SMART WORLD JOURNAL · SHLAEN RETAIL LLC
Author Submission and Publication Agreement
A nonexclusive publication arrangement: authors retain copyright and authorize only the stated editorial and publishing uses.
Effective November 7, 2026 · Version 2026-11-07
Contents
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1. Parties, authority and scope
This agreement is between the submitting author or duly authorized representative and SHLAEN RETAIL LLC as publisher of Smart World Journal. It applies to the manuscript, identified authors and files associated with the particular submission reference. The corresponding author must have authority for every representation made on behalf of coauthors; the publisher may require individual confirmations. Agreeing in a new form does not retroactively authorize previously published material or resolve a disputed authorship credit. The Terms of Use, including applicable limitations and mandatory exceptions, form part of the accepted submission arrangement; this agreement controls if there is a conflict about manuscript rights.
2. Copyright remains with its lawful owner
No ownership or exclusive copyright is transferred by this agreement. Authors and other lawful owners retain their rights. The publisher receives only the limited nonexclusive permissions described below and cannot grant rights it does not hold. Employer-owned, institutional or jointly owned rights must be addressed by an authorized owner. You must disclose restrictions that prevent the grant of a required permission. A name on a manuscript or access to a document does not establish ownership.
3. Permission for editorial assessment
On submission, you grant permission to store, reproduce internally, transmit securely through necessary service providers, and share the submitted material with authorized editorial personnel and appropriately selected reviewers for assessment, production preparation, rights verification and research-integrity checks. This does not authorize public publication of a rejected or unaccepted manuscript. Reviewers and editors must respect the applicable confidentiality and conflict-of-interest arrangements. This permission is not an unrestricted licence to use an unpublished manuscript for advertising or generative-model training.
4. Conditional nonexclusive publication licence
If the publisher accepts the work and the authorized authors approve the publication version, the rights holders grant a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive licence for the duration of applicable copyright to publish and distribute that approved version as part of the journal; reproduce it in online and downloadable formats; make accessibility and technical-format adaptations; and maintain authentic archives, backups and bibliographic records. The publisher may provide necessary rights to hosting, production, indexing and preservation partners solely for those purposes. Permission includes distributing the approved abstract, bibliographic metadata, citations and links for discovery. It does not authorize materially altered conclusions, unrelated commercial product endorsement or substantive translations without separate authorization.
5. Reader reuse and open-access terminology
Publication is free to read. Unless an article expressly identifies another licence agreed with its rights holders, reuse remains subject to copyright law, applicable exceptions and permission from the lawful owner. This agreement does not automatically apply CC BY, CC0 or another open licence to any article or third-party material. Any such licence must be separately identified and authorized before it is applied. Authors may retain and share their own work, subject to third-party rights, duplicate-publication rules and any separate lawful obligations; a citation and link to the journal version are requested where appropriate.
6. Authorship, contributions and final approval
Every listed author must have made an appropriate intellectual contribution, approve the final publication version and accept responsibility consistent with the publication policy. Permission to use a person’s name, payment, board membership or honorary recognition alone does not establish authorship. Identify contributions and an accountable corresponding author, and obtain agreement to the author order and affiliations. Material changes after approval require renewed approval of the affected content. Disputed names must not be resolved merely by substituting a more convenient credit. Authorship corrections require an explanation, agreement from affected contributors where appropriate and a transparent record.
7. Originality and third-party rights
You represent, after reasonable inquiry, that the material is original to the extent claimed; that any prior publication, preprint, translation or overlapping submission has been disclosed; and that sources are accurately acknowledged. You have obtained permissions or identified an applicable licence or legal exception for third-party text, figures, tables, photographs, datasets and other content. Include source and licence information and supply evidence when requested. A similarity percentage, a citation or AI rewriting does not itself establish permission. Material carrying a separate licence must retain the required notices and exclusions.
8. Research integrity, evidence and limitations
Do not submit fabricated or falsified observations, invented experiments, nonexistent participants, false references or unsupported claims of completed validation. Distinguish observed results, simulations, illustrative assumptions, conceptual proposals and planned research. Verify cited sources and report important uncertainty, methodological limits and negative findings. Maintain the underlying evidence and explain legitimate restrictions on sharing it. Approval of the submission does not transfer the author’s responsibility for research integrity to the journal, and this clause does not excuse the publisher from its own editorial responsibilities.
9. Ethics, privacy and permissions of participants
Obtain and disclose ethical approvals and informed consent where required. Do not identify research participants or publish confidential, proprietary, restricted or personal information without a valid legal basis and the required permissions. Provide de-identified data where feasible. Do not assume that submission to a journal overrides employer confidentiality, court restrictions, patent considerations or an institution’s data rules. Tell the editorial office about necessary restrictions before uploading material.
10. AI tools and responsibility
Disclose material use of generative AI in preparing text, code, figures, analysis or other scholarly content, identifying the tool and the nature of assistance. Explain human verification and any limitations that affect interpretation. Routine spelling or formatting assistance need not be described as if it were an independent research contribution. AI tools cannot approve the final manuscript or assume author responsibility. Human authors remain responsible for accuracy, source verification, permissions and integrity. Do not place confidential third-party work into an external AI system without lawful authority and appropriate safeguards.
11. Funding and competing interests
Declare financial, professional and personal relationships that could reasonably affect interpretation, including ownership or development of products evaluated, affiliations with the publisher, sponsorship and relevant commercial interests. Identify funding or state that no external funding was received where accurate. An author who is an editor or board member must not direct the independent handling of that author’s own manuscript. The publisher may publish appropriate funding, contribution and conflict disclosures with the approved article.
12. Review, acceptance and fees
The journal charges no submission fee or article processing/publication charge. No payment or acceptance is promised by submission. The publisher may desk-reject, seek revisions, arrange review, decline publication or refer an integrity concern for appropriate investigation. External peer-review publication requires at least two independent reviewers under the journal policy and an accurately recorded status. This agreement does not attest that review has already occurred. Acceptance, DOI registration, indexing, citations, awards and professional or immigration outcomes are not guaranteed. Any separately proposed service requires a separate express agreement.
13. Withdrawal, preservation and corrections
Before publication, you may request withdrawal through the editorial office; receipt and status should be confirmed. Pending review or a rights concern may require retention of limited evidence, but an unaccepted manuscript is not thereby authorized for public publication. After authorized publication, withdrawal or a change of view does not automatically revoke the journal’s publication and preservation licence. Corrections, notices, retraction, removal required by law and negotiated rights remedies remain available when warranted. The publisher must not use preservation as a pretext to disregard a valid legal claim. Public indexes and third-party archives may retain records beyond the publisher’s control.
14. Personal data and publication details
The Privacy Policy explains storage, email forwarding, recipients and rights requests. Author names, approved affiliations, optional ORCID identifiers, approved public correspondence details, article content and bibliographic information may be published and indexed. Do not include a private home address, phone number or third-party contact detail in public material unless appropriate and expressly approved. Permission to process a private submission is not permission for unrelated marketing. Publication cannot guarantee recall of every copy or index entry.
15. Claims, records and mandatory protections
Each party remains responsible for its own legally relevant conduct. The terms’ limited third-party-claim responsibility applies only within its stated scope and applicable law; it does not make an author responsible for the publisher’s own negligence, misleading claims or unauthorized alterations. No provision requires silence about misconduct or prevents reporting, criticism, an appeal or a lawful claim. The publisher may retain proportionate agreement, approval, rights and correction records for legitimate evidentiary and publication purposes. Nothing waives rights that cannot lawfully be waived.
16. Electronic acceptance and earlier publications
By checking the required submission agreement box, you intend to accept these terms electronically for the identified submission and confirm the authority you assert. Save or print a copy before agreeing. The journal records the version, source-document hashes, submission reference and acceptance time. A receipt confirms intake, not identity verification, coauthor confirmation, acceptance or completed review. Requests for a copy, a non-electronic arrangement or clarification may be sent to the editorial office. Earlier publications require their own rights and approval evidence; this document does not retrospectively cure missing permissions. Contact: SHLAEN RETAIL LLC, 935 N Beneva Rd, Ste 609, PMB 2038, Sarasota, FL 34232, United States. Email: shlaenretail@gmail.com.
Publisher contact: SHLAEN RETAIL LLC, 935 N Beneva Rd, Ste 609, PMB 2038, Sarasota, FL 34232, United States. Email: shlaenretail@gmail.com.