For Publishers

1. For Publishers

ICR Publications works with independent publishers, university presses, scholarly publishing organisations, research institutions, learned societies, and emerging publishing programmes that require professional publishing infrastructure, journal-management support, technology, production services, or collaborative publishing solutions.

We recognise that publishers differ considerably in size, subject coverage, technical capacity, journal portfolio, business model, and strategic objectives. For this reason, ICR Publications supports flexible arrangements that can be adapted to the operational and academic requirements of individual publishing partners.

Our objective is to support sustainable, transparent, and professionally managed scholarly publishing while preserving the identity, editorial governance, and strategic direction of each participating publisher and journal.

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2. Publishing Collaboration

ICR Publications welcomes collaboration with publishers seeking to strengthen or expand their scholarly publishing operations.

Collaboration may include:

• Hosting individual journals;
• Hosting complete journal portfolios;
• Publishing selected journals on behalf of another organisation;
• Co-publishing arrangements;
• Technical platform support;
• Production and publication services;
• Metadata and DOI support;
• Editorial workflow support;
• Journal transfer and migration;
• Website and journal-platform development;
• Publisher infrastructure development; and
• Long-term strategic publishing partnerships.

Each arrangement may be structured according to the ownership, governance, operational requirements, publication volume, technical needs, and financial model of the participating publisher.

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3. Journal Hosting and Platform Services

ICR Publications can support publishers that require reliable infrastructure for hosting and managing scholarly journals.

Depending on the agreed arrangement, hosting services may include:

• Journal websites;
• Publisher-level websites;
• Online submission systems;
• Editorial workflow management;
• Peer-review management;
• Author, reviewer, and editor accounts;
• Issue and article publication;
• Journal archives;
• Search functionality;
• Article metadata pages;
• Usage information;
• Role and permission management;
• Publisher and journal branding; and
• Technical maintenance.

Hosting arrangements may be configured for a single journal or for publishers managing multiple journals within the same publishing environment.

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4. Journal Management Support

Publishers may require different levels of operational support depending on their internal capacity. ICR Publications can provide selected journal-management services while allowing publishers and journal editors to retain responsibility for their core academic functions.

Support may include:

• Journal setup and configuration;
• Editorial workflow configuration;
• User and role management;
• Author and reviewer communication systems;
• Submission monitoring;
• Publication scheduling;
• Issue management;
• Article publication workflows;
• Metadata checking;
• Policy-page implementation;
• Journal website maintenance;
• Technical troubleshooting; and
• Administrative publishing support.

The precise division of responsibilities between ICR Publications, the participating publisher, and journal editors should be defined within the relevant service or publishing agreement.

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5. Publishing and Production Services

ICR Publications may provide production support for publishers that require assistance in preparing accepted manuscripts for formal publication.

Production services may include:

• Copyediting coordination;
• Language and technical checks;
• Reference-format checking;
• Article layout;
• PDF preparation;
• HTML or online article preparation where applicable;
• XML production where agreed;
• Figure and table checks;
• Metadata preparation;
• Proof preparation;
• Author proof correction workflows;
• DOI assignment and registration support;
• Issue assembly; and
• Final online publication.

Production requirements may vary according to the journal's discipline, article type, design, publication frequency, and technical format.

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6. Metadata, DOI and Scholarly Infrastructure

Accurate and structured metadata is essential for the discovery, citation, linking, and long-term management of scholarly publications.

ICR Publications can support publishers in managing publication metadata and scholarly infrastructure, including, where applicable:

• Article metadata preparation;
• Journal metadata;
• DOI registration workflows;
• Crossref-related metadata support;
• ORCID information;
• Funding metadata;
• Reference metadata;
• Licensing information;
• Correction and update metadata;
• Retraction and post-publication notices;
• Persistent article identifiers; and
• Metadata quality checking.

Publishers remain responsible for supplying accurate journal, author, article, funding, licensing, and publication information where those details originate from their own editorial or production processes.

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7. Publisher Branding and Identity

Publishers working with ICR Publications may retain their own publishing identity and journal branding where this forms part of the agreed arrangement.

Branding options may include:

• Publisher name and logo;
• Journal-specific branding;
• Publisher landing pages;
• Publisher information pages;
• Custom colours and visual presentation;
• Journal logos;
• Publisher contact details;
• Publisher policies;
• Custom navigation;
• Links to external publisher websites; and
• Co-branding arrangements.

Where a journal is hosted or technically supported by ICR Publications but owned or published by another organisation, the website should clearly identify the relevant publisher, journal owner, and service provider where appropriate.

Branding should not create misleading impressions concerning journal ownership, editorial responsibility, indexing status, or institutional affiliation.

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8. Multi-Journal Publishing Support

ICR Publications can support publishers that manage multiple scholarly journals and require a centralised publishing infrastructure.

A multi-journal environment may include:

• A central publisher homepage;
• Separate journal websites;
• Journal-specific branding;
• Publisher-level navigation;
• Centralised user management;
• Journal-specific editorial teams;
• Independent journal workflows;
• Publisher-wide announcements;
• Journal directories;
• Subject-based journal browsing;
• Centralised publication monitoring; and
• Portfolio-level reporting.

This model may be suitable for independent publishers, universities, research organisations, professional bodies, and publishing groups seeking to manage several journals within a single technical infrastructure while maintaining the identity of each journal.

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9. Editorial Independence

Editorial independence should be protected regardless of the technical, financial, or commercial relationship between a publisher and ICR Publications.

Decisions concerning individual manuscripts should normally remain with the journal's authorised editors and should be based on:

• Academic merit;
• Originality;
• Methodological quality;
• Research integrity;
• Relevance to journal scope;
• Scholarly contribution; and
• Peer-review and editorial assessment.

Commercial relationships, publishing fees, sponsorship, institutional affiliation, advertising, or partnership arrangements should not improperly influence editorial decisions.

The roles of journal owners, publishers, editors, and service providers should be documented clearly to avoid conflicts of responsibility.

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10. Research Integrity and Publication Ethics

Publishers working with ICR Publications are expected to maintain appropriate policies and procedures relating to research integrity and publication ethics.

These may include policies relating to:

• Authorship and contributorship;
• Conflicts of interest;
• Peer-review integrity;
• Research ethics approval;
• Informed consent;
• Plagiarism;
• Duplicate publication;
• Data fabrication and falsification;
• Image manipulation;
• Citation manipulation;
• Peer-review manipulation;
• Artificial intelligence use;
• Corrections;
• Retractions;
• Expressions of concern;
• Complaints and appeals; and
• Research or publication misconduct.

Where serious ethical concerns arise, the relevant publisher, journal editors, and ICR Publications should cooperate according to the agreed responsibilities and applicable journal policies.

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11. Discovery, Visibility and Indexing Support

ICR Publications can assist publishing partners in improving the technical and editorial readiness of their journals for scholarly discovery and relevant external evaluations.

Support may include:

• Metadata improvement;
• Journal website review;
• Policy transparency;
• Editorial Board presentation;
• Aims and scope review;
• Publication-history review;
• Publication-frequency monitoring;
• Author and affiliation information;
• DOI and reference-linking support;
• Open-access and licence information;
• Discoverability improvements;
• Indexing documentation preparation; and
• Identification of technical or editorial weaknesses before an application.

ICR Publications does not guarantee acceptance, continued coverage, ranking, citation performance, or inclusion in any indexing or abstracting database. Decisions concerning inclusion are made independently by the relevant external organisations.

Publishers should avoid making misleading or premature claims about journal indexing status.

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12. Journal Transfer and Migration

ICR Publications can support publishers transferring journals from another hosting environment, publisher, or technical platform.

A journal transfer may involve:

• Journal archive migration;
• Article and issue transfer;
• Metadata migration;
• Website reconstruction;
• Author and user migration where technically possible;
• Editorial workflow setup;
• DOI linking arrangements;
• Publisher information updates;
• Journal branding;
• Policy migration;
• Redirect planning;
• Archive verification;
• Publication continuity; and
• Post-migration quality checks.

Transfers should be carefully planned to reduce the risk of broken links, incomplete metadata, missing archives, duplicate publication records, or disruption to active editorial workflows.

The transferring publisher should ensure that it has the necessary rights and authority to transfer journal content, metadata, files, branding, and associated records.

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13. Technology and System Integration

ICR Publications may support publishers that require integration between their journal platforms and external scholarly or administrative systems.

Depending on technical compatibility and the agreed service arrangement, integrations may involve:

• DOI services;
• ORCID;
• Crossref metadata workflows;
• Email systems;
• Analytics services;
• Payment systems;
• Institutional systems;
• Publisher websites;
• Article metrics systems;
• Search services;
• APIs;
• XML workflows;
• External databases; and
• Other scholarly publishing infrastructure.

Integration availability depends on technical compatibility, external service requirements, permissions, data-protection considerations, and the agreed publishing infrastructure.

Publishers should not assume that every third-party service can be integrated automatically or without additional development.

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14. Publishing and Business Models

ICR Publications can work with publishers using different scholarly publishing and financial models.

Possible arrangements may include:

• Diamond open access;
• APC-funded open access;
• Institutionally funded publishing;
• Society-funded publishing;
• Sponsored publishing;
• Grant-funded publishing;
• Service-fee arrangements;
• Per-article production arrangements;
• Revenue-sharing arrangements; and
• Other mutually agreed publishing models.

The selected model should be transparent, sustainable, compatible with the journal's objectives, and clearly communicated to authors and other stakeholders.

Where fees apply, relevant charges, waivers, discounts, taxes, funding arrangements, and payment conditions should be clearly stated.

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15. Support for New and Emerging Publishers

ICR Publications welcomes enquiries from new and emerging scholarly publishers seeking to establish a professional publishing operation.

Support may include:

• Publisher website development;
• Journal platform setup;
• Publisher branding;
• Journal-launch planning;
• Policy development;
• Editorial workflow design;
• Role and permission configuration;
• Peer-review process development;
• Publication ethics frameworks;
• Metadata infrastructure;
• DOI workflow preparation;
• Author and reviewer guidelines;
• Production workflows;
• Journal portfolio management; and
• Long-term publishing development planning.

New publishers should establish clear ownership, governance, editorial responsibilities, legal identity, publication policies, and sustainable operational arrangements before developing a journal portfolio.

ICR Publications may assess prospective publishing partners before entering into a formal collaboration.

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16. Publisher Responsibilities

Publishers using ICR Publications services remain responsible for the accuracy, legality, integrity, and appropriate management of the journals and content under their ownership or control, except where specific responsibilities have been transferred contractually to ICR Publications.

Publishing partners are expected to:

• Provide accurate organisational information;
• Have legitimate authority to publish the participating journals;
• Maintain appropriate editorial governance;
• Protect editorial independence;
• Follow applicable publication ethics standards;
• Avoid misleading indexing or metric claims;
• Provide accurate author and article information;
• Maintain appropriate copyright and licensing arrangements;
• Respond to ethical and legal concerns;
• Respect confidentiality and data protection;
• Maintain professional communication with authors and reviewers; and
• Comply with the terms of the applicable service or publishing agreement.

ICR Publications may decline, suspend, or terminate a publishing relationship where there is evidence of serious misconduct, deceptive publishing practices, unlawful activity, systematic research-integrity failures, or material breaches of an agreement.

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17. Publisher Partnership Enquiries

Publishers, university presses, research institutions, professional organisations, and scholarly publishing groups interested in working with ICR Publications are welcome to contact our publishing team.

To assist with an initial assessment, enquiries should preferably include:

• Publisher or organisation name;
• Organisation website;
• Country of operation;
• Number of journals;
• Journal titles and websites;
• Current publishing platform;
• Approximate annual publication volume;
• Current indexing information;
• Open-access or publishing model;
• Services required;
• Whether migration is required;
• Technical requirements; and
• Expected objectives of the collaboration.

Following an initial review, ICR Publications may discuss an appropriate hosting, publishing, technology, production, migration, or partnership arrangement.

ICR Publications seeks to build transparent and sustainable relationships with scholarly publishers by combining professional publishing infrastructure, technical support, research integrity, editorial independence, and flexible multi-journal publishing solutions.

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