Publication Ethics

The primary and most critical component of the scholarly communication system in the modern period is the publishing of an article in a peer-reviewed journal, which serves numerous goals beyond basic communication. It is a building block in constructing a cohesive and relevant knowledge network. On this basis, it is critical to establish norms of expected ethical behaviours for all individuals participating in the publication process.
 
This policy is intended to ensure that everyone involved in the scholarly publication process follows the best practices. The Journal Editor Committee is responsible for reviewing and amending this policy as necessary and appropriately to reflect changes in rules, legislation, and other applicable policies.
 
A. Publication Ethics
B. Malpractice Statement
C. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors
D. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers
E. Copyright Issues
E. Malpractice or Research Misconduct

A. Publication Ethics

This policy is intended to ensure the best publishing practices for all parties involved in the scholarly publishing process. The Journal Editor is responsible for reviewing and amending this policy as deemed fit and reasonable and considering changes in regulations, laws, and other related policies.
 
Integrity in scientific publishing is the responsibility of the core entity, which includes journal editors and board members, authors, and reviewers involved in the scholarly publishing process. It is necessary to agree on ethical standards for all stakeholders involved in the publication of journal articles.
 
This policy covers publication ethics, biosecurity, animal/human use and research permits, disclosure and conflict of interest, reporting research funding, peer-reviewing process, editorial independence, copyright issues, authorship, publication misconducts/fraud/plagiarism, article retraction, clarification, or correction, and so on.
 
This policy also serves as a plan of action if publication ethical issues or misconduct arise. If misconduct allegations are brought to the attention of the Chief Editors, the editor board members appoint a journal ethics advisor and panels to investigate and resolve any suspected publication misconduct.
 
The publication's ethical and malpractice statements regarding the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) are made.

B. Malpractice Statement

IJMP is committed to pursuing the highest standards of probity and the elimination of malpractice in research presented within its own journals. It is ultimately the responsibility of the editors-in-chief to ensure that this policy is disseminated to all and followed through. If any third party believes that malpractice has occurred, they should contact the journal's editor-in-chief.
 
Where malpractice has been found to occur, the article in question will be removed from the journal. Individuals found to have deliberately undertaken actions that result in malpractice will be excluded from publishing in the Journal in the future.

C. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

Reporting Standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
 
Data Access and Retention
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review. They should be prepared to provide such data within a reasonable time.
 
Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
 
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
 
Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the nature of the reported work.
 
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
 
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
 
Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, the author should promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.
 
Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects
If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must identify these in the manuscript.
 
Funding
Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation.

D. Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

The editor oversees deciding which articles should be published in the journal. Such decisions must always be driven by the validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers. The editors may be guided by the editorial board's policies and constrained by any legal requirements that are in effect at the time regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. In making this decision, the editors may consult with other editors or reviewers.
 
Fair Play
An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
 
Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
 
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the author's express written consent.
 
Publication Decisions
The editor board journal is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editors may confer with other editors or reviewers when making this decision.
 
Review of Manuscripts
The editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality. The editor should organise and use peer review fairly and wisely. Editors should explain their peer review processes in the information for authors and indicate which parts of the journal are peer-reviewed. The editor should use appropriate peer reviewers for papers considered for publication by selecting people with sufficient expertise and avoiding those with conflicts of interest.

E. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper.
 
Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
 
Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
 
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor.
 
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts with conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
 
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge.

F. Copyright Issues

Author License Policy
The authors grant IJMP exclusive permission to publish their original research articles and reproduce, recreate, extract, and disseminate those papers globally in various languages, forms, formats, and media. However, writers may use portions of their work for educational reasons (presentations, dissertations, lecture notes, etc.) and/or for wider distribution (authors' personal and institutional websites and databases, etc.), if the use is not commercial.
 
Open Access Articles 

All open-access articles published in IJMP are released under the conditions of the CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution–– ShareAlike 4.0 International License), which permits the following: share: copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format; Adapt: remix, adapt, and extend the work for any purpose, including commercial purposes.

G. Malpractice or Research Misconduct

Overview
The IJMP accepts the United States Public Health Service's Policies on Research Misconduct-42 CFR Part 93 (June 2005) definition of research misconduct as follows:
  1. Research misconduct is defined as the fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism of data or results in proposing, conducting, reviewing, or reporting research results.
  2. Falsification is the deliberate manipulation of research materials, equipment, or processes or the alteration or omission of data or results to create an inaccurate research record.
  3. Plagiarism is the unauthorised use of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words.
  4. This policy also incorporates the COPE's Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Publishers. Section 2.0 discusses the roles and duties in publishing. The Editorial Board will examine editors/Reviewers/Authors/Sponsors who violate this policy.

Provision for Action

  1. Complaints of research misconduct, as well as other related issues, should be directed to the IJMP Chief Editors Review.
  2. The IJMP will adopt and adhere to the COPE's Ethical Oversight Flowcharts when investigating allegations of research misconduct or publication malpractice. The flowcharts detail how to address ethical issues such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data in a submitted manuscript or published article, authorship issues, undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript or published article, ethical issues, and reviewer misconduct.
  3. The requirements for establishing research misconduct are: a). The allegation must be substantiated by persuasive evidence of a material deviation from the study work or publication practices, and b). The research misconduct must be conducted intentionally and/or recklessly.
  4. The IJMP is the lead investigator for complaints of publication malpractice, ethical violations, and research misconduct.
  5. For rebuttals to published articles alleging fabrication of data or other research misconduct or ethical violation, a copy will be supplied to the corresponding authors for signed comments, and these will be peer-reviewed by the same reviewers, if practicable. IJMP may bring to the authors' institution's attention instances of research misconduct, requesting an investigation to safeguard the integrity of published data.
  6. If a submitted paper contains obvious plagiarism (unattributed usage of a significant amount of text/data), a copy of the evidence will be forwarded to the corresponding authors for signed comments. If the author's response is poor or an admission of wrongdoing is made, the submission will be rejected or changed. Plagiarism that is obvious in a published article will result in retraction or a corrigendum.
  7. The responder has access to all documents of the accusation, its evaluation, investigation, and determination.
  8. The responder may challenge publication malpractice or research misconduct findings and conclusions. An appeal must be lodged within 30 days of the decision being made and communicated to the respondent.

Post-Investigation

  1. Journals should edit or correct previously published peer-reviewed articles. Amendments may take the form of an erratum (or notification of a journal's error), a corrigendum (or notification of an author's error), a retraction (or statement of a researcher's departure from or faulty work in a previously published study), or an addendum (notification of additional information about a published article).
  2. The IJMP has the authority to apply a variety of sanctions against people who are determined to have committed significant publishing malpractice or research misconduct based on strong evidence. These consequences include article retraction, prohibition from submitting submissions to journals, and letters of notification to the author's connected institutions.
  3. The investigation's findings may be posted on the IJMP website/journal webpage to inform the scientific community, sponsors, readers, and users. On the other hand, individuals found to have engaged in publishing malpractice/research misconduct will have their names concealed or removed from the reports. 
Amendments and Revision
This policy may be changed and revised occasionally, following applicable regulations and rules and as the institution deems necessary.
 
Enforcement Date
This policy will become effective and valid after being approved by the Editorial Board of the IJMP member in December 2024.