Nigerian Journal of Technology

NIJOTECH uses a double-blind review system in which the author and reviewer do not know each other to ensure objective reviewing of articles for qualitative publications. Papers submitted to NIJOTECH are usually sent out for review within 24 hours. After the reviewers return their comments to the Editor, their comments are forwarded to the authors for their rebuttals or for modifications to their manuscripts inline with the reviewers’ comments. The final decisions on whether to publish manuscripts is subsequently made in the editorial board meeting of the journal where all manuscripts are considered together with their corresponding reviewer comments. The decisions of the editorial board are usually final and are communicated to authors accordingly.  Reviews take approximately 4 weeks from date of receipt of manuscript

This journal 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.

As of 2021, this journal will publish 6 issues per volume per year. 

NIJOTECH policy in relation to plagiarism, infringement of copyright, infringement of moral rights and submission to multiple publications

Introduction to plagiarism, copyright and moral rights

1. Nigerian Journal of Technology (“NIJOTECH”) hereinafter referred to as “the journal” will not tolerate submission of works to which contain plagiarised material or infringe the copyright or moral rights of third parties.
2. Plagiarism is the act of dishonestly copying or taking advantage of, the work of another author as if it were your own, without acknowledgement. Plagiarism can take many forms including word for word copying of another work, or simply copying the ideas from another work without attribution.
3. Plagiarism includes so called “self-plagiarism”, which is the submission of one’s own previously published material to a new publication, without informing the publisher of the new publication that the work has been previously published.
4. There is also a concern where authors submit the same work to multiple publications. This can waste the time of publishers and reviewers and this policy therefore aims to prevent this.
5. Copyright infringement is unlawful and occurs when a substantial part of the work of another author is copied without consent.
6. Copyright infringement and plagiarism can overlap but are not synonymous. For example:
• If an author includes in his/her work a direct copy of a substantial part of another author’s work without their permission and passes it off as their own work then this may be both plagiarism and copyright infringement.
• If an author includes in his/her work a direct copy of a substantial part of another author’s work without their permission but expressly acknowledges in the work that it is the work of another author then this would not be plagiarism but may be copyright infringement.
• If an author presents the work or ideas of another author as their own but does not include in his or her work a direct copy of a substantial part of the other author’s work, then this may be plagiarism but would not be copyright infringement.
7. Authors have certain moral rights which include the right to object to derogatory treatment of a copyright work. Infringement of moral rights occurs if a person publishes commercially or communicates to the public a derogatory treatment of the work of another author. A derogatory treatment of a work is any addition to, deletion from or alteration to or adaptation of the work which amounts to distortion or mutilation of the work or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author. Moral rights of authors also include the right to be identified as the author of a copyright work (if the author has asserted this right), and breaching this right would also constitute an infringement of moral rights.

Responsibilities of the authors

8. Before submitting any work to NIJOTECH the author(s) must make sure that:
• the author(s) owns all of the rights in the work including the copyright in the work;
• the work is the author(s)’s own original work and is not copied wholly or substantially from any other work or material or any other source;
• the work does not infringe the copyright or other rights of any third party;
• the author(s) has the right to license or assign (as applicable) the copyright in the work;
• the work or any version of it has not previously been published or submitted for publication except as specifically informed to NIJOTECH at the time of submission; and
• the author has not submitted the work or any substantially similar work to another publication and will not do so unless NIJOTECH decides not to publish the work.

Dealing with cases of plagiarism, copyright infringement or moral rights infringement

9. If NIJOTECH becomes aware that a work may contain plagiarised material or infringe copyright or moral rights belonging to a third party, either before or after publication of that work, NIJOTECH will follow the procedures set out below.
10. In following the procedures set out below, NIJOTECH will assess for its own internal purposes whether to continue to consider for publication or withdraw a work. Any decision reached by NIJOTECH will be solely as to whether or not NIJOTECH wishes to consider publishing the work. NIJOTECH will not issue a decision as to whether or not plagiarism, or infringement of copyright or moral rights has actually taken place.

Procedure where a work has been submitted, but not published

11. If NIJOTECH becomes aware that a work may contain plagiarised material or infringe copyright or moral rights belonging to a third party before publication, NIJOTECH will contact the author(s) to highlight the issue that has arisen and ask for the author(s)’s explanation of the apparent problem.
12. The following is a non-exhaustive list of actions that may be taken by NIJOTECH in such circumstances:
12. 1 No response or unsatisfactory response: If no response is received or an unsatisfactory response is received to NIJOTECH’s query:
• the work may immediately be withdrawn from the editorial/review process and may not be published;
• NIJOTECH may inform the author(s) that no further action with respect to progressing the reviewing/editorial handling of the work will take place and that NIJOTECH will not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 5 years;
• NIJOTECH may not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 5 years; and
• the editor or editorial board of NIJOTECH publications and members of staff employed by NIJOTECH may also be informed of these actions only on a need to know basis.
12.2 Response admitting mistake: In the case of minor mistakes (for example omitting to include proper citation of the source of reproduced material) NIJOTECH may request from the author(s) some wording for use in noting any correction to the online version by adding a note to the metadata or adding an additional separate PDF, or in the case of a print version for use in printing an erratum note in a subsequent issue before progressing the editorial process.
12.3 In the case of misconduct, NIJOTECH may adopt any or all of the responses and actions listed in section 12.1.
12.4 Submitting a similar work to more than one publication: If prior to publication, it is found that an author(s) has submitted a work or substantially similar work concurrently to more than one publication without informing NIJOTECH, NIJOTECH will inform the author (i) that it believes the same work or substantially similar work had been submitted to another publication and (ii)
whether NIJOTECH will reject the work or would like to discuss publication of the work with the publisher of the other publication.
12.5 If prior to publication, it is found that the work or a substantially similar work has already been published previously in another publication, NIJOTECH will inform the author that it believes the same work or a substantially similar work has been published in another publication and NIJOTECH may reject the work.
12.6 Any repeat occurrence may result in a similar process to that described in section 12.1 above except that NIJOTECH may not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 1 year.

Procedure where a work has already been published

13. If NIJOTECH has published a work and subsequently becomes aware of matters which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that the work contains plagiarised material or material that infringes copyright or moral rights then NIJOTECH may immediately withdraw the work from the relevant publication.
- In respect of NIJOTECH Digital Library (IDL), the metadata, (Title and Authors) may be retained, but the PDF may be removed and replaced by a notice indicating the work is currently unavailable; and
- NIJOTECH may request that the AJOL simultaneously takes down the PDF from their database and leaves in place similar metadata and a similar notice to that retained on the NIJOTECH website.
If NIJOTECH withdraws publication of a work in this manner NIJOTECH may then follow the procedure set out in sections 14 and 15 below.
14. If NIJOTECH becomes aware that a work may contain plagiarised material or infringe copyright or moral rights belonging to a third party after publication, NIJOTECH will inform the author(s) that an issue has arisen and ask for the author(s)’s explanation of the apparent problem.
15. The following is a non-exhaustive list of actions that may be taken by NIJOTECH in such circumstances:
15.1 No response or unsatisfactory response: If no response is received or an unsatisfactory response is received to NIJOTECH’s query:
• the work may be withdrawn from the relevant publication:
- In respect of NIJOTECH, the metadata, (Title and Authors) may be retained, but the PDF may be removed and replaced by a notice indicating the work has been retracted.
- NIJOTECH may request that AJOL simultaneously takes down the PDF from their database and leaves in place similar metadata and a similar retraction notice to that retained on NIJOTECH website.
- If the work has also been printed, in the next available issue of the publication NIJOTECH may publish a retraction note (included in the contents list) with respect to the work.
• NIJOTECH may inform the author(s) that the work will be withdrawn from the relevant publication and that NIJOTECH may not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 5 years;
• NIJOTECH may not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 5 years; and
• the editor or editorial board of NIJOTECH publications and members of staff employed by NIJOTECH may also be informed of these actions only on a need to know basis.
15.2 Response admitting mistake: If the author(s) responds admitting a mistake:
• In the case of minor mistakes (for example omitting to include proper citation of the source of reproduced material) NIJOTECH may request from the author(s) some wording for use in noting any correction to the online version by adding a note to the metadata or adding an additional separate PDF, or in the case of a print version for use in printing an erratum note in a subsequent issue.
• In the case of misconduct, NIJOTECH may adopt any or all of the responses and actions listed in Section 15.1.
Similar material published in more than one publication
15.3 Where it is discovered after publication of the work that the work or a substantially similar work has been published previously in another publication, NIJOTECH will inform the author that it believes the same work had been published in another publication and NIJOTECH may withdraw the work from NIJOTECH publication. Any repeat occurrence may result in a similar process to that described in section 15.1 above except that NIJOTECH may not consider for publication works written by the author(s) for a period of 1 year.

Disciplinary procedures for members

16. Where the author(s) is a member of NIJOTECH and NIJOTECH believes that the author(s) may have acted contrary to the Bye-laws of NIJOTECH than the matter may be referred to the Disciplinary Board of NIJOTECH together with the facts as known.

Disputes between authors and third parties

17. This section (sections 17 to 19) will be followed if there is a dispute between a third party and an author whereby a third party has made an allegation of plagiarism or infringement of copyright or moral rights against an author(s) of a work submitted to NIJOTECH for publication or published by NIJOTECH. Where such a dispute arises:
• the author(s) and the third party should endeavour to resolve their difficulties independently of NIJOTECH;
• NIJOTECH will not act to decide the dispute between the third party and the author;
• NIJOTECH will not agree to act as an arbitrator or mediator on either a formal or an informal basis in any such dispute but does encourage the parties to resolve the matter amicably between themselves;
• NIJOTECH will decide for its own internal purposes on the basis of the procedures set out in the sections above, whether or not to publish a work or withdraw publication of a work if it has already been published; and
• NIJOTECH reserves the right not to publish any work that is the subject of a dispute until the dispute has been resolved.
18. When such a dispute is finally resolved through Court proceedings or by arbitration or mediation by the author(s) and the third party, and the outcome referred to NIJOTECH, a decision as to whether or not to publish a work, or re-instate a work which has been withdrawn, will be taken by NIJOTECH.
19. If NIJOTECH itself is accused of infringement of copyright or moral rights, NIJOTECH will take such steps as it deems appropriate to defend its interests.
20. In all matters that will require litigations and leading to court proceedings, authors are enjoined to sign on the Copyright form that such matters will be handled at the courts of competent jurisdictions within Nsukka, Enugu State. Nigeria.

Acknowledgement

Parts of this policy statement was adapted from that used by the IET of UK (www.theiet.org)

AGREEMENT IN RELATION TO COPYRIGHT OF AN ARTICLE FOR NIJOTECH JOURNAL
In order to ensure both the widest dissemination and protection of material published in our Journal, we ask Authors to transfer to the Publisher, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the rights of copyright in the Articles they contribute. This enables NIJOTECH to ensure protection against infringement. The transfer of copyright must be clearly stated in writing.

PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AND CONFIRM YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF OUR ARTICLE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT BY SIGNING THIS FORM AS INDICATED BELOW.
Article (the “Article”) entitled:
Author(s) in the order they will appear on paper:

To be published in: NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY [p-ISSN: 0331-8443, e-ISSN: 2467-8821 ]

YOUR STATUS
I am the sole author of the Article
Please indicate if any of the statements below also apply to you:
I am a UK, Canadian or Australian Government employee and claim Crown Copyright
I am a US Government employee and there is no copyright to transfer
I am a contractor of the US Government (includes NIH contractors) under contract number:
………………………….I am required to sign this form
I am one of multiple co-authors of the Article and confirm I have the consent of my co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf

Please indicate if any of the below also apply to you and your co-authors:
All of my co-authors are UK, Canadian or Australian Government employees and Crown
Copyright is claimed / not claimed (circle one)
One or more of my co-authors, but not all of them, are UK, Canadian or Australian
Government employees and Crown Copyright is claimed / not claimed (circle one)
All of my co-authors are US Governmental employees and there is no copyright to transfer
The work was performed by contractors of the US Government under contract number ……

The copyright in the Article belongs to my employer (is a “work made for hire”) and I am granting license to publish as an authorized representative of my employer. My Title and Company are stated in the section below.

ASSIGNMENT OF PUBLISHING RIGHTS
I hereby assign to NIJOTECH the copyright in the above specified manuscript (government authors not transferring copyright hereby assign a non-exclusive license to publish) and any accompanying tables, illustrations, data and any other supplementary information intended for publication in all forms and all media (whether known at this time or developed at any time in the future) throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, to take effect if and when the article is accepted for publication. If I am one of several co-authors, I hereby confirm that I am authorized by my co-authors to grant this License as their agent on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, this assignment includes the rights to supply the article in electronic and online forms and systems.

I confirm that I accept the full terms of the Journal’s article publishing agreement and hereby transfer all rights to NIJOTECH. I also confirm that any litigation that may arise between the author(s) or any third party and the Journal will be presided over at the Courts of Nsukka, Enugu State – NIGERIA.

Signed:
Full Name: …
Title and Company (if employer representative): ………………………………. ……………..
Date: ……

Please return only this page completed and physically signed. You may submit a scan by email to nijo.tech@unn.edu.ng or send completed copy by post to: Prof. E. S. Obe, Department of Electrical Engineering, university of Nigeria, Nsukka. Enugu State – NIGERIA.

THIS FORM WILL BE RETAINED BY NIJOTECH.

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY (Please fill in ALL fields)
Paper Title:
...................................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................
Author(s).
......................................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
1. Authorship
1.1 Does the paper describe original work carried out by the author(s)?-------------------------------
1.2 Has anyone else contributed to the work, to the paper or taken part in its preparation? ------------------
If ‘yes’ please name them.............................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
1.3 Does the paper give proper acknowledgement to all contributors other than the author(s) named
above?. ..............................................................
1.4 To the best of your knowledge, is the work described in the paper original?-------------------------------
If the paper includes work which is not original, or which has been copied from another source, please
give details...................................................................................................................................................

2. Publication elsewhere
2.1 Has the paper been presented at any conference / congress / symposium etc? ------------------------
If the answer is ‘yes’ please give brief details and also upload a copy of the material presented (in
conjunction with a covering letter) stating how the submission to the Nigerian Journal of Technology is a
significant enhancement of the previous work.......................................................................................................
2.2 Has the paper been published in any journal, or other form of publication (in any language)?..........
If ‘yes’ please give details..........................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................
2.3 Is the paper presently under consideration for publication in any other journal or other form of
publication? .....................
If ‘yes’ please give details.........................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
3. Permission
Has your employer (or any person who commissioned the work described in the paper) agreed to its
submission to the Nigerian Journal of Technology with a view to publication?.........................................
Please sign below:
I/We, the named author(s) of the above paper, confirm that the above statements are correct, that the
paper contains nothing defamatory, and that it may be submitted to the Nigerian Journal of Technology
with a view to publication.
I/We agree that Nigerian Journal of Technology shall be entitled to be fully indemnified by me/us against
all claims:
(a) that the paper is defamatory, or (b) that the paper infringes the copyright of any third party, or (c)
arising from any negligent or wilful mis-statements in the answers to this Statement of Originality.

Signed...............................................................................................Date…………………………………

CURRENT ARTICLE PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION FEES

Processing fees: Authors are required to pay non-refundable article processing fee of N4,000 (or $10USD) upon submission of their manuscript before the initiation of the review process. This fee is rebated from the final article publication fees if the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Publication fees: NIJOTECH charges publication fees to offset the costs of secretarial office maintenance, manuscript preparation, journal production, online publication and web hosting. The publication fees are charged based on the length of the final revised and accepted manuscript (where the manuscript has been formatted before submission following the Author Guide and Template provided on the NIJOTECH website.) Basically, manuscripts are not expected to exceed 14 pages, including figures, tables and plates. Each sub-figure is counted as a figure; tables, figures or plates that cover up to half a page is counted as two; and the combined total number of figures, plates and tables should normally not exceed 10 per article. Authors will incur extra charges for manuscripts that exceed these. The final article publication fees, which are computed based on the address of the corresponding author, are determined as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Estimated article publication fees irrespective of number of authors

Manuscript Specification	Cost for Authors based in Nigeria	Cost for Authors based outside Nigeria
Basic cost: Not more than 14 pages formatted as Author Guide and Template (with not more than 10 figures and tables combined.)	N40,000:00	US$ 80
Each extra page beyond the 14th and up to the 20th page	N2,000:00	US$ 10
Each extra page beyond the 20th page	N2,500:00	US$ 12
Each extra figure, table or plate beyond the 10 allowed	N1,000:00	US$ 5

An additional N2,100 (or $20.00) is charged per author to cover the cost of sending the print issues by ordinary surface mail postage (NIPOST) or proxy.

Any author seeking any clarification(s) on these should send an email to the Editor editor.nijotech@unn.edu.ng