Focus and Scope
The Journal of Science and Technology (JUST) aims principally at publishing articles resulting from original research whether pure or applied in the various aspects of academic endeavour broadly classified as Science (physical, biological and chemical), humanities and technology. It aims at serving the academic community.
Peer Review Process
The Editorial Committee first preliminarily reviews each paper and if the general guidelines are satisfied, it is sent to two (2) reviewers/assessors. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editors make final decision.
Publication Frequency
We publish between 8 and 10 research articles every quarter (March, June, September and December)
Subscription Fee
Our journal charges no subscription fee
Policies
Publication Ethics Policy
JUST upholds the highest ethical standards in publishing. JUST will not publish any article that has been plagiarized or submitted simultaneously to other journal (s). Also, manuscripts with fabricated data or authorship issues will not be published. All research involving human and animal subjects must be approved by the relevant institutional review board or ethic committee.
Editorial Board Policy
The editorial board includes the editor-in-chief and editors who have specialized expertise in science, humanities and technology. The editorial board sets the journal policies and ensures that the highest standards of publication quality are met. Articles are published based on academic merit and not influenced by author’s affiliation or potential commercial value of the article. Editorial decisions, concerns and complaints are addressed exclusively by the editorial board. Editorial decision-making is kept separate from any commercial and political interests. JUST also requires authors and reviewers to disclose any conflicts of interest that may be relevant to the article.
Open Access Policy
JUST is an open-access journal and is freely available to readers without any subscription or payments. JUST encourages the use of Creative Commons Licenses, and allows distribution, remix and replication so long as proper attribution is given to the original work.
Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy
JUST encourage authors to share or make available any data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper. Please note that data should only be shared if it is ethically correct to do so, where this does not violate the protection of human /animal subjects, or other valid ethical, privacy, or security concerns.
Authors are advised to deposit data in a recognized data repository that can mint a persistent digital identifier, such as a digital object identifier (DOI), and recognizes a long-term preservation plan.
Authors are encouraged to provide a data availability statement, detailing where data associated with a paper can be found and how it can be accessed. The DAS should be submitted within the article manuscript, before the ‘References’ section. If data cannot be made open, authors should state why in the data availability statement.
JUST recognize data as important, citable products of research, and that data citations should be both understandable by humans and machine-readable.
Authors are expected to cite any datasets in the body of the article, with a corresponding reference in the reference list.
Peer Review Policy
The Editorial board first evaluates all submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Those that meet the minimum criteria are normally passed on to at least two expert referees for reviewing.
All manuscripts are subject to peer review. These reviewers ensure the accuracy, currency and relevance of papers and their comments aid the Editor-in-Chief in deciding on the acceptability or otherwise of submitted manuscripts. Based on their review, authors may be required to make alterations to their papers before final acceptance.
The time required for the review process is dependent on the response of the referees. The typical time for the first round of the refereeing process is approximately 6 weeks.
Manuscript/Article Corrections Policy
Authors are encouraged to report errors in their articles regarding the accuracy of published information where the interpretation of the article may be impacted but the scholarly integrity or original findings remains intact. Only errors that impact the article significantly will be considered Corrections are made at the journal’s discretion. The correction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article. Corrections will be published under corrections and addendum in a later issue of the journal.
Manuscript/Article Retraction Policy
The article may be retracted because of scientific misconduct or a major error such as multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, or fraudulent use of data. A signed statement from the concerned authors/individuals will be required to be submitted before an article can be retracted. Agreement of all authors of a paper is required before a retraction can be published. The decision will follow a full investigation by JUST editorial team. A notice of retraction will be published and linked to the original article clearly marked as retracted. The notice will also include the reason for the retraction and who is retracting the article. The original article will not be removed from online or print versions of the journal but will be identified as a retracted article. Retractions will also be listed on the contents page.
Manuscript/Article Withdrawal Policy
Articles can be withdrawn by the authors only for the most compelling and unavoidable reasons, after submitting a letter signed by all the authors of the article to the editorial office stating the reason for article withdrawal. Authors must not assume that their article has been withdrawn until they have received appropriate notification to this effect from the editorial office.
Article removal Policy
An Article Removal will be issued in rare circumstances where the problems cannot be addressed through a Retraction or Correction notice. JUST will consider removal of a published article in very limited circumstances where: the article contains content that could pose a serious risk of harm if acted upon or
followed, the article contains content which violates the rights to privacy of a study participant, article is defamatory or infringes other legal rights or article is subject to a court order.
Conflict of Interest Policy
A conflict of interest is any influence on an investigator, author, reviewer, or editor that could sway his or her judgment or decisions concerning the investigators or author’s research, such as the valid reporting of data or its analysis or interpretation. Potential conflict of interests include: professional or financial gain; personal or academic relationships or competition; religious, philosophical, or political beliefs; or any factor that prevents the independent preparation or publishing of a manuscript.
Authors are responsible for reporting any potential or actual conflict of interest upon first submission of a manuscript, with appropriate changes as appropriate in further revisions, if appropriate.
A conflict-of-interest statement should include all sources of financial support (for example, sponsors, and grant numbers) other support for the study (such as collecting, analyzing, or interpreting data), writing or revising the manuscript, or any factor that limited (or will limit in the future) the investigators’ full access to the data and its analysis.
Copyright and licensing policy
Authors publishing in the JUST transfer copyright to the journal. Author (s) are not allowed to reuse or reproduce any copyright material published in the JUST unless explicit permission from the journal is received and granted to reproduce the material under creative commons attribution license. In case of articles derived from commissioned work or external sponsors, copyright will be based on the terms of contract or through negotiation. Where necessary authors are encouraged to apply creative common licenses to articles submitted to JUST.
Archiving and indexing
The JUST requires that full metadata is provided. Also, statements relating to conflicts of interest or ethical issues should be provided. Articles published in JUST are indexed in the KNUST-space and in international bibliographic databases specifically AJOAL.
JUST supports and encourages a self-archiving process. Authors are encouraged to self-archive their manuscript in personal or institutional websites or repositories before (preprint) and after publication of their manuscripts. Authors are however, required to acknowledge the published source with citations, and link the final published articles via its Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Authorship Policy
Manuscripts published in JUST follow specific authorship criteria. Authorship criteria for manuscripts should include contribution to the article e.g. conception of the idea, design or data analysis or critical review. Authors should provide approval for the manuscript and will be held responsible for their individual or collective contribution to the article. Role of experts and sponsors should be properly acknowledged by the authors. Disputes arriving from issues relating to authorship shall be resolved by the journal editorial board in consultation with the authors. Corresponding authors should be clearly specified. Contributions by artificial intelligence (AI) should be clearly declared.
Social Media Policy
JUST takes quality and accuracy very seriously in all our publications, and that includes our social media output.
We use social media to highlight publications, events, and other news about JUST and to highlight interesting developments elsewhere in the disciplines we publish for those who follow our channels.
JUST currently has presence on the following social media platform
· X (formerly Twitter)
1. When posting about our own content, events or other news, our social media team check that we are representing those things accurately.
2. When Retweeting or otherwise amplifying content originally posted by others, we fact check that content before posting using the following guidelines:
· Review who or which organization created the original content. Are they academically or journalistically credible? Review their timeline and background to confirm. Are they writing in an area in which they have specific expertise?
· Identify the facts in the original content and verify them. Consider not just the narrow facts but the context in which the facts are being used to ensure the facts are not being distorted or are otherwise creating a message that is misleading.
· Review if the content is referencing another document or other source. If it is, go to the source and make sure the content reflects what is there. If the document or source is not published by JUST and is available to subscribers only, do not amplify the content as readers may not be able to access that document or source themselves.
· If quoting another person or organization, ensure that the quote is identified by quotation marks and that readers can track back to the original source of the quote.
If we make an error, we aim to correct that error as quickly as possible, and if appropriate to remove our posting. We are committed to continuously improving all our processes and welcome feedback both on our social media content and on this policy.
The Secretary
JUST Secretariat
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Kumasi, Ghana
Phone: +233 (0)3221 90720
Email: knustjournal@gmail.com / just@knust.edu.gh
