1.0 PUBLISHING POLICIES
The International Journal of Business Insights and Transformation (IJBIT) is governed by the following policy guidelines as recommended by the members of IJBIT Editorial and Advisory Board:

• Peer-review policy
• Fees for manuscript review and publication
• Access to journal
• Copyrights, author rights, responsibilities and entitlements.
• Archiving.
• Usage rights of subscribers
• Retraction and correction

1.1 Peer Review
IJBIT follows a double-blind peer review system, wherein the names of the authors and reviewers' identity are not disclosed. Information pertaining to a submitted manuscript is treated as confidential and not shared outside of the journal. The peer review process takes approximately a minimum of 16-20 weeks' time. Various steps followed in the peer review system are discussed below:

Step 1: Submission and Acknowledgement to the Author: As soon as the manuscript is submitted by the authors, acknowledgement is sent to the author. A reference number is assigned to the manuscript for tracking and further correspondence to be done by the author(s). Possible rejection is given at this stage, if the editor feels that the manuscript fails to achieve journal's objective.

Step 2: Choose Reviewers: Once the acknowledgement is sent to the authors and the manuscript passes through step 1, the editor will assign two reviewers to the manuscript and will send the article to these reviewers along with "Manuscript Evaluation Form (MEF)". The names of reviewers are confidential and not shared.

Step 3: Receiving Reviewers Comments on the Manuscript: After careful review, the reviewers will send their comments on the manuscript along with the MEF. The editor then issues a letter of gratitude to the reviewers.

Step 4: Decision on the Manuscript: Editor will then communicate the decision on the manuscript as given by the reviewers. This decision falls under three categories;

• Reject: Manuscript is rejected with a copy of the reviewers' comments. A single negative review, with which the editor agrees, is sufficient to recommend rejection. Revise: In some cases, reviewers ask for some modification in the manuscript, in such cases the editor will call for revision of the paper in the light of reviewers' comments. Acceptance of the paper is only possible if these revisions are properly done. Once the revised article is received and the same is accepted by the editor, a copyright form will be sent to the author.
• Accept: The editor accepts the manuscript with the copy of reviewers' comments. The author is also required to fill the copyright form and send it to the editor.

1.2 Fees for manuscript review and publication
All research papers are reviewed (manuscript) and published free of any charges to author(s).
Authors are provided with a soft copy of their published paper in pdf format. A print copy is also mailed to them at no cost to them. However, the demand for the additional copy by both the existing and new customer(s)/author(s) will be charged as per applicable price at the time of request.

1.3 Access to Journal

• For customers/readers (Institutions / Individual) the print copies are made available to them through annual subscription fee.
• The full text of papers published in the journal can be accessed through EBSCO and ProQuest databases.
• For authors, the copy in print of the journal issue in which their research papers are published is couriered to them.

1.3.1 Abstract:
The introduction usually describes the theoretical background, indicates why the work is important, states a specific research question, and poses a specific hypothesis to be tested. This section should provide statement of purpose and rationale.
The abstracts should be in 200-300 words. Regardless of the type of manuscript, abstracts must be structured using the following sections:

• Purpose: The Purpose section must include a concise statement of the specific purposes, questions addressed, and/or hypotheses tested.
• Method: The Method section must describe characteristics and numbers of participants and provide information related to the design of the study If the article is not data-based, information should be provided on the methods used to collect.
• Results: The Results section should cover very concisely the findings as they apply directly to the objective of the research paper.
• Conclusions: The Conclusions section must state specifically the extent to which the stated purposes of the article have been met.

1.4 Copyrights, author rights, responsibilities and entitlements
A research paper without author's original work will not be accepted by IJBIT. In addition, research paper published before or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere will not be accepted for even for review and publishing thereafter. The paper should not contain any unlawful statements or in any way infringe the rights of others. The author must be the owner of the copyright and be entitled to sign the Author Copyright Agreement with the publisher.
The transfer of copyright is standard practice followed in journal publishing. This enables us, as the publisher, to negotiate subsidiary licences to database aggregators and document supply companies, and allows permissions to reproduce articles in books, course packs and electronic reserve. In the event, an article is accepted for publication, author should fill-in "Author Declaration Form (ADF)" duly signed by corresponding author and the co-authors. ADF corresponds to declaration of the original work done by author (s) and the copyrights. In ADF we ask authors of articles accepted for publication to sign for assigning assigning/transferring copyrights to IJBIT. About research paper with multiple authors/contributors we expect a "Corresponding Author" to be responsible for getting the signatures of all the contributors on the ADF.
IJBIT is committed to maintain standards of publishing, based on double-blind peer review process. IJBITs ensure the widest possible access to the articles that we publish, to enhance the reputation of the author, the journal, its Editor and Editorial Board.
The transfer of copyrights to IJBIT enable us to defend and enforce authors' rights against plagiarism, copyright infringement, unauthorised use and breach of authors' moral rights.
IJBIT allows authors (s) to use their research paper(p) for non-commercial purposes giving reference of IJBIT (Volume, Issue and date). In all cases, acknowledgement in the form of a full citation must be given to the journal as the original source of publication.

1.5 Archiving
The research papers published in IJBIT are being archived by us using the facilities available with us. We have been using the services of ITM Business School's, Navi Mumbai library. We allow archiving and storing of the published papers by volume, issues and authors and by the category of 'Special' Issues.
The IJBIT is committed to the archiving viz the long-term preservation of and access to the scholarly research information published in print form within the IJBIT publication.
The content of the archive will include all IJBIT publication material. Original information content will never be altered, but supplemented by clearly noted errata, references and other developments that occur subsequent to original publication. All the IJBIT issues are available with us in electronic form (soft copy) and any research paper publish in the past issues can be reproduced on demand by subscriber/new customer. The copies of the research papers are available in pdf format for reproduction.
Few sets of each IJBIT print issues are kept aside and preserved separately in ITM Business School's library in Navi Mumbai (India). The Librarian will be the custodian of the IJBIT past issues
The IJBIT will ensure access to the archive of its both print and electronic version of publications to the consumer at subscription price prevailing at the time of an order from the customer. If publication of a journal is terminated, the IJBIT will continue to preserve the journal content for the long term and will charge an appropriate access fee to consumers. In the case that the IJBIT should decide to discontinue its activity as a publisher, the IJBIT will make its best effort to preserve the publication archive for long-term preservation at ITM Business School, library (using the available latest technology) for the user community.
Currently all the research papers published in past issues are available in soft version in pdf format and a copy (soft) of authors paper is made available to author along with a print copy of the entire issue after it is released for distribution. The guidelines for usage rights for various subscribers are as follows;

1.6 Usage rights of active institutional subscribers
Usage rights of active institutional subscribers will be governed by the terms of the agreement in force. A signed copy of the current agreement must be on file. A subscription fee for the current term must also have been paid.

• Usage rights of active individual subscribers: Individual subscriptions are limited to personal use only.
• Usage rights of lapsed subscribers: Subscribers will be able to purchase a print copy of IJBIT at the end of each subscription term. The same usage rights as for active subscribers apply to the use of published material. No additional service is available, after the lapse of subscription.
• Usage rights of nonsubscribers: They will have to pay for purchase of an article or entire issue. Dissemination information packages containing current or back materials will be made available to them at prices applicable at the time of placement of an order.

1.7 Retraction and Correction
IJBIT takes its responsibility to maintain the integrity and completeness of the research papers published in IJBIT for all end users. Changes to articles after they have been published may only be made under the circumstances as follows:-

• The corrected article is not removed from the journal but notice of erratum is given in the subsequent issue. An Erratum, which is a statement by the authors of the original paper that briefly describes any correction(s) resulting from errors or omissions, is made freely available to all readers and is linked to the corrected article.
• IJBIT issues a Retraction notice that the paper should not be regarded as part of the IJBIT Publication, if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable. This can be as a result of misconduct or honest error; if the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper referencing, permission or justification; if the work is plagiarized; or if the work reports unethical research.
• To protect the integrity of the record, the retracted article is not removed from the journal, but notice of retraction is given, is made freely available to all readers, and is linked to the retracted article. Retractions can be published by the authors, when they have discovered substantial scientific errors. However, in other cases, the editor may conclude that retraction is appropriate. IJBIT under such circumstances will confirm the retraction, indicating the reason and party responsible for the decision.
• In the circumstances involving legal infringement, the IJBIT may redact or remove an article. However, bibliographic information about the article will be retained to ensure the integrity of the IJBIT record.
• If the research paper is corrected subsequent to publication, a communication from IJBIT notifies readers that an article has been corrected subsequently. The reasons may typographical or production errors (which are the fault of the Publisher) affect the integrity of the article data (such as title, author list or by subject) or will significantly impact the readers' ability to comprehend the article. The original article is not removed in original printed version of the journal. However, the soft copy with correction(s) is maintained in the records and same is forwarded to any new or old customer if he/she requires. In the communication to customer, same is indicated explicitly mentioning the date that the correction is made is noted on the original article.
• Authors to note that an original article can only be removed and replaced with a corrected version less than one year after the original publication date. Corrections to an article which has a publication date that is older than one year will only be documented in notification by IJBIT.

2. PUBLISHING ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT REQUIREMENTS
To maintain high ethical standards of publication of IJBIT editor strives to work closely with editorial board members, authors and peer-reviewers. IJBIT publishes exclusively unpublished papers. Manuscript reviewing, and publication is free of charge for authors. IJBIT follows the following 'Code of Conduct' in the publishing process:

2.1 Editors' Responsibilities
The editor of a journal holds an important position for all editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted for peer-reviewed process. His responsibilities include:

• Not to disclose any information on submitted manuscripts before publication of the manuscript.
• To maintain the transparency on manuscript receipt, review process and reviewer's feedback to authors. He should maintain all the records and always be willing to publish retractions, rectifications, and erratum when required.
• To assess manuscripts for their quality and intellectual content without any biased decisions based on discrimination of gender, location, or religion of the author(s).
• To conduct plagiarism check before the manuscript is further processed for review.
• To evaluate manuscripts on their academic merit and should be free of any commercial or self-interests.
• To investigate promptly any misconduct in research and manuscript submission and in the peer review process. The issues, if any should be resolved with due diligence.

2.2 Reviewers' Responsibilities

• To providing a detailed and unbiased evaluation in a timely manner on the content of the manuscript.
• To Indicate originality and scientific accuracy content of manuscript.
• To maintaining the confidentiality of the review process.
• To inform the journal editor about any financial or personal conflict of interest and his decision declining to review the manuscript when a possibility of such a conflict exists.
• To inform the editor of any ethical concerns in their evaluation of submitted manuscripts;

2.3 Authors' Responsibilities

• To ensure that all the work reported in the manuscript is original and free from any kind of plagiarism.
• To confirm that by submitting a manuscript the author(s) accept scientific and ethical responsibility (with respect to plagiarism, forgery of data, multiple reporting or publishing identical research results, abuse of authorship, or any other form of academic misdemeanour).
• To ensure the accuracy of the collected data in the manuscript. A paper should contain enough detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. The work should not have been published elsewhere or submitted to any other journal(s) at the same time.
• To acknowledge clearly any potential conflict of interest.
• To acknowledge properly the other's (individual/company/institution) work which is used in the manuscript and permission must be obtained from any content used from other sources.
• The listing of contributors must be clearly done as author (author must ensure he has written entirely original works) and co-author(s). All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. However, the others with less participation in the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper.
• To ensure that there no plagiarism in any form (text, exhibit, tables, figures) is exhibited in manuscript. It is considered as unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
• To ensure that manuscript containing same research work submitted to IJBIT for publication is not submitted to other journals as it constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and it is not acceptable.
• An author should not submit the manuscript for consideration to IJBIT if he/she has submitted the same for consideration or already published in another journal.
• An author(s) should not use the information, which is obtained privately or from unauthorised sources, should not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.