Intellectual Property

Introduction
The International Journal of Data Science (IJoDS) respects intellectual property rights and has clear policies regarding copyright, licensing, and the handling of plagiarism and redundant publication. This policy is designed to protect the rights of authors and the journal and to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.

Description
Intellectual property in scholarly publishing encompasses copyright ownership, the terms under which articles are published and can be reused (licensing), the costs associated with publishing, definitions of what constitutes prior publication, and the unacceptability of plagiarism and redundant/overlapping publication.

The Policy

  • Copyright: Authors retain copyright for their published articles in IJoDS.
  • Licensing: All articles published in IJoDS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). This license permits others to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon it) for any purpose, even commercially, as long as they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If they remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original.
  • Publishing Costs (Article Processing Charges - APC):
    • IJoDS does not charge submission fees.
    • An Article Processing Charge (APC) of USD 50 is payable for accepted articles prior to publication. Payment is processed via PayPal. This APC covers the costs of peer review management, journal production, online hosting, and archiving.
    • Information about APCs is clearly stated on the journal's website (https://ijods.org/) and presented to authors before they commit to submitting their work.
    • The website will clearly state any available waiver policies. Currently, IJoDS does not offer automatic waivers but may consider requests on a case-by-case basis for authors from low-income countries.
    • APC status does not influence editorial decision-making.
  • Prepublication:
    • IJoDS allows for the submission of manuscripts that have previously been made available as preprints on recognized preprint servers (e.g., arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, SocArXiv). Authors must declare the preprint at submission and provide a link to it.
    • Authors must update the preprint record with a link to the published version if they publish the manuscript in IJoDS.
    • Presentation at conferences or posting on thesis repositories does not typically preclude consideration, but authors should declare their ownership at submission.
  • Plagiarism: Plagiarism, including the unattributed use of text, data, figures, or ideas from other sources, is strictly prohibited. All submissions are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin.
  • Redundant/Overlapping Publication: Submission of manuscripts that substantially overlap with work already published or under consideration elsewhere is unethical and not permitted. Authors must disclose any potentially overlapping work at the time of submission.

Implementation of the Policy

  • Copyright and Licensing Statement: The CC BY-SA 4.0 license terms and copyright ownership by the authors are clearly indicated on all published articles and on the journal's website.
  • APC Information: Details regarding the APC are provided on the "Article Processing Charges" page of the IJoDS website.
  • Archiving: Authors are permitted to archive the preprint, postprint (accepted manuscript), and the published version (Version of Record) of their articles in institutional repositories, personal websites, or other non-commercial repositories without embargo. IJoDS is archived in Portico and listed in the Keepers registry. The journal’s self-archiving policy is registered with SHERPA/ROMEO.
  • Plagiarism Detection: IJoDS uses plagiarism detection software to screen all submissions. We will follow established ethical guidelines if we detect plagiarism. The process may involve rejection of the manuscript or retraction of a published article.
  • Handling Redundancy: If IJoDS suspects redundant or overlapping publication, it will conduct an investigation in accordance with established ethical guidelines. Authors are required to provide copies of any related or potentially overlapping material when submitting their manuscript.
  • Permissions: Authors are responsible for obtaining authorization to reproduce any copyrighted material (e.g., figures, tables) from other sources before submission and must provide evidence of such permission upon request.