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Editorial Policies

Outline

The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences approves the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors policies (WAME), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

 

Authorship

As stated in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations, credit for authorship requires:

1.     Substantial contributions to the conception and design; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data,

2.     The drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content;

3.     Final approval of the version to be published;

4.     Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the four components mentioned above. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship.

The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors.In addition, any changes must be explained to the Editor/Editor-in-Chief.  In line with COPE guidelines, our journal requires written confirmation from all authors that they agree with any proposed changes in authorship of submission(s) or published item(s). This approval must be via direct email from each author. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors agree with the suggested changes. It is not the journal editor’s responsibility to resolve authorship disputes. A change in authorship of a published article can only be amended via publication of an Erratum or Correction.

Authors should follow "the international standards for authors" recommended by COPE.

 

The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences Authorship Standards

To respect the authorship right of authors and uphold scientific honesty, the authorship of Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences should be compiled as follows:

1. Author names should not be added, removed and changed the order after submitted the manuscript.

2. Each article could have one corresponding author.

3. Authors are not recommended to be co-first authors. Authors in the same institution could not be the co-first authors.

Note. The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences reserves the right of final explanations to the Authorship standards.

 

Clinical Trial Registry

Based on the ICMJE recommendations a clinical trial is defined as “any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the cause-and-effect, relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome.” In agreement with the ICMJE’s recommendations, The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences would consider publishing clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry that allows free online access to public. As per our policy, registration of all trials in a public registry approved by the ICJME -- a primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform available from the following link:

www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html.

 

Research Reporting Guidelines

Authors are encouraged to use the EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines for the study type:

 

·       Randomized controlled trials (RCTs): CONSORT guidelines

·       Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: PRISMA guidelines and MOOSE guidelines

·       Observational studies in epidemiology: STROBE guidelines and MOOSE guidelines

·       Diagnostic accuracy studies: STARD guidelines

·       Quality improvement studies: SQUIRE guidelines

·        Case reports guidelines: CARE guidelines

Withdrawal, Corrections and Retractions policies

As a follower of the COPE, Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences adheres to the “Code of Conduct” and the “Best Practice Guidelines” and "Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing".

Withdrawal

Withdrawal is an action that takes the manuscript out of the review process and places it back into the author’s dashboard. In general, we do not suggest article withdrawal, since it wastes valuable manuscript processing time, money and works invested by the publisher.

 

Withdrawal Steps

·       Pre-Review: is a period that an author(s) submit(s) her/his article until to be sent for review.

·       Peer-Review: is a period that manuscript is submitted completely into the website and included in the review process.

·       Final Decision: is a period from the acceptance of an article until to be sent for publication if the article meets the journal standards.

·       Pre-Publication: when a paper is accepted for publication or published as an “ahead of print (In Press)” paper but has no the volume/issue/page number.

·       Post-Publication: when a paper is published and placed in a volume/issue with page number.

Policies

·       Pre-Review: The author(s) can withdraw their papers at this step without posting compelling reasons.

·       Peer-Review, Final Decision, and Pre-Publication: The authors should have compelling reasons in order to withdraw their papers.

·       Post-Publication: Withdrawing at this step is not possible at all.

When a withdrawal occurs, our publisher will remove the article content (HTML and PDF) and replace with a HTML page describing that the article has been withdrawn according to the Publisher’s policies.

See COPE Cases for details.

 

Correction

Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences will consider the publication of a correction when a mistake may jeopardize the conclusions of an article or contains incorrect information regarding metadata of an article such as author names, affiliations, title, etc) but does not undermine the validity of the findings. A note linking to the correction will be placed in the original article page.

 

Redundant publication

Duplicate or redundant submission is the same manuscript (or the same data) that is submitted to different journals at the same time. In such case, we will follow the COPE guidelines.

Note: ICMJE recommends that translations are acceptable but MUST reference the original. Based on our policy, translations of original article can be considered as an online supplementary file. Editors may consider publishing a correction rather than a retraction/notice of duplicate publication in such cases.

 

Retraction

In keeping with COPE's Retraction Guidelines, a retraction will be considered by our editors if:  

  • It has clear evidence indicating the results are unreliable, either because of major errors (eg, miscalculation or experimental error, data fabrication, image manipulation, …)
  • It has plagiarism.
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper citation to previous sources, permission to reproduce, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)
  • There is a copyright infringement or other legal issues
  • It reports unethical research
  • It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process
  • The author(s) failed to declare a major conflict of interest

Authors or editors of the journal may retract a paper. However, the final decision is made by the editors for retracting the material. If none of the authors will approve to publish a retraction, the editor/s may request such a retraction from the investigating institution, or the editor may ask a retraction on behalf of the journal. In each condition, the editor should inform the author(s) or institution affiliated to the author(s) for publishing a retraction.

  • Note: After publishing a retraction, HTML version of the document will be removed from the site. Additionally, The PDF file of the article is retained unchanged; only a watermark showing “retracted” label is placed on each page of the PDF. Finally, a link is made to the original article.

 

Plagiarism

Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences is powered by the iThenticate software, a plagiarism detector service that considers the originality of content submitted before publication. When plagiarism is identified, we act based on flowcharts and workflows determined in COPE.

Plagiarism contains, but is not limited to:

·       Directly copying text from other sources

·       Using an idea from another source with a little altered language

·       Copying ideas, images, or materials/data from other sources

·       Reusing text from your previous publications

 

Plagiarism Policies

·       If plagiarism is identified during the peer review stage, the manuscript may be rejected.

·       If plagiarism is identified after publication of the article, we reserve the right to request a correction or retract the paper based on COPE guidelines.

 

Ethical Policies

Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences expects the highest ethical standards from their authors, reviewers and editors when conducting research, submitting papers and throughout the peer-review process.

Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences adheres to the policies of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations Thus, The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences expects all authors, reviewers and editors to consider COPE, ICMJE and Equator Network’s reporting guidelines in scientific writing.

 

Human and animal ethics

Authors reporting experimental studies on human subjects must include an ethical approval statement in Title page indicating (a) informed consent was taken from all patients enrolled in the study and (b) the study protocol conforms to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a priori approval by the institution's human research committee. For protecting the safety individuals who participate in study, academic and funding organizations

require any study including human participants be approved by an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics review committee. In studies involving animal experimentations, all criteria highlighted in the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" should be addressed.

 

Patient Consent

Protecting the rights and privacy of patients in scientific publishing is fundamental. Any manuscript that contains personal medical information about an identifiable living individual must be accompanied by the patient’s informed consent prior to publication. Accordingly, all participants are required to sign a consent form after receiving and reviewing the study information sheet. The purpose of the procedures and their potential risks must be explained in detail before consent is obtained, and participation should be entirely voluntary. Informed consent forms should be submitted online for prior review.

If it is not possible to obtain consent because the patient cannot be located, publication may proceed only if the data have been sufficiently anonymized. Anonymization requires that neither the individual nor others could reasonably identify the patient with certainty.

For deceased patients, authors are expected to seek permission from the closest relative. If relatives cannot be reached, the journal will evaluate the significance of the case, the risk of identification, and the possibility of legal or ethical concerns before making a publication decision.

Images including radiographs, laparoscopic or ultrasound scans, pathology slides, or photographs of non-identifiable body parts may be published without consent provided that they are fully anonymized (e.g., removal of any identifying features) and are not accompanied by descriptive text that could disclose the patient’s identity.

 

Competing Interest Statement

In medical publication, a conflict of interest (COI) happens when an author has financial or other relationships influencing the author’s decisions, work, or manuscript. COI may occur in various forms such as financial ties, academic commitments, personal relationships, political or religious beliefs, and institutional affiliations. In managing COI, The Sci J Med Sci abides by the policy statement of the WAME. All authors should declare their COI, if any, during the manuscript submission. Additionally, reviewers and editors are requested to announce their COI when they agree to take a manuscript for reviewing and handling, respectively. Reviewers and Editors with COI will be excepted from the manuscript process. All authors must declare all competing interests in their title page. Further information can be found at the following links:

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/   

https://publicationethics.org/competinginterests  and the World Association of Medical

http://wame.org/wame-editorial-on-conflict-of-interest

 

Peer Review Process

All submissions to the Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality, validity, and originality of published manuscripts. Typically, two to three independent reviewers are invited to evaluate each submission.

 

The Editors reserve the right to decline manuscripts at the pre-review stage if they:

(a) fall outside the aims and scope of the journal,

(b) contain significant technical or methodological flaws,

(c) lack novelty or scientific contribution, or

(d) are written in poor English that prevents proper evaluation.

The review process follows these steps:

1. Initial Check – The editorial office reviews each submission for compliance with journal formatting and ethical guidelines. Manuscripts that do not meet requirements may be returned to authors for correction before peer review.

2. Editorial Assessment – An Associate Editor or Section Editor evaluates the scientific merit and relevance of the submission and decides whether to proceed to external review.

3. External Peer Review – Most manuscripts are sent to at least two independent experts in the field. The Editor determines the number of reviewers based on the topic and complexity of the manuscript.

4. Decision-Making – Based on reviewers’ comments and the Editor’s assessment, one of the following decisions is made:

    Accept

    Minor Revision

    Major Revision

    Reject

5. Revision Process – For manuscripts requiring revision, authors are normally given 40 days to resubmit. Extensions may be granted upon request. Revised manuscripts may be re-evaluated by the original reviewers or assessed directly by the handling Editor.

6. Final Decision – The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on all manuscripts, taking into account the reviewers’ reports and the recommendations of the handling Editor.

The journal is committed to a fair, timely, and constructive review process, ensuring transparency and high academic standards.

 

Duties of Editors

Publication decisions
The editors of the Journal are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. They are 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.  They actively work to improve the quality of the journal.

Fair play
The editor 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.

 

Duties 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 that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the.

 

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

 

Editorial Freedom at the Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences

The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences adheres to the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) Policy on “The Relationship between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners”. More specifically, the Editor-in-Chief has editorial independence and as such has full authority over the journal’s editorial content including how and when information is published. Editorial decisions are based solely on the validity of the work and its importance to readers, not on the policies or commercial interests of the owner. The Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences is the official journal of the Madrayan. Neither the Madrayan nor other organizations interfere in the evaluation, selection or editing of individual articles, either directly or by creating an environment in which editorial decisions are influenced.

 

 

CrossMark Policy

CrossMark is a multi-publisher initiative to provide a standard method for readers to find the current version of a piece of content. By applying the CrossMark logo, our journal is committing to maintaining the content it and to notifying readers to changes if and when they occur.

All articles have the CrossMark logo in PDF or HTM files. Clicking on the CrossMark logo at the top of each article in PDF and HTML file will indicate the current status of a document and may also give additional information about the document.

For more details on CrossMark, please refer the CrossMark website at the following link:

https://www.crossref.org/services/crossmark/.

 

Editorial Board Policy

The selection of Editorial/advisory Board is a vital stage. We choose our editors in keeping with quantity and the quality published articles, citation of her/his works together with the "H-index". Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences follows to “the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” regarding the selection of them.

Editor-in-Chief/Deputy Editor-in-Chief

S/he is the lead editor playing the vital role to guarantee integrity and quality of content of the submitted manuscript. EIC must have at least a PhD/MD degree to be able to lead the publication process. Based on Scopus database, the minimum h-index for the Editor-in-Chief is 14. S/he has some responsibilities as follows:

·       Making an overall plan for improving quality of the content regarding submitted manuscripts

·       Reviewing and making the final decision for the submitted manuscripts

·       Identifying qualified editorial board members who can contribute to the progress and management of the journal

  • Handling meetings in order to interact with all the members of the Editorial Board regarding code conducts, standards, and new policies of the Journal.

Associate Editors

Associate editors are responsible for peer-review process and ensuring publication of high-quality papers. They would help the lead editor in terms of different aspects related to the works of publication, and peer review process.

Editorial Board Members

The Editorial Board Members must be familiar with the peer-review process, publication ethics and code of conduct as well as standards for high-quality publications. Academic merit/competency and having high H-index are two main top factors for selecting editorial board members.

Publication Charge

This journal is a platinum open access. Therefore, there is no publication fee in this journal. The publication of this journal is financially supported by Madrayan.

 

Article Sharing Guidelines

The following points highlight our policies regarding manuscripts submitted to Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences:

 

 1- Submitted version of article: The authors submitting articles to Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences are banned from publication of the submitted data (except for registries required for clinical trials) in an open repository before its acceptance.

 

2- Accepted version of article: The authors can deposit their manuscript in open repositories after acceptance in the journal process without any embargo policy.

3- Final version of article (PDF format): We encourage authors to share the final PDF version of their article in open repositories.

 


Advertising Policy

At present, Scientific Journal of Medical Sciences does not publish any advertisement.