Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

1. Introduction

This policy outlines the ethical principles and standards that govern the publication process in our medical academic journal. Upholding the highest ethical standards ensures the integrity, credibility, and academic value of our publication.

2. Editorial Principles

  • Impartiality and Integrity: Editorial decisions are based solely on the quality, originality, and relevance of the submission, without discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, or personal beliefs.
  • Confidentiality: All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Editors and editorial staff will not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the publisher.
  • Conflict of Interest: Editors and reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from decisions where such conflicts exist.

3. Author Responsibilities

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their work is original and properly cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Submissions are subject to plagiarism checks and a A plagiarism report with no more than 20% similarity should be obtained.
  • Authorship Criteria: Authorship should reflect significant contributions to the study design, data collection, analysis, and manuscript preparation. All listed authors must agree on the final version of the manuscript.
  • Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Authors are required to disclose any financial or personal conflicts of interest that might influence their work.
  • Data Accuracy: Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the data presented and must be willing to provide raw data if requested for verification.

4. Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Objective Assessment: Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, and timely feedback to enhance the quality of submissions.
  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts under review must not be shared or discussed with others without prior permission from the editor.
  • Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must notify the editorial office if they feel unqualified to review a manuscript or if they have any conflicts of interest.

5. Ethical Research Practices

  • Compliance with Ethical Standards: Research involving human participants or animals must comply with ethical guidelines such as the Declaration of Helsinki and institutional review board (IRB) or ethical committee approval. Manuscripts must include statements on ethical approvals and consent.
  • Clinical Trials Registration: Clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible database before submission.
  • Data Sharing: Authors are encouraged to make data and methods available for reproducibility and transparency.

6. Publication Misconduct

  • Handling Allegations: Any allegations of misconduct, such as plagiarism, duplicate submission, or data falsification, will be investigated thoroughly following COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines.
  • Retractions and Corrections: Retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern will be issued when necessary to maintain the scientific record's integrity.

7. Open Access and Copyright

  • Open Access Policy: Articles published in the journal are freely accessible to the public, promoting the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
  • Copyright and Licensing: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal a license to publish under Creative Commons Attribution License under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

8. Advertising and Sponsorship

  • Independence from Advertisers: Advertising or sponsorship relationships do not influence editorial decisions. All advertisements, if any, should comply with relevant ethical standards in medicine.

9. Appeals and Complaints

  • Authors have the right to appeal editorial decisions. Appeals must be directed to the editor-in-chief and will be reviewed transparently.

10. Commitment to Ethical Publishing

The journal is committed to following ethical guidelines established by international organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).