Journal Policies

 

  1. Commitment to Quality Over Quantity

The Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research is fundamentally committed to publishing impactful research, prioritising quality over volume. Our selection process is highly rigorous and selective, ensuring that only manuscripts of the highest scientific merit, originality, and relevance are accepted. This selective approach guarantees that every article published adds significant value to the fields of agriculture, thereby maintaining the journal’s high academic standing and strong citation performance.

Volume Constraints:

  1. The journal commits to publishing a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 articles per regular issue.
  2. In the unexpected event that the total number of accepted, quality manuscripts fall below the minimum requirement of five, the journal will proceed with publication and include an explanatory note to inform readers of the situation.
  3. Special Issues: Special issues are optional and, when published, will contain a maximum of 10 articles (and a minimum of 5 articles).

2. Revenue Sources and Business Model

To ensure full transparency regarding the financial operations of the Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research, our revenue model is outlined below. The journal operates on a pure Open Access model, meaning all published content is freely available immediately upon publication.

  1. Primary and Sole Revenue Source (Article Processing Charges - APCs): The journal is entirely sustained by Article Processing Charges (APCs) paid upon the acceptance of a manuscript. This fee covers all costs associated with the publication process, including peer review management, professional copyediting, typesetting, online hosting, and permanent digital archiving.
  2. No Institutional Support or Other Funding: TOJAR does not receive any grants, institutional subsidies, subscriptions, advertising revenue, or other forms of external funding.
  3. Waiver Policy: No waivers or discounts on the Article Processing Charge are offered. The APC is the only mechanism for sustaining the journal's operation.
  4. All editorial decisions regarding manuscript acceptance or rejection are based solely on the scientific merit, originality, and relevance of the research. The obligation for APC payment begins only after a manuscript has been formally accepted following peer review. The payment status has absolutely no influence on the editorial decision-making process.

3. Advertising Policy

The Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research maintains a strict commitment to editorial independence and does not participate in any commercial activities. TOJAR does not accept, display, or promote any form of paid advertisement, banner, or sponsored content on its website or within its published material. This policy ensures the complete separation of administrative and editorial functions and guarantees that editorial decisions and content are influenced solely by academic merit.

4. Direct Marketing Policy

The Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research is committed to conducting all direct marketing and solicitation activities ethically, professionally, and transparently.

  1. Appropriate and Targeted Solicitation: Any direct marketing efforts, including calls for papers, special issue solicitations, or invitations for reviewer recruitment, are appropriate, well-targeted, and unobtrusive. We utilise professional contact lists and communicate primarily with scholars known to be active in the fields of agriculture.
  2. Truthful Information: All information provided in marketing materials, including statistics on indexing status, peer review timelines, publication speed, and the journal's scope and affiliation, is guaranteed to be truthful, accurate, and not misleading to readers, authors, or any other stakeholder.
  3. Privacy and Consent: All marketing communications are sent only to individuals who have consented to receive such information, in full compliance with relevant data protection and privacy regulations.

5. Manuscript Withdrawal Policy

The Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research invests significant resources into the peer review and technical processing of every manuscript. To maintain the integrity of the scholarly record, the journal adheres to the following withdrawal policy:

  1. Pre-Publication Withdrawal: Authors may request to withdraw their manuscript at any stage prior to the final approval of the Galley Proof. Such requests must be submitted in writing and signed by all contributing authors.
  2. Post-Approval and Archival Restrictions: Once the authors have approved the Galley Proof, the manuscript is considered finalised for publication. At this stage, the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is assigned, and the metadata is prepared for deposit into international repositories, including Zenodo.
  3. Mandatory Record: If a withdrawal is requested after the Galley Proof has been approved and the DOI assigned, the manuscript cannot be simply removed.
  4. Withdrawal Notice: Because the record has been deposited in permanent databases like Zenodo, a formal Withdrawal Notice will be issued. This notice will be permanently linked to the DOI to explain that the article was withdrawn at the authors' request after the archival process had commenced.

6. Editorial Withdrawal for Non-Compliance

The Editorial Board reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the workflow if it fails to meet mandatory standards, including:

  1. Originality: Manuscripts falling below the 80% originality threshold (calculated via high AI-detection or similarity scores).
  2. Ethics: Discovery of ethical breaches, duplicate submissions, or undeclared conflicts of interest.
  3. Non-Responsiveness: Failure to respond to editorial queries or revision deadlines within the stipulated timeframe.

7. Administrative Implications

Authors should be aware that a formal Withdrawal Notice in a DOI database is a permanent public record. We strongly advise authors to ensure all data, authorship details, and institutional approvals are correct before approving the Galley Proof to avoid the necessity of such a notice.

8. Production Deadlines & Rescheduling Penalties

To ensure the timely release of each issue, authors must adhere strictly to production timelines.

  1. Galley Proof Deadline: Authors are required to return their corrected galley proofs by the deadline specified in the production notice, usually 48 hours.
  2. Rescheduling Penalty: If an author fails to return their galley proof on time and consequently misses the issue for which their article was scheduled, a penalty fee of 50% of the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be applied.
  3. Requirement for Rescheduling: This penalty must be settled in full before the manuscript can be rescheduled for publication in a subsequent issue

9. Policy Against Bulk and Third-Party Submissions

  1. Policy Overview: To ensure the integrity of the peer-review process and the authenticity of authorship, the Torkwase Journal of Agricultural Research strictly prohibits bulk submissions and submissions made by third-party agencies or "paper mills."
  2. Individual Authorship: All manuscripts must be submitted personally by one of the authors of the paper through the journal’s official Open Journal Systems (OJS) portal. Submissions by agents, representatives, or third-party services on behalf of authors are not permitted.
  3. Prohibition of Bulk Submissions: IJIS does not accept "clusters" or "bulk" submissions of multiple papers from a single project, institution, or coordinator in a manner that bypasses the standard individual submission workflow.
  4. Special Issues: The journal does not currently accept proposals for guest-edited Special Issues or dedicated sections. Any exceptions to this are initiated solely by the Editorial Board.
  5. Verification: The Editorial Office reserves the right to reject any submission that appears to have been handled by a third-party service or does not originate from the author’s own verified account.

LAST UPDATED: January 25, 2026