Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology

Open Access Policy

Bilingual Publishing Group provides immediate open access to its journal content. Making research openly available to the public helps to promote the study results, which benefits the academic community. The Journal adopts the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which means that anyone can reuse and redistribute the materials for non-commercial purposes as long as you follow the license terms and the original source is properly cited.

By providing open access, the following benefits are brought about:

Higher Visibility, Availability and Citations-free and unlimited accessibility of the publication over the internet without any restrictions increases citation of the article.
Ease of search-publications are easily searchable in search engines and indexing databases.
Rapid Publication-accepted papers are immediately published online.
Available for free download immediately after publication at https://journals.bilpubgroup.com/index.php/jsbct.

Peer Review Process

Bilingual Publishing Group has always been committed to providing high-quality and influential academic publications and recognizes the importance of peer review in ensuring the quality and reliability of publications. Therefore, the Bilingual Publishing Group has established a rigorous peer-review policy. All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology will follow a strict double-blind peer review process, and reviewers and authors will remain anonymous throughout the process, with peer review comments not being made public. Bilingual Publishing Group does not accept reviewers recommended by authors for peer review.

Peer reviewers should not work at the same institution as any of the authors, or have recently (within the past 3 years) served as mentors, close collaborators, or joint funders.

Our peer review process includes the following steps:

*Initial review: After a manuscript is submitted to the journal, managing editors will conduct an initial review to check whether it fits within the scope of the journal, has a proper structure, and is free from plagiarism (use the iThenticate), etc. Manuscripts that do not meet our standards and ethics policy will be directly rejected. Manuscripts that pass the initial review will enter the next stage.

*Reviewers assignment: If the manuscript passes the initial review, managing editors will assign it to multiple independent expert reviewers in the field for peer review. Managing editors will evaluate the expertise, research background, and experience of the potential experts and ensure that the selection of peer reviewers is fair, transparent, and impartial.

*Reviewers submit reports: Reviewers will conduct a comprehensive evaluation and review of the manuscript, providing detailed opinions and suggestions.If supplementary materials are included in the submission, the reviewers will also evaluate them in the same way as the main manuscript.

*Final decision: The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision based on at least two review comments and inform the author. The final decision is Accept, Revisions Required (Minor revision), Resubmit for Review (Major revision), or Reject.
- If the decision is to Accept the submission, the managing editor will directly send an acceptance letter, arrange for further processing, and eventually publish the article.
- If the decision is to Revisions Required, the author should make revisions and resubmit the manuscript within 7-14 days, the editor will review the revised manuscript and make a decision.
- If the decision is to Resubmit for Review, the author will have 14-30 days to make revisions and resubmit for a second round of review, until the manuscript is accepted.
- If the decision is to Reject the submission, the managing editor will directly notify the author and archive the submission.

All articles that have been accepted for publication will be deemed to have completed the peer review process. Before publication online, manuscripts will undergo text editing, layout editing, and proofreading. Authors will receive proofs for review and verification before publication to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the article.

Bilingual Publishing Group's peer review policy aims to ensure that every article published by Bilingual Publishing Group has undergone a professional, fair and transparent review process. We appreciate the support and cooperation of our reviewers and authors, whose efforts have helped us maintain high-quality and reliable publications.

Authors can appeal against the rejection of their manuscript. Appeals must be made by writing to appeal@bilpublishing.com, with detailed reasons for the appeal and a point-by-point response to the reviewer's opinions. The decision to appeal will be made by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal based on the relevant information of the article. The decision on the appeal is final, with no exceptions.

Publishing Ethics

Publishing Ethics

Bilingual Publishing Group follows COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and follows the recommendations and policies related to research and Publishing ethics developed by COPE.

Publishing ethics are a set of guidelines and norms followed to ensure the credibility and reliability of academic research. Adhering to journal Publishing ethics can ensure the quality and reputation of journals, and enhance readers' trust and respect for academic research. At the same time, journal Publishing ethics are also an important guarantee for maintaining fairness, transparency, and credibility in the entire academic community.

Ethics for Editors
Editors, Employees and Members of the Editorial Board as Authors
Ethics for Authors
Ethics for Reviewers
Handling Complaints and Appeals

Ethics for Editors

Bilingual Publishing Group follows COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and follows the recommendations and policies related to research and Publishing ethics developed by COPE.

Publishing ethics are a set of guidelines and norms followed to ensure the credibility and reliability of academic research. Adhering to journal Publishing ethics can ensure the quality and reputation of journals, and enhance readers' trust and respect for academic research. At the same time, journal Publishing ethics are also an important guarantee for maintaining fairness, transparency, and credibility in the entire academic community.

Editors adhere to the principles of independence and integrity and strictly abide by COPE's Core practices in the decision-making process, so as to strive for the publication and quality of manuscripts to meet ethical standards.
All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology are subject to a rigorous peer review process.
- Before peer review, manuscripts will be screened for readability, novelty, and relevance to the focus and scope of the journal.
- The editor shall maintain the fairness and impartiality of the review. Each manuscript shall be reviewed by at least two reviewers. Whether the manuscript is accepted by the journal will be decided by the Editor-in-Chief or the academic editor designated by the Editor-in-Chief in combination with the reviewer's comments.
Any manuscript submitted to Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology is confidential. The manuscript will not be disclosed to anyone except the editorial staff, reviewers, editors, and other individuals who participate in the preliminary review, peer review, and handling and are responsible for the publication of the manuscript (if accepted).
Editors shall not participate in all the processing of articles in which they have a conflict of interest.
We ensure that the commercial behavior of the journal will not affect the editorial decision, and firmly adhere to the principles of independence and integrity.

Editors, Employees and Members of the Editorial Board as Authors

Bilingual Publishing Group do not allow editors, employees, and members of the editorial board to participate in the processing of their own articles.

Editors, employees, and members of the editorial board must disclose all potential conflicts of interest related to their articles.

Editors, employees, and members of the editorial board should follow a strict review process to ensure the quality and reliability of articles.

For articles submitted by our editors, employees, and members of the editorial board, the Bilingual Publishing Group will assign the manuscript to an expert reviewer in the field who does not have a conflict of interest with the author, as well as to other editors for evaluation and processing.

Ethics for Authors

Clear authorship

At the time of submission, whether the list of authors includes all the eligible authors of the article (in the correct order), and reach a consensus with all co-authors on the journal and the time of submission. (For Authorship please see the detailed policy)

Avoid plagiarism (including self-plagiarism)

Check if the article correctly quotes yourself or someone else's work. Not only that, but the authors also need permission from the copyright owner to publish any previously published content (including quotations, numbers or forms).

Conflict of Interest

Any facts that may be considered a (potential) conflict of interest should be disclosed prior to the references section of the article. There are many types of financial and non-financial benefits involved in contributing to an article, some of which may include:

Financial interest:
- Company Shares: The author owns shares in a company that is relevant to the topic covered in the article
- Fund Sponsorship: Research is done through grant funding
- Consultant/Consulting Work: The author has worked as a consultant or advisor in any company or organization relevant to the research in this paper
- Patents Held: The author holds patents related to this research
- Political Support: The author has donated to political parties or political candidates relevant to the study of this paper, government grants, foundation grants, etc.
- Honoraria received by the author: The manuscript or other fee that the author receives after publishing the article
- Other Financial Relationships: Disclosure is required if the author has other financial relationships with any company, organization, or individual related to the study in this paper
Non-financial interests:
Interpersonal relationships, political positions, religious beliefs, intellectual property rights, etc.

Authors, editors and reviewers should also make timely statements regarding (potential) non-financial conflicts of interest, including but not limited to the following:
- Academic Competition Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer has an academic competition or conflict of interest with the author, editor, or other related person.
- Personal Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a personal conflict of interest, such as a friendly relationship, kinship, or other personal relationship.
- Conflict of Interest of Opinion Position: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a specific opinion or position.
- Intellectual Property Conflict of Interest: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a specific intellectual property or patent right.
- Conflict of Interest in Political, Religious, or other Beliefs: For example, the reviewer, author, or editor has a political, religious, or other belief position.
Editors must be honest and transparent at all times in order to avoid conflicts of interest. If an editor has a personal or financial interest related to a submitted article, the editor must disclose this to the publisher. At the same time, this editor is no longer involved in the review process related to this article until the article is finalized for publication.

When assigning reviewers for an article, editors must check to the maximum extent possible whether there is a (potential) conflict of interest between the assigned reviewer and the author(s) involved in the article. If a reviewer discovers a (potential) conflict of interest with the article at the time of review, the reviewer should immediately notify the relevant editor and withdraw from the article review process.

Avoid writing more than one draft

Consubmission to multiple journals is not allowed. Original research work must be novel and has not been previously published.

The above is not exhaustive, and authors should be aware of local regulations and accepted norms within academic publishing.

Allegations of misconduct

The editors of Bilingual Publishing Group are responsible for ensuring the academic integrity of the articles published in the journal, and any misconduct takes all necessary actions according to the COPE guidelines. The misconduct includes (but is not limited to):

Plagiarism
Falsification of research, data fabrication
Affiliation misrepresentation
Submit to multiple journals simultaneously
Breaches in copyright/use of third-party material without appropriate permissions
Undisclosed competing interests
Unethical research

Reproducibility of data

The data and methods used in scientific research can be reproduced and validated by other researchers. Reproducibility of data contributes to: improving the credibility and reliability of scientific research, accelerating scientific progress, promoting academic communication and collaboration, and increasing the efficiency of research resources. In short, the reproducibility of journal data is of great importance to the development and progress of scientific research, and is the foundation and guarantee of scientific research.

We strongly recommend that authors adopt open science practices, such as sharing data on public databases and complying with applicable ethical and legal requirements. We believe that these practices help foster collaboration and innovation in the scientific community and enhance the credibility and reproducibility of scientific research.

We will strictly enforce the above policy and require reviewers and editors to critically review the data and methods of articles. We may reject articles or ask authors to make corrections and additions if incomplete data, inadequate methods or analytical errors are found.

Ethical oversight

Bilingual Publishing Group is committed to promoting the quality and reliability of scientific research, valuing ethical guidelines and following COPE's ethical oversight policy. We require all authors to adhere to the following ethical guidelines and policies when submitting articles (including but not limited to):

*Policies on consent to publication

Bilingual Publishing Group requires all authors to ensure that all Co-authors have given their consent to publication when submitting an article. The data and information involved in the article have been appropriately licensed.

*Publication on vulnerable populations

Bilingual Publishing Group requires all authors to adhere to ethical guidelines and moral standards when conducting academic research involving vulnerable populations. In the case of research involving vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, people with disabilities, the sick and the underprivileged, the author must have clearly obtained the informed consent of the subjects or their guardians, and safeguarded their rights, privacy and confidentiality. Bilingual Publishing Group follows strict academic standards and is committed to promoting understanding and support for disadvantaged groups in order to promote equality and progress in society.

*Ethical conduct of research using animals

Bilingual Publishing Group strongly urges researchers to conduct animal experiments only when necessary, to comply with relevant ethical and moral standards when conducting animal research, and to ensure that the rights of animals are protected. Authors should provide detailed plans and methods for animal experiments, as well as appropriate ethical review and authorisation materials. We encourage authors to follow the 3R principles (Reduce, Refine, Replace) to strictly control the number and use of laboratory animals in order to reduce the harm to animals from animal experiments.

*Ethical conduct of research using human subjects

Bilingual Publishing Group requires authors to adhere to relevant ethical and moral standards when conducting human subject experiments to ensure that the rights and safety of the subjects are safeguarded. Authors should provide detailed trial plans and methods, as well as the appropriate ethical review and authorisation materials. Informed consent should be signed before subjects participate in the study, and authors should ensure that the rights and privacy of trial participants are adequately protected.

*Handling confidential data and ethical business/marketing practices

Authors should have a clear understanding of and comply with the policy on the protection of confidential data when handling confidential data, and ensure that data are kept confidential and secure to avoid misuse or disclosure of confidential data.

Adhering to honest, fair and transparent business codes, compliance with corresponding laws and regulations;
Not using false statements or misleading language;

Ethics for Reviewers

Peer reviews are conducted as a double-blind process via our Open Journal System (OJS). As the editor’s and/or reviewer’s comments will determine the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript, these comments play an important role in the peer-review process.

Reviewers are advised to adhere to the following:

Conflicts of interest should be declared accordingly.
Published worksthat are relevant and value-add to the manuscript should be pointed out.
Reviewed articles and their contents should be kept strictly confidential. Reviewers should not give, share, use, or in any other way distribute this manuscript to third parties before publication.
Reviews should be objective, avoid personal criticism.
Promptness in response; reviewers should notify Bilingual Publishing Group if they are unable to participate in the peer review of a specific manuscript.
Possible areas of focus while conducting the review of manuscripts:

*Potential ethical concerns

Potential research misconduct (eg. Data fabrication/manipulation)
Potential author misconduct (eg. Plagiarism, redundant publication)

*Technical errors

*Logical errors (fallacies, lapses in logic, etc.)

*Language errors that mar the clarity of the text

*References

Suitability of references used
Other relevant research which should be referenced in the paper

Handling Complaints and Appeals

If an author disagrees with the decision made by the journal's editor, they have the option to submit an appeal for reconsideration. It is important for authors to clearly and concisely state their viewpoints and requests, providing appropriate evidence to support their arguments. The appeal should include the following:

Specific rebuttal to the editor's decision: Authors should explain why they believe the editor's decision is wrong or unfair, offering relevant evidence to substantiate their views.

Request for reconsideration: Authors should provide specific reasons why they are requesting the journal to re-review their submitted paper.

Reasonable suggestions: If authors believe there are other methods to resolve the issue, such as seeking intervention from an independent mediation or arbitration body to help address disagreements and decision disputes, or resubmitting the paper to another journal, they may include these suggestions in their appeal.

If you are filing a complaint against a journal or publisher, it is important to provide evidence of any misconduct on the part of the journal or publisher, such as violations of ethical standards, ethical principles, copyright infringement, and other related issues.

All complaints will be taken seriously by our publisher and journal, and we will respond to the complainant in a timely manner and inform the progress of the complaint.

The journal's policy is primarily to safeguard the rights of authors, reviewers, editors and publishers, and to adhere strictly to the publication ethics. All complaints and appeals must be supported by relevant materials and evidence. If you need to file a complaint or appeal, please contact us via email: appeal@bilpublishing.com. We will handle the complaints and appeals following the relevant regulations by COPE: https://publicationethics.org/appeals.

Correction and Withdraw Policy

Bilingual Publishing Group is committed to maintaining academic integrity and quality, we make policies for the correction and retraction of articles published. If authors find an error or inaccuracy in an article published in our journals, or need to retract an article, please refer to the following policies:

Correction
Withdrawal policy
Expression of Concern

Correction

If authors discover any errors or need to make changes to an article before/after publication, authors should notify our editorial department as soon as possible. We will communicate with the author to ensure that corrections are made in a timely manner and that the least disruption to the manuscript is maintained as possible. Corrections should cover corrections limited to substantive, factual errors. We will not approve corrections that involve only the author's opinion or inference.

We will clearly mark corrections in the article,and send the corrected version to the authors for confirmation and publish without error (to ensure that readers get the correct information).
Our editorial department will update the metadata of the article.

*All major errors will be accompanied by a separate correction notice, and Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology will: publish a separate correction notice that links back electronically to the corrected version. Conversely, minor errors that do not affect the reliability of the academic content or the reader’s understanding of the academic content will no longer be notified separately for correction. We will add a footnote to the article to inform readers that the article has been corrected.

For authors who wish to correct their names in their published work, please see our Authorship Changes.

Withdrawal policy

The editors of Bilingual Publishing Group are responsible for ensuring the academic integrity of the articles published in the journal. Therefore, in cases of misconduct, the journal editorial department will retract articles when necessary.

Article withdrawal

Considering the amount of time spent by editors and reviewers on handling the manuscript, we have formulated the policy for authors to withdraw requests, as follows:

Once the manuscript is submitted to a journal, it represents that the author has carefully decided to publish the manuscript in our journal. If the author needs to withdraw the article submitted to the journal but not published for any reason, the author needs to submit a formal request to the editorial department of the journal:

Withdrawal requests must be submitted to the journal editorial department by the first or corresponding author of the article, with a full and detailed withdrawal statement. Also, the author submitting the request will need to obtain written consent from all co-authors.
If the article is already in the peer review or publication process, the author will need to provide more specific reasons for the withdrawaland bear all costs incurred as a result.
Only valid and reasonable reasons for withdrawal will be considered, and the decision to withdraw a submission will ultimately rest with the managing editor or editor-in-chief.

Article retraction

For published articles, the editor or authors will consider retraction the article, including but not limited to:

There are substantive errors, ethical violations, duplicate publications, or other violations of academic integrity, morality, ethics, laws and regulations.
The credibility and readability of the article have been seriously compromised.
The author has not taken appropriate action to correct the error or problem.

We hope that the policy will provide better safeguards for authors and readers to ensure the quality and reliability of scholarly journals. Article retraction decisions will be made by the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Standards for dealing with retractions have been developed by several library and scholarly bodies, and this practice has been adopted for article retraction by Bilingual Publishing Group:

Publish a separate retraction statement titled "Retraction: [Article Title]" that will link to the retracted article.
Add a "retracted" watermark to the published version of the record for the article. The record will be kept in our journal's database, along with the reason and date of the retraction, to ensure data transparency and integrity.

Authors should note that if their accepted papers or articles in the publication are retracted for academic misconduct and ethical violations in research and publication, the article processing fee paid will not be refunded.

The policy is not exhaustive, and the decision to retract a retraction publication will be made at the discretion of the managing editor to safeguard the journal's academic reputation and publication standards.

Circumstances under which an article may be deleted

In rare cases, Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology may need to remove articles from the online platforms. This will only be considered in the following cases:

The article is defamatory, violates the privacy of others or other legal rights;
Violation of a certain professional ethics or other illegal circumstances.

Expression of Concern

Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology will consider concern detailing the focus and ongoing actions, if:

Inconclusive evidence of author research or publication misconduct
The results of this publication have not been completed and due to various complexities, the investigation will not be completed for a considerable period of time

All corrections, retractions, and concerns are freely accessible at the time of publication.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

As an open-access journal, all articles published in Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology are accessible electronically from the journal website without the need for subscription fees or other forms of payment from the readers. In order to ensure our content is freely available for the benefit of a wider audience while uncompromising our journal quality, an Article Processing Charge (APC) is applicable to all authors who wish to submit their articles to the journal. The APC is intended to cover the underlying costs of article processing, such as peer-review, copyediting, typesetting, publishing, content depositing and archiving processes. Those charges are applicable only to authors whose manuscripts have been successfully accepted after peer-review.

There are no charges for rejected articles, no submission charges, and no surcharges based on the length of an article, figures or supplementary data. Some items (Editorials, Corrections, Addendums, Retractions, Comments, etc.) are published free of charge.

Journal Title: Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology

APC(USD): $1600

At Bilingual Publishing Group, we strongly believe that the APC should not become a barrier in the publication process. A range of discounts or waivers are offered to authors who are not able to cover the APC. Authors can write to apply for a waiver and requests before you submit your manuscript to the journal, the editorial office will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Copyright Policy

Authorship
Artificial Intelligence in Writing
Deceased Authors
Authorship Changes
Copyright and Licensing

Authorship

Each author should make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the article, including but not limited to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data, writing a manuscript or making substantive revisions to the manuscript. All authors need to review the final version of the manuscript before submission and should also comment on the final approval of the forthcoming version of the article.

Individuals who do not meet the above requirements but have made valuable contributions to the article can be listed in the Acknowledgments of the manuscript.

The author contributions should be stated in the cover letter or the article when submitting the manuscript.

Artificial Intelligence in Writing

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT or large scale language models in research publications is expanding rapidly with the rapid development of AI technology. The Bilingual Publishing Group will continue to adapt and refine its policy on the use of AI tools in writing. According to COPE position statement on the response to AI tools:

AI tools can not be listed as authors or co-authors of papers. Because they cannot be held responsible for the submissions and do not have the ability to manage copyright and licensing agreements.
Authors who use AI tools in their submissions (including but not limited to: during the writing of the article or when collecting and analysing data) must be transparent in disclosing in the Methods or acknowledgements section of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used.
Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including but not limited to: sections produced by an AI tool or data analysed using AI tools in the research process.
The editors of the Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology and the Bilingual Publishing Group reserve the right to reject or withdraw the manuscript directly if the use of AI tools in the manuscript is concealed.

Deceased authors

When a co-author of an article passes away during the writing, submission or peer review process, the corresponding author or co-authors should promptly inform the editorial team of the journal. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to acknowledge the deceased author's contribution to the article and to identify any potential conflicts of interest. After publication, the editorial team will add a note to the list of authors to clarify the identity of the deceased author and to indicate their contribution to the research work.

Authorship Changes

Once the manuscript is submitted, it means that the authorship has been determined. If the authorship needs to be changed after submission, it shall be handled according to the following instruction:

If the authorship needs to be added/deleted or the order of the author needs to be changed before the article is published, the corresponding author needs to explain the reason for the change to the editor by email and provide a statement that all authors agree to the change, and then the editor will handle it accordingly;
If the authorship needs to be added/deleted or the order of the author needs to be changed after the article is published, the corresponding author needs to explain the reason for the change to the editor by email and provide a statement that all authors agree to the change. After the review of the editorial office the corresponding modification will be made and a correction notice will be issued.

Copyright and Licensing

Copyright for all articles published in the Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology belongs to the author. The authors also grant permission to the publisher to publish, reproduce, distribute and transmit the articles.

Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology publishes accepted manuscripts under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Authors submitting papers for publication in Journal of Smart Buildings and Construction Technology agree to apply the CC BY-NC 4.0 license to their work. For non-commercial purposes, anyone may copy, redistribute material, remix, transform and construct material in any media or format, provided that the terms of the license are observed and the original source is properly cited.

Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, tables, or any extracts of text) which is not in the public domain or for which they do not hold the copyright. The journal may not publish material from other publications without permission.

In exceptional cases, articles may be licensed differently. If you have specific conditions that do not allow this permission (e.g. those relating to funding), please make this clear to the journal editorial team at the time of submission. Exceptions will be at the discretion of the publisher.

Advertising Policy

All advertisements are subject to approval to the Publisher. Advertisements must comply with the relevant regulations in the country where the advertisements appear. For more inquiries, please send email to yun.pan@bilpublishing.com.

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