About the Journal

Aims and Scope

The SPC Journal of Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy (SPCJCDP) aims to advance knowledge and innovation in cybersecurity, information security, and digital privacy by publishing high-quality, original research and review articles. The journal promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, international scientific exchange, and the development of secure, trustworthy, and privacy-preserving digital technologies that address emerging cyber threats and challenges in an increasingly connected world.

Scope:

SPCJCDP welcomes submissions in cybersecurity, information security, network security, cloud security, Internet of Things (IoT) security, artificial intelligence for cybersecurity, cryptography, blockchain security, cyber threat intelligence, malware analysis, digital forensics, secure software engineering, cyber risk management, identity and access management, privacy-enhancing technologies, data protection, cyber resilience, critical infrastructure security, and cybersecurity policy and governance. The journal prioritizes rigorous, innovative, and impactful research that contributes to the security, privacy, and trustworthiness of digital systems and services.

Peer Review Policy

SPCJCDP maintains the highest standards of integrity through a double-blind peer review process:

  • Initial Screening – Editors assess manuscripts for originality, quality, relevance, and compliance with the journal’s scope and ethical standards.
  • Reviewer Assignment – Two or more independent experts are selected based on subject expertise, availability, and absence of conflicts of interest.
  • Evaluation – Reviewers assess originality, technical quality, methodology, significance, clarity, ethical compliance, and relevance to the field.
  • Decisions – Possible outcomes include: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. Manuscripts receiving two or more negative recommendations are normally rejected.
  • Revision & Resubmission – Authors must address reviewer comments and provide a detailed response explaining all revisions.
  • Final Check – Accepted manuscripts undergo final editorial review for formatting, language quality, references, and publication requirements.

The journal follows COPE guidelines for ethical peer review and requires disclosure of conflicts of interest by authors, reviewers, and editors.

Open Access Policy

SPCJCDP is a gold open access journal: all articles are freely available immediately upon publication. Authors retain copyright, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction provided the original work is properly cited.

Archiving

SPCJCDP ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of published content through the LOCKSS system and the PKP Preservation Network (PN).

Plagiarism Policy

All submissions are screened using iThenticate before entering the peer review process.

  • Overall similarity must be below 25%, excluding references and commonly used phrases.
  • Similarity from any single source must not exceed 5%.

Consequences:

  • Minor overlap (15–20%): Revision required before peer review.
  • Moderate plagiarism (20–30%): Manuscript rejection.
  • Severe plagiarism (>30%): Immediate rejection or retraction if already published.

If plagiarism or publication misconduct is discovered after publication, the article may be corrected, retracted, or removed in accordance with COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Corrections and Retractions

SPCJCDP follows COPE best practices to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record:

  • Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda): Issued for errors that do not affect the validity of the research findings.
  • Retractions: Issued in cases of major errors, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, or ethical misconduct.
  • Removals: Considered only in exceptional legal or safety circumstances.

All correction, retraction, and removal notices are published promptly and remain permanently linked to the original article record.