Editorial Independence
All editorial decisions are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board, based solely on scientific merit, originality, relevance to scope, and ethical compliance. The publisher shall not influence, override, or interfere with any editorial decision.
Peer Review Policy
All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous double-blind peer review by a minimum of two independent expert reviewers. Identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed throughout the review process.
Authorship Policy (CRediT)
ICEE adopts the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework and ICMJE authorship criteria. All four conditions must be met to qualify as an author:
- Substantial contribution to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
- Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content.
- Approval of the final submitted version.
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Gift authorship, ghost authorship, and honorary authorship are strictly prohibited. AI systems may not be listed as authors under any circumstances.
AI Disclosure Policy
Authors who use AI-assisted tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) in a meaningful way during manuscript preparation must include an AI Disclosure Statement specifying:
- The name and version of each AI tool used.
- The specific purpose(s) for which it was employed.
- Confirmation that all AI-generated content has been reviewed and verified by the authors.
Human authors bear full and sole responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all submitted content.
Research Integrity
ICEE has zero tolerance for the following forms of misconduct. All submissions are screened using iThenticate:
Research Misconduct
- Fabrication and falsification of data
- Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
- Image manipulation
- Selective reporting of results
Publication Misconduct
- Duplicate submission or publication
- Salami slicing
- Inappropriate authorship
- Citation manipulation
- Peer-review manipulation
Suspected misconduct is investigated in accordance with COPE flowcharts. Sanctions may include rejection, correction, retraction, editorial ban, and institutional notification.
Open Access & Licensing
ICEE is a Diamond Open Access journal. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Authors retain full copyright. There are no Article Processing Charges (APCs) of any kind.
Data and Code Availability
All research articles must include a Data Availability Statement. Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit supporting data and code in recognised open repositories (Zenodo, GitHub, Figshare, Dryad) and provide persistent DOIs or URLs. Exceptions apply where legal, privacy, or confidentiality restrictions exist.
Corrections, Expressions of Concern & Retractions
ICEE is committed to maintaining an accurate and permanent scholarly record. Post-publication notices are issued in accordance with COPE guidelines:
| Notice Type | When Issued |
|---|---|
| Correction | Significant but unintentional error that does not invalidate the conclusions. |
| Erratum | Publisher-introduced error that does not affect scientific content. |
| Expression of Concern | Credible concern under active investigation. |
| Retraction | Article fundamentally unreliable due to major errors or misconduct. Permanent. |
Preprint Policy
ICEE supports open science. Manuscripts previously posted on recognised preprint servers (arXiv, ESSOAr, EarthArXiv, bioRxiv, Zenodo, SSRN) may be submitted to ICEE. Authors must disclose the preprint DOI or URL at submission. Preprints are not considered prior publication.