Editorial Policies and Ethics

Publication ethics and malpractice statement for the journal

Medicine & Health (Online ISSN e-2289-5728) strictly follows the best practices on all matters related to ethics and retractions. The Editorial Board of the journal does not accept plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting their manuscripts are advised to screen their work through plagiarism checker/software to avoid any embarrassment. All submissions which show similarity in the text are not acceptable. 

The journal follows the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20Conduct_2.pdf) and code of conduct for journal publishers (http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20publishers%20FINAL_1_0_0.pdf).

The journal strictly follows the follows the ICMJE’s recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing and publication of scholarly work in medical journals (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

It is pertinent to mention the following duties of Editor-in-Chief, authors and reviewers

Duties of Editor-in-Chief

1.    The Editor-in-Chief may decide or accept or reject an article entirely based on the input by reviewers and the editorial board members. 

2.    The editor assigns at least two independent blind reviewers for reviewing the manuscript.

3.    No biased decisions are taken to accept or reject any manuscript.

4.    All facts related to the work may be kept confidential.

5.    The Editor-in-Chief of this Journal is not in a position to publish any content of the submitted manuscript without having written consent from the author.

6.    Wherever necessary, errata may be published to correct any facts and the Editor-in-Chief should be in a position to clarify, rectify, retract or apologise for any event.

7.    All experiments and procedures should comply with ethical guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject any manuscript if proper ethical guidelines are not met.

8.    The Editor-in-Chief may take necessary actions if any malpractice is committed. Usually, such decisions may also be taken in an editorial board meeting.

Duties of Authors

1.    Authors are requested to follow the submission guidelines of the journal.

2.    Authors must declare that their work is original and not published elsewhere.

3.    Authors may not submit the manuscript elsewhere. No duplicate publications are allowed.

4.    Authors may respond to the review comments and submit the revision within stipulated time of one month. In case, more time is needed, the authors may request for such well in advance.

5.     All authors should fulfill the criteria of authorship. Regarding role of authors and contributors the journal strictly follows the ICMJE rules (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/d...).

6.    Data in the manuscript text should not be manipulated and the authors should be able to produce raw data to the journal’s office for cross verification.

7.    Authors should not manipulate any data related to the manuscript.

8.    Authors should clearly state any conflicts of interest and source of funding.

9.    Authors are required to submit the declaration form or else the manuscript may not be published.

10.  The journal does not support manuscripts written by ghost authors.

Duties of Reviewers

1.    Reviewers should maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript.

2.    Reviewers must ensure that authors have properly acknowledged all involved organizations and institutions in the manuscript.

3.    Reviewers should accept or reject the manuscript with genuine critical comments. No biased and individual decisions should be given.

4.    If the reviewers detect any type of plagiarism, they should immediately alert the editor and editorial board.

5.    The reviewers should state clearly that they do not have any conflict of interest with regard to the work submitted by the authors or even any organizations or institutions.

6.    The reviewers should not hold the manuscript for longer duration beyond the permitted time for review. The reviewers should inform the Editor-in-Chief about any possible delay in reviewing the manuscript.