Publication Ethics

The System Technologies adheres to the principles of integrity, objectivity, editorial independence, transparency, and accountability in the consideration, peer review, and publication of scholarly materials. This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editorial board members, editors, and the publisher of the Journal.

The editorial office considers publication ethics matters with reference to guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and applicable law. Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of scholarly merit, originality, research quality, relevance to the Journal’s scope, and the results of independent peer review. APC payment, waiver status, an author’s origin, nationality, affiliation, position, gender, ethnicity, political or religious beliefs do not influence editorial decisions.

Authors’ responsibilities

Authors warrant that they submit original work prepared independently and that the manuscript is not under consideration by another publication at the same time. A manuscript must not have been published previously in whole or in substantial part, except for permissible preprints, conference materials, or other forms of prior dissemination that must be disclosed to the editorial office at submission.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all data, calculations, images, tables, references, interpretations, and conclusions presented. Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting of data, image manipulation, inaccurate citation, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, and peer-review manipulation are unacceptable.

When using copyrighted materials, including figures, tables, photographs, maps, software, databases, and substantial portions of text, authors must obtain the necessary permissions and acknowledge the source. Authors are responsible for respecting the rights of third parties.

Authorship and contributorship

Only persons who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the conception of the study, acquisition or analysis of data, drafting of the manuscript, or substantial scholarly revision of the text, have approved the final version, and agree to be accountable for its content may be listed as authors.

Persons who provided technical, organisational, language, financial, or other assistance that does not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged with their consent. Guest authorship, omission of individuals who made substantial contributions, and the sale or transfer of authorship are not permitted.

The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of information about all co-authors, affiliations, author order, consent of all co-authors to submit the manuscript, and communication with the editorial office. Changes to the author list after submission are possible only upon a written reasoned request from all authors and with the approval of the editorial office.

Conflicts of interest and funding

Authors must disclose all financial, organisational, professional, personal, and other circumstances that may influence, or may reasonably be perceived to influence, the interpretation of results. Where no conflict of interest exists, authors should state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Authors must disclose sources of research funding, grant numbers, and the role of sponsors in study design, conduct, data analysis, manuscript preparation, and the decision to publish. The absence of external funding may also be stated in the manuscript.

Data, methods, and reproducibility

Authors should describe research methods in sufficient detail to permit assessment and, where possible, reproducibility of results. Primary data, calculation materials, source code, protocols, instrument settings, and other materials supporting the findings should be retained by the authors for a reasonable period after publication.

Upon a justified request from the editorial office, authors should provide primary data, calculation materials, or additional explanations when necessary to verify the reliability of results. Where data cannot be openly shared because of confidentiality, legal requirements, contractual restrictions, or personal-data protection, authors must state this in the manuscript and, where possible, describe arrangements for controlled access.

Ethical oversight and research involving people

For research involving human participants, personal data, surveys, interviews, images, audio or video materials, or materials that may identify an individual, authors must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements, protect confidentiality, and obtain informed consent where required.

Where a study requires approval by an ethics committee, review board, or another authorised body, authors must state in the manuscript the name of the body and the approval number and date. Authors must provide supporting documentation upon request by the editorial office. Publications must not disclose personally identifiable information without the individual’s explicit written consent.

Use of artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence systems and other automated tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the content of scholarly work. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy of text, data, images, references, conclusions, and other material prepared using such tools.

Use of generative artificial intelligence in preparing a manuscript beyond routine language editing, formatting, or technical checking must be disclosed by authors in the manuscript, identifying the tool, purpose, and extent of its use. Generative AI must not be used as a scholarly source and cannot be cited as an author or source of evidence in the reference list.

Reviewers’ responsibilities

Reviewers must conduct their assessments objectively, constructively, promptly, and confidentially. A reviewer must inform the editorial office of insufficient expertise, an inability to meet the requested timeline, or any actual or potential conflict of interest, and must decline the review when such circumstances exist.

Reviewers must not use manuscripts, ideas, data, or results contained in manuscripts for personal benefit, share manuscripts with third parties, or disclose their contents. Reviewers and editors must not submit manuscripts or substantial portions of manuscripts to publicly available generative artificial intelligence systems.

Reviewers should alert the editorial office to substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and another published or submitted work, as well as probable errors, inaccurate citation, unreliable data, or other indicators of publication-ethics concerns.

Responsibilities of editors and the editorial board

Editors ensure the independent, objective, and timely consideration of manuscripts. They do not discriminate against authors based on origin, nationality, language, gender, ethnicity, political or religious beliefs, institution, position, or any other factor unrelated to the scholarly content of the work.

Editors do not use unpublished manuscript materials for personal benefit and protect the confidentiality of materials, personal data, and editorial correspondence. When an editor has a conflict of interest, the manuscript must be transferred to another editor who has no such conflict.

Manuscripts authored or co-authored by the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board members, editorial staff, or regular reviewers of the Journal are handled independently. Such authors do not participate in reviewer selection, editorial discussion, or decisions regarding their own work. Another editor is assigned to handle the manuscript, and peer review is conducted by independent external specialists.

Complaints, appeals, and concerns

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested parties may submit concerns, complaints, reports of possible publication-ethics breaches, or appeals against editorial decisions to: integralferma@gmail.com.

A submission should contain sufficient information to enable consideration of the matter: the title of the article or manuscript, DOI where available, a description of the circumstances, available supporting materials, and the complainant’s contact details. The editorial office acknowledges receipt and considers submissions within a reasonable time, maintaining confidentiality, impartiality, and the right of interested parties to provide explanations.

Where necessary, the editorial office may arrange additional independent peer review, request explanations from authors, reviewers, institutions, or other competent parties, and suspend review or publication of a manuscript pending completion of an assessment. The editorial office does not conduct institutional investigations but may refer substantiated information to the author’s institution, employer, or another appropriate authority.

Handling allegations of publication misconduct

Allegations of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication or falsification of data, image manipulation, citation manipulation, copyright infringement, conflicts of interest, peer-review manipulation, or other misconduct are considered by the editorial office whether they arise before or after publication.

Before reaching a decision, the editorial office conducts a confidential and impartial assessment, seeks explanations from the parties concerned, and evaluates the available evidence. Serious substantiated cases may be referred to the institution where the research was conducted, the author’s employer, or another competent body for appropriate investigation.

Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions

The Journal safeguards the integrity of the scholarly record and uses corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions according to the nature and seriousness of the issue identified.

• Correction is published when an article contains a significant error, omission, or other problem that does not make the results and conclusions of the article wholly unreliable.
• Expression of Concern is published when there are substantiated serious concerns about the reliability of an article or compliance with ethical requirements, but an investigation is incomplete or the evidence is not yet sufficient for a final decision.
• Retraction is used when an article’s results or conclusions are unreliable because of a major error, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, peer-review manipulation, copyright infringement, unethical research, an undisclosed material conflict of interest, or other serious breaches.

A correction, expression of concern, or retraction notice is published on a separate page with its own persistent URL, links to the original article, and clearly states the basis for the decision to the extent permitted by confidentiality and applicable law. A retracted article is not removed from the Journal archive: its article page, DOI, and full text remain available, but the article and PDF are prominently marked “Retracted” and link to the retraction notice. The purpose of retraction is to correct the scholarly record and inform readers, not to punish authors.

Post-publication discussion

The Journal permits good-faith scholarly discussion of published materials after publication. Comments, letters to the editor, and reports of possible errors or ethical concerns may be sent to integralferma@gmail.com. The editorial office considers such submissions under this policy and, where appropriate, seeks a response from the authors or publishes a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial material.

Intellectual property and licensing

Authors are responsible for compliance with copyright and related rights, obtaining permissions to use third-party materials, and appropriate source acknowledgement. All articles published by the Journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright in their works.

The CC BY 4.0 licence permits use, distribution, and the creation of derivative works provided that authorship, source, DOI, and a link to the licence are given, and any changes are indicated. The licence does not relieve authors of their responsibility to respect third-party rights and obtain required permissions.

Policy updates

The editorial office may update this policy in light of developments in publishing practice, recommendations from international organisations, and changes in applicable law. The current version of the policy is published on the Journal website.