Direct Marketing Policy

The AJMS Direct Marketing Policy explains how the journal may communicate legitimate journal information or invite manuscript submissions from researchers whose work is relevant to the Aims and Scope. Communications should be appropriate, accurate, well targeted, proportionate, and non-intrusive.

1. Scope of Direct Marketing

Direct marketing may include calls for papers, special-issue announcements, journal updates, manuscript invitations, and other communications about AJMS publishing activities.

2. Accuracy and Transparency

Marketing communications should accurately describe AJMS, its publisher, scope, peer-review model, publication schedule, open-access model, author fees, policies, and current abstracting or indexing status. AJMS must not make misleading, exaggerated, or unverifiable claims about the journal or its services.

3. No Guarantees or Improper Claims

AJMS must not use direct marketing to guarantee manuscript acceptance, favourable peer review, unusually rapid publication, citation impact, future indexing, or another outcome controlled by independent editorial assessment or by third parties.

4. Targeting and Frequency

Communications should be directed to researchers or professional audiences for whom the journal’s subject coverage is reasonably relevant. Marketing should be proportionate and should not be repetitive, intrusive, deceptive, or designed to pressure recipients into manuscript submission or purchase of services. The DOAJ transparency principles similarly state that journal direct marketing should be appropriate, well targeted, unobtrusive, truthful, and not misleading.

5. Editorial Independence

Receiving, responding to, ignoring, or opting out of a marketing communication has no influence on editorial screening, reviewer selection, peer review, acceptance, rejection, correction, retraction, or publication. Financial and promotional activities remain separate from editorial decisions as described in the Revenue Sources Statement.

6. Use of Contact Information

Contact information used for journal communications is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy and is used only for legitimate journal and publishing purposes.

7. Opt-Out and Complaints

Recipients may request that AJMS stop sending non-essential direct marketing communications. Requests or complaints concerning journal marketing should be handled promptly. Operational messages relating to an active submission, review, editorial appointment, payment, or publication are not treated as marketing communications.

8. Contact

Questions or complaints concerning direct marketing may be sent to the AJMS editorial office through the Contact page.