1. Purpose of the Author Incentive

The Ubiquitous Technology Journal (UTJ) offers an Author Incentive of US$100 for each eligible paper accepted for publication. The incentive recognizes scholarly contribution to the journal and encourages the submission of high-quality research.

Participation in the Author Incentive Program is subject to the following Terms and Conditions.

2. Eligibility

The US$100 incentive applies to manuscripts that:

1. are formally submitted to UTJ through its official submission system;
2. successfully complete the journal's editorial and peer-review procedures;
3. receive an official final acceptance decision from UTJ;
4. satisfy all editorial, ethical, technical, and publication requirements of the journal; and
5. proceed to publication in UTJ.

Submission of a manuscript does not create any entitlement to payment. A manuscript under review, revision, conditional acceptance, or editorial assessment is not regarded as an accepted paper for the purpose of this incentive.

3. Amount of Incentive

The incentive is US$100 per accepted and published paper, irrespective of the number of authors associated with the paper.

Only one US$100 payment will be issued for each eligible paper. Multiple authorship does not increase the amount payable.

The incentive is attached to the paper rather than to each individual author.

4. Recipient of Payment

Payment will normally be made to the corresponding author identified in the published paper.

Where the authors wish to nominate another co-author to receive the payment, UTJ may require written confirmation from the corresponding author and any supporting information considered necessary for payment verification.

UTJ bears no responsibility for the allocation or distribution of the incentive among co-authors after payment has been made to the designated recipient. Any division of the incentive among authors is a private matter between the authors.

5. PayPal as the Exclusive Payment Method

All Author Incentive payments will be made exclusively through PayPal.

UTJ does not provide payment through bank transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram, cryptocurrency, cheque, cash, mobile wallet, or any other payment system.

The designated recipient must provide a valid and operational PayPal account capable of receiving international payments in accordance with applicable PayPal rules and local regulations.

Where PayPal is unavailable in the recipient's country or territory, or the recipient is unable to maintain an account capable of receiving the payment, UTJ is under no obligation to provide an alternative payment method.

The author is responsible for providing accurate PayPal account information. UTJ will not be liable for delays, failed transfers, or payments sent to an incorrect account resulting from inaccurate information supplied by the author.

6. PayPal Fees and Currency Conversion

The incentive amount is denominated in United States dollars (US$100).

Any PayPal transaction charges, receiving fees, withdrawal charges, currency-conversion charges, intermediary fees, or other costs imposed by PayPal or a financial institution on the recipient are outside UTJ's control.

Where such charges are deducted from the transferred amount by PayPal or another payment service involved in the transaction, UTJ is not responsible for the resulting difference between the US$100 incentive and the amount ultimately received or withdrawn by the author.

7. Payment Processing

Eligibility for the incentive arises only after the manuscript has received final acceptance and has satisfied the journal's publication requirements.

Payment processing may require the corresponding author or designated recipient to provide information reasonably required for administrative, financial, identity-verification, or record-keeping purposes.

No payment will be processed until the required payment information has been supplied and verified.

UTJ reserves the right to withhold processing where information is incomplete, inconsistent, inaccurate, or reasonably suspected to be fraudulent.

8. Editorial Independence

The Author Incentive Program has no influence on editorial decisions, peer review, reviewer selection, or publication standards.

Payment is contingent upon successful completion of UTJ's normal editorial and peer-review procedures. Authors have no right to acceptance on the basis of participation in the incentive program.

Editors and reviewers are expected to assess manuscripts according to the journal's academic, methodological, ethical, and editorial requirements.

9. Research Integrity and Publication Ethics

Eligibility for the incentive remains subject to compliance with UTJ's publication ethics requirements.

UTJ reserves the right to cancel or withhold an incentive where there is substantiated evidence of:

• plagiarism or substantial unattributed copying;
• fabricated or falsified data;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• manipulated peer review;
• fraudulent authorship or identity information;
• undisclosed material conflicts affecting publication integrity;
• submission of materially false information;
• serious breach of research or publication ethics; or
• any other conduct warranting rejection, withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, or retraction under the journal's policies.

Payment of an incentive does not prevent UTJ from taking subsequent editorial action where research-integrity concerns arise after publication.

10. Withdrawal, Cancellation, and Retraction

No incentive will be payable where an accepted manuscript is withdrawn by the authors before publication.

UTJ also reserves the right to cancel an unpaid incentive where acceptance is withdrawn before publication because of failure to satisfy publication requirements or because of an established ethical or legal concern.

Where a published article is subsequently corrected, withdrawn, or retracted, the editorial decision will be handled independently under the journal's publication-ethics procedures. Payment of an incentive does not restrict UTJ's authority to issue corrections, withdrawals, expressions of concern, or retractions.

11. Taxes and Financial Obligations

The recipient is solely responsible for determining and satisfying any personal income-tax, reporting, banking, foreign-exchange, or other financial obligations arising from receipt of the incentive in the recipient's jurisdiction.

UTJ does not provide personal tax, accounting, banking, or financial advice to recipients.

Where UTJ is legally required to collect information, make a statutory deduction, withhold an amount, or report a payment to a competent authority, UTJ reserves the right to comply with the applicable legal requirement.

12. No Employment or Contractual Relationship

Receipt of the Author Incentive does not create an employment relationship, consultancy relationship, partnership, agency relationship, scholarship, research grant, sponsorship arrangement, or continuing financial relationship between UTJ and any author.

The payment constitutes a one-time author incentive associated with the eligible publication.

13. Non-Transferability

The right to receive the incentive belongs to the authors of the eligible paper and must not be sold, assigned, traded, or transferred to an unrelated third party.

UTJ retains the right to verify the identity of the designated recipient before processing payment.

14. Duplicate or Multiple Publications

Each separately accepted and published paper that satisfies these Terms and Conditions will be treated independently for incentive purposes.

A revised version, correction, corrigendum, addendum, editorial response, supplementary material, conference abstract, or other material associated with an existing article does not constitute a separate eligible paper unless UTJ expressly designates it as such.

15. Fraud and Abuse

Any attempt to obtain an incentive through false authorship, duplicate accounts, fabricated submissions, manipulated peer review, false payment information, impersonation, or other deceptive practices will result in cancellation of the incentive and may lead to appropriate editorial or administrative action.

UTJ reserves the right to investigate suspected abuse of the Author Incentive Program and to request reasonable supporting documentation.

16. Limitation Relating to Third-Party Payment Services

PayPal is an independent third-party payment service provider. UTJ does not control PayPal's account-verification procedures, transaction processing, service availability, account restrictions, exchange rates, fees, compliance procedures, or geographical availability.

UTJ will not be responsible for payment delays or failures resulting from PayPal service interruptions, account restrictions, regulatory limitations, incorrect account information, or circumstances outside UTJ's reasonable control.

17. Modification or Termination of the Incentive Program

UTJ reserves the right to modify, suspend, replace, or terminate the Author Incentive Program where operational, financial, legal, regulatory, or institutional circumstances require such action.

Any modification will apply prospectively from the effective date announced by UTJ. Papers that have already received final acceptance while the incentive program was valid will remain subject to the terms applicable at the time of their final acceptance, unless compliance with those terms becomes prohibited by applicable law.

18. Interpretation

Questions concerning eligibility, administrative processing, or application of these Terms and Conditions will be determined by the UTJ Organizing Committee in accordance with the journal's published policies and applicable legal requirements.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits any rights or obligations that cannot lawfully be excluded under applicable law.

19. Acceptance of Terms

By submitting a manuscript to UTJ and subsequently claiming an Author Incentive payment, the authors acknowledge that they have read and accepted these Terms and Conditions.

Receipt of the incentive remains subject to compliance with the conditions stated above.

20. Contact and Payment Enquiries

Questions concerning the Author Incentive Program should be submitted through the official UTJ contact or editorial communication channels listed on the journal website.

Authors should not publish or disclose PayPal account details within the manuscript, supplementary files, public discussion forums, or article metadata. Payment information should be supplied only through the private administrative channel specified by UTJ.