Policies | GILE Journal of Skills Development

Policy Index

Privacy Policy Open Access Copyright and Licensing Policy Editorial & Ethics Publication Ethics Peer Review Research Ethics Archiving Policies

Privacy Policy

The Author acknowledges that the Publisher may process the Author’s personal data, including storing or transferring data outside of the country of the Author’s residence, in order to process transactions related to this Agreement and to communicate with the Author and the Publisher has a legitimate interest in processing the Author’s personal data.

By submitting the manuscript, the Author agrees to the processing of the Author's personal data (and, where applicable, confirms that the Author has obtained permission from all other Authors to process their personal data).

The Publisher shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations relating to data protection and privacy and shall process such personal data in accordance with the Pact4Youth Association's Privacy Policy Please refer to Chapter 5. Special Rules for the GILE Journal of Skills Development.

The names and email addresses entered in the GJSD 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.

You may withdraw your consent by sending an email to gjsd@gile-edu.org.

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Open Access Policy

All research articles published in this journal (Contributions) are fully open access: immediately freely available to read, download and share. Open Access returns us to the values of science: to help advance and improve society. By providing immediate and unrestricted access to the latest research, we can accelerate discovery and create a more equitable system of knowledge that is open to all.

Open Access allows for immediate free access to the work. It permits any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work while ensuring that the authors receive proper credit.

The GILE Journal of Skills Development (GJSD) is a Platinum/Diamond open-access journal, therefore, it doesn’t charge any Author fees, which means that there is no charge to the Author to publish their research openly in the journal.

GJSD is compliant with Plan S criteria.

All published articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), ensuring persistent identification, reliable citation, and long-term accessibility of the published work.

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Copyright and Licensing Policy

Author(s) retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions. The Author gives the Publisher the right of first publication in the Journal.

Articles are licensed under an open-access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted, provided that the original published version is cited.

Any and all copies of the contribution or any part thereof distributed or posted by them in print or electronic format will include the notice of copyright as stipulated in the Journal and a full citation to the final published version of the contribution in the Journal as published by the GiLE Foundation.

The Publisher and users have non-exclusive rights under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). “Contribution” means the article submitted by the Author for publication in the Journal (including any embedded rich media) and all subsequent versions. To the extent that any Supporting Information is submitted to the Journal, the Publisher is granted a perpetual, non-exclusive license to publish, republish, transmit, sell, distribute and otherwise use this Supporting Information in whole or in part in electronic and print editions of the Journal and in derivative works throughout the world, in all languages and in all media of expression now known or later developed, and to license or permit others to do so.

In exceptional circumstances, articles may be licensed differently. If the Author(s) has a specific condition (such as one linked to funding) that does not allow this license, it must be mentioned to the Editorial Office of the journal at submission. Exceptions will be granted at the discretion of the publisher.

GJSD displays Copyright and Licensing information in the article Galley. From September 2022, Copyright and Licensing information is also shown in the articles.

It is essential that prior to submission, Author(s) obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, tables, or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyright holder. To avoid delays in the publication process, Author(s) should start obtaining permissions as early as possible.

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Editorial & Ethics Policy

This policy describes guidelines in the publication process of our journals. Specifically, Academic Journals adopt and strive to adhere to the following standards and requirements:

COPE - Committee on Publication Ethics

STM - International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers

Submission of Manuscript

Authors should read the “Author Guidelines” on the journal’s Submission Checklist page before making a submission. Submission should be made online at gjsd.gile-edu.org/submissions.

The journal's editorial team will check if the submission meets the author's guidelines: (1) the Manuscript is within the aim and scope of the journal; (2) the Manuscript file is anonimised and no author details are present (3) All the contributing author's details are present in the metadata. If any discrepancy is found, the article will be sent back to the author to complete the missing information. The authors listed on the Manuscript should meet the requirements for Authorship specified below. In the comments to the editor during submission, specify the contribution of each of the Authors.

All Authors should approve the final version of the manuscript prior to submission. Once a manuscript is submitted, it is therefore assumed that all Authors have read and given their approval for the submission of the manuscript. The Name, Surname/Other names, and affiliation of all Authors should be stated in the final published article.

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all papers published in GJSD are solely those of the individual author(s) and not of GJSD, its Publisher and/or the editor(s) of the journal.

Authorship

An Author is an individual who has significantly contributed to the development of a manuscript and participated in the work substantively and are prepared to take public responsibility for the work. GJSD recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria: (1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND (3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND (4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Acknowledgement

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an Author should be acknowledged. Organisations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources must be acknowledged.

As stated in the COPE position statement on AI tools, Large Language Models lack the capacity to independently design a research project and, therefore, cannot be credited with authorship. Additionally, they cannot be held accountable for the published work's integrity, originality, and validity.

Authors may use AI to improve their writing but not to undertake the writing of entire sections of papers on the author's behalf. This is particularly critical when reporting results.

Complaints and Appeals Procedures

An appeal is a request by an author for reconsideration of an editorial decision (e.g., manuscript rejection or request for revision).

A complaint is a concern raised by any party (author, reviewer, reader, or third party) regarding misconduct, unethical behaviour, procedural error, or dissatisfaction with how the journal operates.

The GILE Journal of Skills Development (GJSD) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and editorial integrity. In line with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), we have established the following procedures to handle complaints and appeals related to editorial decisions, ethical concerns, or any other aspect of the journal’s operations.

Appeals must be made in writing to the Editor-in-Chief at gjsd@gile-edu.org

We welcome complaints or appeals concerning:

Editorial decisions (e.g. rejection of a manuscript).
Alleged breaches of publication ethics (e.g. plagiarism, authorship disputes).
Peer review process concerns (e.g. bias or unprofessional conduct).
Delays in the editorial or publishing process.
Misconduct by editorial board members or reviewers.

We do not consider complaints that are frivolous, anonymous (unless accompanied by clear and documented evidence), or related to disagreement with editorial policies or scope.

How we handle complaints:

We acknowledge all complaints within 7 working days.
Each case is reviewed fairly and confidentially.
Appeals may result in further editorial review or external consultation. A fair and thorough investigation will be conducted, involving the relevant editorial board members, reviewers, or external advisors if necessary. For appeals of editorial decisions, a second independent review may be arranged.
Final decisions are typically communicated within 30 days.

Correction and retraction of articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected version will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published. When necessary, retraction of articles will be done according to COPE retraction guidelines.

Changes in authorship

Whenever there is a need to make changes in the authorship of a manuscript or a published article, the changes will be implemented according to COPE specifications. Only corresponding authors can make a request for a change in authorship. The request should be made directly to the Editor-in-Chief by email.

In such cases, GJSD will update and republish the article and re-deliver the updated metadata to the appropriate indexing databases (please note that all updates are dependent upon the policies of the databases). Our teams are aware that name changes can be sensitive and/or private in nature, for a variety of reasons that may include alignment with gender identity, marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Therefore, to protect the Author's identity, a Correction will not be published, and co-authors will not be notified. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

Conflict of interest

“Conflict of interest (COI) exists when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests (competing interests) and his or her responsibilities to scientific and publishing activities such that a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual’s behaviour or judgment was motivated by considerations of his or her competing interests” WAME.

All submissions are handled in accordance with strict confidentiality and conflict-of-interest procedures:

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest should be stated in the manuscript. Author(s) should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the development of the manuscript.

Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a conflict of interest. Editors should also decline to consider any manuscript that may have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts will be re-assigned to other editors.

Where members of the editorial team submit manuscripts to GJSD, they are excluded from all stages of the editorial and peer review process. The Editor-in-Chief assigns independent reviewers and ensures that the review process is conducted impartially. In cases where the Editor-in-Chief is an author, full editorial responsibility is delegated to a Managing Editor, who acts as handling editor and oversees the peer review and decision-making process.

Publication Ethics

Compliance with publication ethics ensures the integrity of scientific publishing and confidence in published articles. Therefore, GJSD expects all authors to adhere to ethical requirements in the preparation of their manuscripts.

Plagiarism

The Merriam Webster Online dictionary defines plagiarizing as:

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

It is unethical for reviewers to “use information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage, or to disadvantage or discredit others” (COPE Ethical Guideline for Peer Reviewers, http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf).

GJSD strives to maintain academic integrity in publishing. Therefore GJSD routinely screens all article submissions for plagiarism when the author(s) submits the finalised manuscript after peer review. A manuscript will be rejected immediately if considered by the editorial board to be plagiarised.

GJSD considers plagiarism a serious offence and is committed to eliminating manuscripts with possible cases of plagiarism from its review and publication process. GJSD uses plagiarism detection applications to check each manuscript for possible cases of plagiarism. Manuscripts that are found to contain an unacceptable level of similarity with other published works are immediately rejected. Submitted manuscripts should be the original works of the author(s). GJSD will follow COPE guidelines in suspected cases of plagiarism.

Authors submitting to this journal must ensure their work is original and has not been published elsewhere in substantially the same form. Simultaneous submission of the same or largely similar manuscripts to multiple journals is strictly prohibited.

While building on previous research is acceptable, self-plagiarism (Text Recycling), i.e. the reuse of significant portions of one's own published work without proper citation is not permitted. Authors must disclose any prior dissemination of the manuscript’s content, including publication in conference proceedings, preprints, or theses. Reuse of content (text, data, figures) from previous works must be properly cited and clearly indicated in the Declaration Statements in the manuscript. Limited reuse of methodology descriptions, literature reviews, or background information from an author’s own prior work is permissible only with proper citation and significant new contribution in the submitted manuscript. Manuscripts found to have significant overlap (more than 20%) with previously published work by the same authors may be rejected or returned for revision, depending on the degree of overlap and how transparently it is acknowledged. If self-plagiarism is identified, the editorial team will follow the COPE guidelines for handling the case.

Duplicate submissions

Duplicate submission is a situation whereby an author submits the same or similar manuscripts to two different journals at the same time either within GJSD or any other publisher. This includes the submission of manuscripts derived from the same data in such a manner that there are no substantial differences in the manuscripts. Duplicate submission also includes the submission of the same/similar manuscript in different languages to different journals.

Fabrication and falsification of data

It is unethical to fabricate, manipulate or falsify data in a manuscript. GJSD follows COPE guidelines in dealing with suspected cases of data fabrication and falsification.

Citations manipulation

Authors should ensure that where the material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing), the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained. A manuscript should contain only relevant citations. Inclusion of citations that are not relevant to the work is strongly discouraged.

Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

Excessive self-citation is strongly discouraged. GJSD permits self-citation only where it is academically justified, directly relevant, and proportionate. Authors may cite their own previously published work when it is necessary to support the manuscript; however, excessive or strategically motivated self-citation is not acceptable. As a general guideline, authors should reference their own work no more than five times, or normally not exceeding 10–20% of the total reference list, taking into account the nature of the research and disciplinary norms. Where exceptional circumstances require these thresholds to be exceeded, authors must provide a clear justification in the cover letter at the time of submission. Self-citation must not be used to influence citation metrics or to replace engagement with other independent scholarly sources that were not written by the author. Manuscripts that exceed these limits without convincing justification may be returned for revision or rejected at the editorial assessment stage.

GJSD does not tolerate AI-generated, fabricated, or non-genuine references. All cited sources must be real, verifiable, and accurately referenced. Authors are fully responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of all citations, regardless of whether AI tools were used at any stage of manuscript preparation.

References and in-text citations

have to conform to the APA reference style as described in the Guide for Authors.

Publication Frequency

GJSD currently publishes three issues per year (a Spring and two Autumn issues). Paper submission last dates: 30 January / 30 August. Paper review notification: approximately three weeks after submission.

Peer Review Policy

This journal endeavours to maintain the highest standards of peer review while increasing the efficiency of the process. All reviewers, Editorial Board and Editorial Team members must familiarise themselves with this policy and will be kept accountable to it on an individual basis.

All research articles published undergo full double-blind peer-review, key characteristics of which are listed below:

All research articles are reviewed by at least two suitably qualified experts.
Each submission is evaluated by at least two reviewers from different institutions and, where possible, different countries, ensuring independence and diversity in the peer review process.
All final publication decisions are made by the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief and, where a Managing Editor is appointed, by the Managing Editor as well, on the basis of the reviews provided.
Members of the Editorial Board lend insight, advice and guidance to the Editorial Team generally and assist decision-making on specific submissions.
The Editorial Team provides the administrative support that allows the journal to maintain the integrity of peer-review while delivering reasonable turnaround and efficiency to authors, reviewers and editors alike.

The review process is an important aspect of the publication process of an article. It helps an editor in making a decision on an article and also enables the author to improve the manuscript.

To ensure consistency and efficiency, peer reviewers complete their evaluations on our website using a standardised form with closed-ended questions for core aspects of the manuscript, such as content, relevance, structure, and quality. Additionally, dedicated sections for providing detailed comments allow for in-depth feedback.

Before accepting to review a manuscript, reviewers should ensure that:

the manuscript is within their area of expertise.
they can dedicate the appropriate time to conduct a critical review of the manuscript.

Eligibility Criteria for Reviewers:

The journal appoints reviewers from a diverse pool of researchers representing multiple institutions and countries. While maintaining an established reviewer pool, GJSD may, where necessary and depending on the subject area of a submission, invite external reviewers. All reviewers are required to hold a doctoral degree or demonstrate equivalent scholarly or professional expertise.

To maintain the integrity of the double-blind peer-review process, an individual cannot act as a reviewer for a manuscript where any of the following apply:

They are based at the same institution as any of the authors.
They have collaborated with any of the authors within the last 2 years.
They know the identity of the authors.
Any other reason whereby the reviewer feels there is a conflict of interest which must be declared including but not limited to financial interests, personal disagreement or professional opportunism.

In any of these instances, concerns must be raised to the Editor-in-Chief or, when appointed, to the Managing Editor at the earliest possible opportunity. The reviewer must take responsibility for being transparent if any ethical concerns arise.

Conflict of Interest

”Reviewers should declare their conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from the peer-review process if a conflict exists”.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts are confidential materials given to a reviewer in trust for the sole purpose of critical evaluation. Reviewers should ensure that the review process is confidential. Details of the manuscript and the review process should remain confidential during and after the review process.

Fairness

Reviews should be honest and objective. Reviewers should not be influenced by:

The origin of the manuscript
Religious, political or cultural viewpoint of the author
Gender, race, ethnicity or citizenry of the author

Review Reports/Forms

In evaluating a manuscript, reviewers focus on the following:

Originality
Contribution to the field
Technical quality
Clarity of presentation
Depth of research

Reviewers should also:

Observe that the author(s) have followed the instruction for authors and the GJSD policies, and
Observe that the GJSD’s reporting guidelines are followed.

The Reviewer Form should be accurate, objective, constructive and unambiguous. Comments should be backed by facts and constructive arguments with regards to the content of the manuscript. Reviewers should avoid using “hostile, derogatory and accusatory comments” (PIE http://www.integrity-ethics.com/).

Reviewers should not rewrite the manuscript; however, necessary corrections and suggestions for improvements can be made when absolutely necessary.

Timeliness

Reviewers should only accept manuscript that they are confident that they can dedicate appropriate time in reviewing. Thus, reviewers should review and return manuscripts in a timely manner.

Recommendations

Reviewers’ recommendation should be either:

Accept Submission
Revision Required
Resubmit for Review
Resubmit Elsewhere
Decline Submission

The recommendation should be backed with constructive arguments and facts based on the content of the manuscript.

Peer review of referred papers

The Editorial Team will decide promptly whether to accept, reject, or request revisions of referred papers based on the reviews and editorial insight of the supporting journals. In addition, Editors will have the option of seeking additional reviews when needed. Authors will be advised when Editors decide further review is needed.

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Research Ethics Policy

Research ethics checks contribute to safeguarding the dignity, rights, safety, and well-being of all actual or potential participants in social, behavioural, economic and educational research. Editors may request that reviewers comment on the standard of experimental reporting, experimental design, or any other aspects of the study reported that may cause concern. If concerns are raised or clarifications are needed, they may need to request evidence of ethical research approval or question authors. Where cultural and heritage research is conducted, approval from relevant Community Board/s may be required.

Bias-free language

It is important that the language and descriptors used to describe research populations are bias-free. The seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA 2020) provides recommendations for eliminating bias in language in relation to gender, age, racial and ethnic background, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic status. When detailing demographic information about a study population, it is advisable to use terms to designate ethnicity rather than race. Racial and ethnic identity is covered in the seventh edition APA Style guide here.

Human studies & subjects

For manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, the GJSD requires a Declaration statement from authors to confirm that the appropriate ethical approval/s has been received, along with details of the approving ethics committee/board if applicable, and that the study conforms to recognised standards, see for example the Declaration of Helsinki and US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects.

In cases where manuscripts may involve potentially vulnerable groups and, therefore, where informed consent may have required particular attention from the study authors and the institution where the work took place, we recommend particular care to ensure expected standards have both been met and are described in the article. The Icelandic Human Rights Center presents a list containing twelve examples of vulnerable groups and the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK provides further advice about research with potentially vulnerable people.

To ensure that informed consent has been obtained, the GJSD require Authors to confirm this before publication and require that this information be included in a Declaration statement to this effect within their manuscript. Note that consent to participate in research is separate from consent to publish. It is necessary to obtain consent to publish if there is any possibility that information shared may identify an individual person, and document that this has been given within the manuscript. Consent forms do not need to be submitted with the manuscript, but researchers should provide necessary details if requested to do so by the journal.

Research funding

Authors must list all funding sources in their manuscript and describe the role of the funder. For example, if a commercial organisation funded the study, designed the study, and also recruited the investigators. Other sources of support should also be clearly identified, these might include funding for open-access publication derived from a grant or from an Author’s institution, or funding for writing or editorial assistance, or provision of experimental materials. If there is no specific funding, this should be stated.

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Archiving policy

For the purposes of long-term preservation, all published metadata is deposited to Crossref. The articles are archived by the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in:

REAL – at article level
REAL-J – at journal level

Further copies are archived at:

Electronic Periodicals Archive & Database (EPA) – a servace offered by the Hungarian National Library
PKP Preservation Network (PN) – a LOCKSS-based archival solution by the Public Knowledge Project
Internet Archive.

The Publisher of GJSD, the Pact4Youth Association, declines all responsibility for the long-term preservation, replication, refreshment and repackaging of any electronic information disseminated from the archive. In particular, The PAct4Youth Association has no responsibility for the maintenance of electronic collections of page images and for the maintenance of electronic offprints distributed to authors. New copies of these materials in the then-current technology may be purchased from GJSD.

Repository policy

GJSD is listed by the Open Policy Finder, a service that provides a searchable database of publishers’ copyright and self-archiving policies. GJSD allows all versions of their papers, i.e.:

Submitted version
Accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript)
Published version (Version of Record)

to be deposited in an institutional or other repository of the author’s choice without embargo.

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