The Journal of Cost Management (J. Cost Manag.) is committed to maintaining a rigorous, transparent, ethical, and academically independent editorial process. The journal's editorial policies are designed to support high-quality scholarly publishing and are informed by recognized principles and recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and relevant standards associated with Scopus content selection and journal quality.

1. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based on the academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, and contribution of submitted manuscripts. Decisions must not be influenced by commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, personal relationships, institutional affiliations, nationality, gender, or other irrelevant considerations.

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board maintain responsibility for the journal's editorial content and publication decisions.

2. Manuscript Handling

All manuscripts are handled through an organized editorial process. Upon submission, the Editorial Office verifies the completeness of the submission and conducts an initial assessment for scope, originality, basic quality, formatting, and compliance with the journal's policies.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's basic requirements or fall outside its scope may be returned to authors or rejected before external peer review.

The journal aims to process submissions efficiently and communicate editorial decisions to authors within a reasonable timeframe.

3. Managing the Peer-Review Process

The Journal of Cost Management follows a single-blind peer-review process. Appropriate reviewers are selected according to their subject expertise, research experience, and academic qualifications.

Reviewers are expected to provide independent, constructive, confidential, and evidence-based evaluations. They must disclose conflicts of interest and maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and review materials.

The Editorial Office monitors the peer-review process, communicates with reviewers, evaluates reviewer reports, and ensures that editorial decisions are made fairly. Peer-review practices are maintained in accordance with recognized ethical standards. COPE emphasizes transparent peer-review procedures, reviewer selection, confidentiality, conflict-of-interest management, and mechanisms for appeals and disputes.

4. Editorial Decision-Making

Editors consider reviewer recommendations together with their own assessment of the manuscript. Possible decisions include:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

Reviewer recommendations are advisory; the final editorial decision remains the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and/or Editorial Board. A manuscript may also be rejected at any stage before publication if significant concerns regarding its quality, originality, ethics, or integrity arise.

5. Assistance with Submissions

The Editorial Office provides reasonable assistance to authors regarding submission requirements, manuscript status, formatting requirements, required documentation, peer-review procedures, and other publication-related questions.

Editorial assistance does not imply that the journal will provide substantive rewriting or guarantee acceptance of a manuscript. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, completeness, and academic integrity of their submissions.

6. Copyediting and Proofreading

Accepted manuscripts may undergo editorial formatting, copyediting, language correction, reference checking, and proofreading before publication.

The purpose of proofreading is to identify typographical, formatting, bibliographic, and production errors. Authors may be asked to review proofs and should communicate necessary corrections within the timeframe specified by the Editorial Office.

Substantive changes to the manuscript after acceptance may require additional editorial assessment.

7. Compiling Journal Issues

The journal publishes four issues annually according to its quarterly publication schedule:

• Issue 1: January–March
• Issue 2: April–June
• Issue 3: July–September
• Issue 4: October–December

The Editorial Office coordinates the selection and scheduling of accepted manuscripts for each issue while maintaining appropriate standards for academic quality, subject relevance, publication regularity, and editorial balance.

Regular and uninterrupted publication is an important element of journal quality and is also among the criteria considered in Scopus journal evaluation.

8. Quality Control

The journal maintains quality-control procedures throughout the editorial and production process. These may include:

• Initial editorial screening
• Similarity/plagiarism screening
• Verification of author information
• Review of ethical and conflict-of-interest declarations
• Peer-review assessment
• Reference and DOI checking
• Editorial review
• Copyediting and proofreading
• Final production checks
• Metadata verification before publication

The journal seeks to ensure that published articles meet appropriate standards of academic clarity, integrity, and scholarly contribution.

9. Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

The journal takes research and publication misconduct seriously. Concerns involving plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate or overlapping publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other ethical violations may be investigated.

The journal may request explanations, supporting documentation, or additional information from authors, reviewers, editors, or institutions when necessary.

COPE identifies allegations of misconduct, authorship, conflicts of interest, complaints and appeals, ethical oversight, intellectual property, peer review, and post-publication corrections as key areas of responsible journal management.

10. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record. When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice.

Corrections should clearly identify the original publication and explain the changes made. Where necessary, previous versions and publication history will be appropriately documented to preserve transparency and version control.

11. Complaints and Appeals

Authors may submit legitimate appeals regarding editorial decisions or complaints concerning the journal's editorial processes. Appeals should provide clear reasons and relevant supporting information.

Complaints concerning editors, reviewers, staff, or publishing procedures will be considered fairly and confidentially. The journal aims to resolve complaints through an appropriate and documented process consistent with recognized publication-ethics principles. COPE recommends that journals maintain clearly described mechanisms for complaints and appeals.

12. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board members must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could affect their judgment or responsibilities.

Editors with a conflict of interest should not participate in the editorial decision-making process for the affected manuscript. Appropriate alternative editorial arrangements may be made.

13. Confidentiality

Manuscripts under consideration, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and other confidential materials must be protected from unauthorized disclosure.

Editorial staff and reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional advantage. ICMJE emphasizes confidentiality throughout submission and peer review and recommends appropriate safeguards for manuscripts and reviewer materials.

14. Artificial Intelligence and Editorial Processes

The journal recognizes that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may be used in scholarly publishing. Any use of AI in editorial, peer-review, or manuscript-preparation processes must be responsible, transparent, and consistent with confidentiality and research-integrity requirements.

Confidential manuscripts and peer-review materials must not be entered into external AI systems where confidentiality cannot be assured. ICMJE's January 2026 recommendations specifically address responsible AI use by authors, reviewers, and editors, while Scopus recommends that journals maintain a dedicated and transparent GenAI policy.

15. Editorial Board Management

The journal maintains an Editorial Board comprising qualified scholars and professionals with relevant expertise. Editorial Board members are expected to contribute to the journal's academic development, assist with peer review and editorial decisions where appropriate, maintain confidentiality, disclose conflicts of interest, and uphold publication-ethics standards.

The journal seeks appropriate subject expertise and geographical diversity within its editorial and reviewer networks. Scopus selection criteria consider the strength of editorial policy and the geographical distribution of editors and authors among other factors.

16. Transparency and Journal Standards

The Journal of Cost Management maintains publicly accessible information regarding its aims and scope, peer-review process, publication frequency, editorial policies, publication ethics, copyright, APCs, and submission requirements.

Clear and publicly available peer-review and publication-ethics policies are important elements of Scopus journal evaluation. Scopus also considers academic contribution, quality and conformity with the stated aims and scope, readability, publication regularity, online availability, and editorial policy when evaluating journals.

17. Commitment to Continuous Improvement

The Editorial Office periodically reviews its policies and procedures to identify opportunities for improving peer review, editorial efficiency, publication quality, author support, ethical oversight, and the overall scholarly experience.

The Journal of Cost Management is committed to maintaining an editorial environment that is fair, transparent, academically independent, ethically responsible, and supportive of high-quality scholarly communication.