Publishing Services

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP provides free publishing support to scholars, academic institutions, research societies, professional associations, editorial teams, and independent scholarly communities. Our services are designed to promote responsible scholarly communication, strengthen existing journals, support new publishing initiatives, and make high-quality research openly accessible.

Our principal publishing services include:

development and publication of special issues;
academic and professional book publication;
establishment of new scholarly journals;
editorial, technical, and operational support for existing journals;
journal website and publishing-workflow assistance;
policy and publication-ethics support;
manuscript formatting, copyediting, and production support;
guidance on journal improvement and sustainable publishing;
support for journals experiencing operational or technical difficulties; and
open-access publishing consultation.

All services described on this page are provided free of charge. TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP does not charge proposal-submission fees, application fees, consultancy fees, journal-setup fees, special-issue fees, book-publication fees, or mandatory service charges.

Providing a service free of charge does not reduce our editorial, ethical, technical, or quality requirements. Every proposal is evaluated according to its scholarly value, feasibility, academic leadership, ethical compliance, and compatibility with the mission of TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP.

1. Our Publishing-Service Principles

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP provides publishing services according to the following principles:

Free scholarly support: The services described on this page are provided without mandatory charges.
Academic quality: Every publication must meet appropriate scholarly, methodological, editorial, and ethical standards.
Editorial independence: Decisions concerning individual manuscripts remain with qualified and independent academic editors.
Transparent peer review: Research manuscripts published in our journals normally undergo single-blind peer review.
Open access: Journal articles are published under the Diamond Open Access model without article processing charges.
Author rights: Authors retain copyright in their journal articles, which are normally published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
Research integrity: All publications must comply with our authorship, peer-review, publication-ethics, copyright, privacy, and generative AI policies.
Long-term development: We support publishing projects that have a credible academic purpose and a sustainable editorial plan.
No guaranteed outcomes: We do not guarantee manuscript acceptance, indexing, citation performance, journal metrics, or inclusion in any particular database.

Publishing support is offered on the basis of academic need and project suitability. Acceptance of a publishing proposal does not mean that every manuscript, chapter, special-issue contribution, or journal submission will be accepted automatically.

2. Special Issue Services

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP welcomes proposals for special issues, thematic collections, conference-related collections, and focused scholarly sections within its journals.

A special issue should address a clearly defined and academically important subject that falls within the aims and scope of the selected journal. It should bring together high-quality contributions that advance knowledge, provide a critical synthesis, introduce emerging methods, or address an important interdisciplinary problem.

We provide free support for:

evaluating the proposed special-issue topic;
identifying the most appropriate TECHFORUM journal;
developing the special-issue title and scope;
preparing the call for papers;
defining suitable article types;
establishing submission and review schedules;
appointing and supporting guest editors;
setting up the special-issue webpage;
managing manuscript submissions;
coordinating single-blind peer review;
conducting technical and ethical checks;
formatting and typesetting accepted articles;
publishing accepted articles as Diamond Open Access;
preparing issue-level metadata; and
promoting the published collection through appropriate publisher channels.

A special-issue proposal should normally include:

the proposed title;
a description of the subject and its scholarly importance;
an explanation of how the topic fits the selected journal;
the proposed guest editor or guest-editor team;
brief academic biographies of the proposed guest editors;
anticipated article types;
an estimated number of submissions;
a proposed submission deadline;
information about any associated conference, project, institution, or society;
possible conflicts of interest; and
a preliminary list of potential contributors, where available.

Guest editors must possess appropriate academic or professional expertise and must comply with the journal’s editorial, ethical, confidentiality, conflict-of-interest, and peer-review requirements.

Guest editors may recommend reviewers and provide editorial assessments, but they must not guarantee acceptance, bypass peer review, manipulate citations, or make decisions on their own manuscripts.

A manuscript submitted by a guest editor must be handled independently by another qualified editor. The guest editor must not select reviewers, access reviewer identities, participate in confidential deliberations, or influence the final decision concerning their own work.

Special-issue articles are subject to the same standards as regular journal articles. Each manuscript is assessed individually and may be accepted, revised, or rejected according to its scholarly merits.

Special-issue proposals may be sent to:

specialissues@techforumpublishing.org

3. Academic and Professional Book Publication

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP accepts proposals for scholarly and professional books that make a meaningful contribution to research, education, policy, professional practice, or interdisciplinary knowledge.

Book types may include:

research monographs;
authored academic books;
edited volumes;
advanced textbooks;
reference works;
conference-related edited books;
professional handbooks;
research-methods books;
translated scholarly works;
revised doctoral or habilitation studies;
institutional research publications; and
other academically significant works approved by the publisher.

Our free book-publishing support may include:

evaluation of the initial book proposal;
assessment of the manuscript’s scholarly value and audience;
external or editorial review where appropriate;
development of the book structure;
guidance for authors and volume editors;
chapter-management support for edited books;
minor English-language editing;
copyediting and consistency checks;
reference-style standardization;
book-cover design;
interior formatting and typesetting;
preparation of front matter and back matter;
proof preparation and author review;
metadata preparation;
digital publication;
publisher-webpage creation;
digital preservation and dissemination support; and
reasonable post-publication corrections.

A book proposal should normally contain:

the proposed title and subtitle;
the name and affiliation of each author or editor;
a summary of the proposed book;
the book’s objectives and scholarly contribution;
the intended readership;
a detailed table of contents;
a short description of each chapter;
the estimated manuscript length;
the expected completion date;
information about competing or related books;
sample chapters, where available;
details of previously published or overlapping material;
copyright and permission considerations;
information about contributors to an edited volume; and
any associated institution, research project, conference, or funding body.

Submission of a proposal does not guarantee publication. Proposals may be declined when the subject is outside our publishing programme, the scholarly contribution is insufficient, the project is incomplete or impractical, the authorship or copyright position is unclear, or the work does not meet our editorial and ethical standards.

Authors and editors remain responsible for the originality, accuracy, legality, permissions, citations, data, images, and scholarly integrity of the book.

Book proposals may be sent to:

books@techforumpublishing.org

General questions about book manuscripts and edited volumes may be sent to:

bookeditorial@techforumpublishing.org

4. Starting a New Scholarly Journal

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP works with qualified scholars, research groups, academic institutions, professional societies, and scholarly associations that wish to establish a new academic journal.

We provide free support for the development of journals that have a credible scholarly purpose, a clearly defined subject area, appropriate academic leadership, and a realistic long-term publication plan.

Our new-journal development service may include:

assessment of the proposed journal concept;
evaluation of subject-area need and scholarly relevance;
development of the journal title and abbreviation;
preliminary title-distinctiveness checks;
definition of the aims and scope;
development of accepted article types;
establishment of the editorial structure;
guidance on appointing an Editor-in-Chief and editorial board;
development of author, reviewer, and editor guidelines;
preparation of publication-ethics policies;
development of peer-review procedures;
development of copyright, licensing, privacy, and AI policies;
journal-logo and cover-development support;
journal-website setup;
manuscript-submission workflow setup;
article-template development;
production and typesetting support;
metadata and DOI-workflow planning;
issue and volume planning;
digital preservation planning;
launch-call preparation;
first-issue development; and
long-term editorial and operational guidance.

A new-journal proposal should normally include:

the proposed journal title;
the proposed subject area;
a draft aims and scope statement;
an explanation of the scholarly need for the journal;
the intended readership;
the proposed Editor-in-Chief;
a preliminary editorial-board list;
the proposed publication frequency;
anticipated article types;
an estimate of potential submissions;
information about supporting institutions or societies;
the proposed peer-review process;
possible competing or related journals;
a first-year development plan; and
the expected source of scholarly submissions.

New journals established with TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP will normally operate according to the publisher’s standard principles:

Diamond Open Access;
no article processing charges;
CC BY 4.0 licensing for journal articles;
author-retained copyright;
single-blind peer review;
independent academic editorial decisions;
transparent publication ethics;
accurate journal information;
responsible metadata and archiving practices; and
no false promises concerning indexing or journal metrics.

A proposed Editor-in-Chief must have appropriate qualifications, subject expertise, research or professional experience, and the ability to supervise the journal’s academic development.

Editorial-board membership must be genuine and based on informed consent. No person may be displayed as an editor, adviser, reviewer, or board member without their knowledge and authorization.

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP reserves the right to decline or discontinue a journal project where:

the academic purpose is unclear;
the title is misleading or too similar to an established journal;
the proposed editorial leadership is unsuitable;
the journal lacks a credible submission base;
the project involves misleading indexing or metric claims;
the proposal is connected to paper-mill or fraudulent activity;
ethical or legal requirements cannot be satisfied;
editorial independence cannot be protected; or
the project is not operationally sustainable.

New-journal proposals may be sent to:

newjournals@techforumpublishing.org

Questions about journal development may also be sent to:

journaldevelopment@techforumpublishing.org

5. Support for Existing Journals

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP provides free support to legitimate scholarly journals facing editorial, technical, production, operational, ethical, or website-related difficulties.

Support may be available to independent journals, university journals, society journals, institutional publications, and scholarly titles that require assistance to improve or restore their publishing operations.

We may assist journals experiencing difficulties such as:

an outdated or non-functional website;
loss of technical or hosting support;
irregular publication schedules;
delayed manuscript processing;
weak or incomplete editorial workflows;
insufficient reviewer-management procedures;
poorly documented publication policies;
inconsistent article formatting;
missing or incomplete journal archives;
incorrect or incomplete article metadata;
reference and citation-formatting problems;
production and typesetting backlogs;
lack of digital preservation arrangements;
editorial-board restructuring needs;
special-issue management difficulties;
publication-ethics concerns;
correction or retraction-management problems;
journal ownership or publisher-transition challenges;
low submission quality;
limited international visibility;
unclear aims and scope;
inaccurate website information;
incomplete author or reviewer guidelines;
manuscript-system difficulties; and
temporary inability to continue normal publication operations.

Our free journal-support services may include:

confidential journal assessment;
website and policy review;
editorial-workflow redesign;
technical website assistance;
development of missing journal policies;
improvement of author, editor, and reviewer guidance;
support with manuscript tracking;
assistance with reviewer databases;
article formatting and typesetting;
issue-completion support;
archive organization;
metadata correction and preparation;
publication-schedule planning;
editorial-board development guidance;
ethical-case and post-publication guidance;
special-issue management;
transition to Diamond Open Access;
journal-transfer or hosting guidance; and
long-term operational planning.

Support will be tailored to the journal’s actual needs. A journal may request limited assistance for a specific problem or broader support for operational recovery and long-term development.

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP will not assist a journal in concealing misconduct, fabricating editorial records, falsifying peer review, making false indexing claims, manipulating citations, misrepresenting ownership, or publishing work without appropriate scholarly evaluation.

Where a journal seeks transfer to or long-term publication by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP, the publisher may conduct a detailed assessment of:

journal ownership and publishing rights;
ISSN and title information;
editorial-board authorization;
existing contracts;
publication history;
peer-review records;
ethical and legal concerns;
website and archive ownership;
article copyright and licensing;
metadata quality;
pending manuscripts;
corrections, retractions, and unresolved complaints;
indexing representations; and
the journal’s future sustainability.

Requests for support may be sent to:

journalsupport@techforumpublishing.org

Urgent operational or technical difficulties may be reported to:

support@techforumpublishing.org

6. What Our Free Services Include

The services described on this page are provided without mandatory charges. Depending on the approved project, free support may include:

proposal assessment;
publishing consultation;
project planning;
editorial-workflow development;
policy preparation;
website-content preparation;
journal-webpage setup;
special-issue setup;
book-proposal assessment;
new-journal development;
journal-recovery support;
minor language editing;
copyediting;
article and book formatting;
typesetting;
proof preparation;
cover-design support;
metadata preparation;
online publication;
basic digital dissemination;
technical guidance; and
reasonable post-publication support.

There are no hidden application, consultation, setup, evaluation, acceptance, or online-publication fees for the services described on this page.

Where a project requires an optional external product or third-party service that is not controlled by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP, such as premium physical printing, commercial freight, specialist translation, paid database services, or government charges, the project leader will be informed in advance. No optional external service will be required as a condition of receiving the publisher’s free core support.

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP does not pay honoraria, salaries, research expenses, contributor fees, travel costs, institutional overheads, or third-party commercial charges unless a separate written arrangement has been approved expressly.

7. Proposal Evaluation and Eligibility

Publishing-service requests are evaluated individually. We may consider proposals from:

individual scholars;
research groups;
universities and colleges;
academic departments;
research centres;
professional associations;
learned societies;
conference organizers;
public-interest research organizations;
libraries;
independent editorial teams; and
other legitimate scholarly bodies.

Evaluation may consider:

scholarly importance;
originality of the proposal;
clarity of objectives;
qualifications of the proposed academic leadership;
relevance to the publisher’s academic fields;
availability of suitable editors and reviewers;
ethical and legal feasibility;
quality of the proposed content;
realistic schedules;
expected readership;
long-term sustainability;
copyright and licensing status;
institutional or community support;
technical requirements; and
available publisher capacity.

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP may request additional documentation, meetings, sample material, editorial-board confirmations, publishing-rights evidence, or project revisions before approving a proposal.

We may decline a proposal where:

the content falls outside our publishing programme;
the scholarly purpose is insufficiently defined;
the proposal duplicates an existing project without adequate justification;
the proposed leadership lacks appropriate expertise;
authorship, ownership, or copyright is disputed;
the project contains legal, privacy, safety, or ethical risks that cannot be managed;
the proposed schedule is unrealistic;
the project promotes discriminatory, defamatory, fraudulent, or misleading content;
the project is connected to manipulated peer review, purchased authorship, paper mills, or citation manipulation;
the applicant seeks guaranteed acceptance, indexing, or metrics;
required documentation is not supplied; or
the publisher does not have sufficient capacity to support the project responsibly.

A declined proposal may be reconsidered if the applicant addresses the principal concerns and submits a substantially improved plan.

8. Editorial Independence, Ethics, and Ownership

All publishing projects supported by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP must comply with the publisher’s standards concerning:

authorship and contributorship;
originality and plagiarism;
single-blind peer review;
editorial independence;
conflicts of interest;
human and animal research ethics;
data integrity;
image integrity;
citations and references;
generative AI use;
copyright and permissions;
privacy and confidentiality;
corrections and retractions;
complaints and appeals; and
preservation of the scholarly record.

Free publishing support does not give an author, guest editor, institution, sponsor, society, or project leader the right to control individual editorial decisions.

Editors must be free to reject work that does not satisfy the relevant scholarly, methodological, ethical, or reporting standards.

Special-issue organizers, book editors, journal founders, supporting institutions, and external partners must disclose all interests that could influence the project.

Names, affiliations, photographs, biographies, and editorial-board information may be published only with appropriate authorization.

Journal ownership, title ownership, trademarks, website ownership, archive control, editorial responsibilities, and publishing rights should be documented clearly before a new journal, journal transfer, or long-term support arrangement begins.

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP will not make false or premature claims concerning:

ISSN assignment;
DOI registration;
indexing;
impact factors;
citation metrics;
database acceptance;
ranking;
publication speed; or
guaranteed manuscript acceptance.

Applicants and project leaders must also avoid making such claims in calls for papers, promotional material, conference announcements, author invitations, or institutional communications.

9. How to Request a Publishing Service

A request should be sent to the email address corresponding to the required service.

Service	Email address
Special issues and thematic collections	specialissues@techforumpublishing.org
Book proposals and monographs	books@techforumpublishing.org
Book editorial enquiries	bookeditorial@techforumpublishing.org
New journal proposals	newjournals@techforumpublishing.org
Journal-development enquiries	journaldevelopment@techforumpublishing.org
Support for existing journals	journalsupport@techforumpublishing.org
Technical and operational support	support@techforumpublishing.org
General publishing-service enquiries	publishing@techforumpublishing.org

The initial request should include:

the applicant’s full name;
institutional affiliation;
professional email address;
the service requested;
a clear description of the proposal or difficulty;
the subject area;
the names of relevant editors, authors, or project leaders;
the expected schedule;
supporting documents or website links;
information about existing ownership or publishing arrangements;
any urgent operational concern; and
any known ethical, legal, technical, or copyright issue.

Applicants should provide accurate and complete information. Providing false ownership information, fabricated editorial credentials, unauthorized names, misleading indexing claims, or concealed conflicts may result in immediate rejection or termination of the project.

Following initial assessment, TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP may:

request additional information;
arrange a discussion with the applicant;
recommend changes to the proposal;
identify the most appropriate journal or publication format;
approve the project subject to stated conditions;
refer the request to a specialist editorial or technical team; or
decline the proposal with a brief explanation.

10. Contact Information

TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP
Allee 1
45143 Essen
Germany

Website: https://techforumpublishing.org
General publishing enquiries: publishing@techforumpublishing.org
General information: info@techforumpublishing.org
Technical support: support@techforumpublishing.org

All publishing-service proposals are considered according to scholarly merit, ethical compliance, operational feasibility, and available capacity. No applicant is charged for submitting a proposal or receiving the free core publishing support described on this page.

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