Direct Marketing

1. Policy statement

IJoDS may communicate with authors, reviewers, editors, institutions, and readers for legitimate scholarly and administrative purposes. Any direct marketing or solicitation of manuscripts conducted on behalf of the journal must be appropriate, well targeted, unobtrusive, truthful, and not misleading. Direct marketing must never influence editorial decisions, peer review, or publication outcomes.

2. Scope and definitions

Direct marketing includes any outbound communication intended to promote the journal or to encourage submissions, citations, registrations, readership, or participation, including:

  • Email invitations to submit manuscripts or propose special issues

  • Calls for papers distributed via mailing lists

  • Social media direct messages and outreach campaigns

  • Conference-based outreach and follow-up communications

  • Institutional outreach to departments, research groups, or societies

Routine operational communications (for example, submission confirmation, review invitations, editorial decisions, production queries) are not considered marketing.

3. Principles

All direct marketing performed on behalf of IJoDS follows these principles:

  • Truthfulness and clarity: Messages must accurately represent the journal’s scope, policies, indexing status, fees, licensing, and timelines. The journal will not guarantee acceptance or promise unrealistically short review times.

  • Relevance: Outreach should be targeted to recipients whose work aligns with the journal’s scope.

  • Respect and minimal intrusion: Communications should be concise, not repetitive, and respectful of recipients’ preferences.

  • Accountability: The journal maintains records of marketing campaigns sufficient to address complaints and to verify compliance with this policy.

4. Acceptable direct marketing practices

IJoDS may conduct the following activities:

  • Publishing calls for papers on the website and official social channels

  • Sending periodic announcements to subscribers who opted in

  • Inviting submissions from researchers whose published work fits the journal’s scope

  • Outreach to institutions, associations, and conference organizers for legitimate scholarly collaboration (for example, special issue proposals)

5. Unacceptable direct marketing practices

IJoDS will not engage in, and will not allow third parties to engage in on its behalf, any of the following:

  • Mass unsolicited email (“spam”) or repeated reminders after a recipient indicates no interest

  • Misrepresenting the journal’s ownership, editorial board, indexing, impact metrics, or peer review

  • Using deceptive subject lines or disguising promotional messages as editorial decisions

  • Purchasing or scraping contact lists in violation of applicable privacy rules

  • Offering acceptance, publication, or editorial favors in exchange for payment, citations, or promotion

  • Targeting recipients with irrelevant invitations unrelated to the journal’s scope

6. Use of third parties

If IJoDS uses any external service provider for communications (for example, email distribution tools), the journal will ensure:

  • The provider is used only for lawful, journal-related purposes

  • Recipient lists are handled securely and not sold or reused for unrelated campaigns

  • Messaging remains consistent with this policy and the journal’s publication ethics

The journal does not permit third parties to solicit manuscripts using the journal’s name without explicit authorization.

7. Data protection and consent

IJoDS respects privacy and manages contact information responsibly.

  • Where feasible, marketing messages will be sent to recipients who have opted in or have a legitimate professional relationship with the journal.

  • The journal will provide a clear method to stop future marketing messages (unsubscribe or “do not contact” instruction).

  • The journal will not sell personal data to other organizations.

8. Complaints and reporting

Recipients may report concerns about direct marketing, including misleading claims or excessive messaging. Complaints will be reviewed and addressed promptly. If a message is found to violate this policy, the journal may:

  • Issue a correction or clarification

  • Update contact lists to prevent further contact

  • Review and revise internal procedures

  • Terminate third-party services involved in non-compliant practices

9. Policy updates

This policy may be updated to reflect changes in journal operations. The current version posted on the journal website is the controlling version.

10. Contact

For questions or complaints related to direct marketing, contact the editorial office via the journal contact page.