Editorial Policies

Conference Proceedings in Science and Management (Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag.) operates under a published set of editorial policies aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the Council of Science Editors (CSE) White Paper on Publication Ethics, and the ICMJE Recommendations where applicable.

These policies apply to every Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. volume, every conference whose proceedings are accepted into the series, and every paper within those proceedings.

Peer Review

All papers published in Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. undergo peer review prior to acceptance. Peer review is conducted by the conference organizing committee under standards set by the proceedings series and is independently cross-checked by the Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. Editorial Advisory Board and the Editor-in-Chief, who hold final authority over acceptance.

The full description of the review process, reviewer requirements, and editorial oversight is published on the Peer Review Process page.

Publication Ethics

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. The proceedings series follows the COPE Core Practices and expects all participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, volume editors, and the Editorial Advisory Board, to adhere to these standards.

Author Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that submitted work is original, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration elsewhere.
Authors must accurately represent their research, including methods, data, and findings, and must not fabricate or falsify results.
Authors must properly cite all sources and obtain permission to reproduce any third-party material.
Authors must disclose all sources of funding and any conflicts of interest.
Authors must promptly notify the volume editors and the Editor-in-Chief of any errors discovered after publication.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must conduct reviews objectively, based on the scientific merit of the work, free from personal, professional, or commercial bias.
Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest and decline to review papers where such conflicts exist.
Reviewers must treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents.
Reviewers must not use information obtained through review for personal advantage.

Editor Responsibilities

Volume editors and members of the Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. Editorial Advisory Board must base acceptance decisions on the scientific quality of the work, not on the identity, affiliation, nationality, or beliefs of the authors.
Editors must declare any conflict of interest and recuse themselves from decisions in which they have a personal or professional stake.
Editors must protect the confidentiality of the review process.
The Editor-in-Chief retains the authority to desk-reject any submission that falls outside the scope of Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag., fails to meet ethical standards, or shows evidence of misconduct.

Authorship

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. follows the ICMJE definition of authorship. To qualify as an author, an individual must have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; must have been involved in drafting or critically revising the manuscript; must have approved the final version; and must agree to be accountable for the integrity of the work.

Acquisition of funding, general supervision, or technical assistance alone does not constitute authorship. Such contributions should be acknowledged in a separate Acknowledgments section.

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. does not accept ghost-written submissions. Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. does not offer authorship for purchase. Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. does not permit gift authorship, guest authorship, or any form of authorship-for-favor exchange. Any such practice, if discovered, will result in immediate rejection or, if discovered post-publication, retraction.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, or institutional relationship that could reasonably be perceived to influence their work or judgment. Such relationships include employment, consultancy, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications, grants, and personal relationships.

Conference volume editors must disclose any relationship with the authors of papers under review, including current or former students, co-authors within the previous five years, and colleagues at the same institution. In such cases, the paper must be reviewed by an independent member of the Editorial Advisory Board.

Data and Reproducibility

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. encourages authors to make data, code, and other materials supporting their findings openly available wherever ethically and legally possible. Authors should deposit data in recognized public repositories and cite the deposit in the paper. Where data cannot be made openly available, authors should state the reason and indicate how qualified researchers may obtain access.

Generative AI

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. permits the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of submitted work, subject to the following conditions:

Authorship. Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authorship requires accountability for the work, which AI tools cannot assume. Human authors are fully responsible for the content of their submissions, including any portions produced with AI assistance.
Disclosure. Any use of generative AI in the writing, editing, or production of a submission must be disclosed in the manuscript, typically in the Acknowledgments or a dedicated section. Disclosure must specify the tool used and the purpose for which it was used.
Permitted uses. Generative AI may be used for grammar correction, language polishing, and basic editorial improvement. AI may also be used to assist with code, figures, or data analysis, provided the output is verified by the authors.
Prohibited uses. Generative AI must not be used to fabricate or falsify data, to generate fake citations, to produce images or figures that misrepresent results, or to write substantive scientific content without human verification and ownership.
In peer review. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts under review to public generative AI tools, as doing so breaches confidentiality. Reviewers must conduct review based on their own expertise.
In editorial decisions. Editorial decisions on acceptance or rejection are made by human editors. Generative AI is not used as the sole or primary basis for any acceptance, rejection, or substantive editorial judgment.

This policy is informed by the STM Recommendations on AI in Academic Manuscript Preparation, the Elsevier guidance on AI in peer review, and the WAME recommendations on chatbots and scholarly manuscripts. The policy will be revised as the field evolves.

Plagiarism and Misconduct

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. treats plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, redundant publication, and undisclosed conflicts of interest as serious breaches of research integrity. All submissions are screened for plagiarism using established detection software. Confirmed misconduct results in rejection or, if discovered post-publication, retraction.

Allegations of misconduct are investigated by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Editorial Advisory Board, following COPE flowcharts. Where a finding of misconduct is confirmed, Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. will notify the institutions of the authors, retract the affected work, and, where appropriate, publish a notice of retraction.

Corrections, Retractions, and Errata

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. corrects the published record promptly when errors are identified, and issues corrections, errata, expressions of concern, and retractions in accordance with COPE retraction guidelines. The full procedure for each type of post-publication notice is set out on the Corrections, Retractions, and Errata page.

Complaints and Appeals

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. accepts complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, and the conduct of editors, reviewers, or the proceedings series itself. Complaints and appeals are handled by the Editor-in-Chief, or, where the complaint concerns the Editor-in-Chief, by the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board. The full procedure, including timelines, scope, possible outcomes, and external recourse, is set out on the Complaints and Appeals page.

Archiving and Indexing

Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. is committed to the long-term preservation of all published content through DOI registration with Crossref, deposit with the PKP Preservation Network, and managed hosting backups. Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. seeks inclusion in major indexing databases including DOAJ, Google Scholar, and, in due course, Scopus. Authors are encouraged to register an ORCID iD and to include it in their submissions. The full archiving and indexing policy is set out on the Archiving and Indexing page.

Licensing and Copyright

All papers published in Conf. Proc. Sci. Manag. are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), with copyright retained by the authors. The full open access and licensing policy is set out on the Open Access and APC page.

Policy Updates

These policies are reviewed at least annually and revised as needed to reflect developments in publication ethics, technology, and best practice. The date of last revision appears at the foot of this page.

Last revised: 4 May 2026.