Editorial Workflow
The Journal of Cyber-Physical-Social Intelligence (JCPSI) manages submissions, peer review, editorial decisions, production, and publication through Open Journal Systems (OJS). The journal applies the same editorial standards to regular submissions, special-session submissions, invited submissions, letters, reviews, and other article types.
Editorial Workflow
1. Submission
Authors submit manuscripts through OJS and provide the manuscript file, article metadata, author information, affiliations, abstract, keywords, references, supplementary files where applicable, and required declarations. Authors must confirm that the manuscript is original, unpublished, not under consideration elsewhere, within the journal's aims and scope, and prepared according to the author guidelines.
2. Initial Editorial Screening
The editorial office checks whether the submission is complete, whether the manuscript fits the journal's aims and scope, whether files are properly prepared for double-anonymous review, and whether the manuscript follows the journal's format and ethical requirements. Manuscripts that are incomplete, outside the journal scope, not properly prepared, or clearly unsuitable may be returned to the authors for correction or declined before external review.
3. Similarity and Plagiarism Screening
JCPSI actively checks submitted manuscripts for plagiarism, duplicate submission, inappropriate text reuse, and other forms of unattributed overlap. The journal uses iThenticate as its primary similarity-checking service during editorial screening, during review, and/or before final acceptance when appropriate.
Similarity reports are reviewed by the editorial office and the handling editor as editorial evidence, not as automatic decisions. Editors interpret any overlap in context, including quoted text, references, standard methods descriptions, preprints, conference versions, and author-approved reuse. When a report or editorial assessment raises a concern, authors may be asked for an explanation or revision; serious or unresolved concerns may lead to rejection, correction, retraction, or other action under the journal's publication ethics policies.
4. Editor Assignment
Submissions that pass initial screening are assigned to an editor with relevant expertise. The assigned editor evaluates whether the manuscript is suitable for peer review and identifies appropriate independent reviewers. Editors are expected to avoid conflicts of interest and to handle submissions according to the journal's editorial and publication ethics standards.
5. Reviewer Invitation
The assigned editor invites reviewers with relevant expertise and no known conflict of interest. JCPSI normally seeks at least two independent peer-review reports before making a final editorial decision.
6. Double-Anonymous Peer Review
JCPSI uses a double-anonymous peer-review process. Authors do not know the identities of reviewers, and reviewers do not know the identities of authors. Reviewers evaluate originality, scholarly contribution, technical quality, methodology, clarity, organization, relevance to cyber-physical-social intelligence, ethical compliance, references, and suitability for publication.
7. Reviewer Reports and Editorial Decision
Reviewers submit comments and recommendations through OJS. Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final editorial decision is made by the editor based on the reviewers' reports, manuscript quality, ethical compliance, and journal standards. Possible decisions include accept, minor revision, major revision, resubmit for review, or decline.
8. Revision and Further Review
When revisions are requested, authors submit a revised manuscript and a response explaining how reviewer and editor comments were addressed. Minor revisions may be assessed by the editor. Major revisions or resubmissions may be returned to the original reviewers or sent to additional reviewers when necessary.
9. Copyediting, Production, and Publication
Accepted manuscripts proceed to copyediting and production. Final files, metadata, DOI information, copyright, license information, issue assignment, and publication details are checked before online publication. Published articles are made available online under the journal's open-access license.
Special Sessions and Invited Contributions
Special-session submissions and invited contributions are subject to the same editorial screening, peer-review standards, conflict-of-interest requirements, and publication ethics standards as regular submissions. Guest editors may propose a theme, invite submissions, and recommend reviewers or contributors, but acceptance decisions remain under the oversight of the journal's editorial leadership and must be supported by appropriate peer review.
Record Keeping and Timelines
OJS records submission files, metadata, editorial assignments, reviewer invitations, reviewer reports, editorial decisions, revision files, production files, and publication metadata. Editorial screening is normally completed within 3-6 days. The first round of peer review is normally completed within 2-3 weeks, depending on reviewer availability, manuscript complexity, and revision requirements.
