Transparency and Best Practices

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Nova Geodesia is committed to transparency, integrity, editorial independence, accountability, and responsible scholarly publishing.

The journal follows internationally recognized principles and guidance relevant to transparency, publication ethics, and research integrity, including the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

Information concerning the journal’s ownership, publisher, editorial team, peer-review model, publication ethics, author fees, open-access policy, licensing, publication frequency, preservation, and contact details is publicly available on the journal website.

Journal Identity

Journal title: Nova Geodesia
Abbreviated title: Nova Geod.
ISSN: 2810-2754
ISSN-L: 2810-2754
Country of publication: Romania
Publication frequency: Quarterly
Access model: Open Access
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Website: https://novageodesia.ro

Nova Geodesia is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing scholarly contributions in geodesy, geospatial sciences, environmental studies, engineering, geography, land administration, spatial planning, and related interdisciplinary fields.

Ownership and Publisher

Nova Geodesia is owned and published by:

Society of Land Measurements and Cadastre from Transylvania (SMTCT)
134 Donath Street
400293 Cluj-Napoca
Romania

SMTCT is a Romanian professional and scientific non-profit, non-governmental, and apolitical organization.

The publisher supports the journal’s administrative, technical, editorial, preservation, and publication activities.

The publisher does not interfere with the scientific assessment of manuscripts or with editorial decisions.

Editorial Independence and Oversight

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the editorial process and makes all final decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.

Section Editors or other assigned editors may:

  • conduct preliminary editorial assessments;
  • coordinate manuscript evaluation;
  • select and invite reviewers;
  • assess review reports;
  • communicate with authors and reviewers;
  • request revisions or clarifications;
  • submit reasoned recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief.

Reviewers provide independent expert assessments and recommendations. They do not make editorial decisions.

Editorial decisions are based on:

  • scientific quality and originality;
  • relevance to the journal’s scope;
  • methodological soundness;
  • reliability of the data, analyses, and conclusions;
  • reviewers’ reports and recommendations;
  • the assessment of the assigned editor;
  • compliance with ethical, legal, and editorial requirements.

Editorial decisions are independent of commercial, financial, institutional, political, or personal influence.

Further information is available in the Procedures and Peer Review Process sections.

Editorial Team

The journal’s Editorial Team includes the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Section Editors, Editorial Board members, and editorial and technical support personnel.

The names, affiliations, countries, research areas, and editorial roles of the members are publicly available on the Editorial Team page.

Editorial Board members are selected according to factors such as:

  • academic qualifications;
  • subject expertise;
  • publication record;
  • professional standing;
  • editorial experience;
  • ability to contribute to the journal’s scientific development.

The journal seeks appropriate disciplinary, institutional, and geographical diversity within its Editorial Board.

Peer Review

The journal operates a double-blind peer-review process.

Research Articles, Review Articles, and Notes are subject to external peer review.

Editorials are evaluated editorially and do not normally undergo external peer review. Where an Editorial presents original research data or substantive scientific claims, external review may be arranged when appropriate.

Manuscripts selected for external peer review are normally sent to at least two independent experts with relevant subject knowledge.

The journal seeks to obtain two or more substantive review reports whenever possible.

Additional reviewers may be invited where:

  • reports are incomplete or insufficient;
  • reviewers provide substantially divergent assessments;
  • specialist methodological, statistical, ethical, technical, or interdisciplinary expertise is required;
  • further independent evaluation is necessary.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory.

The Editor-in-Chief makes all final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection.

Detailed information is available in the Peer Review Process section.

Journal Content and Contribution Types

The journal publishes:

  • Research Articles;
  • Review Articles;
  • Notes;
  • Editorials.

The type of each published contribution is clearly identified.

Scientific content is evaluated according to its nature, originality, relevance, methodological quality, and ethical compliance.

Further information is available in the Section Policies.

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship must be limited to individuals who made substantial intellectual contributions to the work and who accept responsibility for the published content.

All authors must:

  • contribute substantially to the conception, design, conduct, acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the research;
  • participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
  • approve the final version;
  • agree to be accountable for the work.

The journal requires an Authors’ Contributions statement and encourages the use of the CRediT taxonomy.

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged rather than listed as authors.

The journal does not permit honorary, guest, gift, or ghost authorship.

Changes to authorship after submission require:

  • a clear written explanation;
  • agreement from all affected authors;
  • editorial approval.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the objectivity or integrity of the publication process.

Conflicts may include:

  • financial interests;
  • institutional relationships;
  • personal or professional relationships;
  • academic competition;
  • intellectual-property interests;
  • funding arrangements;
  • consultancy or advisory roles;
  • involvement in the research under evaluation.

Authors must include a Conflict of Interests statement in the manuscript.

Reviewers and editors must withdraw from handling a manuscript when impartiality cannot reasonably be ensured.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or other appropriate action.

Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all financial, institutional, commercial, material, or logistical support related to the research.

Funding information should identify, where applicable:

  • the funding organization;
  • the grant or project number;
  • the role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit.

Where no specific funding was received, this should be stated clearly.

Funding sources do not influence editorial decisions.

Research Ethics

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and professional standards.

Where formal approval is required, the manuscript must identify, as applicable:

  • the approving ethics committee or competent authority;
  • the approval number or code;
  • the approval date;
  • the method used to obtain informed consent;
  • relevant permits, licences, or authorizations.

Research involving human participants, animals, personal data, protected areas, endangered species, cultural heritage, environmentally sensitive information, or restricted resources must comply with all relevant requirements.

Further information is available in the Publication Ethics policy.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged to make research data, code, protocols, models, and supporting materials available in appropriate repositories whenever legally, ethically, and technically possible.

A Data Availability Statement should be included where relevant.

Where data cannot be shared, the reason should be explained, such as:

  • privacy or confidentiality;
  • ethical restrictions;
  • legal or contractual limitations;
  • third-party ownership;
  • protection of sensitive species or locations;
  • national security;
  • cultural heritage concerns.

The journal may request supporting data or documentation during editorial evaluation or when assessing ethical concerns.

Originality and Plagiarism Screening

Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not be under consideration by another journal.

The journal may use similarity-detection software and additional editorial checks to identify:

  • plagiarism;
  • inappropriate text reuse;
  • duplicate or redundant publication;
  • unattributed use of material;
  • possible manipulation of the publication process.

Similarity reports are interpreted editorially and are not used mechanically as the sole basis for a decision.

Appropriate reuse of methods or previously published material must be transparently cited and, where necessary, accompanied by permission.

Research and Publication Misconduct

The journal takes credible allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Potential misconduct includes:

  • plagiarism;
  • data fabrication or falsification;
  • inappropriate image manipulation;
  • duplicate or redundant publication;
  • unethical research;
  • inappropriate authorship;
  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • fabricated reviewer identities;
  • manipulation of peer review;
  • citation manipulation;
  • false ethical approval;
  • unauthorized or misleading use of generative AI tools.

The journal may request explanations, raw data, original images, ethical approval documents, authorship statements, funding information, permits, or other relevant evidence.

All parties are given a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Where an institutional investigation is required, the journal may refer the matter to the authors’ institution, funder, ethics committee, or another competent authority.

Depending on the seriousness and outcome of the matter, the journal may:

  • request clarification or correction;
  • suspend editorial evaluation;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • withdraw an acceptance decision;
  • publish a correction;
  • issue an expression of concern;
  • retract the article;
  • notify relevant institutions or authorities;
  • take other action consistent with publication ethics and due process.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

A correction may be published when an error affects the accuracy, clarity, attribution, or interpretation of an article but does not invalidate its principal findings.

An article may be retracted where, for example:

  • the findings are unreliable because of misconduct or major error;
  • plagiarism or duplicate publication is confirmed;
  • data were fabricated or falsified;
  • unethical research was conducted;
  • required ethical approval or consent was absent;
  • authorship, peer review, or editorial procedures were seriously manipulated.

An expression of concern may be issued when:

  • credible concerns exist regarding an article;
  • an investigation is ongoing;
  • the available evidence is insufficient for a final conclusion;
  • relevant institutional findings are delayed.

Post-publication notices are clearly identified, dated, linked to the original article, accompanied by an explanation, and permanently accessible.

The original article normally remains available and is clearly linked to the relevant notice.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested parties may submit complaints concerning:

  • editorial procedures;
  • ethical matters;
  • conflicts of interest;
  • reviewer or editor conduct;
  • published content;
  • corrections or retractions.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe it resulted from:

  • a substantive factual error;
  • a significant misunderstanding;
  • a procedural irregularity;
  • an undisclosed conflict of interest;
  • a demonstrably incorrect interpretation of the evidence.

Appeals must be reasoned, specific, and supported by relevant information.

Disagreement with the scientific judgment of reviewers or editors alone is not sufficient grounds for appeal.

Appeals are considered by the Editor-in-Chief.

Where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, the appeal is assigned to an independent senior editor or suitably qualified Editorial Board member who was not involved in the original decision.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their articles.

Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

The licence permits reuse, distribution, adaptation, and reproduction in any medium, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original publication.

Upon acceptance, authors grant the journal and publisher a non-exclusive right to edit, publish, distribute, archive, preserve, and disseminate the article.

Licence information is displayed on the journal website and in published articles.

Open Access

Nova Geodesia provides immediate and unrestricted open access to all published content.

Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to, and lawfully reuse published articles in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 Licence.

The journal does not apply subscription fees or embargo periods.

Publication Fees

The journal does not charge:

  • submission fees;
  • article processing charges;
  • review fees;
  • page charges;
  • colour charges;
  • supplementary material fees;
  • publication fees.

Publication is free of charge for authors.

No financial consideration influences manuscript evaluation or editorial decisions.

Revenue and Financial Support

The journal operates under a non-commercial publishing model.

Its activities are supported by the Society of Land Measurements and Cadastre from Transylvania.

Financial support does not influence editorial decisions.

The journal does not sell:

  • editorial acceptance;
  • peer review;
  • authorship;
  • citations;
  • expedited or preferential publication.

Advertising Policy

Nova Geodesia does not publish commercial advertising, sponsored editorial content, or behaviourally targeted advertising.

Editorial decisions are independent of advertising, sponsorship, or other financial considerations.

Should an advertising arrangement be introduced in the future, it would be kept entirely separate from editorial decision-making and disclosed transparently.

Direct Marketing

The journal may communicate with researchers, institutions, professional organizations, and readers regarding:

  • newly published issues;
  • calls for papers;
  • journal announcements;
  • editorial developments;
  • relevant scholarly activities.

Such communications must be accurate, transparent, appropriate, relevant to the journal’s scope, and respectful of recipients.

The journal does not engage in misleading solicitation or indiscriminate mass emailing.

Recipients may request that future communications be discontinued.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published quarterly, with four regular issues each year:

  • Issue 1: January–March;
  • Issue 2: April–June;
  • Issue 3: July–September;
  • Issue 4: October–December.

Accepted articles may be published in the Forthcoming section after completion of peer review, final acceptance, copyediting, proofreading, metadata preparation, and technical production.

Articles published in the Forthcoming section constitute the version of record and retain the same scientific content and DOI when subsequently assigned to a regular issue.

Further information is available in the Publication Frequency section.

Archiving and Digital Preservation

The journal seeks to ensure the continued accessibility and long-term preservation of its published content through the services and technical infrastructure used by its publishing platform.

Information concerning active preservation arrangements is displayed separately on the journal website and is periodically reviewed for accuracy.

Only services whose current preservation or archiving role can be verified are presented as active preservation arrangements.

Abstracting, Indexing, Discovery, and Publishing Infrastructure

The journal provides an accurate and transparent presentation of the services in which it is included.

To avoid confusion, these services are grouped according to their function:

  • abstracting and indexing databases;
  • academic discovery services and search platforms;
  • library catalogues and directories;
  • publishing, metadata, and identification infrastructure;
  • digital preservation services.

The journal does not imply inclusion in databases or collections in which it has not been formally accepted.

Applications under evaluation are not presented as confirmed indexing.

Information regarding indexing, discovery, cataloguing, metadata infrastructure, and preservation is periodically reviewed and corrected where necessary.

Use of Generative AI

The journal maintains a dedicated policy regarding the use of artificial intelligence and generative AI tools by authors, reviewers, and editors.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, data, images, analyses, interpretations, and conclusions of submitted work.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, supplementary files, review reports, or editorial correspondence to unauthorized external generative AI systems or other third-party platforms.

Editorial decisions must remain based on human scholarly judgment.

Further information is available in the Use of Generative AI policy.

Privacy and Data Protection

Personal information collected through the journal platform is used only for legitimate editorial, publishing, communication, security, statistical, and preservation purposes.

The journal seeks to comply with applicable data-protection requirements, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, where relevant.

Personal data are not sold to advertisers or commercial third parties.

Further information is available in the Privacy Statement.

Website and Contact Information

The journal website provides public access to:

  • Focus and Scope;
  • Editorial Team;
  • Author Guidelines;
  • Section Policies;
  • Procedures;
  • Peer Review Process;
  • Publication Ethics;
  • Transparency and Best Practices;
  • Use of Generative AI;
  • Open Access Policy;
  • Copyright information;
  • Publication Fee;
  • Publication Frequency;
  • contact details;
  • current and archived journal content.

The principal editorial and technical contact information is available on the Contact page.

Related Policies

  • About the Journal
  • Focus and Scope
  • Section Policies
  • Procedures
  • Peer Review Process
  • Publication Ethics
  • Use of Generative AI
  • Open Access Policy
  • Copyright Notice
  • Publication Fee
  • Publication Frequency
  • Author Guidelines
  • Privacy Statement
  • Editorial Team
  • Contact