Policies

Publication Ethics, Academic Integrity, Payment & Refund Policies

1. Publication and Ethical Policies

1.1 Authorship and Originality

• True Authorship: All listed authors must have made a significant contribution to the research, design, execution, or writing of the project.
• Original Work: Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original. Submitting previously published work or simultaneously submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals is not permitted.
• Mentor Acknowledgment: Teachers, parents, or mentors who provided guidance, funding, or proofreading should be formally acknowledged in an “Acknowledgments” section, rather than listed as primary authors, unless they co-authored the actual text.

1.2 Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

• Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism: We use advanced plagiarism-checking software on all submissions. Copying text, data, or images from the internet, books, or other students without proper citation is strictly prohibited.
• Similarity Threshold: Submissions with a high similarity index (excluding standard quotes and references) will be returned to the author for revision or rejected.
• Fabrication of Data: Making up data, altering images to deceive, or misrepresenting experimental results is academic misconduct and will result in immediate rejection.

1.3 Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI as a Tool, Not an Author: Students may use AI tools (like grammar checkers) to improve the language, readability, and formatting of their papers. However, AI cannot be listed as an author.
• No AI Generation: Generating core research ideas, experimental data, or whole sections of text using AI and claiming it as original work is prohibited.
• Authors must disclose if AI tools were used in the preparation of the manuscript.

1.4 Ethical Research Conduct

• Human Subjects: If a student's research involves interviewing or surveying people, they must obtain informed consent. If the participants are minors, permission must be granted by their parents or teachers. No personal, identifying information should be published without explicit written consent.
• Safety First: Research involving hazardous chemicals, dangerous equipment, or animals must be conducted under the direct supervision of a qualified adult or teacher. A statement confirming adult supervision must be included in the Methods section.

1.5 Editorial and Peer Reviewer Ethics

• Fair Play: Editors and reviewers evaluate manuscripts based strictly on their intellectual merit, creativity, and scientific validity, regardless of the author's age, gender, background, or institutional affiliation.
• Confidentiality: All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share or use the student's unpublished ideas for their own purposes.

1.6 Corrections and Retractions

If an author discovers a significant error in their published work, it is their obligation to notify the iJoy editorial team. We will cooperate with the author to publish an Erratum (correction) or, in severe cases of invalid data or misconduct, retract the paper with a transparent explanation.

2. Payment and Refund Policies

To maintain the iJoy platform, manage the peer-review process, and provide professional services like DOI assignment and indexing, we charge a nominal Article Processing Charge (APC).

2.1 Fee Structure

• No Submission Fee: There is no cost to submit a manuscript for initial editorial review.
• Article Processing Charge (APC): An APC is only applied after a manuscript has been formally accepted for publication by our editorial board.
• Note for Admin: Insert your specific APC amount here (e.g. The standard APC is ₹X,XXX / $XX).

2.2 What the APC Covers

The publication fee is strictly used to cover operational costs, including:

• Editorial handling and peer-review management
• Advanced plagiarism checking
• Formatting, typesetting, and digital hosting of the article
• Assignment of a permanent Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
• Indexing in academic databases
• Provision of a digital Certificate of Publication for the young author(s)

2.3 Payment Process

• Once an article is accepted, the corresponding author (or their parent/teacher) will receive an acceptance letter along with an invoice.
• Payment must be completed within 7–14 days of receiving the invoice.
• We accept payments via UPI, Credit/Debit Cards, Net Banking, or Institutional Bank Transfer.

2.4 Cancellation and Refund Policy

• Pre-Publication Withdrawal: If an author chooses to withdraw their accepted manuscript before the final formatting and DOI assignment process has begun, a full refund (minus any applicable payment gateway processing fees) will be issued.
• Post-Publication: Once an article has been formatted, assigned a DOI, and published online, no refunds will be granted under any circumstances.
• Rejections: If a paper is rejected during the peer-review process, no fees are charged, so no refund is necessary.
• Retractions: If an article is retracted post-publication due to plagiarism or ethical violations, the APC will not be refunded.

2.5 Fee Waivers and Partner Discounts

We believe that financial constraints should never stop a bright young mind from sharing their research.

• Partner Schools: Students submitting through iJoy Partner Schools may be eligible for discounted or fully waived publishing fees.
• Financial Hardship Waivers: We offer a limited number of fee waivers based on financial need. Authors or their mentors must request a waiver at the time of submission (not after acceptance) by emailing our editorial office with a brief explanation.