Editorial Policies

 

 

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

JWEE is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all measures against publication malpractice. The journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and best practices. COPE Core Practices are available at https://publicationethics.org/core-practices

Editors, authors, and reviewers are expected to adhere to ethical principles related to authorship, originality, transparency, conflict of interest disclosure, and responsible research conduct. Any form of unethical behavior, including plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, redundant publication, or inappropriate authorship practices, is unacceptable.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS

  • The manuscript submitted must be the original work of the author(s), and only unpublished manuscripts should be submitted.
  • It is unethical to submit a manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.
  • Any conflict of interest must be clearly disclosed.
  • Authors must acknowledge all sources of data and information used in the development of the manuscript.
  • The submitting (corresponding) author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.
  • All authors are obliged to cooperate in providing corrections or retractions if errors or inaccuracies are identified after submission or publication.
  • The submitting (corresponding) author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.
  • All authors are obliged to cooperate in providing corrections or retractions if errors or inaccuracies are identified after submission or publication.

SUBMISSION DECLARATION

Submission of an article implies that:

The work described is authentic and valid, and neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under the same authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere, including electronically in the same form, in English or in another language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS

Editors of JWEE must confirm the following:

  • All manuscripts are evaluated fairly and exclusively based on their intellectual content, regardless of the authors’ gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, or political beliefs.
  • The Editorial Board is responsible for making publication decisions regarding submitted manuscripts, based on the reviewers’ evaluations, the journal’s editorial policies, and applicable legal requirements concerning plagiarism, libel, and copyright infringement.
  • The anonymity of reviewers must be preserved throughout the review process.
  • Editors must not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
  • Editors shall recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.

EDITORIAL COMMITMENT TO PUBLICATION ETHICS

The Editorial Board is responsible for monitoring and safeguarding publication ethics. The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the academic record and ensuring that business interests do not compromise intellectual or ethical standards. JWEE provides clear procedures for handling corrections, clarifications, retractions, and other post-publication issues whenever necessary.

REVIEWERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Reviewers shall provide a well-argued and unbiased evaluation of the scientific value of the manuscript to the Editor within the given deadline. Reviewers shall assess whether the manuscript is consistent with the scope and profile of the journal, whether the topic investigated and the methods applied are valid, whether the information and data presented are original, and whether the manuscript is written and presented in an appropriate academic style.

Reviewers must notify the Editor of any suspected violations of ethical standards by the authors or any concerns in that regard. Reviewers should identify any relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors. Reviewers are also expected to notify the Editor of any substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and any other manuscript or publication of which they are aware. Reviewers must also alert the Editor if they suspect that the same manuscript has been submitted to several journals simultaneously.

Reviewers must not have any conflict of interest with the authors or with the sources of funding for the manuscript under review. If such a conflict exists, it must be reported to the Editor immediately so that another reviewer may be assigned.
Reviewers who are unable to review the manuscript should inform the Editor as soon as possible so that an alternative reviewer can be appointed.

Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is considered inappropriate. Reviewers must express their views clearly and support them with appropriate arguments.

Manuscripts received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not use any unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript without the explicit written consent of the authors. The information and ideas presented in such manuscripts must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage.

REVIEW PROCESS

The submitted manuscripts are subject to a review process involving at least two independent expert reviewers. The purpose of the review is to assist the editor in deciding whether a manuscript should be accepted for publication, as well as to improve the quality of the manuscript through communication with the authors. All reviews remain anonymous. All reviews are conducted free of charge.

Reviewers must submit their review within three weeks of accepting the invitation. If they are unable to do so within the specified period, the reviewer must notify the Editor-in-Chief immediately.

The selection of reviewers is at the discretion of the Editor. Reviewers must have relevant academic expertise in the subject area of the manuscript under review. Reviewers must not be affiliated with the same institution as the author of the manuscript under review, nor may they have had any recent joint publications with any of the authors of the manuscript.

During the review process, the Editor may request that the author provide supplementary material (including raw data) in order to assess the scientific contribution and merit of the manuscript. The Editor and the reviewers must keep such information confidential and must not use it for personal gain.

The Editorial Board is responsible for the review process and for all matters relating thereto.

If authors raise objections to a review, the Editorial Board shall assess whether the review is objective and whether it meets the required academic standards. If there is any doubt concerning the objectivity or quality of the review, the Editor may seek the opinion of additional reviewers.

This journal uses a double-blind peer review process.

The average time from submission to publication is 14 weeks

PLAGIARISM POLICY

JWEE has a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using appropriate plagiarism detection software prior to peer review.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • Direct copying of text without proper citation
  • Self-plagiarism or redundant publication
  • Improper paraphrasing without attribution

If plagiarism is detected, the manuscript will be rejected. In cases where plagiarism is identified after publication, JWEE reserves the right to retract the article in accordance with COPE guidelines.

POLICY ON THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

This policy is aligned with AI disclosure and authorship standards adopted by major academic publishers (e.g., Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley).
JWEE recognizes the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in academic research and writing. The journal permits limited use of AI-based tools under strict conditions.
Authors may use AI tools (e.g., for language editing, grammar correction, or improving clarity) provided that:

  • AI tools are not listed as authors or co-authors.
  • Authors retain full responsibility for the content, originality, and integrity of the manuscript.
  • The use of AI does not replace critical scholarly work, data analysis, or interpretation.

Authors must disclose the use of AI tools in the manuscript (e.g., in the acknowledgments or a dedicated statement), specifying the tool and purpose of use. The use of AI for generating research data, fabricating results, manipulating images, or producing substantial parts of the manuscript without author oversight is considered unethical and may lead to rejection or retraction.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

JWEE is an Open Access Journal. All articles can be downloaded free of charge and used in accordance with the license that is provided below each published article.

This journal provides immediate Open Access to its contents on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

JWEE encourages readers, authors and librarians to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full texts of its articles, as well as allows its wider readership to use them for any other lawful purpose.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Submitting authors are encouraged to contact their co-authors and contributors to determine whether they may have any additional privacy-related requirements at the time of submission.

SPONSORSHIP DISCLOSURE

It is mandatory for the author(s) to disclose whether their research has been sponsored or has received financial support of any kind for papers submitted to the Journal. Sponsored content must be clearly identified to readers as such. Supporting and sponsoring agencies must be clearly stated in a separate sponsorship declaration included at the end of the paper, prior to the bibliography.

REPORTING STANDARDS

A manuscript should contain sufficient details and references to enable reviewers and, subsequently, readers to verify the claims presented therein. The intentional presentation of false claims constitutes a violation of ethical standards. Authors are exclusively responsible for the content of their submitted manuscripts.

Where necessary, authors must obtain permission from all persons or institutions directly involved in the research presented in the submitted manuscript. Authors wishing to include illustrations, tables, or other materials in their articles that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the original copyright holders. Any material submitted without such evidence of permission will be assumed to originate from the authors themselves.

Authors may also be asked to provide underlying data, supplementary files, or additional documentation in support of the editorial and peer review process

AUTHORSHIP

Authors are required to list only those individuals who have made a significant scholarly contribution to the manuscript as authors. Such contributions may include the conception or design of the study, data collection, analysis or interpretation of data, and/or drafting or critically revising the manuscript. All individuals who have made a significant contribution to the manuscript should be listed as authors, and only such individuals should be listed.

All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication. If individuals other than the listed authors contributed to certain aspects of the research project or manuscript preparation, but do not meet the criteria for authorship, their contribution should be acknowledged in a footnote or in the acknowledgements section.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES

Authors are required to properly acknowledge and cite all sources that have significantly influenced the content of their research and manuscript. Information obtained through a private conversation or correspondence with third parties while reviewing project applications, manuscripts, and similar materials must not be used without the explicit written consent of the sour.

COMPETING INTERESTS

Authors should disclose in their manuscripts any financial or any other conflicts of interest that might have influenced the results presented or their interpretations thereof. What Represents a Competing Interest? - A competing interest is anything that interferes with or could be perceived as interfering with the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making and/or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to JWEE.

Competing interests can be financial or non-financial, professional or personal. Competing interests can arise in relation to an organization or another person.

Declaring all potential competing interests is a requirement at JWEE and is integral to the transparent reporting of research.

Failure to declare competing interests can result in immediate rejection of a manuscript. If an undisclosed competing interest becomes known after publication, JWEE will act in accordance with COPE guidelines and issue a public notification to the community

ERRORS IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Should an author discover an error in their published article, the author(s) are required to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher to retract or correct the article, as appropriate. Where errors do not invalidate the findings of the article, the journal may publish a correction, erratum, or corrigendum, as appropriate.

APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

Authors may appeal editorial decisions or raise complaints regarding the peer review or editorial process by contacting the editorial office. All appeals and complaints will be handled confidentially, fairly, and in accordance with the journal’s ethical standards and COPE principles.

PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

Any individual or institution may at any time inform the Editor and/or the editorial staff of any suspected unethical behaviour or any suspected ethical misconduct related to a manuscript, provided that sufficient supporting evidence is submitted. In agreement with the Editorial Board, the Editor-in-Chief shall decide whether to initiate an investigation procedure. All evidence gathered during such a procedure shall be treated as confidential and shall be disclosed only to those persons directly involved in the investigation. Individuals suspected of violating ethical standards shall be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations made against them.
If misconduct is established, it shall be classified as either a minor or a major ethical violation.

Minor violations
Situations characterized as minor violations may be addressed directly with the individual(s) who committed the violation, without involving third parties. Examples may include notifying the author or reviewer that a minor violation has occurred as a result of a misunderstanding or misapplication of academic standards or issuing a formal warning to the author or reviewer responsible for the minor violation.

Major violation of ethical standards

The Editor-in-Chief shall decide on major violations of ethical standards in consultation with the Editorial Board. Where necessary, an external group of consultants may also be involved. The measures that may be undertaken include, but are not limited to, the following, either separately or in combination:

  • Publication of an announcement or editorial describing the violation of ethical standards
  • Retraction of the published article in accordance with the Retraction Policy
  • Temporary ban on future submissions from the author(s) for a period to be determined
  • Referral of the case to a professional organization or other appropriate authorities for further administrative or judicial action.

When dealing with unethical behaviour, the Editorial Board of the journal shall rely on the guidelines and recommendations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

RETRACTION POLICY

Any violation of the rights of publishers, copyright holders, or authors, of professional ethical codes, fraudulent claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, as well as all other cases of significant violation of ethical standards, requires the retraction of the published article.

When withdrawal or retraction is carried out to correct mistakes in already published articles that have been detected, such action is taken to preserve scientific integrity and not to punish the author.

Libraries and scientific bodies have developed standards to handle retractions, and these practices have also been adopted by JWEE. A retracted article shall remain available in its original form, but the PDF version shall contain a watermark on each page clearly indicating that the article has been retracted (RETRACTED).

SELF-ARCHIVING

The journal allows authors to deposit the final paper in PDF format in an institutional repository and/or non-commercial subject-based repositories, or to publish it on their personal websites (including academic and professional social networking platforms such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.) and/or on the website of the institution at which they are employed. In doing so, authors must clearly state the primary bibliographic information of the article published in the journal (authors, article title, journal title, year, volume, and pagination).

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors shall transfer copyright to the publisher. If the submitted manuscript is not accepted for publication by the journal, the authors shall retain all their rights. The following rights on the manuscript are transferred to the publisher, including any supplementary materials and any parts, extracts, or elements of the manuscript:

  • the right to reproduce and distribute the manuscript in printed form, including print-on-demand
  • the right to print prepublications, reprints and special editions of the manuscriptt
  • the right to translate the manuscript into other languages
  • the right to reproduce the manuscript using photomechanical or similar means, including, but not limited to, photocopying, and the right to distribute such copies
  • the right to reproduce and distribute the manuscript electronically or optically using all data carriers or storage media, and especially in machine-readable/digitalized form, including but not limited to hard drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs (BD), MiniDiscs, and data tapes
  • the right to store the manuscript in databases, including online databases, as well as the right to transmit the manuscript through all technical systems and formats
  • the right to make the manuscript available to the public or closed user groups on individual demand, for use on monitors or other reading devices (including e-books), and in printable form for the user, either via the Internet, online service, or via internal or external networks.

Articles are published under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND) license.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the published works do not express the views of the Editor and members of the Editorial Board. Authors assume full legal and moral responsibility for the ideas expressed in their articles. The publisher shall not be held responsible for any claims for compensation arising from the published content.