IPSJ Journal Editing Regulations

Article 1 (Purpose)
Editing of all IPSJ Journals as set forth in Chapter 3 of the Editing Regulations shall conform to these Regulations in addition to the Editing Regulations.

Article 2 (Definitions)
In these Regulations, “Editorial Committee” means the Editorial Committee of each IPSJ Journal as set forth in Article 7 of the Editing Regulations, and “submitted manuscript(s)” means manuscripts that are submitted to the IPSJ Journals.

Article 3 (Copyrights to Submitted Manuscripts)
The copyrights to each submitted manuscript shall be owned by its authors or the IPSJ. If there is more than one copyright holder involved in a manuscript to be submitted, all copyright holders shall give consent before its submission.

Article 4 (Rejection of, and Penalties for, Multiple Submission)
1. If a submitted manuscript is determined by the Editorial Committee to be identical to another manuscript authored by the same individual or group, meeting any of the criteria as set forth below, the submitted manuscript shall be deemed as multiple submission and shall be rejected.
(1) a manuscript being simultaneously submitted to another publication that is issued by another academic society, etc. that requires a review before each manuscript is accepted for publication; or
(2) a manuscript that has already been published or accepted by another academic journal issued by another academic society, etc.
For this purpose, such determination on the identicalness of any submitted manuscript to another manuscript shall be made on its content, irrespective of the language, writing style, format, etc. in which the manuscripts are written. In addition, if a manuscript that has already been accepted is subsequently confirmed to be a multiple submission, its acceptance may be revoked.
2. If the Editorial Committee determines that a submitted manuscript is a multiple submission, it shall enforce the following penalties on the authors:
(1) Each author shall be prohibited from submitting manuscripts to the IPSJ Journals for a period not exceeding a year.
(2) The authors shall submit to the Editorial Committee a written apology.
In this connection, the Editorial Committee may opt to publish such a written apology.

Article 5 (Multiple Submission Exceptions)
Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of the preceding Article, if a manuscript meets any of the following criteria, it shall not be deemed as multiple submission:
(1) if another manuscript identical to it is being submitted simultaneously or parallelly to a symposium, etc. being hosted or sponsored by the IPSJ; provided, however, that the host of the symposium, etc. must be allowing such submission; or
(2) if the manuscript was previously published in an academic journal or is a revision of such manuscript; provided, however, that such submission must be allowed by the Editorial Committee as its intended editorial plan, etc.

Article 6 (Rejection of, and Penalties for, Plagiarism in Submitted Manuscripts)
1. If the Editorial Committee determines that a submitted manuscript contains content that is plagiarized from another author’s work, the Editorial Committee shall deem it plagiarized work and reject it. In addition, if a manuscript that has been accepted is subsequently determined to be plagiarized work, its acceptance may be revoked.
2. If the Editorial Committee determines that a submitted manuscript is a plagiarized work, it may enforce a penalty by applying paragraph 2 of Article 4 hereof, mutatis mutandis.
3. If the author of a manuscript intends to reuse a part of any of its previously published work for submission, the author shall properly quote the source. If such an author fails to properly quote the source while reusing it in the main part of its submitted manuscript, there is a possibility that the manuscript may be rejected for such omission.

Article 7 (Appeal Against Decision on Multiple Submission and Plagiarized Work)
If a submitted manuscript receives an official decision that it qualifies as multiple submission pursuant to Article 4 or as plagiarized work pursuant to Article 6 hereof, the authors may file an appeal in writing with the Editorial Committee within 14 days of the decision notification date. If the Editorial Committee receives such an appeal, it shall review it and notify the authors of the result within 50 days. For this purpose, the Editorial Committee may invite another non-Committee member to participate in such review of appeal. On each submitted manuscript that has been deemed as multiple submission or plagiarized work, the authors may only file such appeal once.

Article 8 (Peer Review)
Each submitted manuscript shall be peer-reviewed by an expert in the corresponding academic or technical field in order to evaluate whether the manuscript should be accepted or rejected. The Editorial Committee shall select such reviewer for each submitted manuscript, which shall not be an individual that belongs to the same organization as the author or otherwise has any conflict of interest with the author.

Article 9 (Conditional Acceptance and Inquiry)
The Editorial Committee reserves its right to grant conditional acceptance on any submitted manuscript, thereby requesting the author to revise the manuscript based on a certain condition that must be met before the manuscript can be fully accepted, or issue an inquiry, thereby requesting the author to revise the manuscript and provide certain information that is necessary for the Editorial Committee to determine whether the manuscript should be accepted or rejected, while specifying a time limit by which the author will be required to submit its revised manuscript.

Article 10 (Author Change)
1. In principle, no author change shall be allowed with submitted manuscripts.
2. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, if the authors of a submitted manuscript that has been conditionally accepted deem it necessary to add or delete any author or change the order of the current authors during the revision process, the authors may file a change request with the Editorial Committee. If any authors intend to file such change request, they shall provide a written statement of reason when submitting their revised manuscript, and also expressly state that effect in their written answer to the conditional acceptance decision. If the Editorial Committee reviews such statement of reason and determines it is valid, the Editorial Committee may allow the author change as requested.

Article 11 (Acceptance and Rejection of Manuscripts)
The Editorial Committee shall decide whether each submitted manuscript should be accepted or rejected, and notify the authors of each manuscript of the decision along with a statement of reason for such decision.

Article 12 (Appeal Against Rejection)
If a submitted manuscript is officially rejected, the authors may file an appeal in writing with the Editorial Committee within 30 days of the rejection notification date. If the Editorial Committee receives such an appeal, it shall review it and notify the authors of the result. In each such instance, the authors may not revise their submitted manuscript. On each submitted manuscript that has been rejected, the authors may only file such appeal once.

Article 13 (Conflict of Interest)
The Editorial Committee Members shall recuse themselves from peer-reviewing, evaluating to accept or reject, or otherwise partaking in any other process concerning any submitted manuscript in which they themselves are involved as authors, etc.

Article 14 (Prohibited Divulgement and Use of Information)
The Editorial Committee Members and all peer reviewers are prohibited from divulging to any parties outside the Editorial Committee any information that they become privy to while peer-reviewing submitted manuscripts and evaluating submitted manuscripts for acceptance or rejection, etc., and from engaging in any act that involves use of such information; provided, however, that any cases where submitted manuscripts are alleged as multiple submissions, and the Editorial Committee Members or peer reviewers must investigate them by communicating with other academic societies, etc. shall be exempted from the foregoing prohibition.

Article 15 (Submission Guidance, Peer Review Criteria, Detailed Operational Rules, etc.)
The Editorial Committee shall stipulate and publish detailed rules, etc. on manuscript submission guidance, peer review criteria and procedure, and the Editorial Committee operation.

Article 16 (Amendment, Repeal, and Enforcement)
Any amendment or repeal of these Regulations shall be resolved by the Steering Committee of IPSJ Journal and approved by the Board of Directors. These Regulations shall take effect on the date of its approval by the Board of Directors (March 28, 2007) and shall be enforced starting April 1, 2008.