CACTUS Journal Policies
Explore CACTUS policies on open access, publication ethics, authorship, AI use, copyright, archiving, complaints, and editorial integrity. CACTUS Journal upholds a steadfast commitment to academic integrity and transparency, aligning all publishing practices with international ethical standards and Diamond Open Access principles.
Open Access & Copyright
CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics is a Diamond Open Access biannual journal (June and December) and provides immediate open access to all published articles. Content is available online free of charge, with no subscription and no registration required. The journal charges no submission fees and no article processing charges (APCs).
Authors retain copyright and moral rights in their work. By publishing in the journal, authors grant CACTUS a non-exclusive license to publish the article as the Version of Record (VoR), identify itself as the original publisher, and disseminate the VoR and associated metadata.
The Version of Record is published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license allows any non-commercial user to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, provided appropriate attribution is given and a link to the license is included and changes (if any) are indicated..
Revenue sources: CACTUS operates as a non-commercial, open-access scholarly journal. The journal charges no submission fees and no article processing charges (APCs). The journal is supported through institutional resources and/or non-commercial subsidies.
Advertising policy: The journal does not accept commercial advertising. If the journal displays non-commercial announcements such as academic events, calls for papers, or funding opportunities, these are clearly separated from editorial content and have no influence on editorial decisions, peer review, or publication outcomes.
Direct marketing: Any direct marketing carried out on behalf of the journal, including calls for papers and invitations to submit manuscripts, is conducted in an ethical, relevant, and respectful manner. CACTUS does not use spam or aggressive promotional practices. We are committed to ensuring that all information about the journal and publisher is accurate, transparent, and trustworthy, so that authors and readers are always treated with clarity and respect.
Ethics Policy
This journal is committed to maintaining the principles of transparency, integrity, and best practice in scholarly publishing. Its publication ethics policies are aligned with the guidance of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).
- Editorial decisions based on merit - decisions are based on scope fit, scholarly significance, methodological rigor, clarity, and ethical compliance
- Fair and unbiased handling - manuscripts are evaluated without discrimination based on authors’ nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, ethnicity, political or religious beliefs
- Confidentiality - editors protect manuscript confidentiality and the identity of reviewers
- Conflicts of interest - editors disclose competing interests and recuse themselves where a conflict could reasonably be perceived
- Research integrity - editors act on suspected misconduct following the journal’s procedures
- Post-publication stewardship - editors safeguard the scholarly record through corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions where necessary
- Provide constructive, objective, and evidence-based feedback
- Be timely - accept reviews only when able to meet deadlines
- Maintain confidentiality - do not share manuscripts or use content for personal advantage
- Declare conflicts of interest - decline reviews where conflicts exist
- Flag integrity concerns - alert editors to suspected misconduct
- No AI tools - reviewers must not upload manuscripts (or substantial parts) to generative AI systems or external tools that could compromise confidentiality
- Ensure originality - submissions must be original, properly cited, and not under consideration elsewhere
- Meet authorship standards - authorship reflects substantial contribution; all authors approve the final manuscript and take responsibility for integrity
- Disclose competing interests and funding - both financial and non-financial interests should be disclosed, and the role of funders should be specified where relevant
- Comply with ethical oversight - authors must confirm approvals and consent where applicable and protect privacy and confidential data
- Support transparency - authors are encouraged to provide data availability statements where feasible and to retain data or materials for verification where ethically possible
- Correct the record - authors are expected to cooperate with editors on corrections or retractions if needed
CACTUS is committed to the highest ethical standards in scientific research. While an ethics committee opinion is not automatically required for every submission, the following principles apply in order to support academic integrity.
Authors bear full responsibility for complying with the ethical standards of their institutions, disciplines, and research fields. By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that the study was conducted ethically and in accordance with relevant academic standards. Any use of copyrighted instruments, datasets, or third-party materials must be properly licensed and appropriately cited.
Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained where relevant and that privacy and confidentiality were protected. Where formal ethical approval was required, authors must provide the name of the approving body and the reference number, or a justified explanation where formal approval was not necessary.
The Editorial Board reserves the right to request supporting documentation, including ethics approvals or declarations of consent, whenever the nature of the research raises specific ethical concerns.
Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical standards. The publisher and any sponsoring institution do not influence editorial decisions.
The Editor-in-Chief, Co-Editor-in-Chief and delegated editors have full authority over editorial content and publication decisions. Editors and reviewers must disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves when appropriate. The publisher may intervene only in matters involving legal risk or the integrity of the scholarly record, such as defamation, plagiarism, or proven misconduct, and does not direct editorial acceptance decisions.
Use of inclusive language: Authors are encouraged to use language that is respectful, inclusive, and free from bias relating to gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, disability, health status, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background. Stereotypes and unnecessary assumptions should be avoided. Person-first language is recommended where appropriate, and neutral expressions such as “participants,” “respondents,” or “researchers” are preferred unless the research context clearly requires otherwise.
Jurisdictional claims: The journal maintains a neutral position with respect to territorial disputes. Maps, institutional affiliations, and geographic should be accurate and appropriate to the research context. Editors may request revisions to maps or wording in order to preserve neutrality and scholarly appropriateness.
Artificial Intelligence Policy
AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript, including references and factual claims.
Authors who use AI tools during manuscript preparation must follow these principles:
Not permitted: generating or fabricating substantive content, data and/or results; producing deceptive images/figures; creating citations that have not been verified; or using AI in ways that obscure authors’ own intellectual contribution.
Permitted: basic support such as language improvement, grammar correction, spelling, clarity, formatting assistance, or other limited uses that do not generate original scholarly claims.
Mandatory AI disclosure: If AI tools were used beyond basic utilities, authors must include an AI Use Declaration section before the References, indicating the tool name and version, what it was used for, and how its outputs were reviewed and verified.
Confidentiality and peer review
Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, or substantial parts of manuscripts, to external AI tools where confidentiality or data protection could be compromised.
Non-compliance may lead to rejection, correction, or retraction, depending on the seriousness of the case.
Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics
To strengthen transparency and trust, the journal encourages research transparency, including the sharing of raw data and the citation of open data sources where appropriate. Authors are encouraged to deposit relevant data in specialized repositories and to include links in the article whenever feasible. The journal welcomes original and innovative papers. Replication studies may be considered where they offer meaningful methodological, empirical, or theoretical contributions.
Preprint Policy
CACTUS does not consider manuscripts that have been publicly posted as preprints or otherwise made publicly available online prior to submission. The journal also does not permit the public posting of a submitted manuscript as a preprint while it is under review, as this may affect the integrity and confidentiality of the peer review process.
If a submission is found to have been posted as a preprint at any stage, it may be rejected or, if already published, may become subject to editorial action in order to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
Submission implies that the manuscript is original, has not been previously published in whole or in substantial part, and is not under consideration by another journal or publisher at the time of submission. Authors also confirm that the manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere until a final editorial decision has been issued by CACTUS.
Authors will not publish the Version of Record (VoR) or a substantially similar version of it, as a journal article with another publisher or journal. Reuse of parts of the work in future publications is permitted only where it forms part of a substantially new work and properly cites the original article.
Violations may result in immediate rejection and further editorial action in accordance with publication ethics procedures.
Intellectual Property
The journal screens submitted manuscripts for potential plagiarism and redundant publication using the plagiarism detection system provided by Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
Screening is carried out before peer review and may also be repeated before acceptance where necessary.
CACTUS preserves the Version of Record and its metadata on institutional servers with regular internal backups. The journal also seeks to strengthen long-term digital preservation by integrating with established preservation services, such as LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, or equivalent solutions, as part of its ongoing infrastructure development.
Where DOIs are assigned, they are maintained in order to support persistent linking to the Version of Record and its associated metadata over time.
By submitting to CACTUS, authors confirm that the manuscript is original, that all sources are properly cited, and that the work has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal. Authors also confirm that the research complies with applicable ethical standards and that all listed authors approve the submitted version.
Download the required template: Declaration of Originality.
Other Policies
Authors retain copyright and may share their work in accordance with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license and the journal’s publishing agreement, which supports the reuse of content in teaching, theses, and subsequent research with proper attribution.
The Version of Record (VoR) is the definitive and citable version for sharing and archiving. In order to support scholarly clarity and avoid confusion between versions, public posting of Accepted Author Manuscripts (AAMs) is generally discouraged. Exceptions may be made where institutional or funder mandates apply; in such cases, the AAM may be deposited only after publication of the VoR, provided that it is clearly labeled and includes a direct link to the final DOI.
To protect the integrity of the scholarly record, the VoR should not be uploaded to services that monetize access or otherwise operate in ways inconsistent with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, nor should exclusive distribution rights be granted to third parties.
CACTUS permits automatic deposit of the Version of Record and associated metadata into institutional repositories and other non-commercial archiving services. Repositories and indexing services may harvest metadata and, where applicable, full text through standard protocols such as OAI-PMH, in accordance with the article license.
The journal strongly supports institutional archiving as part of long-term preservation and accessibility.
CACTUS supports machine readability and text and data mining (TDM) for non-commercial research purposes, consistent with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license..
Non-commercial users may:
crawl article pages and metadata using standard web crawlers and indexing tools,
download and process articles for non-commercial TDM, including computational analysis,
use the resulting outputs for research, provided that appropriate attribution is given and any reuse remains consistent with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
Commercial text and data mining, or other commercial reuse of the content, is not permitted under CC BY-NC 4.0 and requires separate permission from the rights holder(s).
Complaints, Appeals & Corrections
CACTUS handles complaints relating to editorial processes, peer review, publication decisions, and post-publication issues in a fair, confidential, and timely manner. Complaints should be submitted in writing to the editorial office and should include the manuscript title or ID, where applicable, together with a clear description of the issue and any supporting evidence.
Appeals of editorial decisions may be considered when authors provide a reasoned and evidence-based argument, such as factual errors in reviews or a demonstrable misunderstanding by reviewers. Appeals are assessed by an editor who was not involved in the original decision. The outcome of an appeal is final. Authors must not attempt to pressure editors or reviewers.
Complaints should be sent to: cactus.journal@ase.ro
The editorial team is committed to responding within a maximum of 30 working days where feasible, ensuring a fair and confidential process. Complex cases may require more time
Post-publication Discussions and Corrections
Handling Allegations of Misconduct
CACTUS take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate concerns including, but not limited to, plagiarism, redundant publication, data manipulation, image manipulation, authorship disputes, peer review manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and unethical research practices.
The journal follows a documented triage and investigation process:
Triage: initial assessment, evidence capture, and confidentiality measures
Author contact: request for clarification and supporting documentation
Decision: editorial actions may include rejection, withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, retraction, and/or reporting to relevant bodies
Documentation: the case is recorded, and outcomes are communicated with appropriate reasoning, while respecting confidentiality and due process
Where necessary, CACTUS may issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in order to protect the scholarly record.
CORRECTION (Erratum/Corrigendum) may be issued when honest errors are discovered that do not invalidate the main conclusions. Corrections describe what changed and why, and they are linked to the original article. Authors are encouraged to report any errors promptly.
EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN may be issued when there is substantial reason to question the integrity or reliability of a publication, but the investigation is still ongoing or remains inconclusive. The notice is linked to the original article and remains publicly available until the matter is resolved.
RETRACTION may be issued where there is evidence of data fabrication, data recycling in a purportedly original research article, severe plagiarism, duplicate publication, copyright infringement, unreliable findings, unethical research practices, or any other conduct considered harmful to the scientific community. Retraction notices are clearly linked to the original article, clearly labeled, remain publicly accessible, and state both the reason for retraction and who is retracting the article. Article PDFs may also be marked to indicate the status of the record while preserving access to the historical publication record.