Editorial Policies

All publications on this website are published under the Open Access model, without any subscription, registration, or access fees required from the user or his/her institution. In accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative's (BOAI) definition of Open Access, users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full text versions of all Chapters. To read more about our Open Access Statement click here.

For Editorial Policies for journals please consult individual journal pages.

Copyright Policy

All published Book Chapters are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Monographs are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license granted to all others. Our Copyright Policy aims to guarantee that original material is published while at the same time giving significant freedom to our Authors. IntechOpen upholds a flexible Copyright Policy meaning that there is no copyright transfer to the publisher and Authors hold exclusive copyright to their work.

Attribution Policy

With the purpose of protecting our Authors' copyright and the transparent reuse of Open Access content, IntechOpen has developed an Attribution Policy for works published under Creative Commons licenses.

Ethics Standards

IntechOpen is committed to disseminating high-quality scientific research in a manner that exemplifies the best practice in scholarly publishing. IntechOpen is an official member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which advocates the maintenance of the highest ethical standards for all parties involved in the act of publishing, including Authors, Academic Editors of the book, Peer Reviewers, the publisher and Societies, where applicable.

Conflicts of Interest Policy

In line with publication ethics practices recommended by COPE, ICMJE, and other similar organizations, IntechOpen's contributing Authors, Academic Editors, and Peer Reviewers are required to declare fully all possible conflicts of interest.

Authorship Policy

IntechOpen's Authorship Policy is based on ICMJE criteria for authorship. In order to be identified as an Author, the following requirements must be met:

A substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
Participation in drafting or revising the work
Approval of the manuscript version to be published

Peer Review Policies

All scientific works are subject to Peer Review prior to publishing. IntechOpen is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and all participating referees and Academic Editors are expected to review submitted scientific works in line with the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers where applicable.

Prior Publication Policy

The Internet has changed the dynamics of scholarly communication and publishing which is why we find it necessary to clearly indicate our stance on what we consider to be a published scientific work. A significant number of working papers, early drafts, and similar works in progress are shared openly online between members of the scientific community. It has become common practice for researchers to announce their work on a personal website or a blog in order to gather comments and suggestions from other researchers. Such works and online postings are ‘published’ in the sense that they are made publicly available, but this does not mean that if submitted for publication by IntechOpen they are not original works. We differentiate between reviewed and non-reviewed works when determining whether a work is original and has been published in a scholarly sense or not.

Retraction and Correction Policy

To identify instances of fraud and misconduct during the publishing process, IntechOpen implements a robust policy governing such occurrences. In line with our general commitment to openness, and in order to maintain the highest scientific standards, we are committed to transparency about our editorial policy regarding retractions and corrections.

Citation Policy

The author(s) must avoid any kind of citation manipulation as it is considered a form of misconduct. Citation manipulation can be identified by the fact that the citations do not contribute to the scholarly content of the book chapter or journal article and have been included solely for the purpose of increasing citations. Please read the COPE guidance on citation manipulation.

Self-citation itself is not forbidden, as long as it is not used excessively and inappropriately as a form of citation manipulation.

The author’s references should not be biased towards a particular author, institution/organization, research group, or publication. Behaviours aimed at inflating citation counts for personal gain will be dealt with in accordance with COPE’s best practices.

Dealing with Misconduct

When faced with potential misconduct, IntechOpen accepts its responsibility to maintain the integrity of the academic record. For particularly complex cases, IntechOpen might ask for the assistance of formal industry bodies or seek advice from an appropriate team of advisors.

IntechOpen's advisors are professionals and scholars with broad knowledge and understanding of different aspects of the scientific publishing process: editorial, authorship, and reviewing roles; publication ethics, copyright, and general legal issues; as well as bibliographic and technical standards.

In order to provide us with unbiased insights, without compromising the privacy of third parties, IntechOpen presents problematic cases to its advisors in an anonymized format.

Translation Policy

IntechOpen publishes books in the English language. If you are interested in the translation of Book Chapters, please check IntechOpen's Translation Policy.

Advertising Policy

In line with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, you can access a more detailed description of IntechOpen's Advertising Policy.

Refund Policy

At IntechOpen we realize that exceptional circumstances can occur, resulting in a request for a refund. We will honor all justified requests in the specific instances outlined in our Refund Policy.

Online First Policy

All chapters will be published via IntechOpen's 'Online First' service meaning chapters will be published individually, immediately after review and before the entire book is ready for publication, allowing content to be shared, searched and cited straightaway, thereby generating early stage interest and momentum for your research

Online First Chapters are considered published on the day they are posted and are citable from that date.

Chapters will remain listed as Online First until the final versions of the books are published online. Following publication of the full monograph, Chapters will be redirected from the Online First version and will be available only through the final link of the official published page.

You are invited to download, use, reproduce, make derivative works of, display, distribute and cite the Online First works. You can find "How to Cite and Reference" by following the link at the end of each online book chapter. Please be aware that it is possible that further editing and changes might be made before the final release of the book.

If there are supplemental materials to the chapter, these will be published at the time the final book is published online.

Readers and Authors can notify us if they find any errors in the works published under Online First. All major errors will be accompanied by a separate correction notice, erratum or corrigendum (Retraction and Correction Policy.)

Access policy

IntechOpen books are available online by accessing all published content on a chapter level.

Types of publications

IntechOpen publishes different types of publications.