1 General Provisions

1.1 Purpose

This policy standardizes all editorial, peer review, production, archiving and post-publication management work of Journal of International Economy and Global Governance (JIEGG) published by Macao Scientific Publishers (MOSP). Drawing on mature international open-access journal operation frameworks and abiding by COPE Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines, the policy defines responsibilities of all editorial staff, editorial board, guest editors, reviewers and administrative personnel, standardizes full-cycle manuscript processing rules, clarifies publishing ethics, copyright, indexing archive, correction, expression of concern and retraction mechanisms, and guarantees the journal’s impartiality, transparency, academic integrity and long-term sustainable operation.

1.2 Applicable Scope

This policy applies to all links of manuscript submission, pre-screening, peer review, revision, final acceptance, typesetting, online publication, volume/issue compilation, digital archiving, post-publication correction and academic dispute handling of JIEGG. All editors, editorial board members, guest editors, reviewers, editorial administrators, authors and related cooperative institutions shall strictly comply with the provisions herein.

1.3 Core Principles

1. Academic impartiality: Reject favoritism, eliminate relationship manuscripts, implement strict conflict-of-interest avoidance mechanism;
2. Standardized process: Adopt closed-loop traceable workflow for full manuscript lifecycle management;
3. Ethical bottom line: Zero tolerance for all academic misconduct;
4. Transparent operation: Open peer review rules, index archive standards and appeal channels to all authors;
5. Long-term preservation: Establish permanent multi-format indexing and archiving system consistent with international academic preservation specifications.

2 Editorial Team Structure & Post Responsibilities

JIEGG sets a multi-level editorial team with clear division of labor:

2.1 Editor-in-Chief

Overall responsible for the journal’s academic orientation, editorial policy revision, editorial board construction and major academic dispute final judgment. Powers include: reviewing and approving special issue plans, ruling on retraction/expression of concern cases, reviewing serious author appeals, and supervising full-journal academic quality.

2.2 Executive Editor-in-Chief

Daily academic management person-in-charge. Supervise pre-screening progress, coordinate reviewer allocation, judge divergent peer review comments, conduct final review of all accepted manuscripts, control publication cycle, and handle routine author complaints and editorial daily work.

2.3 Subject Academic Editors

Specialized in international economy, global governance, trade and finance research. Complete academic pre-evaluation of manuscripts, screen matching reviewers, put forward professional revision suggestions, assist Executive Editor-in-Chief in judging controversial manuscripts, and organize themed special issue solicitation and review.

2.4 Editorial Administrative Officers

Carry out full-process operational work: manuscript registration, format pre-screening, similarity detection, metadata entry, reviewer invitation, revision reminder, production handover, archive sorting, author communication and system maintenance. Keep complete operation logs for all manuscript processing steps for traceability.

2.5 Editorial Board & Guest Editors

Editorial Board: Provide long-term academic guidance, participate in regular editorial policy review, recommend high-quality manuscripts and reviewers, and conduct regular journal quality evaluation. Guest Editors: Appointed for themed special issues only. Responsible for special issue manuscript solicitation, preliminary screening, reviewer recommendation, coordinating review progress; must strictly follow double-blind review rules and conflict-of-interest declaration, and shall not interfere with final editorial decision-making power.

2.6 Reviewers

Undertake independent double-blind peer review obligations, objectively evaluate manuscript innovation, theoretical rigor, empirical reliability and academic value, issue detailed review comments within the specified time limit, and timely declare any conflict of interest with authors. Reviewer identity is permanently confidential to authors.

3 Full-Cycle Manuscript Editorial Process Specifications

3.1 Pre-Submission Pre-Screening

After authors complete online submission, editorial administrators finish format, scope and originality pre-screening within 3–5 working days:

1. Scope matching: Manuscripts outside international economy & global governance research scope receive desk rejection with clear written reasons;
2. Format inspection: Manuscripts failing template requirements, incomplete attachments, missing ethics/funding documents shall be returned for supplementary materials before entering academic evaluation;
3. Similarity detection: All manuscripts undergo plagiarism check; overall similarity exceeding 20% will be desk-rejected;
4. Basic eligibility: Check one-multiple-submission risks, incomplete author information, missing conflict-of-interest statements. Pre-screening records are permanently archived together with manuscript files.

3.2 Double-Blind Peer Review Implementation Rules

1. Blind processing: All author identity information removed before sending to reviewers; reviewer information hidden from authors throughout the whole process;
2. Review quantity: Each qualified manuscript assigned no less than two independent external reviewers; if two review conclusions diverge sharply, a third independent reviewer is invited;
3. Standard review outcomes: Accept without revision / Minor Revision / Major Revision / Reject; each outcome must attach detailed textual grounds;
4. Review time limit: Reviewers shall complete comments within 14 working days; overdue reminders will be issued twice, with automatic reviewer replacement upon continuous delay;
5. Conflict avoidance rule: Reviewers who have collaborated with any author within the past 3 years, belong to the same institution, or hold academic/competitive conflicts must proactively recuse themselves.

3.3 Manuscript Revision & Re-review Management

1. Minor Revision: Author reply deadline 14 calendar days; only editorial final inspection required after resubmission, no repeated external review;
2. Major Revision: Author reply deadline 30 calendar days; revised manuscript returned to original reviewers for full re-review;
3. Extension application: Authors may submit formal extension application with reasonable grounds before deadline; maximum one extension allowed per revision round; overdue without application equals automatic withdrawal;
4. Point-by-point response letter mandatory: Authors must respond item by item to all reviewer and editorial comments; incomplete response materials will be returned for supplementation.

3.4 Final Editorial Acceptance

All revised manuscripts pass Executive Editor-in-Chief full final check before formal acceptance notification. Final review focuses on: full implementation of revision requirements, standardized ethics statements, complete funding and copyright materials, consistent reference format, no hidden academic integrity risks. Final acceptance decision is irrevocable unless subsequent academic misconduct evidence emerges.

3.5 Post-Acceptance Production & Online Publication

1. Copyediting & galley proof: Within 7 working days after acceptance, unified standard layout, XML production and galley PDF issued to authors for confirmation; only minor typographical corrections permitted at proof stage; substantial content modification requests are not accepted;
2. Advance online publication: After author proof confirmation, manuscript assigned unique Article Number and permanent CrossRef DOI, released as Advance Article immediately; later assigned to formal volume and issue according to publishing schedule;
3. Periodical volume compilation: Each volume compiles complete table of contents, volume index, author and keyword index in accordance with international academic indexing specifications.

4 Peer Review Ethics & Conflict of Interest Policy

4.1 Mandatory Conflict of Interest (COI) Declaration

All personnel participating in editorial decision-making (Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editor-in-Chief, academic editors, guest editors, reviewers) must submit annual public COI statements. When handling specific manuscripts, they must immediately recuse themselves if any of the following relationships exist:

1. Supervisor-student, mentor-mentee relationship within recent 3 years;
2. Co-author collaborative publications within recent 3 years;
3. Same affiliated institution or joint research projects;
4. Direct financial ties including research funding, consulting fees, equity cooperation;
5. Long-term academic competition or personal disputes. Recusal records are archived with corresponding manuscript files.

4.2 Confidentiality Obligation

All unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, internal editorial discussion records and author private information are strictly confidential. Editorial staff and reviewers are prohibited from copying, excerpting, citing or disseminating unpublished manuscripts without official authorization, and shall not use manuscript content for personal research or private communication. Confidentiality obligation remains effective permanently even after leaving editorial positions.

4.3 Prohibition of Improper Interference

No editorial personnel, editorial board member or reviewer may pressure the editorial team to accept/reject specific manuscripts for personal benefit. Any act of soliciting or accepting improper benefits in exchange for favorable review decisions constitutes serious editorial misconduct and will result in immediate dismissal and public record.

5 Academic Misconduct Investigation & Disposal Rules

Consistent with COPE international disposal standards, the editorial team initiates formal investigation upon receiving credible misconduct clues, covering plagiarism, duplicate publication, self-plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, image tampering, false ethics documents, undisclosed COI, improper authorship, ghostwriting.

5.1 Investigation Procedure

1. Evidence collection: Collect original manuscript, revision records, detection reports, external expert appraisal materials;
2. Author inquiry: Issue formal inquiry notice to corresponding author, requiring written response and supplementary supporting evidence within specified time;
3. Editorial board joint appraisal: Editor-in-Chief organizes independent appraisal panel excluding staff with COI to reach objective disposal conclusion.

5.2 Graded Disposal Measures

1. Minor non-compliance: Mandatory full manuscript revision, formal warning letter recorded in author integrity file;
2. General misconduct: Formal rejection, author integrity mark, restriction on new submission for 12 months;
3. Severe confirmed misconduct: Publish formal retraction statement, add permanent retraction mark on all index platforms, blacklist authors with permanent submission ban, notify authors’ affiliated institutions of misconduct facts.

6 Copyright, Open Access & APC Administration Policy

6.1 Open Access License

JIEGG fully adopts CC BY-NC 4.0 open access license. All published manuscripts are freely accessible globally without paywall barriers; all metadata submitted to CrossRef for permanent DOI resolution and global indexing.

6.2 Copyright Agreement Management

Upon acceptance, corresponding authors sign MOSP Open Access Publication License: Authors retain complete moral copyright of research works; MOSP obtains perpetual non-exclusive rights to typeset, publish, archive, index, translate and disseminate articles in all digital and printed forms worldwide. All copyright documents are archived permanently with manuscript source files.

6.3 APC Standard & Administration

1. Official APC rate: RMB 4,500 CNY or USD 640 per accepted manuscript; charges cover peer review management, basic language polishing, professional typesetting, XML production, long-term multi-format archiving, database indexing and global open dissemination services;
2. Payment rule: APC only collected after formal manuscript acceptance; no pre-charges at submission stage;
3. APC waiver policy: Unfunded scholars from low-income regions may submit confidential waiver application to the editorial board; waiver review results are confidential without public disclosure;
4. Optional paid service: Full professional English language polishing service available before peer review at separate cost; manuscripts with severe language defects will be suspended from review pending language improvement.

7 Standard Index & Full-Lifecycle Archive Policy

7.1 Index Compilation Specifications

Adopt independent article number coding system instead of traditional continuous page number indexing, implement three-level public indexing:

1. Single issue table of contents index;
2. Full volume integrated global index sorted by article number;
3. Annual cumulative author index & keyword index released after each volume completes publication. Each published article carries dynamic public status label: Normal Published / Correction / Expression of Concern / Retraction; status marks synchronously updated across all retrieval platforms.

7.2 Complete File Archiving Scope (One Manuscript One Independent Archive Folder)

Permanently store all source and process files for every manuscript:

1. Original submission files: Word/LaTeX source, high-resolution vector figures, supplementary materials, ethics approval, funding certificates, COI statements, plagiarism detection reports;
2. Editorial process files: Pre-screening logs, all reviewer reports, author revision response letters, multiple versions of revised manuscripts, final review records;
3. Production & copyright files: Galley proofs, final publication PDF, standardized production XML, signed open access copyright license;
4. Post-publication files: Correction notices, expression of concern documents, retraction statements, appeal materials, misconduct investigation records.

7.3 Tiered Storage Duration & Dual Backup Mechanism

1. Accepted & published manuscripts: Permanent storage; dual-cloud remote backup + local offline cold backup, regular data integrity verification every quarter;
2. Rejected manuscripts: Full process archives retained for minimum 5 years for dispute rechecking;
3. Temporary workflow files (short-term communication drafts, internal temporary memos): Retained for 3 years then securely data desensitization and deletion;
4. Special archive for retracted/corrected papers: Separately classified permanent archive with complete version comparison records reserved.

7.4 Archive Access Control

Public retrieval open only to article metadata, abstracts and full-text content; internal confidential materials (reviewer identities, internal evaluation records, author private contact information) only accessible to designated editorial administrators with formal access registration log; archive copying and external transmission strictly prohibited without Editor-in-Chief written approval.

8 Post-Publication Correction, Expression of Concern & Retraction

8.1 Correction

For minor typographical, citation or metadata errors without altering core research conclusions, the editorial team publishes a formal Correction notice cross-linked to the original article; correction records are updated in all indexes and archive files synchronously.

8.2 Expression of Concern (EoC)

When credible preliminary evidence questions data authenticity, research ethics or academic integrity without fully verified misconduct, the Editorial Board issues public Expression of Concern, clearly stating suspected risks, and launches full formal investigation while retaining the original article online.

8.3 Retraction

After full investigation confirming severe academic misconduct violating COPE guidelines, the journal releases a public formal Retraction statement with clear factual grounds. The original article remains in all archive and index systems with prominent permanent retraction watermark and linked retraction notice; all retraction records are permanently traceable and publicly searchable without deletion.

9 Author Appeal Mechanism

1. Appeal eligibility: Authors dissatisfied with desk rejection, peer review rejection or retraction decisions may submit formal written appeal;
2. Time limit: Appeal materials must be delivered to editorial office within 7 working days after decision notification; appeal letter must attach complete objective supporting evidence;
3. Review panel: Editor-in-Chief organizes independent third-party evaluation team without conflict of interest to recheck full manuscript and process records;
4. Result issuance: Final appeal reply issued within 10 working days; the second evaluation conclusion is definitive, and repeated unfounded appeals will not be accepted or processed.

10 Supplementary Provisions

1. This Editorial and Publication Policy is formulated with reference to international open-access journal operation specifications, COPE publishing ethics guidelines, Macao SAR publishing regulatory requirements and global academic archive standards;
2. The editorial office reserves the right to revise this policy according to updated international publishing norms and journal development needs; revised versions will be published on the official website to take effect;
3. If any clause herein conflicts with newly released international ethical standards or regulatory provisions, the latest international standard shall prevail;
4. This policy shall come into force upon official release on the journal website;
5. Interpretation right of this policy belongs to the Editorial Office of Journal of International Economy and Global Governance, Macao Scientific Publishers.