Journal Policy

Journal Philosophy

JODIGO seeks to advance scholarly knowledge concerning the transformation of governance in the digital era. The journal encourages research that critically examines how digital technologies affect governments, public institutions, public administration, policymaking, public services, accountability, citizen participation, and relationships between governments and society.

Scope and Relevance

Relevant areas include digital governance, e-government, digital public administration, digital public services, artificial intelligence in government, algorithmic governance, data-driven governance, digital democracy, civic technology, smart governance, cybersecurity governance, digital rights, data protection, digital inclusion, public-sector innovation, and technology policy.

Technology-oriented studies must demonstrate a substantive contribution to governance, public policy, public institutions, public administration, citizen-government relations, accountability, or public-service delivery. Purely technical studies without a meaningful governance dimension are generally outside the journal's primary scope.

JODIGO welcomes manuscripts from academics, researchers, postgraduate researchers, public-administration scholars, public-policy researchers, government practitioners, policymakers, digital-governance professionals, social scientists, information systems researchers, and interdisciplinary scholars whose work is relevant to the journal's aims and scope.

Submission eligibility is based on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological or conceptual quality, and research integrity. Institutional affiliation, public office, professional rank, nationality, geographic location, or political status does not determine publication eligibility.

Originality and Prior Publication

Manuscripts must represent original scholarly work and must not have been published previously in substantially the same form. Related theses, dissertations, preprints, government reports, conference papers, working papers, or earlier versions should be disclosed where appropriate.

Concurrent Submission

Manuscripts must not be under active consideration by another journal. Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript elsewhere while the JODIGO editorial process remains active.

Author Responsibility

The corresponding author confirms that all listed authors have approved the submission and that authorship, citations, ethical approvals, permissions, funding, conflicts of interest, and research integrity requirements have been properly addressed.

Generative AI Transparency

Human authors remain responsible for all submitted content. Substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in research design, data analysis, programming, visualization, interpretation, image generation, simulation, or manuscript preparation should be disclosed where relevant. AI systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

Manuscripts should follow the JODIGO Author Guidelines and should demonstrate clear academic organization, transparent research reporting, appropriate theoretical or conceptual grounding, sound methodology, accurate citations, and a clearly articulated scholarly contribution.

Empirical manuscripts should describe relevant data sources, research design, participants or units of analysis, analytical procedures, software or computational methods, limitations, and ethical considerations sufficiently for scholarly assessment.

Manuscripts involving artificial intelligence, algorithms, administrative databases, government information systems, or digital platforms should clearly report relevant data sources, validation procedures, analytical assumptions, and limitations where appropriate.

Manuscripts that pass initial editorial screening will normally undergo double-blind peer review by at least two qualified reviewers with expertise relevant to the manuscript. Author and reviewer identities are concealed from one another during the review process.

Reviewers are selected according to scholarly expertise, methodological or theoretical competence, independence, and absence of relevant conflicts of interest.

Editorial Decisions

JODIGO may reject manuscripts without external peer review when the initial editorial assessment determines that a submission does not satisfy fundamental journal requirements.

JODIGO maintains a strict policy against plagiarism, inappropriate textual overlap, duplicate publication, unattributed reuse, fabricated citations, data fabrication, and other forms of scholarly misrepresentation. Manuscripts may be assessed using recognized similarity-detection software before or during editorial evaluation.

Similarity reports are interpreted editorially and are not assessed solely according to a fixed numerical percentage. Editors may consider the source, concentration, context, attribution, type of overlap, and scholarly significance of identified similarities.

Where plagiarism, fabricated references, inappropriate reuse, duplicate publication, or similar integrity concerns are identified, the journal may request clarification, require revision, reject the manuscript, discontinue editorial processing, or take appropriate post-publication action.

Authors wishing to withdraw a manuscript must submit a written request to the Editorial Office stating the reason for withdrawal. The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors agree with the request.

Once an article has been formally published, concerns regarding its reliability or integrity should generally be handled through corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other post-publication procedures rather than withdrawal.

Government and Administrative Data

Authors using government databases, administrative records, institutional datasets, public-service information, public-sector platforms, or other administrative data must ensure that access, analysis, and publication comply with applicable legal, institutional, contractual, confidentiality, and ethical requirements.

Privacy and Personal Data

Personal, identifiable, confidential, or sensitive data relating to citizens, public employees, government users, interview participants, digital-platform users, or other individuals must be appropriately protected. Anonymization, de-identification, consent, and ethical approval should be applied where relevant.

AI and Automated Decision Systems

Studies involving AI-based government systems, algorithmic decision-making, predictive analytics, risk scoring, biometric technologies, or automated public services should report relevant data sources, validation procedures, limitations, potential biases, and implications for transparency, accountability, fairness, explainability, and public rights.

Cybersecurity and Sensitive Infrastructure

Manuscripts concerning government cybersecurity, critical digital infrastructure, vulnerabilities, authentication systems, or sensitive institutional information should balance scholarly transparency with responsible disclosure. Authors should avoid publishing unnecessary technical or operational details where disclosure could create disproportionate risks to public systems or users.