MECS adheres to the Open Access Principle. All research papers published in MECS are fully free to access, including immediate reading, downloading, printing, and sharing.
All content of MECS journals is published with open access under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, on the condition that attribution is given, the original work is properly cited, the identical license is linked, and any changes made are indicated, if applicable.
The author reserves the right to authorship of their manuscript and agrees to transfer copyright to MECS under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0, which permits sharing, remixing, transforming, and indicating if changes are made to the work, provided that the appropriate full credit is given to the authors and MECS journals.
MECS uses multiple libraries and information centers. All MECS journals are long-term and actively archived by Internet Archive and Baidu Wenku.
Editorial board members selected by MECS are all experts in the journal's subject field in terms of academic performance, organizational skills, and communication skills. This ensures that the high quality of MECS journals is maintained through our efficient and rigorous peer review and production processes.
Review Process
The majority of editorial board members for MECS journals consist of editors-in-chief, associate editors, reviewers, and editorial assistants. The editorial assistant possesses in-depth knowledge of the publication process and aims to assist the editor-in-chief to resolve the initial manuscript in the first round. The editor-in-chief is typically a distinguished scholar in their respective research fields and is in charge of the entire publication process, from sending the manuscript to associate editors with specific field expertise for further evaluation to assist the peer review process. The editor-in-chief would take peer reviewers' feedback and recommendations into account when deciding whether or not a manuscript should be revised, accepted, or rejected.
The editors and reviewers are selected from the MECS authors who have published high-quality papers with outstanding academic performance, enthusiasm for promoting the research fields, and willingness to commit to the journal.
Revision and Publishing Process
After rounds of review and revision, the final accepted articles are forwarded to the language editors for language editing. The edited article is sent to the editorial assistant, who will proofread and typeset the manuscripts, as well as contact the authors with any cross-editing questions.
After comprehensive language and formatting adjustments, the manuscript is initially published online. Finally, the manuscript is officially published and distributed in a specific issue of a journal.
MECS Press strives to maintain academic integrity in publishing. All manuscripts submitted to MECS journals will be screened for plagiarism by the plagiarism checker “iThenticate” at the following stages:
(1) After receiving the submission
(2) When the finalized manuscript is submitted by the authors following peer review
The manuscript will be rejected immediately if it is considered by the editorial office to be plagiarized or self-plagiarized.
A report of plagiarism will be handled as follows:
The complainant contacts the editorial office of the journal in which the published article suspected of plagiarism appears.
The complainant indicates which sections have been plagiarized by clearly referring to both the original and suspected articles.
During the investigation, the editorial office contacts the editor of the journal and the corresponding author of the suspected article. The corresponding author will be asked to provide an explanation.
If the author of the suspected article accepts the plagiarism complaint, an erratum or retraction is required to correct the situation. However, there may still be a disagreement concerning the wording of the description.
In the case of non-response within the stipulated time or an unsatisfactory explanation, the article may be permanently retracted.
MECS journals are open access journals and are published under the terms of CC BY 4.0. The editors of MECS Press encourage the authors of journal articles to contribute their most recent research findings.
Authors may self-archive all versions of their manuscripts and published journal articles online, such as in institutional repositories, publicly accessible collections, and authors’ personal websites.
Authorship Identification
All authors should make explicit contributions to the published paper. In case of any doubt, in particular, based on discrepancies between the content of the manuscript and the author's competence in the scientific field, and other publications of the given author, the editorial board requests the group of authors to submit their contribution to the research process and preparation of the manuscript, with a separate emphasis on the contribution of the suspected author, if applicable. For more resources on defining authorship policies, see the relevant COPE guidelines.
Corresponding Author
The corresponding author should be chosen from among the group of authors, with primary responsibility for communicating with the editorial board throughout the submission, peer review, and publication processes. The corresponding author is also accountable for ensuring that all agreements on the publisher's rules for manuscripts and subsequent publishing are reached.
Protection Against Manipulation
Through manipulation, editors understand that the following may occur: attempting to use falsified data or plagiarism in a manuscript, substituting the results of an independent examination of the manuscript, or preventing reviewers from independent evaluation. MECS insists on academic integrity. If academic misconduct is suspected or discovered, the editorial office will implement the principles based on the COPE recommendations “How to spot potential manipulation of the peer review process”.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
When submitting a manuscript to MECS journals, authors should declare any conflicting financial and/or non-financial interests for the sake of transparency.
Authors are encouraged to indicate all the information necessary to confirm transparency in terms of potential financial interests:
(1) Assistance from individuals or organizations in the development of the research process or certain parts of the manuscript.
(2) Outside funder that finances the research or devices that are described in the manuscript.
(3) Individuals or organizations that can benefit from or suffer losses from the publication of a manuscript.
MECS journals implement all procedures intended to ensure, guarantee, and conform to all ethical standards and academic integrity principles.
If the editorial board receives any complaints, MECS will first check its authenticity and validity based on the principle of objectivity and veracity. If the complaint is justified and unintentional, it will be considered and fed back by the editorial in accordance with the COPE recommendations.
Withdrawal and Rejection Regulations
Withdrawing an Accepted Paper
Despite the absence of legal implications, retracting an accepted paper is not always regarded as a good practice, given the time and effort that journals invest in peer review.
If an author insists on withdrawing a manuscript that has been accepted, please email to the editorial assistant explaining the appropriate reason for the withdrawal and clearly indicating the manuscript title and reference number.
Rejecting a Published Paper
The decision to retract a published article was made under the following conditions:
(1) The author violated ethical standards in the research process.
(2) The author has violated the agreement regarding the licensing and the existence of a conflict of interest.
(3) The paper has violated the copyright of a third party or caused material or immaterial harm to another person or organization.
(4) The paper contains information that could compromise the privacy of individuals or organizations.
(5) The paper contains information that is bound by the subject or entity of the lawsuit.
Withdrawing a Published Paper
If the paper does not violate any agreement or academic ethics, but the author insists on withdrawing the published paper. Authors are responsible for contacting the editorial assistant, stating the reason for irresistible retraction as well as the loss of the review process and publisher.
Names and email addresses submitted on the journal website will be used only for the purpose specified by the journal and will not be disclosed for any other purpose or by any other party.