Across the border

International human rights law protects migrants once they are within a state’s jurisdiction but stops short of recognising the right to enter another country, according to a new analysis in the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies that argues this makes the system incomplete.

The author distinguishes between protecting the rights of migrants during their journeys and recognising migration itself as a human-rights issue. Under current international law, states generally retain the power to control entry and residence of foreign nationals. They argue that this approach creates a gap in the legal framework so that international human rights law recognises freedom of movement within states but holds that cross-border movement is largely governed by discretion at the national level.

The paper discusses an alternative where people have a right to immigrate and so are entitled to cross a border and enter another state, subject to justified restrictions. Such a right does not currently exist in international law. Recognising such a right would not mean removing all the current limits on immigration. However, it would change the legal question asked at the border crossing so that restrictions on entry would have to be considered as limitations on a human right and justified accordingly, rather than resting on the prior assumption that states are free to exclude.

The paper therefore calls for immigration to be treated as part of human rights law, bringing cross-border movement closer to the legal framework already applied to freedom of movement within states.

Mégret, F. (2026) ‘An international human rights law of migration? Reflections on the place of a right to immigrate’, Int. J. Migration and Border Studies, Vol. 9, No. 6, pp.132–150.

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New Open Access article available: "Innovation for societal transformation in Africa: a strategic framework for inclusive growth"

The following International Journal of Business Innovation and Research article, "Innovation for societal transformation in Africa: a strategic framework for inclusive growth", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Mind your own business!

A systematic review of informal businesses, published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, argues that they should be treated as part of the large entrepreneurial ecosystem rather than as a peripheral feature of the economy.

The team examined 72 research papers published between 2009 and 2025 in order to identify how informal businesses interact with networks, institutions, and resources and how those shape business activity in particular places. Informal businesses are those operating legally but without legal registration.

The scale of the issue is substantial. According to World Bank figures cited by the researchers, the informal economy accounts for about one-fifth of gross domestic product (GDP) and 16% of employment in advanced economies. In emerging and developing economies, it averages about one-third of GDP and 70% of employment. The authors argue that research on entrepreneurial ecosystems, the local systems of networks, organisations, institutions and resources that support entrepreneurship, has tended to concentrate on formal businesses.

The findings have implications for policies intended to formalise businesses. Rather than requiring immediate registration, the researchers suggest staged approaches, including simpler registration, accessible regulatory information and support that recognises alternative evidence of business activity. Such measures could also affect how incubators, accelerators, lenders and mentoring organisations determine eligibility.

The authors say future research should examine how these ecosystem mechanisms shape whether and how informal businesses enter the formal economy.

Naaimy, G. and Messeghem, K. (2026) ‘Informal entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems: a systematic literature review and future research agenda’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 59, No. 5, pp.1–31.

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Free Open Access issue published by International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems

The International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems has published an Open Access issue. All of the issue’s papers can be downloaded via the full-text links available here.

• Fuzzy control-based piano pedagogical research and innovation across cultures
• Dance motion quality assessment model integrating temporal attention and adversarial learning
• Design of intelligent piano teaching system based on computer vision and audio analysis
• Application of multi-element pattern classification and generation model in art design teaching
• Application of gradient boosting tree algorithm in quantitative evaluation of English learning effect in higher vocational education

New Open Access article available: "Hierarchical reinforcement learning-based UAV path planning and energy management"

The following International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications article, "Hierarchical reinforcement learning-based UAV path planning and energy management", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

New Open Access article available: "Negative stiffness-enhanced elastic metamaterials for extreme-environment low-frequency vibration damping"

The following International Journal of Hydromechatronics article, "Negative stiffness-enhanced elastic metamaterials for extreme-environment low-frequency vibration damping", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Research pick: Borderline cases - "Reconciling the tensions of the European deportation regime: how the law shapes compulsory mobility across borders"

European deportation practices are governed by a complex web of European, national and human-rights law, says the author of a paper in the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies. The study shows, based on 100000 French court cases, that national courts play a central role in determining whether individuals can be removed.

The research considers whether deportation is a form of “compulsory mobility”. In other words, movement across borders is imposed on individuals through legal orders rather than undertaken voluntarily. It brings together forms of removal that are often treated separately, including returns, expulsions and Dublin transfers, under which an asylum seeker may be transferred to another European country responsible for examining their claim.

The research looked at deportation judgements issued by French first-instance administrative courts between June 2022 and June 2025. France accounts for almost a third of return decisions issued to third-country nationals in the European Union, while deportation cases make up more than a quarter of judgements in the requisite administrative tribunals.

The study found that there are overlapping rules derived from EU asylum and migration law, EU citizenship law, readmission agreements and human-rights protections, including safeguards concerning family life and inhumane or degrading treatment. However, it then shows that these rules create competing pressures where legal frameworks generally facilitate removal and human-rights protections restrict it. Ultimately, because deportation orders can be challenged individually, national judges must reconcile these conflicting rules in everyday cases.

The work suggests that the way in which Europe’s deportation system functions cannot be understood solely through legislation at the European level. Its practical effects are also shaped by how national courts interpret and apply that framework in thousands of individual cases.

Lamé, A. (2026) ‘Reconciling the tensions of the European deportation regime: how the law shapes compulsory mobility across borders’, Int. J. Migration and Border Studies, Vol. 9, No. 6, pp.57–75.

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Free Open Access issue published by International Journal of Information and Communication Technology

The International Journal of Information and Communication Technology has published an Open Access issue. All of the issue’s papers can be downloaded via the full-text links available here.

• A performance-based green building assessment system: framework development and energy performance evaluation
• Multimodal perception-based assessment of value conduction deviation in short-form ideological and political videos
• Improving the accuracy of English pronunciation using graph neural networks and transfer learning
• A big data-driven framework for enhancing precision level in university ideological and political education: mechanisms and pathways
• Dynamic outlier detection for lexical richness in English writing

Research pick: Automating stereoscopic advertising optimisation - "Evaluation and optimisation method for graphic advertising design effectiveness based on binocular vision"

A computer-based method for evaluating and improving print advertisements by modelling how human binocular vision responds to images is discussed in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining.

The researchers have combined three visual measures: a Gabor energy response, which captures patterns and edges detected by the visual system; a saliency map, which indicates areas likely to attract attention; and a disparity matrix, which measures differences between the views received by each eye and helps represent depth. Using these measures, the system can then generate an intermediate view between left- and right-eye images. It then extracts both global and local visual features and combines them with conventional single-eye features. The final assessment then drives automated improvements, including image segmentation, colour adjustment, and analysis of edge roughness to produce a better image. The process can be repeated as an evaluation-optimisation-re-evaluation loop.

Tests on 1200 samples found that visual-attractiveness assessment maintained accuracy above 90 per cent. After optimisation, subject saliency was raised and visual consistency improved by an average of 17.3 per cent and stereoscopic perception by 15.8 per cent. The system generally converged within three to five loops, or iterations.

The work addresses a broader problem in advertising: conventional design evaluation often depends on subjective judgements or isolated image metrics. By incorporating binocular cues, the visual difference between what each eye sees, the method can bring computer-based assessment closer to how people actually experience an advertisement.

Li, J., Wang, F. and Chen, H. (2026) ‘Evaluation and optimisation method for graphic advertising design effectiveness based on binocular vision’, Int. J. Business Intelligence and Data Mining, Vol. 28, No. 10, pp.103–119.

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Research pick: Spark flies to organise text - "English digital transformation algorithm for distributed big data based on Spark"

A distributed computing framework can group large volumes of English text more accurately and efficiently than older methods. The system has the potential to support faster analysis across education, government, and business, according to research published in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems, allowing blocks of related text to be automatically sorted and grouped together, or clustered.

The work addresses a practical problem in digital transformation: much of the information generated by organisations is unstructured text, whose meaning can vary with context. Conventional clustering methods are often slow or produce inconsistent groupings when confronted with large, high-dimensional datasets.

The researchers used Apache Spark, a platform for processing data across multiple computers, with an improved K-means algorithm. K-means is a method of grouping data into clusters according to similarities. The researchers modified this tool by using density peaks and maximum-minimum criteria to select better starting points for the clusters, rather than relying on random initialisation.

In tests on multiple datasets they found that the new approach improved clustering accuracy by more than 10 per cent when compared with conventional K-means approaches. The system was also stable even when they ramped up the volume of data to be processed. Indeed, they could improve parallel performance by additional computing nodes.

The framework could help organisations organise and extract information from growing bodies of English-language documents more efficiently, while providing a more consistent basis for subsequent data analysis and decision-making.

Yao, X. (2026) ‘English digital transformation algorithm for distributed big data based on Spark’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 18, No. 8, pp.1–28.

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Research pick: A whole new word - "Virtual reality technology to enhance English language acquisition in children with learning disabilities"

Virtual reality (VR) could be a new tool in helping students with dyslexia to learn English vocabulary more effectively than conventional instruction alone, according to a pilot study involving 30 learners published in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning. Dyslexia is a learning disability that primarily affects reading and related language skills.

VR creates an immersive computer-generated environment with which users can interact. The research divided participants into two groups: one used a custom VR programme incorporating interactive multimedia and game-based learning, while the other received conventional teaching. The team saw higher vocabulary-test scores in the VR group than the other. Moreover, there was greater engagement and stronger conceptual understanding among the students using VR. Those students, themselves, reported improved concentration, imagination, and satisfaction with the learning process overall.

The team explains that the VR allowed learners to encounter words through images, sounds, text, and simulated real-world situations. The game-based activities in the VR encouraged repeated interaction with letters and vocabulary, which they suggest reinforced memory and contextual understanding in that group when compared to those taught using conventional methods.

Digital tools, for all the criticism they often receive in some areas, could improve teaching in special needs and perhaps address the shortfall in specialist teachers and teaching materials for many students with learning difficulties around the world, especially in resource-tight regions. The study contributes to wider efforts to make education more inclusive under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4, which calls for equitable, quality education for all, the researchers add.

Vipahasna, P.P., Vipahasna, K., Khlaisang, J. and Numprasertchai, S. (2026) ‘Virtual reality technology to enhance English language acquisition in children with learning disabilities’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp.245–260.

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New Open Access article available: "Analysis of economic diplomacy between Kazakhstan and Italy: development trends and prospect"

The following nternational Journal of Diplomacy and Economy article, "Analysis of economic diplomacy between Kazakhstan and Italy: development trends and prospect", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Open Access issue published by International Journal of Information and Communication Technology

The International Journal of Information and Communication Technology has published an Open Access issue. All of the issue’s papers can be downloaded via the full-text links available here.

• Construction of TPACK knowledge integration profile for university teachers based on generative AI and multimodal data
• GAN-based English metaphor identification and paraphrase generation via optimised compression
• Comparative computation of multimodal semantic representations for ideological and value orientations
• Robust multi-agent simulation modelling of the distribution of source-load asymmetric resource regulation capabilities
• Dynamic budget allocation via deep Q-networks with embedded financial risk control using VaR/CVaR metrics

New Open Access article available: "Enhancing IoT security in the post-quantum era: a hybrid approach to protection from impersonation attacks"

The following International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions article, "Enhancing IoT security in the post-quantum era: a hybrid approach to protection from impersonation attacks", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Associate Prof. Prof. Wan Wei appointed as new Editor in Chief of International Journal of Cultural Management

Associate Prof. Wan Wei from Arkansas Tech University in the USA has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Cultural Management. The journal's previous Editor in Chief, Prof. Wei Song, will take the position of Executive Editor, with the two editors exchanging posts every two years.

Associate Prof. Wan Wei offered the following statement:

"It is my great pleasure and honor to serve as the new Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Cultural Management (IJCultM). I am honoured to lead a highly accomplished and diverse editorial team of researchers representing regions across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Our team brings together established scholars and emerging researchers with diverse expertise and perspectives, providing a strong and inclusive foundation for the continued development of the journal. I am excited to work with such a talented and committed group as we begin this new chapter for IJCultM. We are committed to strengthening IJCultM as an international platform for rigorous, innovative and interdisciplinary research in the fields of culture and cultural management.

IJCultM provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for research on cultural management and related areas. We welcome high-quality theoretical and empirical research that advances our understanding of the management, economics, policy and development of cultural organisations.

The journal welcomes contributions from scholars and researchers across academia, business and the public sector, with the aim of fostering meaningful interdisciplinary dialogue on the management, development and use of culture. We encourage research drawing on diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives, including economics, finance and sociology. The journal also welcomes critical reviews.

I invite researchers and scholars from around the world to submit their original work to IJCultM and to join us in advancing research and dialogue in this important and evolving field. For more information, please visit http://www.inderscience.com/ijcultm or contact me at ijcultm@atu.edu for any publication-related queries.

I look forward to working with our international scholarly community and to welcoming your contributions to the journal."

Research pick: A little brand love and affection - "The emotional connection between customer happiness and brand love on customer loyalty"

A study of more than 800 fast-food customers suggests that loyalty to a brand is shaped not only by satisfaction with the product or service but also by the customers’ emotional experiences. The study reported in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising focused on fast-food consumers in Peru but could have implications for fast-food brands in other emerging markets.

The study was based on responses collected through an online questionnaire and analysed with a statistical technique known as structural equation modelling, which tests the relationships between multiple variables. The researchers found that perceived service quality was perhaps quite obviously associated with the degree of satisfaction with a brand. However, satisfaction, in turn, was linked to the customer’s happiness and their level of brand love and thus to brand loyalty. The research distinguishes between customer satisfaction, which considers whether expectations have been met, and happiness, which reflects a broader positive emotional response to the customer’s experience with the brand.

The findings add to a relatively small body of work that has examined happiness and brand love together and has implications for this particular emerging market where cultural factors may influence how customers assess services and develop relationships with brands.

For fast-food businesses, the results suggest that improving service alone may be insufficient. Managers must also focus on experiences that generate positive emotions, potentially strengthening customers’ attachment to a brand and their willingness to remain loyal.

Pipoli de Azambuja, G.M., Rodríguez Peña, G.A. and Tarazona Vargas, E.G. (2026) ‘The emotional connection between customer happiness and brand love on customer loyalty’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.123–148.

News media may use this press release as source material, in whole or in part, provided the content is not materially misrepresented. A link back to the original article is appreciated.

Free Open Access issue published by International Journal of Information and Communication Technology

The International Journal of Information and Communication Technology has published an Open Access issue. All of the issue’s papers can be downloaded via the full-text links available here.

• Financial risk monitoring based on corporate ESG performance from the perspective of sustainable development
• A secure and scalable blockchain framework for enhancing transaction transparency and operational efficiency in banking systems
• Automatic graphic-text composition for graphic design using diffusion models and layout optimisation
• Deep learning-driven modelling of acoustic logging signals and identification of complex reservoir fractures
• UrbanGreen-LiteFormer: a lightweight vision model for disease and pest recognition of urban landscape plants in complex urban green-space environments

New Open Access article available: "Technological integration challenges in hybrid sheet metal manufacturing systems"

The following International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials article, "Technological integration challenges in hybrid sheet metal manufacturing systems", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Free Open Access special issue on "Machine Learning for Cloud-Edge Emerging Network Architectures: Part 2" published by International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology

The International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology has published an Open Access issue. All of the issue’s papers can be downloaded via the full-text links available here.

• Supply chain demand forecasting and low-altitude economic risks based on machine learning and artificial intelligence
• Ecological management algorithm of fresh supply chain information under artificial intelligence and blockchain architecture
• Simulation model of marine biological population based on multi-agent comfort drive
• CISAA: a collective intelligence-based optimisation framework for low-altitude airspace resource allocation and engineering management
• Application of information optics experimental methods in optical sensors for wearable devices
• Sports biomechanical performance analysis algorithm and geometric parameter equation based on reinforcement learning
• From physical isolation to disaster recovery communication guarantee based on software-defined perimeter (SDP)
• Automatic recognition system of athletic injury images based on deep learning

New Open Access article available: "Operator perspectives and attitudes to evolving tasks and tools in power grid operations"

The following International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics article, "Operator perspectives and attitudes to evolving tasks and tools in power grid operations", is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.