1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing the TSUJCMS website, downloading published articles, registering as an author or reviewer, or submitting a manuscript to our editorial pipeline, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy, Editorial Policy, and Publication Ethics Statement. If you do not agree to any part of these terms, you must immediately cease using the journal’s digital platforms and submission infrastructure.

2. Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Open Access Licensing

· Creative Commons Licensing: To ensure the widest possible dissemination of scholarship, TSUJCMS operates as an Open Access journal. All articles published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

· Author Rights: Under this licence, authors retain the copyright of their work. However, authors grant TSUJCMS a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide licence to publish, index, archive, and electronically distribute the article.

· User Rights: Readers and the public are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of TSUJCMS articles, provided that the original author(s) and source are properly acknowledged and cited.

3. Submission Conditions and User Obligations

When submitting a manuscript to TSUJCMS, authors explicitly agree to the following terms:

· Originality Warranty: The author warrants that the manuscript is entirely their original work, has not been previously published, and is not under concurrent consideration by any other publishing body.

· Plagiarism and AI Boundaries: Authors accept that their work will undergo systematic software screening. Submissions exceeding a 20% similarity index or a 20% Artificial Intelligence (AI) text threshold will face immediate desk rejection.

· Data Integrity: Authors must ensure that all reported data (including correlation matrices, regression outputs, and interview transcripts) are authentic and accurately reported.

4. Financial Terms and Fee Obligations

To maintain its independent review infrastructure and open-access production, TSUJCMS requires the processing of specific fees:

· Peer-Review Fee: A nominal, non-refundable fee of ₦5,000 is required upon submission to initiate the external peer-review process.

· Article Processing Charge (APC): Upon formal acceptance of a manuscript for publication, authors are required to pay the designated APC before the article enters copyediting and typesetting.

· Non-Refundability: Once paid, the peer-review fee is completely non-refundable, irrespective of the timing or rationale behind a manuscript’s subsequent withdrawal, abandonment, or rejection.

5. Website Access, Disclaimers, and Limitation of Liability

· Platform Availability: TSUJCMS strives to maintain uninterrupted access to its digital archives. However, the journal does not guarantee that its website, submission portal, or downloaded materials will be permanently error-free, uninterrupted, or free from viruses.

· Content Disclaimer: The opinions, empirical findings, and conclusions expressed in published articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the official policies or endorsements of Taraba State University, the Department of Mass Communication, or the Editorial Board.

· Limitation of Liability: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, TSUJCMS, its editors, and Taraba State University shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the use or inability to use the journal platform or reliance on published scientific content.

6. Modifications to Terms

The TSUJCMS Editorial Board reserves the right to revise, amend, or completely update these Terms and Conditions at any time without prior individual notice. Any modifications become effective immediately upon being posted to this webpage. Continued interaction with the journal constitutes your explicit acceptance of the revised terms.