Journals: Publications Oﬃce Report
October 2023–March 2024
Prepared by Nick Potts and Ken Camiling for the International Academic Board (IAB)Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

JOURNALS: PUBLICATIONS OFFICE REPORT
October 2023–March 2024
Prepared for the International Academic Board
Nick Potts, Publications ManagerKen Camiling, Publications AssistantIn the past six months, the IAFOR Publications Office has published four issues across its
five journals, signifying what the Office regards as a period of success. A total of 528 article
submissions were received from authors in 73 countries. A graph containing the number ofreceived and published submissions can be found in the Appendices of this report.

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Citation counts have been increasing consistently across the board, a positive sign forupcoming publications. While certain challenges and limitations emerge, the IAFOR
Publications Office continues to keep up with the international standards within the academy.
Several steps have been taken to maintain adherence to such standards, including anapplication for indexing in additional databases (i.e. Clarivate’s Web of Science) andincreasing stringency in the screening of submissions, in pursuit of maintaining
internationality and diversity among accepted contributions. The Office has also updated
journal homepages to align policies and guidelines, and to meet the recent and evolving
ethical challenges that artificial intelligence and plagiarism bring. For example, the maximum
plagiarism score accepted was decreased to 15%. In addition, all submissions will be run
through an AI-Generation Checker, setting 15% as the maximum allowable percentage ofAI-generated content. Also posted on the journal homepage is the IAFOR’s Statement on AI
Tools and Authorship, as referred from the Position Statement of the Committee onPublication Ethics (COPE). Documents containing the guidelines can also be downloaded
from the journal homepages.

The following section provides a detailed review of each IAFOR journal’s performance andtrajectory over the past six months. It also includes data from the CrossRef Resolution
Report. A resolution refers to a successful redirection of an Internet user to a clicked DOI
link of a journal article. In general, the IAFOR Journals registered a good and steady numberof resolutions within the scope of this report. A consolidated resolution report can be found inthe Appendices.

Diagram 1. IAFOR Journals Resolution Report2

Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Within the scope of this report, the IAFOR Journal of Education published one issue –‘Studies in Education’ (Volume 11 Issue 3) in December 2023. The issue received 107 article
submissions resulting in a 9.3% acceptance rate. Dr Pearl Subban from Monash University,
Journal Editor, assembled a diverse group of articles that share the common theme ofinclusive education, an emerging advocacy in the field. Selected authors hail from various
countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the North American continent; their inclusion offers adiverse range of perspectives on interesting subjects as well as case studies with varying
demographics.

rThe current issue will no doubt contribute to the continuing positive performance of theJournal in world databases, particularly, Scopus. As of this report, the title has now received
338 Scopus citations, up from the 278 reported last year. It will significantly climb theCiteScore rankings when these are calculated in the summer of 2024, likely advancing wellinto the top half of the 1469 Education journals in the Scopus database. The journal also
performed impressively on the ERIC Education Database in 2023, with 44,000 views andmore than 22,000 paper downloads. Additionally, the title is currently under evaluation for theWeb of Science Core Collection.

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The Journal also returned excellent successful resolutions in the past five months.

Diagram 2. Journal of Education Resolution ReportThree issues are scheduled to be published in 2024: the first, ‘Language Learning inEducation’ (Volume 12 Issue 1) in May; the second, ‘Technology in Education’ (Volume 12Issue 2) in August; and the third, ‘Studies in Education’ (Volume 12 Issue 3) in December.
Journal Editors Dr Melinda Cowart from Texas Woman’s University (‘Language Learning inEducation’), Dr Michael Menchaca from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (‘Technology inEducation’), and Dr Pearl Subban (‘Studies in Education’) will continue to lead the editorial
board along with existing and newly recruited reviewers from across the globe
The IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies
The IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies published one issue, Volume 8 Issue 2, in December
2023. 175 articles were submitted, one of the highest in the Journal’s history. Editor-in-Chief3

Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

Dr Holger Briel from Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University UnitedInternational College selected five articles, contributing to a 2.9% acceptance rate. Hailingfrom diverse geographical backgrounds, as Dr Briel described, the authors share a common
theme of expounding on the crises humanity has been experiencing in the new age and how
the seemingly lost ideological liberties are being revived through the empowerment ofself-expression. This current issue contributed to the Journal’s 47 papers indexed onScopus. As of this report, the Journal’s citation count continues to climb. Like the IAFOR
Journal of Education, this title is also under evaluation for the Web of Science CoreCollection.

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Earlier this year, the Journal set a high record of resolutions. It is hoped that the numbers will
increase with the addition of new titles in upcoming publications.

Diagram 3. Journal of Cultural Studies Resolution ReportiaThis year, the Journal will publish two issues: the first, Volume 9 Issue 1 (July), and thesecond, Volume 9 Issue 2 (December). Dr Briel will continue to serve as the Head of theeditorial board, alongside Andy Lihua Chen from Hong Kong Baptist University as theAssociate Editor.
The IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities

In the scope of this report, the IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities has yet to publish anissue. The last publication, Volume 10 Issue 1, was published in August 2023.
Editor-in-Chief Dr Alfonso J. García-Osuna from Hofstra University and the City University of
New York curated 12 articles for the issue, covering a wide variety of topics that explore newdirections and perspectives in the arts and humanities, with a particular focus on theemergence of new technologies. Dr García-Osuna revealed that the articles convey in-depth
analyses of past and present humanistic endeavours, in pursuit of envisaging the contours ofthe future. The issue received 142 submissions and returned an 8.5% acceptance rate.
While the resolutions for the Journal decreased in the past month, the numbers significantly
increased in the succeeding.

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Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

Diagram 4. Journal of Arts & Humanities Resolution ReportrThe title failed in its recent evaluation for the Web of Science Core Collection and will
reapply at a future date. The failure is attributed to not meeting the following criteria:fo

1. On Timeliness and/or Publication Volume: The journal must conform to the statedschedule. The volume of scholarly works published annually is expected to be within
ranges appropriate to the subject area.
2. On Publication Volume: The publication volume is not in line with similar journals
covering this subject area.
To address these concerns, the Publications Office is coordinating with the Journal’s editorial
board to ensure that forthcoming issues include an acceptable volume and will be publishedon schedule.

iaThis year, two issues are in order: the first, Volume 11 Issue 1 (August), and the second,
Volume 11 Issue 2 (November). Dr García-Osuna will continue to lead the editorial board,collaborating with esteemed academics in the Journal’s list of reviewers.
The IAFOR Journal of Literature & LibrarianshipIn the past six months, the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship has published one
issue, Volume 12 Issue 2, in November 2023. Editor-in-Chief Dr Bernard Montoneri, an
independent researcher from Taiwan, assembled eight articles from authors coming fromdiverse geographical backgrounds, offering comprehensive and critical reviews andanalyses of interesting literature. A total of 64 submissions were received for this issue,
returning an acceptance rate of 12.5%. The citation count for the Journal in the Scopus
database has tripled in the last three years, with a total count of 16 as of this report.

Until early this year, the Journal’s resolution numbers constantly increased. It is hoped thatthe dip shown in March will be improved once the new issue is published.

5Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

Diagram 5. Journal of Literature & Librarianship Resolution ReportrThe title failed in its recent evaluation for the Web of Science Core Collection and will
reapply at a future date. The failure is attributed to not meeting the following criteria:iafo

1. On Timeliness and/or Publication Volume: The journal must conform to the statedschedule. The volume of scholarly works published annually is expected to be within
ranges appropriate to the subject area.
2. On Presence of Ethics Statements: The journal must be transparent about its ethicalrequirements for authors and published works.
3. On Timeliness: The journal claims to publish one issue per year, but two issues havebeen published in 2023. The publication frequency must be clearly stated on thejournal website, and the journal must follow the stated publication schedule. The
journal states that it started publishing in 2021 (as stated on the submission portal),
however, from the archive it seems that it started in 2017.
4. On Presence of Ethics Statements: Specific policies regarding authorship,
retractions, corrections, and publishing malpractices are also expected to be presenton the journal website. If the journal supports and uses one or more third-party
organisations’ principles (WAME, COPE, Declaration of Helsinki, etc.), either the fulltext of the guidelines should be presented and appropriately credited to the source,or a functioning link to the full text of the guideline should be provided.

To address these concerns, the Publications Office is in coordination with the Journal’s
editorial board for the review and revision of the Journal’s ethics statements and otherinformation posted on the website (e.g. publication frequency and history). In addition, theOffice aims to publish the forthcoming issues on schedule with a volume within the ranges
appropriate in the field.
The Journal is set to publish two issues this year: the first, Volume 13 Issue 1 (August), andthe second, Volume 13 Issue 2 (November). Dr Montoneri will continue to serve as theEditor-in-Chief, alongside Co-Editor Dr Michaela Keck from Carl von Ossietzky University ofOldenburg and Associate Editors Dr Murielle El Hajj from Lusail University and Dr Fernando
Darío González Grueso from Tamkang University.

The IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral SciencesAlbeit delayed for three months due to circumstances such as health issues and schedule6

Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

constraints of a few members of the editorial board, the IAFOR Journal of Psychology & theBehavioral Sciences published one issue, Volume 9 Issue 2, in March 2024. Editors Dr
Deborah Gay Wooldridge from Bowling Green State University, Dr Laura Landry Meyer fromBowling Green State University, and Dr Shahrokh Shafaie from Southeast Missouri State
University curated four articles that present in-depth investigations and applications ofpsychological theories on education and mental health contexts. The issue returned anacceptance rate of 10.3% from a total of 39 submissions.

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The Journal’s resolution numbers increased significantly earlier this year. While the numbers
dipped last month, the Journal picked up and recorded a high number of resolutions.

Diagram 6. Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences Resolution Reportia

After careful evaluation of the Journal’s performance in previous issues, the IAFOR
Publications Committee, in consultation with the International Academic Board (IAB),
decided to put this Journal on an indefinite hiatus. The Journal’s suspension will allow theorganisation to rethink future directions and initiatives on how to further strengthen thecontribution of the Journal in the field.

7Journals: Publications Office Report | October 2023–March 2024

Appendicesiafor

Diagram 7. IAFOR Journals Consolidated Resolution Report

Diagram 8. IAFOR Journals Articles Received and Published8