1. Purpose and Rationale
The purpose of this Publication Volume Policy is to ensure that the annual publication volume of the Educational Process: International Journal (EDUPIJ) remains stable, moderate and fully aligned with internationally accepted scholarly publishing standards and best practices (including COPE principles).

In 2025, EDUPIJ experienced an exceptional one-year spike in publication volume due to a sudden surge in submissions following increased international visibility. Although peer-review and ethical standards were maintained, the total number of published articles in 2025 was significantly higher than in previous years.

This policy has therefore been enacted to:
• Prevent similar volume spikes in the future,
• Keep publication output at a sustainable level,
• Ensure that editorial capacity, reviewer capacity and publication volume remain balanced,
• Demonstrate EDUPIJ’s long-term commitment to quality over quantity,
• Ensure that editorial decisions are informed by transparent, year-to-year submission and authorship patterns, including shifts in the geographic distribution of authors,
• Systematically monitor changes in the geographic spread of authors and consider such shifts within EDUPIJ’s quality assurance and publication planning framework.

2. Scope
This policy applies to:
• All regular issues of EDUPIJ,
• Any special issues or thematic collections published under the EDUPIJ title,
• All article types that count as full peer-reviewed research outputs (e.g. research articles, review articles, short empirical reports).

It is binding for the Editor-in-Chief, Associate/Section Editors, and the Publisher (Universitepark Ltd.) when planning and executing publication schedules.

3. General Principles
a. Quality first, not volume
Publication decisions must be based solely on scientific merit, methodological soundness and ethical compliance, not on the desire to increase the number of published articles.

b. Stability and predictability
EDUPIJ will maintain a stable and predictable annual output, avoiding sudden, uncontrolled increases in the number of issues or articles.

c. Alignment with capacity
The annual publication volume must remain proportionate to the editorial and reviewer capacity (e.g. number of active editors and peer reviewers).

d. Transparency
Any planned adjustments to publication frequency or volume will be documented and announced on the journal website and, where applicable, formally notified to relevant authorities and indexing services.
As part of this transparency, EDUPIJ will also consider the geographic distribution of authors when evaluating year-to-year changes in submissions and publications.

4. Annual Issues and Volume Limits
a. Standard publication frequency
o EDUPIJ will continue to follow a publication policy consisting of six regular issues per year.
o This is the default and standard frequency.

b. Special issues (exceptions)
o At most one special issue per year may be added, and only if there is a clear, academically justified theme and sufficient high-quality submissions.
o Even with a special issue, the total annual number of published articles must remain within the limits set in Section 5.

c. No unscheduled increases
o The number of volumes and issues per year shall not be increased ad hoc (e.g. no jump from 6 to 8+ issues) without:
§ a written decision by the Editorial Board,
§ explicit documentation of the rationale, and
§ prior communication to relevant official authorities and indexing platforms where applicable.

5. Annual Article Volume Limits
To keep output moderate and sustainable, EDUPIJ adopts the following quantitative limits:

a. Target range
o Under normal conditions, EDUPIJ will publish approximately 100–150 articles per year across all issues combined.

b. Upper limit (hard cap)
o The maximum number of articles published in any single year shall not exceed 150 without an explicit, documented resolution by the Editorial Board explaining the reasons and confirming that editorial and reviewer capacity is sufficient.
o Any such exceptional decision must be:
§ Recorded in the Editorial Board minutes,
§ Reflected in an update on the journal’s “Journal Metrics” page, and
§ Communicated to relevant indexing and evaluation bodies upon request.

c. Relationship with submissions
o If submissions rise significantly in a particular year, EDUPIJ may:
§ Increase rejection rates where quality is insufficient,
§ Delay some accepted manuscripts to the next year, if necessary,
§ But will not routinely expand annual publication volume beyond the defined limit.
In implementing these measures, EDUPIJ will take into account the geographic distribution of authors as part of its ongoing monitoring of submission and publication patterns.

6. Submission Management and Backlog Control
a. Submission caps (if necessary)
o If incoming submissions exceed the journal’s processing capacity without compromising quality, EDUPIJ may temporarily pause new submissions or introduce short submission windows.

b. Backlog management
o Accepted articles that cannot be included in the current year due to volume limits will be scheduled for publication in the earliest available issue in the following year, with clear communication to the authors.

c. Desk rejections and screening
o To protect reviewer capacity, EDUPIJ will continue to apply strict initial screening (scope, quality and ethics) and desk rejection for manuscripts that clearly do not meet the journal’s standards.

7. Alignment with Peer-Review Capacity
a. Reviewer pool size
o EDUPIJ will maintain a sufficiently large and active reviewer pool to match the planned annual volume.
o Data on the number of unique reviewers per year will be monitored and, where appropriate, shared on the “Journal Metrics” page.

b. Workload balance
o Editors will distribute manuscripts across the reviewer pool to avoid overloading individual reviewers.
o The journal will continue to recruit new reviewers and invite experts on an ad hoc basis where needed.

c. Monitoring
o At least once per year, the Editor-in-Chief will review:
§ number of submissions,
§ number of published and rejected articles,
§ number of reviewers used,
§ average review times.
o If volume approaches the upper limit, corrective measures will be applied.
This annual review will also include monitoring of the geographic spread of authors, in response to external observations that it may change significantly over time.

8. Transparency and Communication
a. Website disclosure
o The main elements of this Publication Volume Policy (frequency, article limits, and commitment to stability) will be summarised on the journal website.

b. Official notifications
o Any change in publication frequency will be formally communicated before implementation and, where appropriate, to relevant indexing and evaluation services.

c. Annual reporting
o EDUPIJ will continue to maintain and, where appropriate, publish annual statistics on:
§ total submissions,
§ number of published articles,
§ number of rejections,
§ approximate acceptance rate,
§ number of active peer reviewers.
 

9. Review and Revision of the Policy
This Publication Volume Policy will be:
• Reviewed at least every three years by the Editorial Board,
• Revised earlier if there are significant changes in submission patterns, editorial capacity, indexing requirements or the broader publishing environment.

10. Final Statement
By adopting this Publication Volume Policy, Educational Process: International Journal (EDUPIJ) formally commits to:
• Maintaining stable and moderate publication volumes,
• Ensuring that quality and integrity remain the primary drivers of editorial decisions,
• Avoiding sudden volume increases,
• And being fully transparent and accountable to authors, reviewers and readers.
This commitment includes systematic monitoring of year-to-year submission and authorship patterns—taking into account the geographic distribution of authors—so that observed changes in geographic spread are transparently considered within EDUPIJ’s quality assurance framework.

Last updated on 08 December 2025.