Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 05 May 2026

These Terms and Conditions govern the use of the Journal of Food Innovation, Nutrition and Environmental Sciences (JFINES) website, online submission system, published content, and related journal services.

By accessing or using the JFINES website, submitting a manuscript, registering as a user, downloading content, or communicating with the journal, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with these terms, you should not use the website or journal services.

1. About the Journal

The Journal of Food Innovation, Nutrition and Environmental Sciences (JFINES) is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal published by EcoScribe Publishers Company Limited.

The journal publishes scholarly work in food science, food technology, nutrition, agricultural sciences, environmental sciences, sustainable food systems, and related interdisciplinary fields.

2. Use of the Website

Users may access the JFINES website for lawful scholarly, educational, research, professional, and informational purposes.

Users agree not to:

  • use the website for unlawful, fraudulent, abusive, or harmful activities;
  • interfere with the security, functionality, or availability of the website;
  • attempt to gain unauthorised access to the journal system, user accounts, server, or database;
  • upload malicious files, spam, malware, or harmful code;
  • misuse the website to misrepresent identity, affiliation, authorship, or publication status;
  • copy, scrape, or harvest website content in a way that violates applicable laws, copyright, licensing terms, or platform security.

JFINES reserves the right to restrict access, suspend accounts, remove inappropriate content, or take other reasonable action where misuse of the website or submission system is identified.

3. User Registration and Accounts

Users may be required to create an account to submit manuscripts, review manuscripts, manage editorial work, or receive journal updates.

Users are responsible for ensuring that the information they provide is accurate, current, and complete. Users are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their login details and for any activity carried out through their account.

Users should notify the journal immediately if they suspect unauthorised use of their account.

4. Manuscript Submission

By submitting a manuscript to JFINES, authors confirm that:

  • the manuscript is original and has not been published previously, except where properly disclosed;
  • the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal or publication outlet;
  • all listed authors have approved the submission;
  • all authors have made appropriate contributions to the work;
  • the manuscript complies with the journal’s author guidelines and publication ethics policies;
  • ethical approval, informed consent, permissions, and legal requirements have been obtained where applicable;
  • conflicts of interest, funding sources, data availability, and other required declarations have been disclosed;
  • third-party material has been used lawfully and with appropriate permission where required.

Submission of a manuscript does not guarantee peer review, acceptance, or publication. JFINES reserves the right to decline a manuscript at any stage where it does not meet the journal’s editorial, ethical, technical, or publication requirements.

5. Peer Review and Editorial Decisions

Manuscripts submitted to JFINES are subject to editorial screening and, where suitable, peer review.

Editorial decisions are made by the journal’s editorial team based on the manuscript’s relevance to the journal’s scope, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, clarity, reviewer comments, editorial assessment, and journal policy.

JFINES does not guarantee acceptance, publication, indexing, citation, or publication within a fixed timeframe.

6. Open Access, Copyright and Licensing

JFINES is an open-access journal. Published articles are made available online in accordance with the journal’s open-access, copyright, and licensing policies.

Unless otherwise stated, articles published in JFINES are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

Authors retain copyright of their published work and grant JFINES a non-exclusive licence to publish, distribute, archive, preserve, index, and identify the article as the version of record.

Users may read, download, copy, share, distribute, adapt, and reuse published articles in accordance with the applicable Creative Commons licence, provided that proper attribution is given and any changes are indicated.

Third-party material included in articles may be subject to separate copyright or licensing terms. Users are responsible for checking whether permission is required before reusing such material.

7. Article Processing Charges and Payments

JFINES currently does not charge Article Processing Charges for manuscripts submitted before 1 January 2027.

With effect from 1 January 2027, manuscripts submitted to JFINES will be subject to an Article Processing Charge of USD 150, payable only after peer review has been completed and the manuscript has been formally accepted for publication. Click here to get more information about JFINES APCs

JFINES does not charge submission fees, review fees, editorial assessment fees, or hidden publication charges.

Payment of an APC does not influence editorial assessment, peer review, acceptance, rejection, or publication decisions.

Where payments are required, authors will receive official payment instructions from the editorial office. Authors should not make payments unless they have received formal instructions linked to an accepted manuscript.

8. Waivers, Discounts and Voluntary Contributions

JFINES may consider full or partial APC waivers in exceptional cases, particularly for unfunded authors, postgraduate students, or authors from low-resource institutions or low-income settings.

Waiver requests are handled separately from editorial decision-making and do not influence peer review or acceptance decisions.

Before the APC policy takes effect, the journal may accept voluntary contributions to support journal operations. Such contributions are not linked to any specific manuscript and do not influence editorial decisions, peer review, publication timelines, or acceptance outcomes.

9. Refunds

APCs are payable only after acceptance. Once production work has begun, including copyediting, typesetting, DOI registration, metadata preparation, or online publication, APC refunds may not normally be available.

Refund requests, where applicable, will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Refunds may be considered where a payment was made in error, duplicated, or where publication does not proceed due to a journal-side administrative issue.

Refunds are not normally provided where authors withdraw an accepted manuscript after production has begun, where authors fail to respond to proof or publication queries, or where post-acceptance concerns arise due to author-provided inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information.

10. Corrections, Retractions and Publication Updates

JFINES reserves the right to issue corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, updates, or other publication notices where required to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

Published articles may be corrected or retracted in accordance with the journal’s correction, retraction, and publication ethics policies.

Retractions and corrections do not necessarily imply removal of the article from the journal website. Where appropriate, the original article may remain accessible with clear labelling to preserve the scholarly record, unless removal is required for legal, ethical, or safety reasons.

11. Indexing and Discoverability

JFINES works to improve the discoverability and visibility of published articles through metadata quality, persistent identifiers, open-access availability, indexing, abstracting, aggregation, and preservation practices.

Inclusion in any indexing, abstracting, aggregation, or discovery service is subject to the independent policies, technical processes, evaluation criteria, and timelines of the relevant service.

JFINES does not guarantee that any article or journal issue will be indexed by a specific external database within a specific timeframe.

12. Privacy and Personal Data

JFINES collects and uses personal information for journal-related purposes, including user registration, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial communication, publication, indexing, archiving, and journal administration.

Personal information is handled in accordance with the journal’s Privacy Statement and applicable data protection principles.

Users should not submit personal data belonging to other individuals unless they have the authority or consent to do so.

13. Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to JFINES are treated as confidential documents during editorial assessment and peer review.

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff are expected to maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and related communications.

Authors, reviewers, and editors should not disclose confidential information obtained through the journal’s submission, peer-review, or editorial processes except where authorised or required by journal policy, ethical investigation, or law.

14. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Users are responsible for ensuring that any use of artificial intelligence tools in relation to manuscript preparation, reviewing, editing, or communication complies with the journal’s policies on authorship, originality, confidentiality, data protection, and research integrity.

Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscript files, figures, tables, data, or supplementary materials to third-party tools or platforms that may store, process, or reuse the content unless explicitly authorised by the journal.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of submitted work, including any content prepared with the assistance of digital or artificial intelligence tools.

15. Limitation of Liability

JFINES and EcoScribe Publishers Company Limited make reasonable efforts to maintain the accuracy, availability, and security of the journal website and published content. However, the journal does not guarantee uninterrupted website access, error-free operation, immediate indexing, or availability of external links and third-party services.

To the extent permitted by law, JFINES and EcoScribe Publishers Company Limited shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or special losses arising from use of the website, submission system, published content, or journal services.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits liability where such limitation is not permitted under applicable law.

16. External Links

The JFINES website may contain links to external websites, databases, repositories, indexing services, or third-party platforms. These links are provided for convenience and scholarly reference.

JFINES is not responsible for the content, accuracy, policies, availability, or practices of external websites.

17. Changes to These Terms

JFINES may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time. Updates will be posted on the journal website with the revised date.

Continued use of the website, submission system, or journal services after updates have been posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

18. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of Uganda.

Any disputes arising from the use of the JFINES website, submission system, published content, or journal services shall be handled in accordance with applicable laws and competent courts in Uganda.

19. Contact

For questions about these Terms and Conditions, please contact:

Editorial Office
Journal of Food Innovation, Nutrition and Environmental Sciences
Email: jfineseditor@gmail.com
Phone: +256 702 665 172