It's a matter of opinion. To "fusion" scientists, "fusion" involves isotopes of hydrogen making helium. For me, if the reaction product is of a higher atomic number than the input, then it's fusion.
The e-cat reaction appears to be a catalyzed reaction, where instead of a hydrogen proton directly fusing with the nickel nucleus, it gets converted into an Ultra Low Momentum neutron by absorbing an electron, which gets readily absorbed by the nickel nucleus, creating an unstable isotope which emits an electron via beta decay and turns into copper.
Nickel to copper???? That almost sounds like...transmutation!
I thought that didn’t exist. LOL!
You could make a mint turning nickel into copper.