Spectrum of Mechanical Engineering and Operational Research (SMEOR) is committed to maintaining full editorial independence. Editorial decisions are made on the basis of the scholarly quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, and integrity of submitted manuscripts and are independent of commercial, financial, institutional, personal, or other inappropriate interests.
The principles of editorial independence form an integral part of the journal's Publication Ethics Statement and Responsible Publication Practices.
Decisions concerning whether a manuscript is sent for peer review, requires revision, is accepted, or is rejected are the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and appropriately designated editors. Such decisions are based on the journal's editorial criteria, the assessment of the manuscript, and, where applicable, independent peer-review reports.
The Publisher does not interfere with decisions concerning individual manuscripts and does not require editors to accept or reject manuscripts for commercial, financial, institutional, personal, or other non-scholarly reasons.
Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the identity, institutional affiliation, nationality, reputation, commercial importance, potential citation performance, or other characteristics of authors that are unrelated to the scholarly evaluation of the manuscript.
SCIO, as the Publisher of SMEOR, provides the publishing infrastructure, administrative and production support, and other services necessary for the operation and development of the journal. The Publisher works with the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board to establish and maintain appropriate journal-wide policies while respecting the independence of editorial decision-making concerning individual manuscripts.
The Publisher supports the journal in maintaining appropriate standards relating to publication ethics, research integrity, authorship, conflicts of interest, funding disclosure, peer review, corrections and retractions, confidentiality, copyright and licensing, and transparency in scholarly publishing.
The respective ethical responsibilities of editors and the Publisher are further described in the journal's Publication Ethics Statement.
Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or reasonably perceived conflict of interest relating to a manuscript they are asked to handle. An editor with a relevant conflict of interest must not participate in reviewer selection, the peer-review process, editorial assessment, or the editorial decision concerning that manuscript.
Where the Editor-in-Chief, an Editorial Board member, Guest Editor, or another person associated with the journal submits a manuscript to SMEOR, that individual will have no involvement in reviewer selection, editorial assessment, access to confidential reviewer information, the peer-review process, or the final decision. The manuscript will be handled by an appropriately qualified independent editor without a relevant conflict of interest.
Detailed requirements concerning editorial, author, and reviewer conflicts are provided in the journal's Conflict of Interests policy.
The same principles of editorial independence apply to special and thematic issues. Guest Editors must follow the journal's established editorial, peer-review, conflict-of-interest, confidentiality, and publication ethics requirements and may not modify or circumvent those standards.
Guest Editors must not handle manuscripts where they have a relevant conflict of interest. Such manuscripts must be reassigned to an appropriately qualified independent editor.
The journal retains appropriate editorial oversight of special and thematic issues to ensure that manuscripts are evaluated according to the same scholarly and ethical standards applied to regular submissions.
Editorial decisions are independent of the journal's financial and commercial activities. The existence, amount, payment, waiver, or absence of any article processing charge or other publication-related fee must not influence the editorial evaluation or decision concerning a manuscript.
Advertising, sponsorship, institutional relationships, partnerships, funding arrangements, or other sources of financial or organizational support must not influence editorial decisions or compromise the integrity or independence of the peer-review and publication processes.
Financial relationships or other interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, research or editorial activities must be disclosed and managed in accordance with the journal's Conflict of Interests policy and applicable transparency requirements.
The relationship between the Publisher and the journal's editorial leadership is governed by appropriate formal arrangements that recognize the principle of editorial independence. Any disagreement concerning editorial independence or the respective responsibilities of the Publisher and editorial leadership should be addressed through appropriate governance and dispute-resolution procedures without compromising the independent scholarly assessment of individual manuscripts.
Complaints concerning editorial conduct or procedures, and appeals against editorial decisions, are handled in accordance with the journal's Procedures for Dealing with Complaints and Appeals.
Editorial independence does not prevent the Publisher from participating, where appropriate, in matters involving publication ethics, research integrity, legal obligations, journal security, copyright, confidentiality, or protection of the scholarly record. Such involvement must respect the respective responsibilities of the Publisher and editorial team and must not be used to exert inappropriate influence over the scholarly evaluation of an individual manuscript.
SMEOR is committed to ensuring that editorial authority is exercised independently, consistently, transparently, and in accordance with the journal's editorial and publication ethics policies.
SMEOR supports the principles of editorial independence reflected in the guidance and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). COPE emphasizes that editorial decisions should be based on the quality and suitability of submissions and should remain independent of inappropriate financial, political, personal, or organizational influence.
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