Publishing Policies

Green and Sustainable Materials Society is committed to the highest standards of transparency and integrity in scholarly publishing. These policies apply to all journals published by the Society.

COPE Aligned Gold Open Access CC BY 4.0

Open Access Policy

Gold Open Access

All journals published by Green and Sustainable Materials Society are 100% Gold Open Access. This means:

  • All published articles are freely and immediately available to everyone upon publication — no embargo period.
  • No subscription, registration, or login is required to read, download, or share any article.
  • Each article is available as an individual full-text item (HTML and PDF) with a unique, persistent URL (DOI).
  • Our open access policy is compliant with Plan S and major funder open access mandates (e.g., NIH, UKRI, ERC).
  • Print editions may be produced in the future; however, all online content will always remain free to access.

This policy aligns with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.

Licensing Terms

All articles published in Green and Sustainable Materials Society journals are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Under CC BY 4.0, anyone is free to:

Share

Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.

Adapt

Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use.

Condition: Appropriate credit must be given, a link to the license provided, and any changes indicated. Attribution must not suggest the licensor endorses the user or their use.

The license information is embedded in the full-text HTML and PDF of every article, and displayed on each article's landing page. The license applies from the date of publication.

Peer Review Process

All research articles submitted to Green and Sustainable Materials Society journals undergo rigorous double-blind peer review. Reviewer identities are concealed from authors, and author identities are concealed from reviewers.

1
Editorial Triage (1–3 days)

The Editor-in-Chief or a handling editor evaluates the manuscript for scope, quality, and ethical compliance. Manuscripts that do not meet basic criteria are desk-rejected.

2
Reviewer Assignment (3–5 days)

A minimum of two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise are invited. Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest.

3
Review Period (2–4 weeks)

Reviewers evaluate the manuscript for originality, scientific rigor, clarity of presentation, and relevance to the journal scope. Structured review forms are used.

4
Editorial Decision

Based on reviewer recommendations, the handling editor makes a decision: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. The decision is communicated with full reviewer reports.

5
Revision (up to 4 weeks)

Authors address reviewer comments with a detailed point-by-point response letter. Revised manuscripts may be sent back to the original reviewers.

6
Acceptance & Publication (1–2 weeks)

Accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading. Articles are published online first with DOI, then assigned to a volume/issue.

2–4 weeks

First Decision

6–8 weeks

Submission to Publication

≥ 2

External Reviewers

Special Issue Oversight

The Editor-in-Chief maintains full editorial oversight of all special issues. Guest editors are vetted for expertise and potential conflicts. Articles authored by guest editors undergo the same peer review process handled by an independent editor.

Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

Green and Sustainable Materials Society adheres to the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We follow COPE flowcharts for handling suspected misconduct.

Authorship & Contributorship

All authors must meet ICMJE criteria. CRediT taxonomy required. Ghost and gift authorship are prohibited.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must declare all financial and non-financial competing interests.

Plagiarism Screening

All manuscripts are screened using Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) before review.

Research Misconduct

Allegations of data fabrication, falsification, or image manipulation are investigated following COPE procedures.

Complaints & Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions within 30 days with a detailed response. Complaints are handled by the EIC.

Ethical Approval

Research involving human subjects or animals requires ethics committee approval and informed consent documentation.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

Currently Free to Publish

Article Processing Charges are waived for the first 3 volumes of each journal. Authors submitting during this period will not be charged any fees.

Fee Transparency

  • No submission fees — submitting a manuscript is always free.
  • No page charges — there are no per-page fees.
  • No color figure charges — color figures are published free of charge.
  • No withdrawal fees — authors may withdraw manuscripts at any stage without charge.
  • No hidden fees — the APC (when applicable) covers all production, hosting, DOI registration, and long-term archiving costs.

After the Free Period

Once APCs are introduced (after Volume 3), the fee schedule will be published on each journal's homepage and author guidelines page. Fees will be presented before the submission stage so authors can make an informed decision.

Fee Waivers

Fee waivers and discounts will be available for:

  • Corresponding authors affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (World Bank classification)
  • Authors experiencing genuine financial hardship
  • Invited review articles and editorials

Waiver requests are assessed independently of the editorial process and do not influence editorial decisions.

Revenue Sources & Business Model

Green and Sustainable Materials Society operates as a non-profit scholarly publisher. Our funding and revenue sources are:

Society Funding

Active

Publication activities are supported by the Green and Sustainable Materials Society's publication fund.

Article Processing Charges

Planned

APCs will be introduced after Volume 3. Currently waived for all journals.

Institutional Memberships

Planned

Planned — institutional agreements for discounted or prepaid APC arrangements.

Grants & Sponsorships

Active

Project-based funding from research institutions and government grants supporting OA publishing.

Revenue is used solely to support journal operations, editorial infrastructure, technology, and the promotion of open access scholarship. No profits are distributed to individuals.

Data Sharing & Reproducibility

We support the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). All articles must include a Data Availability Statement.

  • Research data should be deposited in publicly accessible, trusted repositories (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad)
  • Datasets should be cited in the manuscript and referenced via DOI
  • If data cannot be shared (e.g., privacy, confidentiality), a clear justification must be provided
  • Code and software should be shared via platforms such as GitHub or Zenodo with a DOI

Corrections & Retractions

We follow COPE retraction guidelines for handling post-publication issues:

Erratum / Corrigendum

Issued for errors (by publisher or author) that affect the record but do not invalidate the conclusions. Linked bidirectionally to the original article.

Retraction

Issued when fundamental errors, misconduct, or ethical violations invalidate the findings. The retracted article remains accessible but is clearly marked.

Expression of Concern

Published when there are unresolved concerns about the integrity of the research while an investigation is ongoing.

All corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are registered with CrossRef via Crossmark and linked to the original article DOI.

Self-Archiving / Repository Deposit Policy

Authors are permitted and encouraged to deposit their work in institutional and subject repositories. Under our CC BY 4.0 license:

Version Deposit Allowed? Conditions
Preprint (submitted manuscript) May be deposited at any time. Must be updated with DOI link upon publication.
Accepted Manuscript (post-peer-review) May be deposited immediately upon acceptance. No embargo.
Published Version (Version of Record) May be deposited immediately. Must include proper attribution and a link to the published DOI.

This policy is registered with Sherpa/Romeo.

Digital Preservation & Archiving

Green and Sustainable Materials Society is committed to the long-term preservation and accessibility of all published content:

  • CrossRef DOI registration — all articles receive a persistent DOI that resolves permanently.
  • PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) — we participate in the PKP PN for distributed digital preservation (planned).
  • Internet Archive — content is periodically archived via the Wayback Machine.
  • CLOCKSS/LOCKSS — we are actively pursuing participation in the CLOCKSS and LOCKSS archiving networks for additional redundancy.
  • Metadata is freely available via OAI-PMH for harvesting by indexing services, institutional repositories, and national libraries.

In the event that Green and Sustainable Materials Society ceases operations, all content will be transferred to an appropriate preservation service to ensure permanent access.

Ownership & Management

Publisher
Green and Sustainable Materials Society
Organization Type
Non-profit scholarly society
Location
Indonesia
Governance
Editorial decisions are made independently by each journal's Editor-in-Chief and editorial board. The publisher does not interfere with editorial decisions.
Contact
admin@greensus.org

The society's mission is to advance research in green chemistry, sustainable materials, and environmental science through open-access publishing and international collaboration.

Advertising Policy

Green and Sustainable Materials Society journal websites do not carry any advertising. Should advertising be introduced in the future:

  • Advertisements will be clearly separated from editorial content
  • Advertisers will have no influence over editorial decisions, content selection, or peer review
  • Display advertising will be clearly labeled as such

Direct Marketing Policy

Any direct communication to potential authors (calls for papers, invitations to submit):

  • Will be well-targeted and relevant to the recipient's research area
  • Will be truthful and not misleading about the journal's scope, metrics, or indexing status
  • Will be unobtrusive and respectful of recipients' time
  • Will clearly identify the sender and provide an opt-out mechanism
  • Will not make false claims about journal impact factors, acceptance rates, or indexing

Privacy Policy

We collect and process minimal personal data necessary for the scholarly publishing process:

  • Published information: Author names, affiliations, and ORCID iDs are published as part of the scholarly record and cannot be removed
  • Email addresses: Corresponding author email addresses are displayed only with consent. Reviewer and editor emails are kept confidential
  • Third-party sharing: We share metadata with CrossRef (DOI registration), DOAJ (indexing), and Google Scholar (discovery) as required for publishing operations
  • Website analytics: Collected in anonymized, aggregated form only. We do not use tracking cookies for advertising purposes
  • Data retention: Author and reviewer data is retained for the duration required by publishing records and audit requirements

For questions or data access requests, contact admin@greensus.org.