About the Journal | Innovative Technology and Management Journal

Focus and Scope

The INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT JOURNAL (ITMJ) is a peer-reviewed publication of the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), Tacloban City, Philippines. It is open to the global community of scholars who wish to have their researches published. Its official email address is itmj@evsu.edu.ph. The frequency of issue is once a year.

The efficiency and effectiveness of the editorial review process are critically dependent upon the actions of both the research authors and the reviewers. An author accepts the responsibility of preparing the research paper for evaluation by independent reviewers. The responsibility includes subjecting the manuscript to evaluation by peers and revising it prior to submission. The review process is not to be used as a means of obtaining feedback at early stages of developing the research paper.

Aim and Scope

The Innovative Technology and Management Journal (ITMJ) publishes research articles and review of research literatures (RRL) in the fields of technology innovation, engineering, sciences, educational management, curriculum development and innovations, food and fisheries technology, management and entrepreneurship. It is published annually.

All submissions should be in the English language. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been previously published nor it is under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts should be submitted in the ITMJ online journal system and in Microsoft Word.

Policy on Retraction

Retraction is an act of the journal publisher to remove a published article from the digital file due to post publication discovery of fraudulent claims by the research, plagiarism or serious errors of methodology which escaped detection in the quality assurance process. Complaints by third party researchers on any of the grounds and validated by the editorial office trigger the retraction but only after the writer has been notified and allowed to present his side in compliance to due process.

Policy on Digital Preservation

Digital Preservation is the process of storing systematically electronic files in multiple formats such as cloud computing, Google drive, email accounts, external hard drives, among others. This is to guarantee that in conditions where the website crashes, there is natural calamity, fire and other man made destructions, virus invasions, the files are preserved.

Policy on Archiving of Digital Copies

The final digital copies of the journal shall be deposited at itmj@evsu.edu.ph. The Managing Editor shall send copies of the journal to this email. This email shall be the main source of copies to be sent to indexing companies.

Policy on Handling Complaints

If the Journal receives a complaint that any contribution to the Journal infringes copyright or other intellectual property rights or contains material inaccuracies, libellous materials or otherwise unlawful materials, the Journal will investigate the compliant. Investigation may include a request that the parties involved substantiate their claims. The Journal will make a good faith distribution whether to remove the allegedly wrongful material. A decision not to remove material should represent the Journal’s belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation, or if well- founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use in the case of copyright infringement or truthfulness of a statement in the case of libel. Journal should document its investigation and decision If found guilty after investigation, the article shall be subject to retraction policy.

Policy on Use of Human Subjects in Research

The Journal will only publish research articles involving human subject after the author (s) have verified that they have followed all laws and regulations concerning the protections afforded human subjects in research studies within the jurisdiction in which a research study they describe was conducted. The research protocol must have been approved by the appropriate institutional review board (IRB). In the case of exempt research, the IRB must have deemed the research protocol exempt. A certificate of approval by the IRB must be submitted along with the manuscript.

Policy on Conflicts of Interest

The Journal will only publish articles after the authors (s) have confirmed that they have disclosed all potential conflicts of interest.

Publication Ethics and Publications Malpractice

The Journal is committed to uphold the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractice. All authors submitting their works for publication as original articles attest that the submitted works represent their author’s contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. The authors acknowledge that they have disclosed all and any actual or potential conflicts of interest with their work or partial benefits associated with it. Further, the Journal is committed to objective and fair double- blind peer- review of the submitted manuscripts for publication and to prevent any actual or potential conflict of interest between the editorial and review personnel and the reviewed material. Any departures from the above-defined rules should be reported directly to the Editor- in-Chief who is unequivocally committed to providing swift resolutions to any of such type of problems.

Reviewers and editors are responsible for providing constructive and prompt evaluation of submitted research papers based on the significance of their contribution and in the rigors of analysis and presentation.

Publication of article is free of charge. Local subscription is Php 450.00/issue. Foreign subscription is US$25/issue.

The Peer Review System

Definition. Peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given (and often narrowly defined) field who are qualified and able to perform impartial review. Peer review refers to the work done during the screening of submitted manuscripts and funding applications. This normative process encourages authors to meet the accepted standards of their discipline and prevents the dissemination of unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations and personal views. Peer review increases the probability that weaknesses will be identified, and, with advice and encouragement, fixed. For both grant- funding and publication in a scholarly journal, it is also normally a requirement that the subject is both novel and substantial.

Type. The double-blind review process is adopted for the journal. The reviewers (s) and the author/s is do not know each other’s identity.

Recruiting Referees. The task of picking reviewers is the responsibility of the editorial board. When a manuscript arrives, an editor solicits reviews from scholars or other experts to referee to the manuscript. In some cases, the authors may suggest the referees’ names subject to the Editorial Board’s approval. The referees must have an excellent track record as researchers in the field as evidenced by researchers published in refereed journals, research- related awards, and an experience in peer review. Referees are not selected from among the author’s close colleagues, students , or friends. The editorial Board often invites research author to name people whom they considered qualified to referee their work. The author’s input in selecting referees is solicited because academic writing typically is very specialized.

The identities of the referees selected by the Editorial Board are kept unknown to research authors. However, the reviewer’s identity can be disclosed under some special circumstances. Disclosure of Peer Review can be granted under the following grounds as evidence to prove that the published paper underwent peer review as required by the University for ranking and financial incentives, for regulatory bodies such as the Commission on Higher Education, NBC Zonal Center, among others. Request for peer review results shall be made in writing.

Peer Review Process. The Editorial Board sends advance copies of an author’s work to experts in the field (known as ‘’referees’’ or ‘’reviewers’’) through e-mail or a Web-based manuscript processing system. There are three referees for a given article. One is an expert of the topic of research and member of the Editorial Board. The two other referees are non-editorial board members but are experts in a particular field. The referees return to the board the evaluation of the work that indicates the observed weakness or problems along with suggestions for improvement. The board then evaluates the referees’ comments and notes opinion of the manuscript before passing the decision with the referees’ comments back to the author(s).

Criteria for Acceptance and Rejection. A manuscript is accepted when it is (1) endorsed for publication by 2 or 3 referees,(2) the instructions of the reviewers are substantially complied; (3) ethical standards and protocols are complied for studies involving humans and animals; and (4) the manuscript passed the plagiarism detection test with a score of at least 80 for originality, otherwise the manuscript is rejected. The referees’ evaluations include an explicit recommendation of what to do with the manuscript, chosen from options provided by the journal. Most recommendations are along the following lines:

Unconditional acceptance
Acceptance with revision based on the referee’ recommendations
Rejection with invitation to resubmit upon major revision based on the referees’ and editorial board’s recommendations.
Outright rejection

In situations where the referees disagree substantially about the quality of a work, there are a number of strategies for reaching a decision. When the editor receives very positive and very negative reviews for the manuscript, the board may invite authors more additional reviews as a tie-breaker. In the case of ties, the board may invite authors to reply to a referees’ criticism and permit a compelling rebuttal to break the tie. If the editor does not feel confident to weigh the persuasiveness of a rebuttal, the board may solicit a response from the referee who made the original criticism. In rare instance, the board will convey communications back and forth between an author and a referee, in effect allowing them to debate on a point. Even in such a case, however, the board does not allow referees to confer with each other and the goal of the process in explicitly not to reach a consensus or to convince anyone to change his/her opinions.

Comments

The Innovative Technology and Management Journal welcomes submission of comments on previous articles. Comments on articles previously published in the journal will generally be reviewed by two reviewers, usually an author of the original article ( to assist the editor in evaluating whether the submitted comment represents the prior article’s accuracy) and an independent reviewer. If a comment is accepted for publication, the original author will be invited to reply. All other editorial requirements, as enumerated above, apply to proposed comments.

Technology-based Quality Assurance

Plagiarism Detection. Contributors are advised to use software for plagiarism detection to increase the manuscript’s chances of acceptance. The editorial office uses licensed software such as Turnitin plagiarism detection service.

Appropriateness of Citation Format. Contributors are advised to use the American Psychological Association (APA) style manual (7th edition).

Word Count, Spelling and Grammar Checks. Contributors are encouraged to perform word count for the abstract (250) and the full text (6500-7000 words). Spelling and grammar checks should be performed prior to submission.

Peer Review Process

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.