To strictly abide by the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets, National Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, as well as relevant national regulatory provisions on map publication and online publication, prevent risks of information disclosure, data leakage and non-compliant geographic information release arising from the open publication of academic papers, and reinforce the bottom line of journal publication security, these specifications are formulated. All submitting authors shall comply strictly.
All submitted manuscripts, figures, tables, data and supplementary materials must undergo prior compliance review for declassification and desensitization to strictly avoid classified, sensitive and unlawfully publicized content. Authors are the primary persons responsible for the confidentiality and data security of their papers. Prior to submission, authors shall complete confidentiality review by their affiliated institutions. Unauthorized disclosure of state secrets, work secrets, core industrial technical data, unpublished research findings, strategic resource information and other sensitive content is prohibited. Governmental data, measured research data, personal information, commercially confidential information and other relevant data included in manuscripts shall be desensitized in accordance with regulations. Key parameters, precise coordinates, complete codes and traceable sensitive information shall be masked, and raw sensitive data shall not be published directly. Manuscripts containing classified content without legal approval and proper declassification will not be accepted, published or disseminated online by the journal.
All attached maps, geographic schematic diagrams, spatial location maps and illustrations containing geographic coordinate information in manuscripts shall comply with national provisions on map compilation, review and administration to meet the requirements for compliant map publication. Any maps involving national boundaries, provincial boundaries, administrative divisions, islands and reefs, border areas, important national defense facilities, key projects and distribution of strategic resources must obtain an official map review approval number issued by the competent natural resources authority, which shall be marked properly below the figure. Self-made maps, pieced-together online maps and maps from overseas sources produced by unqualified providers are forbidden. Errors such as incorrectly drawn national boundaries, omitted important islands, deviated administrative boundaries and retained classified geographic elements shall be eliminated. Manuscripts with maps lacking valid review approval documents shall be rectified to meet compliance requirements before entering the peer review process.
The journal implements a final review mechanism for publication confidentiality and data security, conducting full-process verification of classified content, desensitization quality and map compliance of manuscripts. Any confidentiality risks, compliance issues and publication disputes caused by the author’s failure to complete confidentiality review, inadequate declassification and desensitization, or incomplete map review formalities shall be borne solely by the author and the author’s affiliated institution. The journal reserves the right to reject non-compliant manuscripts. For manuscripts that have caused adverse impacts, the journal may initiate publication status changes, retraction announcements and other disposal procedures to safeguard journal publication security and national information security.
