. Reviewer Invitation
    • Qualified, impartial reviewers are invited
  4. Peer Review Completion
    • Reviewer comments are collected and synthesized
  5. Editorial Decision
    • Accept
    • Minor revisions
    • Major revisions
    • Reject
    • Possible decisions include:
  6. Revision Cycle
    • Authors revise based on reviewer feedback
  7. Final Decision
    • Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision
  8. Copyediting & Production
    • Accepted manuscripts proceed to copyediting, formatting, and publication

4.7 Editorial Ethics and Integrity

  • Editorial team upholds highest ethical standards
  • Responsibilities include:
    • Identifying and addressing research misconduct (plagiarism, fabrication)
    • Ensuring publication of corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern when needed
    • Promoting ethical authorship practices and accurate reporting
  • Editorial misconduct or bias is taken seriously and investigated thoroughly

4.8 Retractions, Corrections, and Editorial Notices

4.8.1 Retractions

Articles may be retracted for:

  • Data fabrication or falsification
  • Plagiarism
  • Ethical breaches
  • Major errors affecting results or conclusions

Retractions are clearly labelled with a notice explaining the reason.

4.8.2 Corrections and Errata

Minor errors not affecting results may lead to:

  • Corrections for factual errors
  • Errata for publisher-related errors

These are published promptly and linked to the original article.

4.8.3 Editorial Expressions of Concern

If investigations are ongoing, IJBSD may issue an expression of concern to alert readers of potential issues with a published article.