This publication policy establishes the principles under which manuscripts are assessed, decisions are made, articles are published, and post-publication concerns are handled.

The journal's editorial governance separates academic judgment from commercial influence. Manuscripts are considered according to relevance, quality, originality, soundness, clarity, and contribution. An author's nationality, affiliation, status, or ability to pay an Article Processing Charge must not determine whether a manuscript is reviewed, revised, accepted, or rejected.

This page serves as the overarching editorial policy. More detailed requirements are provided in the Aims and Scope, Peer Review Process, Publication Ethics, Author Guidelines, Article Processing Charges, and Copyright and Licensing pages. Those pages should be read as parts of this wider governing framework.

Scope and Editorial Relevance

IJSPE publishes work across social policy and education, including research examining how public policy, social systems, educational institutions, communities, rights, inequality, welfare, teaching, learning, and development affect one another.

The journal welcomes original research papers, review papers, conceptual frameworks, analytical and simulation models, case studies, empirical research, technical notes, book reviews, and occasional themed special issues. Every submission is first screened for scope and suitability. A submission may be declined before external review if it falls outside the stated subject areas or lacks an appropriate scholarly contribution. The dedicated Aims and Scope page provides the definitive description of the journal's subject coverage.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made under the authority of the journal's editorial leadership and are based on academic considerations. The Editor-in-Chief is Joseph M. Stevenson, Ph.D., supported by the Editorial Board and International Advisory Board. The Article Processing Charge does not create a right to publication and is never a factor during assessment. ICPK's publisher-wide safeguards against commercial, financial, and other improper influence are set out in the Editorial Independence policy.

Peer Review Standard

IJSPE uses double-blind peer review. Author and reviewer identities are concealed from one another during evaluation, and each manuscript sent for external assessment is reviewed by a minimum of two independent reviewers.

The process evaluates the manuscript rather than the author's identity, reputation, location, or institutional status. IJSPE aims to provide a review decision within approximately three weeks of submission — an approximate academic timeline rather than an automated guarantee, as reviewer availability and manuscript complexity may affect the duration.

Possible decisions are acceptance, acceptance with minor revisions, major revision and resubmission, or rejection. A revision decision is not final acceptance. Reviewer invitations, reports, revision communication, and decisions are coordinated through direct communication and email — the journal does not operate an online reviewer dashboard, reviewer login, automated round-tracking interface, or automated decision system.

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

Authors, reviewers, and editors share responsibility for maintaining academic integrity — original work, honest reporting, meaningful authorship, and disclosed conflicts of interest. The full duties owed by each party, and how integrity concerns are assessed, are set out in ICPK's Publication Ethics policy.

Open Access and Publication Charges

IJSPE is fully open access. Published articles are available without subscription fees, paywalls, or reader-side charges. Current and earlier issues remain accessible through the journal's online publication and archive structure.

The journal uses an Article Processing Charge to support editorial handling, review coordination, typesetting, hosting, publication administration, and print production. The standard APC is $300 USD; authors from low- and middle-income countries receive a 50% waiver, reducing the fee to $150 USD. The APC is charged only after acceptance. One printed copy of the journal issue is included free, while additional printed copies cost $50 USD each.

Post-Publication Responsibilities

Publication does not end the journal's responsibility. If an error, omission, authorship issue, conflict, integrity concern, or allegation of misconduct is raised after publication, the Editor-in-Chief assesses the evidence and issues a correction, expression of concern, or retraction as warranted, following ICPK's Corrections & Retractions policy.

Raising a Concern

Authors, readers, reviewers, institutions, or third parties may raise concerns about a submitted or published manuscript — including factual errors, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data integrity, authorship, conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, or another issue affecting reliability or ethical standing. Because IJSPE does not operate an online ticketing system, concerns should be raised directly with the editorial office at editor@ijspe.com, or through the journal's Contact page. The assessment process, editorial appeals, and publisher escalation route are set out in ICPK's Complaints & Appeals policy.

Policy Authority

This publication policy provides the governing framework for IJSPE's editorial and publishing activities. The Aims and Scope page defines subject fit. The Peer Review Process page explains manuscript assessment. The Publication Ethics page sets out conduct expectations. The Author Guidelines page explains preparation. The Article Processing Charges page provides the confirmed fee structure. The Copyright and Licensing page explains author rights, first publication rights, open access, and reuse.

Where a specific page provides more detailed procedural guidance, it should be read within this broader framework. The underlying principles remain editorial independence, fair review, transparent open access, ethical conduct, and responsible correction of the scholarly record.