Skip to main content

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

This is the statement of ethics for “The International Journal of Medicine & Sciences” published by Kulliyyah of Medicine & Health Sciences, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, Kedah. This statement was adapted from the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and covers the code of ethics for Editor-in- Chief, editorial board members, reviewers and authors.

DUTIES OF AUTHORS


The Journal publishes manuscripts written in English language. 

Manuscript submitted to the journal for publication should be original contribution and must not have been previously published or is under consideration simultaneously by any other publication.

Are only allowed to publish their work elsewhere after receiving a formal rejection from the journal or if their request to withdraw their work is officially accepted by the journal.

Must inform the Editor-in-Chief or the publisher of any inaccuracy of data in their published work so that correction or retraction of article can be done.

Should make significant contributions and be held accountable for any shortcoming in their work.

It is the author's responsibility to ensure that his or her submitted work does not infringe any existing copyright. Authors should obtain permission to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material before submitting the final version of a manuscript.

DUTIES OF REVIEWER


Must disclose any competing interest before agreeing to review a submission.

Can refuse to review any submission due to a conflict of interest or inadequate knowledge.

Review all submissions objectively, fairly and professionally.

Reveal any ethical misconduct encountered while reviewing to the Editor-in-Chief for further action.

Should ensure the originality of a submission and be alert to any plagiarism and redundant publication.

Must not discuss the content of the submission without permission.

Adhere to the time allocated for the review process. Requests for extension to review the submission are at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

DUTIES OF EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS


Actively contribute to the development and the greater good of the journal. Act as ambassadors for the journal.

Continuously support and promote the journal. Review any work assigned to them.

DUTIES OF EDITOR-in-CHIEF


Evaluate manuscripts fairly and solely on their intellectual merit.

Ensure confidentiality of manuscripts and not disclose any information regarding manuscripts to anyone other than the people involved in the publishing process.

Has the responsibility to decide when and which articles are to be published.

Actively seek the views of board members, reviewers and authors on how to improve/ increase the image and visibility of the journal.

Give clear instructions to potential contributors on the submission process and what is expected of the authors.

Ensure appropriate reviewers are selected/ identified for the reviewing process.

PLAGIARISM


Authors should submit only original work that is not plagiarized. Appropriate soft wares may be used by the editorial office to check for similarities of submitted manuscripts with existing literature (less than 20% similarity report is accepted). Inclusion of fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements is unacceptable. Work and/or words from other publications must be appropriately cited or quoted.

REPORTING


Authors should state their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. The methods used in the work should be clearly and unambiguously described so that the findings can be repeated and confirmed by other researchers.

ETHICAL CLEARANCE


When human subjects are involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject. Authors should be aware of the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), which has been published in the British Medical Journal (18 July 1964). When experimental animals are used, the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort.

Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) or with the Guidelines laid down by the NIH in the US regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures or according to the appropriate Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation. All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Methods section identifying the review and approval committee for each study. Editors reserved the right to reject the submitted manuscripts if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been taken.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST


A statement on conflict of interest must be included in the manuscript if authors receive any support that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

AUTHORSHIP AND COLLABORATION


Name of authors listed in a paper should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the report. Only those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the work must be acknowledged or listed as contributors. It is the duty of the corresponding author to ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper. All co-authors must approve the final version of the paper and agree to the version of the paper before submission.

MULTIPLE OR REDUNDANT


Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research output in more than one journal or primary publication. A similar manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal concurrently as this constitutes as unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

REVIEW PROCESS


Manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editorial Board and at least one peer-reviewer. The manuscript will be evaluated based on its appropriateness for The International Journal of Medicine and Sciences, contribution to the discipline, cogency of analysis, conceptual breadth, clarity of presentation and technical adequacy. Decisions regarding the publication of a manuscript will be based on the Board's recommendations. Manuscripts submitted by members of the journal's Editorial Board are subjected to the same review procedure.

One set of proofs will be sent to the author(s) by email to be checked for printing errors and it is the responsibility of the author(s) to submit corrections to the Editorial Board.