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IGI Global publications adhere generally to the Core Practices recommended by
COPE. IGI Global is committed to publishing original scholarly materials of the highest quality that provide comprehensive insight into all aspects of business and management, computer science and IT, education, environment and agriculture, government and law, library and information science, media and communications, medicine and healthcare, science and engineering, security and forensics, and social sciences and humanities.
As an internationally-recognized publisher, IGI Global’s goal is to facilitate the availability of academic excellence and disseminate innovative knowledge worldwide.
IGI Global book and journal editors and authors are provided written guidelines and checklists that must be followed to maintain the high value that IGI Global places on the work it publishes. IGI Global reviewers are an important component of the scholarly process and therefore are instructed to provide comprehensive, detailed appraisals of work that they are reviewing to assist the author in improving the quality and usability of the presented research.
IGI Global affirms that ethical publication practices are critical to the successful development of knowledge. Therefore,
it is the policy of IGI Global to maintain high ethical standards in all publications. These standards pertain to all books, journals, chapters, and articles accepted for publication. This is in accordance with standard scientific principles and IGI Global’s position as a source of scientific knowledge.
(View IGI Global's Book Editorial Policy Here and IGI Global's Journal Editorial Policy Here)Authors and contributors may play a number of roles in the research, writing, and preparation of submitted manuscripts.
IGI Global as the publisher does assume that all authors listed on the work have agreed with the content and have given explicit consent to submit and have obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institution/organization where they work prior to the submission of the manuscript.
IGI Global recommends adhering to the following guidelines when establishing authorship of a submitted manuscript. Specifically, all authors whose names appear on the submission should have contributed in the following ways
(Sources: ICMJE & PNAS)- Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;
- Drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
- Provided final approval of the version to be published; and
- Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Special acknowledgments may be added to the end of the submission for anyone who has contributed to the work but not in an author capacity.
Use of AI/LLM/AI-Assisted Technologies
IGI Global allows limited use of AI tools to support authors' writing processes. However, as AI can produce incorrect, repetitive, or biased output, authors must provide a level of oversight and control in its usage and must carefully review and edit the content generated. Authors are ultimately accountable for the contents of the work. Authors may use AI tools to:
- Support the analysis of data during the research process.
- Improve the readability of the paper.
Authors choosing to use AI tools in the research and writing process must also disclose the tool and its usage by providing a written statement in the manuscript.
No AI tool will be credited with authorship and authors should not list or cite any AI as an author. This is because only humans have the ability to accept the responsibilities and accountability for the work, such as confirming its accuracy and integrity, of which AI cannot take responsibility.
IGI Global does not tolerate discrimination based on age, gender, race, affiliation, religious beliefs, political beliefs, sexual orientation or country
of origin. We are an inclusive company and we continually strive to ensure that our staff, management, review boards, publications, and all aspects of the company reflect the highest level of inclusion of experts from all over the world. Our goal is to continue to demonstrate a diverse, inclusive culture that fuels innovation among the communities we serve.
Please visit our Web Content Accessibility Guidelines page for more information on how we are continually working to make our content more inclusive.
All chapters and articles published in IGI Global publications must undergo a rigorous double-anonymized academic peer review process. Allegations of improperly or unethically conducted peer review can be very damaging to the success of a publication, as well as to the careers of any scholars affiliated with the questioned work.
The double-anonymized peer review process should be fully conducted within the
eEditorial DiscoveryTM online submission manager, and as such, the reviews should be easily accessible to the IGI Global editorial staff. This is to ensure that should accusations of fraudulent peer review arise, IGI Global will be able to support its published authors and editors in dismissing these claims and ensuring the continued success of the corresponding publications.
All research is to be conducted according to the general standards of practice, which include proper protection of any subjects, whether they are individuals or organizations. Defamatory or intentionally false information is considered a serious offense, and any work including unethical research will be rejected and the authors barred from publishing with all IGI Global publications. All identities of private organizations and individuals should be removed from any proposed work, unless proper written consent has been gained prior to publication.
Furthermore, research and data being presented for publication must be complete and whole. Falsification of one’s research through intentional data suppression or misrepresentation is considered unethical and will result in the rejection of the submitted work and may be cause for other action. This pertains only to cases in which data is misconstrued with the author’s knowledge.
IGI Global follows the guidance of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which acknowledges that patients and study participants have a right to privacy that should not be breached without informed consent.
Consent to Participate
Informed written consent must be voluntarily provided from any participants involved in a study, prior to the start of the study. Should the participant be a minor or is considered vulnerable and unable to provide informed consent, a legal guardian will need to provide consent. Should the participant be deceased, a next of kin may provide consent. Participants must have full knowledge of the study they are participating in, including the risks involved. Authors must include a statement confirming the participants consent within the manuscript.
Should verbal consent be obtained instead of written consent, authors must explain why written consent was not obtained, the approval process for the verbal consent, and its documentation methods.
Consent to Publish
Individuals who agree to participate in a study, may not agree to have their identifiable data published. Identifiable data includes but is not limited to descriptions, photographs, images, videos, names, dates of birth, and biometrical characteristics. Identifiable data should generally be excluded from the manuscript as much as possible. Manuscripts that do include potentially identifiable data should obtain written informed consent that the data and any additional images may be published. Consent must be received from the participant (or a legal guardian for minors or next of kin for the deceased) prior to submission. When in doubt, it is best to obtain written informed consent.
Manuscripts that include identifiable images or data of participants must include a statement confirming that permission was obtained to publish the images or data. If the data is anonymized, authors must state that no consent to publish was required. Alterations to images and/or data to anonymize them should not distort scientific meaning.
Research Involving Humans
Ethics Approval
All studies on humans (individuals, human data, or material) must be conducted in accordance with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must receive ethical approval for all protocols from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee to ensure compliance with national and international guidelines. Authors must include details of this approval upon submission of the manuscript and should provide the name of the ethics committee and permit numbers where available.
Manuscripts granted an exemption by an ethics committee should state so with a full explanation and the name of the granting committee within the manuscript. Ethical approval should always be sought prior to the start of the research/study. Retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained. Authors should also check their national ethical guidelines.
Non-stigmatizing and non-discriminatory language should be used when categorizing groups by race/ethnicity, age, disease, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. A justification of the choice of definitions and categories should be explained including whether a relevant funding agency required the categorization.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible registry prior to the trials initiation. Suitable registries can be found at the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). The trial registration number and registration date should be included in the article and/or article’s abstract.
Should a trial have not been registered prior to participant recruitment, a retrospective trial registration should be sought. Authors retrospectively registering trials should provide an explanation for the retrospective registration as well as the trial registration number and date.
Human Embryos and Stem Cells
Human embryos and gametes, embryonic stem cells, and related materials that are included in report experiments must have been utilized in accordance with all safety considerations, ethical guidelines, and applicable regulations. Authors must include a statement within the manuscript that outlines the name of the ethic(s) committee that approved the study, reference/permit numbers (if applicable), and confirmation of informed consent from recipients, donors, or next of kin if the donor is deceased.
Please follow the principles described in the 2016 ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation.
Research Involving Animals
Submissions that include studies involving vertebrates or regulated invertebrates must offer detailed information on the ethical treatment of the animals including their appropriate care and handling. Manuscripts should include the name of the ethics committee(s) which approved the study and study procedures must be carried out in accordance with applicable national or international guidelines. If the study did not require ethics approval or was granted an exemption, this should be stated in the manuscript.
Studies involving client-owned animals should have documented informed consent from the client or owner. Such studies should still showcase an adherence to the best practices of veterinary care.
Authors should consult with the “Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments’ (ARRIVE) guidelines developed by the NC3Rs when submitting manuscripts describing animal research. Every effort should be taken to reduce suffering and euthanasia or anesthesia methods must be described in detail. Researchers are advised to consult the NC3Rs guide on Humane Endpoints and the American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines for the Humane Slaughter of Animals, as well as follow applicable veterinary guidelines such as the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Authors should also consult the ethical principles in the Basel Declaration and the guidelines by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and the Association for the study of Animal Behaviour.
When describing research on threatened/endangered species, studies should comply with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction, the IUCN red list index of threatened species and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Research Involving Plants
Research involving cultivated or wild plants and plant material should follow guidelines provided by the authors’ institution and national or international regulations. Manuscripts describing such research should include a statement of permissions granted and/or licenses.
Voucher specimens must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collection that provides access to deposited material. The manuscript must include information on the voucher specimen and who identified it, including Genus name, species name, and year of publication.
Authors should comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Research Involving Paleontological and Geological Material
Manuscripts that include paleontological and geological material should provide detailed information that shows a clear provenance (or attempt to determine provenance in older museum collections), numbers and repository information, museum name (if applicable), and geographic location. Studies must be conducted in accordance with national or international regulations and the author should obtain any permits that may be required for the research and publication of the manuscript from the relevant authority. Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the necessary permits were acquired and should name the authority that provided those permits. All samples must be collected and exported responsibly and in accordance with national and local law.
Archaeological work that involves human remains requires that all necessary permits relevant for access to the site and the handling of the remains is obtained prior to data collection. Authors should comply with the Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains (Chartered Institute for Archaeologists).
Authors should also consult the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) normative instruments for the protection of cultural heritage, and Resolutions, Motions, guidance and other statements of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Research Involving Heritage Sites
Manuscripts that include studies from protected heritage sites must be conducted in accordance with any necessary guidelines and authors should obtain any permits that may be required for the research and publication of the manuscript from the relevant authority prior to data collection. Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the necessary permits were acquired and should name the authority that provided those permits.
Authors should also consult the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) normative instruments for the protection of cultural heritage.
Data Availability and Privacy
Authors may be asked to provide the underlying source data used to support their manuscript in order to comply with open data requirements of the publication, especially in the case of Open Access publications. In such cases, authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data or present an explanation for why the data cannot be openly displayed (i.e., ethical or security considerations). In cases where the data is restricted for such reasons, authors should provide a description for its restrictions and the necessary information required for a reader to apply to access the data.
Standards of Reporting
Standards of reporting guidelines should be utilized to ensure transparency and reproducibility of research. A comprehensive list of reporting guidelines for medical research can be viewed via the EQUATOR network website.
IGI Global follows United States copyright law for all published books and journals. Additional information on US copyright law can be found here. Author’s Warranty and Transfer of Copyright
Corresponding authors on submissions will be required to sign an Author’s Warranty (if open access) or an Author’s Warranty and Transfer of Copyright Agreement (if subscription-based) prior to the publication of the submitted work. In the Author’s Warranty the author is confirming originality of the work. In the Author’s Warranty and Transfer of Copyright Agreement the author is both ensuring originality of the work, as well as transferring the copyright to the publisher.
In the event of multiple authors, if the Corresponding Author is not given authorization by the co-authors on the submission to sign the Agreement, then all authors will be required to sign. This Agreement must be signed and submitted before IGI Global will agree to publish any manuscript.
The Warranty portion includes the following language:
The author(s) hereby warrants that the manuscript named above that has been submitted to IGI Global for publication in the named publication, IS ORIGINAL AND HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION OR PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE, and that all trademark use within the manuscript has been credited to its owner or written permission to use the name has been granted. In addition, the author(s) acknowledges that all images such as tables, screenshots, graphics, etc., do not have a copyright that is held by a third party. IGI Global will not accept a manuscript for which the copyright is held by a third party. Authors may not use substantial verbatim text from another copyrighted work without the written permission of the copyright holder.
When an author transfers the copyright of the work to the publisher it is for the verbatim text within the submission only and should not to be confused with intellectual property rights.
Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement is the reuse of materials for which the author does not have ownership without the express permission of the copyright holder. IGI Global recognizes that transfer of copyright to a publisher is a standard practice in the industry and that large quantities of quoted text, images, layouts, and formats, which may or may not be the creation of the author, may be owned by a third party. IGI Global also recognizes that all models, equations, conclusions, theories, algorithms, mathematical definitions, and computer code are the intellectual property of the author and that ownership of these elements belongs solely to that author, unless otherwise agreed upon with a third party. In cases in which an author is allegedly infringing upon the copyright of a third party prior to the publication of the work in question, IGI Global will return the work to the author(s) and request revision to remove all copyrighted materials.
Images taken from a third-party source are protected under United States copyright law, and permission must be obtained before any such image or figure may be included in a manuscript published under an IGI Global imprint. Please see Part 4 of the
IGI Global Image Formatting Guidelines for more information. A sample image permission form can be downloaded
here.
Allegations of copyright infringement in which the work has already been published by IGI Global will be investigated immediately upon receipt of the initial complaint.
→ Work which has been found to be in breach of a third-party copyright will be removed from circulation and a retraction and notification of the infringement will be published at the corresponding link in all IGI Global e-Collection products.
→ The author(s) of the infringing work may be prohibited from publishing with IGI Global for an allotted period of time or indefinitely, at the discretion of the publisher.
→ Any submissions accepted for review after an allotted period may be subject to further review by the publisher to satisfy the publisher that no copyrighted material is included in the manuscript and that all legal stipulations within the publisher’s Author’s Warranty and Transfer of Copyright
are met.
→ Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the infringement.
IGI Global acknowledges that in some cases copyright infringement can also be classified as plagiarism. In these cases, IGI Global will also undertake a review for plagiarism within the text as well as implement any further actions necessary to satisfy the requirements of the publisher’s own copyright as well as the copyright of the third party.
Dr. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, IGI Global’s Executive Editor, recently spoke about the importance of maintaining the highest ethical standards as a publisher. View his presentation entitled “
Maintaining the Integrity of Scientific Knowledge Content,” which debuted on September 14th, 2017 as a part of 2017 Peer
Review Week.
IGI Global defines plagiarism as the intentional or unintentional use of another individuals, or collection of individuals’, ideas, theories, models, equations, conclusions, research (intellectual property), and/or verbatim or paraphrased words without proper attribution to the original source.
IGI Global takes these claims very seriously and immediately will launch a full and fair investigation of the allegations to learn more about the claim. IGI Global conducts the appropriate due process in order to be fair to both the individual bringing forth the claim, as well as to the author(s) in question to ensure their side of the story is also fairly heard. As a result, the due process may take some time, as proper documentation must
be secured.
Furthermore, the manuscript will be carefully reviewed with the goal of determining if plagiarism has taken place and, if so, to what extent.
IGI Global uses iThenticate, a plagiarism detection software, to assist with the identification of plagiarized content.If it is determined that a manuscript contains plagiarism, the authors(s) will be notified promptly of the rejection of their submitted work and may be barred from consideration for future publication with IGI Global for an allotted period or indefinitely, at the publisher’s discretion. Further action may be taken as deemed necessary by the publisher based on the severity and quantity of the plagiarism. Any submissions accepted for review after the allotted period may be subject to further review by the publisher to satisfy the publisher that no plagiarism is included.
Also, work which has been found to contain plagiarism will be removed from all IGI Global e-Collection products. A statement of notification and retraction will be included at the e-Collection link providing the citation for the original work. (Please view the “Corrections and Retractions” section below for additional detail).
Simultaneous submission is defined as a work submitted to IGI Global for publication that is under review, has been previously published, or has been accepted for publication elsewhere in whole or in part. Although IGI Global acknowledges the importance of the use of previously published work to the evolving research process, work submitted for publication must show significant advances in the research conducted and should appropriately quote, cite, and attribute the earlier work for any prior research mentioned. The failure to disclose previously published work upon which the current work is based may be considered cause for investigation into allegations of plagiarism.
Below are three articles that explain the dangers of plagiarism and self-plagiarism in greater depth:
After an article or chapter is published, it may be found that major corrections must be made, or the chapter or article needs to be retracted due to ethical concerns including plagiarism. IGI Global will conduct a thorough investigation of these corrections and retractions and take the appropriate steps, as outlined below.
In the cases of plagiarized content:
Prior to 2020: Once the article or chapter in question has been fully and thoroughly investigated and confirmed to be plagiarized, IGI Global removes the specific article or chapter listing from their e-Collections and website so as to prevent accidental individual chapter or article level sales of the manuscript, and then makes a note in the remaining documentation (the physical publication and all electronic files) that the article or chapter has been retracted. The title and author information of the article or chapter is still present in the print and e-publication (PDF); however, the body text (content) is no longer present and instead the retraction statement has replaced it. The adjusted publication is resent to the printers without the plagiarized content and IGI Global’s full network of booksellers and distributors are notified and provided updated metadata feeds and the electronic content.
As of 2020: IGI Global’s retraction processes evolved further in 2020, as the academic community came forward with a more consistent and preferred method for handling plagiarized content. The article or chapter in question is still fully and thoroughly investigated before further action is taken. Once confirmed to be plagiarized, as of 2020, IGI Global now keeps the full plagiarized content (body text) within the publication; however, each page is noted with a watermark that the content is considered retracted from the publication. This is so that the various retraction monitoring databases can adjust their data appropriately and it offers even fuller transparency. The adjusted publication is resent to the printers and IGI Global’s full network of booksellers and distributors are notified and provided updated metadata feeds and the electronic content.
Regarding major corrections:
If an author, editor, or reviewer brings forth a major correction request to IGI Global, the request will be carefully reviewed and the decision to honor the change request will be made at the publisher’s discretion. Major correction requests include: changes to titles, name changes, affiliation changes, and content changes. If a change is made, the file in question will be updated appropriately and distributed out in the form of updated files and/or metadata to all impacted parties, and IGI Global will communicate with the contributors impacted.
IGI Global carefully selects its editors based on academic standing, experience, and expertise in a topic, as supported by their submitted CV prior to appointment. However, in the event that a contributor has questions or concerns, they are first encouraged to contact the editor of the publication directly.
→ For journals, the contact email is listed on the individual journal webpages. For books, the contact email is listed on the book’s Call for Chapters.
→ If a complaint is directed to the editor of a publication, and there is no response within 30 days, the contributor may contact the Intellectual Property and Contracts Division of IGI Global at contracts@igi-global.com.
All submissions to IGI Global publications undergo a multi-step process. The editor(s) leading the publication perform the initial evaluation of the submission to ensure it meets the coverage and follows the guidelines of the publication. If it does, then the editor will anonymize the submission to remove all contributors’ personal information and assign the manuscript for the
double-anonymized peer review process to reviewers within the eEditorial Discovery manuscript submission system. The editors will make a final decision on the manuscript based on the results of the peer review process. There may be several rounds of revision and additional review cision al decision.
Questions or disagreement with the final decision on a manuscript, such as rejection of a submission
The Editor-in-Chief receives the authors’ argument, and after again looking at the paper, peer reviews and associate/managing editor evaluation can make a decision whether the decision to reject should stand or further investigation is needed. The person lodging the complaint should be informed of the decision with an explanation if appropriate. Decisions on appeals are final.
Complaint about the length of time from submission until a decision on publication is made
The Editor-in-Chief and/or in-house contact (where appropriate) will investigate the matter. The complainant will be given appropriate feedback. Feedback is provided to relevant stakeholders to improve processes and procedures.
Questions concerning publication ethics, e.g., researcher's, author's, or reviewer's conduct
The Editor-in-Chief follows guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The Editor-in-Chief may ask the publisher via their in-house contact for advice on difficult or complicated cases. The Editor-in-Chief decides on a course of action and provides feedback to the complainant. If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint, he or she can submit the complaint to the IGI Global’s in-house journal contact or to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). More information can be found here.
A conflict of interest occurs when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal (or self-serving) interests and professional duties or responsibilities and can be highly detrimental to academic publications.
- If at any time an Editor-in-Chief suspects a conflict of interest they should bring the matter to the publisher’s attention immediately (e.g. an author of submitted work is based at their same institution and on a competitive project).
- Should a reviewer experience a conflict of interest (e.g. they are aware of the article manuscript author’s identity and/or are based at the same institution), they should bring the matter to the Editor(s)-in-Chief attention immediately.
- If an author perceives that there may be a conflict of interest for their submitted work, they should include a declaration of any conflict of interest along with the article manuscript upon submission.
Competing interests include, but are not limited to: funding sources, financial interests, employment status, as well as those that go beyond financial interests (non-financial interests).
If an author is interested in having a chapter or article reproduced in a forthcoming publication (for commercial or non-commercial use), they should contact IGI Global’s Intellectual Property and Contracts Division at contracts@igi-global.com. It is recommended to consult IGI Global’s Fair Use Policy here, for further details on sharing.
IGI Global currently does not accept external paid-for advertisements to be published in its publications.