Editorial Policies

Open Access Policy

Spectrum provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Copyright and Licensing Policy

Spectrum is an Open Access publication aligned with global guidelines for the democratization of knowledge and Open Science. To ensure transparency and compliance with international indexing standards, the copyright policy operates under the following premises:

  1. Copyright Retention: Authors retain full copyright and publishing rights to their manuscripts without any restrictions. Acceptance and publication of the article do not imply the transfer of intellectual or commercial property to the Spectrum journal or the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA).
  2. Right of First Publication: By submitting the work, authors grant Spectrum the right to be the original publisher (Right of First Publication) of the manuscript. Once approved, they attest that the text represents an original work, not previously published, and is not under consideration by another journal, except in recognized preprint repositories.
  3. Creative Commons Licensing: All articles published in the journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This is the most flexible license and is considered the gold standard of Open Access, ensuring maximum dissemination and reuse of the communicated science. Under this license, the content is free for the public to read, download, copy, distribute, print, share, and adapt (including for commercial purposes and the creation of derivative works), provided the following condition is strictly met:
  • Attribution (BY): Appropriate and mandatory credit must be given to the original authors and the first publication in Spectrum, including the official link (DOI) of the publication, a link to the CC BY license, and an indication of any changes made to the original material.
  1. Self-Archiving and Distribution: As copyright holders, authors are strongly encouraged to self-archive the final published version (the official PDF formatted by the journal) in institutional repositories, academic websites (e.g., ResearchGate, Academia.edu), or personal pages immediately after publication. In such distributions, authors are requested to include the official link and the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) pointing to the journal's website, to centralize the study's impact and citation metrics.
  2. Use of Copyrighted Material: The use of any copyrighted material (figures, tables, drawings, etc.) from other sources, including the internet, requires written permission from the original rightsholders. Authors are solely responsible for obtaining these authorizations and presenting them at the time of submission.

Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy

Spectrum is committed to the long-term preservation and continuous, perpetual access to its scientific content. To mitigate the risk of data loss and ensure that academic literature remains publicly available for future generations, regardless of any potential discontinuities in publication, our entire published collection is digitally archived in a decentralized manner through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN). As we operate on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, this international network creates a distributed global archive, ensuring the secure and redundant preservation of the material.

Additionally, as an institutional and local security layer, all of the journal's articles and metadata are systematically deposited and preserved on the servers and within the institutional repository of the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), our sponsoring institution.

Research Ethics and Ethics Committee Approval

Spectrum requires the highest standards of ethical conduct in the execution of scientific research. Any submitted work involving human experimentation, user opinion surveys, ergonomic evaluations, sensitive data collection, or animal experimentation must strictly comply with applicable national and international ethical standards.

  • The presentation of formal study approval by a Research Ethics Committee (CEP/CONEP in Brazil, or an equivalent body in the country where the research was conducted) is mandatory.
  • The ethical approval report number and the name of the responsible committee must be explicitly stated in the Methodology section of the submitted manuscript. The absence of such proof in research that requires it will result in the immediate rejection of the article.

Originality and Plagiarism Verification Policy

Spectrum has a firm commitment to the ethics and originality of scientific communication. We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of its forms, including the copying of third-party work without proper citation, the misappropriation of ideas, and self-plagiarism (excessive reuse of the author's own text without technical justification and adequate citation). Spectrum does not accept the submission of translated articles that have already been published in full in other national or international journals.

  • Prior Verification: All submitted manuscripts are obligatorily submitted to similarity and plagiarism detection software during the initial screening phase (Desk Review).
  • Rejection Criteria: Works presenting unacceptable levels of similarity with already published literature, or omitting the source of data, images, and structural text blocks, will be summarily rejected prior to being sent to reviewers.
  • Ethical Sanctions: If fraud, plagiarism, or data manipulation is discovered after the article's publication, Spectrum reserves the right to publish a formal Retraction linked to the original article, following COPE guidelines, and to notify the affiliated institutions of the involved authors.

Corrections and Retractions Policy

Additions, Corrections, and Retractions are formal notifications used to address substantial issues or correct relevant errors and omissions that arise after publication.

Articles containing data considered seriously flawed or erroneous, such that their findings and conclusions are invalidated, may be retracted to ensure the integrity of the scientific record.

The notification may be requested by the author(s) or initiated by the Editor, following consultation with the corresponding author. Readers who identify a significant error in a published work should first contact the corresponding author. All corrections and retractions are subject to the Editor's final approval, and minor changes will not be published.

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the consent of all co-authors before submitting the request, or must provide evidence that such consent was sought. The published notification will cite the original article and clearly state the reason for the alteration. Except under extraordinary circumstances, the original article will remain accessible online, but will be linked to the correction or retraction notification.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

Spectrum guarantees authors the right to a transparent and fair editorial process. Authors who fundamentally disagree with the rejection of their manuscript or who identify potential ethical flaws, evaluation biases, or undeclared conflicts of interest on the part of the reviewers have the right to appeal the decision.

  • How to appeal: Appeals must be sent formally by email to the editorial team (care of the Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor), containing a detailed and technically grounded justification, rebutting the questioned review point by point.
  • Appeal analysis: The complaint will be analyzed by a senior member of the editorial board who was not directly involved in the original judgment or the conflict resolution process. If the appeal is considered technically valid, the article may be forwarded for a new round of review with completely different evaluators. The decision of this extraordinary arbitration is final and cannot be appealed.

Privacy Statement

Spectrum respects the privacy of its authors, reviewers, and readers. All personal data, including names and email addresses provided to the platform, will be strictly utilized for the journal's editorial, administrative, and publication processes. We are committed to safeguarding user privacy and guarantee that this information will not be sold or distributed to third parties for secondary purposes.

To ensure research discoverability, essential metadata (names, affiliations, and ORCIDs) will be shared with indexing services and Crossref upon publication. Registered users maintain the right to access and update their personal information through their profiles. However, authorship data linked to published works remains part of the permanent scientific record and cannot be removed. By using this system, users agree to receive operational notifications directly related to the editorial and publication workflow.