Ownership and Management Policy

Journal of Science and Science Education (JoSSEd) is a scholarly journal published and managed by the Postgraduate Program, University of Mataram, Indonesia. The journal is dedicated to disseminating high-quality research in science, science education, educational technology, and related scientific disciplines.

JoSSEd is committed to transparent journal governance, responsible institutional management, editorial independence, ethical publishing, and sustainable scholarly communication.

This policy defines the roles and responsibilities of the journal's publisher, editorial leadership, editorial board, reviewers, and administrative management in maintaining the integrity and quality of the publication process.

1. Journal Ownership and Publisher

JoSSEd is institutionally published and managed by the Postgraduate Program, University of Mataram, Indonesia.

The publisher is responsible for supporting the journal's institutional governance, publication infrastructure, operational continuity, and compliance with applicable academic and publishing standards.

2. Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher supports the journal's academic mission and provides the institutional framework necessary for responsible scholarly publishing.

The publisher's responsibilities include:

• Supporting the journal's publication infrastructure and operational continuity.
• Maintaining appropriate administrative and technical support.
• Promoting ethical, transparent, and sustainable publication practices.
• Supporting the accessibility and preservation of published scholarly content.
• Ensuring transparency concerning journal ownership and management.
• Respecting the independence of the editorial team in scientific evaluation and publication decisions.
• Supporting appropriate responses to research integrity and publication ethics concerns.

The publisher must not improperly influence manuscript acceptance, rejection, peer-review outcomes, or other editorial decisions for institutional, financial, political, or personal reasons.

3. Editorial Management Structure

JoSSEd is managed through an editorial structure designed to ensure effective manuscript handling, independent scholarly evaluation, and accountability throughout the publication process.

The editorial management structure includes the Editor-in-Chief, members of the editorial board, designated handling editors, reviewers, and editorial support personnel, according to the journal's officially appointed organizational structure.

3.1 Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief provides academic and editorial leadership and is responsible for overseeing the journal's editorial standards, peer-review procedures, publication ethics, and scientific quality.

The Editor-in-Chief has final editorial responsibility for publication decisions, subject to appropriate procedures for managing conflicts of interest.

3.2 Editorial Board

The editorial board supports the development of the journal's academic quality, scope, editorial policies, and publication standards.

Editorial board members may contribute to manuscript evaluation, reviewer recommendations, policy development, and other scholarly editorial activities according to their assigned responsibilities.

3.3 Handling Editors

Handling editors coordinate the evaluation of assigned manuscripts, identify suitable reviewers, assess review reports, and provide recommendations or decisions within their delegated editorial authority.

3.4 Peer Reviewers

Reviewers provide independent, objective, constructive, and confidential scientific assessments of submitted manuscripts.

JoSSEd applies a single-blind peer-review process, in which reviewers know the identities of authors while reviewer identities remain confidential.

3.5 Editorial and Administrative Support

Editorial support personnel assist with manuscript administration, communication, technical preparation, publication scheduling, and the operation of the journal's online publishing system.

4. Editorial Independence

JoSSEd upholds the principle of editorial independence. Decisions regarding manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection must be based on scientific merit, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors' institutional affiliations, academic positions, nationality, personal relationships, or financial considerations.

The publisher, institutional leadership, sponsors, and other external parties must respect the editorial team's independence and must not interfere with the scientific evaluation of manuscripts.

When an editor has a relevant conflict of interest, responsibility for the manuscript must be transferred to another qualified editor without the conflict.

5. Appointment and Responsibilities of Editorial Members

Editorial members should be selected based on relevant academic qualifications, scientific expertise, research experience, publication record, professional integrity, and commitment to responsible scholarly publishing.

Appointments and changes to the editorial management structure are made through the journal's applicable institutional governance procedures.

Editorial members are expected to:

• Maintain professional competence and ethical conduct.
• Act independently and impartially.
• Protect confidential manuscript information.
• Disclose relevant conflicts of interest.
• Support fair and timely peer review.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of editorial quality.
• Comply with the journal's publication ethics and editorial policies.

6. Editorial Decision-Making and Accountability

All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial editorial screening to assess their relevance, originality, completeness, ethical compliance, and adherence to submission requirements.

Manuscripts meeting the initial requirements proceed through the journal's established peer-review process.

Publication decisions are based on scientific evaluation, reviewer recommendations, editorial judgment, and compliance with the journal's policies.

The Editor-in-Chief or an authorized editor is responsible for the final decision, while ensuring that appropriate conflict of interest safeguards are applied.

The journal maintains appropriate records of manuscript evaluation and editorial decisions to support accountability and responsible editorial management.

7. Transparency of Journal Management

JoSSEd is committed to providing accurate and accessible information about its ownership, publisher, editorial leadership, editorial board, publication policies, and official communication channels.

The journal will make relevant governance and editorial information publicly available through its official website.

Changes to the journal's ownership, publishing institution, editorial leadership, or other significant management arrangements will be communicated through appropriate official channels.

8. Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

The publisher and editorial management share responsibility for supporting ethical scholarly publishing and protecting the integrity of the scientific record.

JoSSEd maintains policies addressing:

• Publication ethics and malpractice.
• Authorship criteria and author contributions.
• Conflicts of interest and disclosure.
• Plagiarism and originality screening.
• Allegations of research misconduct.
• Peer-review integrity and confidentiality.
• Post-publication discussions and corrections.
• Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and retractions.

Credible ethical concerns are evaluated through appropriate editorial procedures, with institutional referral where formal research misconduct investigation is necessary.

9. Publication Frequency and Operational Continuity

JoSSEd is committed to maintaining a regular and sustainable publication schedule.

Until 2026, the journal published two issues annually, in April and October.

Beginning with Volume 8, Number 1, 2027, the journal increases its publication frequency to four issues per year, published in January, April, July, and October.

The publisher and editorial management are responsible for supporting the operational resources and editorial coordination necessary to maintain the publication schedule without compromising scientific quality or publication ethics.

10. Financial and Administrative Transparency

JoSSEd is committed to transparent and responsible management of financial and administrative matters related to journal publication.

Any applicable publication charges, funding arrangements, sponsorships, or other relevant financial information must be communicated clearly through the journal's official policies and website.

Financial arrangements must not influence peer-review outcomes, editorial decisions, or the acceptance and rejection of manuscripts.

The journal does not guarantee publication in exchange for payment, institutional relationships, sponsorship, or other financial considerations.

11. Digital Publishing and Content Preservation

JoSSEd uses an online journal management and publishing platform to support manuscript submission, editorial processing, peer review, and publication.

The publisher and editorial management support appropriate measures to maintain website accessibility, publication metadata, article records, and long-term access to scholarly content.

The journal's archiving and digital preservation arrangements are governed by its applicable Archiving Policy and available preservation infrastructure.

12. Complaints and Editorial Governance

Concerns regarding editorial management, publication decisions, ethical conduct, or potential conflicts of interest may be submitted through the journal's official communication channels.

Complaints will be assessed fairly and confidentially, with consideration of relevant evidence and the journal's established policies.

Where a complaint concerns the Editor-in-Chief or another senior editorial member, the matter should be handled by an appropriate independent individual or institutional authority without a relevant conflict of interest.

The journal will seek to resolve legitimate complaints through transparent, proportionate, and documented procedures.

13. Governance and Management Responsibilities

14. Ethical Standards and Reference Guidelines

This policy is informed by internationally recognized principles of responsible journal governance and scholarly publishing, including:

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/
• COPE Core Practices: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices