Open access is an ongoing publication practice which differs in the way traditional methods of publishing papers to the public get submitted, reviewed, authenticated and finally published.  In Open Access publication model neither readers nor a reader’s institution are charged for access to articles or other resources. Users are free to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles without requiring a subscription to the journal in which these articles are published.

IJDRI follows the Gold Open Access model. The publication cost should be covered by the author’s institution or research funds. These Open Access charges replace subscription charges and allow the IJDRI to make the valuable published materials freely accessible to all interested online visitors, especially the researchers and young scholars from developing countries.  IJDRI noticed that more than 45% of the IJDRI journals readers are from developing countries.

For more information about open access, please check the following pages,

• Budapest Open Access Initiative
• Wikipedia – Open access
• DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journals

Ethics

• The author should not submit his/her manuscripts to multiple journals. Likewise, an author should not submit any paper previously published anywhere to the journals for consideration.
• The author should guarantee that the works he or she has submitted are original. If the author has used work and/or words by others, appropriate citations are required. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
• The author should indicate all sources that have supported the research and also declare any conflict(s) of interest.
• The author should give due acknowledgement to all of those who have made contributions to the research.
• The author should promptly inform the journal editor of any obvious error(s) in his or her published paper and cooperate earnestly with the editor in retraction or correction of the paper. If the editor is notified by any party other than the author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.

Section A: Publication and authorship

• All submitted papers are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two international reviewers that are experts in the area of the particular paper.
• The factors that are taken into account in review are relevance, soundness, significance, originality, readability and language.
• The possible decisions include acceptance, acceptance with revisions, or rejection.
• If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted.
• Rejected articles will not be re-reviewed.
• The paper acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
• No research can be included in more than one publication.

Section B: Authors’ responsibilities

• Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work.
• Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
• Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
• Authors must participate in the peer review process.
• Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
• All Authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research.
• Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.
• Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.
• Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.
• Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the Editors.

Section C: Reviewers’ responsibilities

• Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author
• Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments
• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
• Reviewers should also call to the Editor in Chief’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
• Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Section D: Editors’ responsibilities

• Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.
• Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication.
• Editors should always consider the needs of the authors and the readers when attempting to improve the publication.
• Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record.
• Editors should publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
• Editors should have a clear picture of a research’s funding sources.
• Editors should base their decisions solely one the papers’ importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication’s scope.
• Editors should not reverse their decisions nor overturn the ones of previous editors without serious reason.
• Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
• Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
• Edittors should only accept a paper when reasonably certain.
• Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem.
• Editors should not reject papers based on suspicions, they should have proof of misconduct.
• Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers and board members.