Intelligent and Converged Networks (the Journal), jointly sponsored by Tsinghua University and International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published by Tsinghua University Press (TUP), hosted in IEEE Xplore, is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), adhering to its principles and guidelines for addressing misconduct to safeguard the integrity of research.

The Journal will conduct an investigation in accordance with the principles and flowcharts provided by COPE if there is suspicion of misconduct or alleged fraud. If valid concerns arise, the author(s) will be contacted to discuss the matter. The Journal and/or TUP would take the following measures:

1) If the manuscript is still under review, it might be rejected.

2) If the paper has been published online, the response will vary based on the nature and severity of the violation:

• A correction may be published,
• An expression of concern may be issued alongside the paper,
• Or, in extreme cases, a retraction of the paper may be warranted.

The Journal acknowledges its responsibility to correct any scientifically relevant errors in published papers that may impact their scientific interpretation. Once approved by the Editorial Office and Editors-in-Chief (EiCs), there will be a mark indicating that the paper has a correction. A correction is a distinct publication that is linked to the original paper. It serves to inform all readers that a significant change has been made, and the updated version is available on the website. Notification will be sent to all relevant indexing databases to ensure that they update their records as well.

Corrections can be submitted if:

• There are scientifically relevant errors, e.g., missing sections/tables/figures, raw data errors, images, tables, and figure errors OR,
• There are any added/deleted/replaced references.

Correction must be submitted separately by the corresponding author with the approval of all co-authors. The original article title, author list, and details of the correction should be included in the new manuscript.

The findings and conclusions will be unreliable if a published paper is found with scientific or ethical issues. To correct the scientific record, the published paper should be retracted. Retractions could be requested by the author(s), readers, or the editors and they will be finally decided by the EiCs. The Journal adheres to COPE’s Retraction guidelines and procedures for handling retractions.

The original publication will be retained on the platform with a “Retracted” watermark, and the explanation for the retraction is provided in a note linked to the watermarked paper. A paper will only be fully removed from journal website and indexing databases under rare and exceptional circumstances, such as when retaining the article online will be unlawful or pose a risk of substantial harm.

When an investigation is ongoing or the evidence is inconclusive, an Expression of Concern may be issued. Editors believe that it is essential to inform readers about potential issues within the paper to uphold journal’s transparency:

• There is a suspicion of academic misconduct within the paper, yet the evidence is insufficient to determine it OR,
• The results of the study are suspected to be unreliable, but the author(s)’ institution is unwilling to initiate an investigation OR,
• Conflicting interpretations exist among the authors OR,
• An investigation is in progress, and final conclusions may require an extended period.

Appeals only apply to the manuscripts that have been peer-reviewed. Authors who want to appeal concerning the peer-review process and editorial decisions should present substantial evidence or new information/data as well as point-by-point responses to the reviewers’ comments and the editors’ decisions.

Authors must not submit their manuscript elsewhere until they receive a final decision or decide to withdraw their manuscript from consideration and have informed the Journal accordingly. Each appeal is assessed on its individual merits. Editors will consider only one appeal per manuscript, and the EiCs’ decision on the appeal is final.

Readers who have concerns/complaints about published papers may contact the Editorial Office while simultaneously present the details of the concerns/complaints and the evidence. Lack of evidence or complaints with personal attacks would be regarded as vexatious and will be ignored.

The Editorial Office will investigate together with EiCs in accordance with the guidelines published by COPE.

Author(s) are encouraged to value the opportunity for publication and uphold the esteemed reputation of the Journal. Before submitting the findings, author(s) should carefully read and adhere to the following responsibilities:

• Author(s) should be the persons who have made substantial contributions to the work, e.g., the conception/experimental design of the research, theoretical development, prototype development, data acquisition/analysis/interpretation and who have contributed to drafting the paper or reviewing and/or revising it critically. The others who have participated in certain aspects could be listed as contributors and acknowledged in the “Acknowledgment” section. AI tool should not be listed as an author.
• For papers with multiple authors, one author should be indicated as the corresponding author. The corresponding author should ensure obtaining the consent of all co-authors prior to submitting a manuscript and ensure all co-authors’ approval of the final version before publication. Besides, the corresponding author has responsibility for communication with the Editorial Office, overseeing the publication process, and ensuring the integrity of the final document.
• Any change to the author list during editorial process should be applied ahead of final decision. An application form manually signed by all authors should be sent for the Editorial Office’s approval. Post-acceptance applications will not be considered.

The Journal only publishes original content and author(s) should ensure the originality of their works. Author(s) should not submit the same manuscript to multiple journals at the same time, and should wait for the final decision on the manuscript before submitting the research to another journal. Once the unethical publishing behavior is found, an investigation or action would be taken based on the COPE code of conducts.

Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. All submissions will be checked for plagiarism via iThenticate. The paper will be rejected once the paper is found too similar to the previous documents. If plagiarism is detected after publication, an investigation or action would be taken based on the COPE principles on plagiarism.

Reuse of text work should be appropriately cited or quoted. Authors should obtain the appropriate permission prior to publication where the research involves any third-party figures, tables, and images.

The fabrication/falsification of data or images is not allowed and will be regarded as misconduct which will lead to a retraction of the publication affected.

All contributors involved, author(s), editors and reviewers should disclose any potential conflict of interest that might inappropriately influence (bias) the results of the manuscript.

Potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include but are not limited to financial interests (employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, grants or funding sources) and non-financial interests (personal or professional relationships, affiliations, and personal beliefs).

Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest stage possible. For author(s), conflicts of interest should be disclosed when the paper is submitted to the Journal, stating fully the personal, institutional, and financial interests and support which might influence the research. Reviewers/Editors assigned to a manuscript should disclose any personal, financial, or intellectual interests that would affect the fair evaluation.

Starting from 2025, a statement of conflict of interest should be published in the final version and if there are no conflict of interest to be declared, it can be stated as “The author(s) declare no conflict of interests”.

This publication follows a single-blind review process in which the reviewer’s name and information is withheld from the author(s). A regular review process for each submitted manuscript consists of three stages: initial check, preliminary assessment, and peer review.

Initial Check
The submissions will be initially checked by the Editorial Office. At this stage, a decision of “Reject without review” would be made for the submissions which do not meet the aims and scope and/or the ethical requirements of the Journal. In addition, submissions will be screened for plagiarism by iThenticate. Those with high overlap scores might also be rejected directly without further review.

Preliminary Assessment
Manuscripts which pass through the initial check will be preliminarily assessed by the EiCs and then the handling editors. At this stage, the EiCs have sole discretion, with the help of the handling editors, on whether to send the manuscript for peer review or reject it without review. In the cases when an EiC is listed as an author, another EiC or an Associate Editor will be assigned to assess the manuscript.

Peer-Review
Each manuscript is assigned to at least three reviewers. At least two favorable reviews out of three are required for a paper to be considered for publication. Final decisions are made by the EiCs, after a separate inspection conducted by the ITU editors, on the basis of the review reports and their own assessment.

All manuscripts would be evaluated by relevance, quality and originality of the work, potential interest to the Journal’s readership, and clarity (including clear tables and graphics, the standard of technical written English).

Guest Edited Contents
In pursuit of advancing knowledge and fostering academic discourse within specific domains, the Journal occasionally publishes guest edited contents (e.g., special issues, guest edited series) dedicated to exploring cutting-edge research, emerging trends, and significant developments in focused areas of study.

All guest edited contents shall be proposed prior to calling for papers. Upon approval by the EiCs and the ITU editors, a submission option is made available on the submission system, where all manuscripts are assessed according to the Journal’s standard initial check, preliminary assessment, and peer-review criteria. The only difference is that manuscripts which pass through the initial check will be preliminarily assessed by the Leading Guest Editor and then the handling Guest Editors, and final decisions are made by the Leading Guest Editor, after a separate inspection conducted by the ITU editors. In the cases when the Leading Guest Editor or Guest Editors are listed as authors, an EiC will be assigned to assess the manuscript.

The Journal follows the COPE position statement when it comes to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. TUP is a member of STM, the Journal also follows the Ethical and Practical Guidelines released by STM Generative AI in Scholarly Communications.

AI tools should not be listed or cited as an author or co-author. AI tools cannot be used to create, alter, or manipulate original research data and images. AI tools can be used to help authors in formatting, language editing, correcting.

Author(s) should disclose the use of AI tools with sufficient details at submission in the cover letter and disclose details of how the AI tools were used within Method, Acknowledgment or other related sections.

Reviewers and editors should not upload the manuscript or any part of it to a public generative AI platform to keep the manuscript confidential before final publication.

The Journal will monitor this development and will adjust or refine this policy when appropriate.

Author(s) will have chance to double check the full content, especially the symbols, formulas, and figure legends before final publication, for these may accidentally be changed during editing. After final publication, substantial changes could only be updated by corrections.

TUP is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of the published content in the Journal.

The Journal is a subsidized Open Access journal where TUP pays for the publishing costs incurred by the Journal before 31 December 2025. Author(s) who submit no later than 31 December 2025 do not have to pay any APC for Open Access publication.

All papers published in the journal are copyrighted to the ITU and TUP. The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) shall apply to all articles published in the Journal.

The Journal has no advertisement business, and will not post any advertisement.