Publishing Policies

1. Publication Ethics and Integrity

FEP Foundation is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, accountability, and good practice in scholarly publishing.

Where an article is found to have plagiarized another work, included copyrighted material without appropriate permission or acknowledgment, contained disputed authorship, manipulated research data, or otherwise violated recognized publication ethics, the Foundation or the relevant journal may take appropriate action.

Possible actions may include:

• Requesting clarification or documentation from the author.
• Rejecting a manuscript before publication.
• Publishing a correction or corrigendum.
• Publishing an expression of concern.
• Retracting an article.
• Informing relevant institutions or academic bodies in serious cases.
• Taking other appropriate steps to protect the scholarly record.

2. Contributor Agreement

Authors may be required to accept or sign a publishing agreement before their work is formally published.

The agreement should clearly define the rights and responsibilities of the author and the journal, including copyright ownership, publication rights, licensing conditions, distribution, archiving, and re-use.

Unless otherwise stated by the relevant journal, authors should retain appropriate rights to their scholarly work while granting the journal the permissions necessary to publish, distribute, preserve, and make the work available under the journal's stated publishing model.

3. Author e-Prints and Copies

FEP Foundation supports reasonable access for authors to their published work according to the policies of the relevant journal.

3.1 Complimentary Author Copies

For journals that publish articles electronically, authors should normally have access to the final published version of their article through the journal's official website or publishing platform.

Corresponding authors may share published material with co-authors and other readers in accordance with the copyright and licensing conditions attached to the article.

3.2 Ordering Print Copies

Where printed issues, books, proceedings, or other physical publications are available, authors may request information regarding purchase, ordering, or additional copies directly from the relevant journal or publisher.

Availability, pricing, shipping, and discounts may vary according to the publication.

4. Version of Record

FEP Foundation recognizes the importance of maintaining a clear and reliable scholarly record.

Once an article has completed editorial review, production, and formal publication, the published version is regarded as the authoritative Version of Record.

The Version of Record should be stable, identifiable, complete, and citable. Any significant changes made after publication should therefore be handled transparently through appropriate correction or post-publication notices.

5. Corrections Prior to the Version of Record

Authors should be given an opportunity to review proofs or final editorial versions before publication where the journal's workflow permits.

The purpose of proof review is to identify typographical errors, formatting problems, incorrect author information, or other production-related issues before the article becomes part of the permanent scholarly record.

If an article is published online before final assignment to a volume or issue, limited corrections may be made according to the editorial policy of the relevant journal.

6. Corrections After Publication

When a significant error is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, erratum, corrigendum, or other appropriate notice.

Corrections should clearly identify the original article and explain the nature of the change so that readers can understand what has been corrected.

Minor errors that do not affect the scholarly meaning, interpretation, or integrity of the article may be handled according to the journal's editorial policy.

7. Retractions and Expressions of Concern

Retraction may be considered when reliable evidence demonstrates that a publication contains seriously unreliable findings, substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or manipulated data, serious authorship violations, unethical research, or other major breaches of publication ethics.

Where serious concerns exist but an investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern.

A retraction notice should remain linked to the original publication and should clearly explain the reason for the retraction whenever legally and ethically appropriate.

Complete removal of an article should be exceptional and normally considered only for serious legal, privacy, security, or other compelling reasons.

8. Supplementary Materials and Research Data

Supplementary materials and research data associated with published articles should be managed in a manner that supports transparency, accessibility, preservation, and research integrity.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that supplementary files, datasets, images, tables, code, or other materials do not violate copyright, confidentiality, privacy, ethical, or legal requirements.

Where substantive changes to supplementary material or research data are required after publication, the relevant journal should maintain an appropriate record of the change.

9. Copyright and Third-Party Material

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts do not unlawfully reproduce copyrighted material owned by third parties.

Permission should be obtained where required for photographs, figures, illustrations, tables, substantial quotations, datasets, or other copyrighted content.

All third-party material must be properly acknowledged and attributed according to applicable scholarly and legal requirements.

10. Open Access and Re-Use

FEP Foundation supports the broad dissemination of scholarly knowledge and encourages open access publishing where appropriate.

Each journal should clearly state its own open access policy, copyright terms, license conditions, author rights, archiving policy, and permitted forms of re-use.

Authors and readers should refer to the specific journal's policy before redistributing, adapting, translating, reproducing, or commercially re-using published material.