POLICY ON MANUSCRIPT PROCESSING TIMELINES AND AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWAL

POLICY ON MANUSCRIPT PROCESSING TIMELINES AND AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWAL

1. Scope and Processing Timeframe

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are expected to progress through the peer review and revision workflow in a timely manner. If a manuscript remains under evaluation, revision, or decision-pending status for more than 365 calendar days (1 year) from the date of initial submission, it will be subject to automatic termination. Upon reaching this threshold, the manuscript will be formally categorized as declined or rejected and will be systematically removed from the editorial management workflow.

2. Editorial Authority and APC Policy

The Journal Management reserves the absolute right and discretion to withdraw and archived any manuscript that exceeds this maximum allowable timeframe. This enforcement applies universally across all submissions, regardless of whether the author has already settled the Article Processing Charge (APC). In such instances, APC payments are strictly non-refundable, as these fees cover the operational, administrative, and preliminary review services rendered prior to the final decision.

3. Rationale and Workflow Efficiency

This regulatory policy is established to preserve the overall health, integrity, and efficiency of the journal’s publishing operations. Long-pending manuscripts place an administrative burden on editorial boards and peer reviewers while hindering the publication cycle for timely research. Enforcing a strict operational deadline ensures that active submissions move forward seamlessly, prevents manuscript backlogs, and maintains standardized turnaround times across all thematic issues.

4. Author Responsibility and Re-submission Guidelines

Authors are responsible for closely monitoring their submission progress via the online journal portal and responding promptly to editorial requests, review comments, or required modifications. Once a manuscript has been automatically withdrawn under this policy, the submission thread is permanently closed. Should authors wish to re-submit the same research at a later stage, it must be submitted as a brand-new manuscript, subject to complete re-evaluation, standard peer review procedures, and applicable APC terms.