Introduction
Journal of Torbat Heydariyeh university of Medical Sciences follows International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)‘s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Therefor, we genuinely recommend and kindly asked the authors to read these recommendations prior to their manuscript submission.
If the journal editors or any reviewer of the manuscripts suspected any research misconduct, fraud or plagiarism, the editors will follow the COPE guidelines and will inform the author and his/her institution if required.
Editorial Process
We are committed to editorial independence, our editorial processes reflect this commitment to editorial independence. We do not discriminate against the authors, editors or peer reviewers based on personal characteristics or identity.
Editorial decisions on the initial acceptance for review of the manuscripts submitted to our journals are made by academic editors and based on independent peer review reports. Final decision to accept the manuscripts for publication is made by the chief or executive editor based on recommendation of the executive editorial team.
Editorial responsibilities
- Editors (Editor in Chief or Associate Editors) have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.
- Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication.
- Editors always consider the needs and interest of the readers when attempting to improve the quality of manuscripts for publication.
- Editors guaranteed the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record.
- Editors publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
- Editors recognized clear picture of a research funding sources, before a manuscript accept for publication.
- Editors decide solely on the papers importance, originality, clarity and relevance to publication scope of the journal.
- Editors do not reverse their decisions nor overturn without serious reason.
- Editors preserve the anonymity of reviewers (in half blind peer review journals).
- Editors ensure that all research material they publish conforms to international accepted ethical guidelines.
- Editors only accept a paper when reasonably merit for publication.
- Editors act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to resolve the problem.
- Editors do not reject papers based on suspicions, but try to find out the proof of misconduct.
- Editors do not allow any conflicts of interest between the journal staff, authors, reviewers and board members.
- We do not change our decision after rejecting or accepting a manuscript without a serious reason.
Peer Review
Peer review is very important and critical to maintain the standards of our journal publications. We:
• Provide appropriate systems, training and support to facilitate the peer review for all our publications.
• Encourage our editors and peer reviewers to familiarise themselves with and act in accordance with relevant best practice guidelines on peer review.
• Support our editors and peer reviewers in investigating and acting on any suspected cases of manipulated or fraudulent peer review;
• Protect the confidentiality of participants in the peer review process where anonymity forms part of that publication’s peer review process. We also expect our publishing authors and peer reviewers to uphold any relevant confidentiality arrangements for journal and to provide necessary information to support this.
All submitted papers are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two reviewers that are experts in the area of the particular paper. Reviewers are being selected by Associate Editors.
- All submitted papers are subject to strict peer-review process by at least two reviewers that are experts in the area of the particular paper. Author also can propose reviewers for some journals and article types.
- The factors that are taken into account in review are relevance, originality, readability, statistical validity and language.
- The possible decisions include acceptance, minor revisions, major revision or rejection.
- If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted.
- Rejected articles will not be re-reviewed.
Responsibility for the reviewers
- Reviewers were asked to keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
- Reviews were asked to be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author. No self-knowledge of the author(s) must affect their comments and decision.
- Reviewers were asked express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
- Reviewers were asked to identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
- Reviewers were also asked to call the Editor in Chief attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
- Reviewers were asked not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
Publication and authorship: We stick to ICMJE definition of author and contributor based on the following principles:
1. “Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the study; AND/OR“
2. “Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND/OR
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND”
4. “Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”
The corresponding author(s) is responsible for:
• Handling the revisions and re-submission of revised manuscripts up to the acceptance of the manuscripts. Manuscript correction and proofreading.
• Agreeing to and signing the Author Publishing Agreement on behalf of relevant coauthors.
• Acting on behalf of all co-authors in responding to queries from all sources post-publication, including questions relating to publishing ethics, reuse of content, or the availability of data, materials, resources etc.
We encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship in an
Acknowledgments section in their publication. We integrate with established and emerging industry standards to increase transparency in authorship (for example, ORCID).
Author’s responsibilities
- Authors must certify that their manuscript is their original work.
- Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere, or even submitted and been in reviewed in another journal.
- Authors must participate in the peer review process and follow the comments.
- Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
- Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.
- Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.
- Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.
- Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the Editors.
- Authors must not use irrelevant sources that may help other researches/journals.
- Authors cannot withdraw their articles within the review process or after submission, or they must pay the penalty defined by the publisher.
Affiliations
Any article affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved.
Plagiarism
The journal editors reserve the right to check all submissions for plagiarism by using checking tools such as iTheticate software. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, we will follow our guidance outlined in the Retractions, Corrections and Expressions.
We expect our reviewers and readers to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting the relevant editor or by emailing: jmsthums.ac.ir
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Duplicate or redundant publication, or ‘self-plagiarism’, occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is published more than once by the author(s) of the work without appropriate cross-referencing or justification for the overlap. This can be in the same or a different language (Based on COPE’s definition of redundant publication).
We do not support substantial overlap between publications, unless:
• It is felt that editorially this will strengthen the academic discourse; AND
• We have clear approval from the original publication; AND
• We include citation of the original source.
We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any duplicate or redundant publication, either by emailing: jmsthums.ac.ir
Research on Humans or Animals
Research involving humans or animals should have already been approved by relevant ethics committee(s) and should conform to international ethical and legal standards for research. Sending the approved evidence is mandatory.
Competing Interests
The authors submitting a manuscript to our Journal, are required to declare any potential competing interests that could interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication. These include financial, non-financial, professional, contractual or personal in nature.
Corrections, Expressions or Retractions of Concern
Our journal editors will consider retractions, corrections or expressions of concern in line with
COPE’s Retraction Guidelines. If an author is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. If the journal is found to have made an error, they will issue an erratum. Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed. We may remove an article from online publication where we believe it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations.
Image Manipulation
We recognize that there can be legitimate reasons for modifying images, but we expect authors to avoid modifying images where this leads to the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of their results.
Fraudulent and Research Misconduct
Any publication found to include fraudulent results will be retracted, or an appropriate correction or expression of concern will be issued.
Publishing Ethics Issues
- All editorial members, reviewers and authors must confirm and obey rules defined by COPE.
- Corresponding author is the main owner of the article so she/he can withdraw the article when it is incomplete (before entering the review process or when a revision is asked for).
- Authors cannot make major changes in the article after acceptance without a serious reason.
- All editorial members and authors must will to publish any kind of corrections honestly and completely.
- Any notes of plagiarism, fraudulent data or any other kinds of fraud must be reported completely to COPE.
Principles of Transparency
- Peer review process: JMS is a double blind peer reviewed electronic quarterly publication. This process, as well as any policies related to the journal’s peer review procedures, is clearly described on the journal’s Web site. https://jms.thums.ac.ir/page/19/For-Authors
- Governing Body: JMS has very strong editorial board, whose members are recognized experts in the subject areas included within the journal’s scope. The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors is provided on the journal’s Web site. https://jms.thums.ac.ir/page/13/Editorial-Board
- Contact information: Journal is provided the contact information for the editorial office of JMS.
- Author fees: There are no charges for publication in this Journal.
- Copyright: JMS is an open access journal which means that all contents is freely available without charge, is clearly described on the journal’s Web site. https://jms.thums.ac.ir/page/19/For-Authors
- Identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct: Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor takes reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others.
- Ownership and management: Information about the ownership and/or management of the journal was clearly indicated on the journal’s Web site.
- Web site: A journal’s Web site (https://jms.thums.ac.ir/ ) contains that care has been taken to ensure high ethical and professional standards.
- Name of journal: The Journal name of “Journal of Torbat Heydariyeh university of Medical Sciences” has unique and not be one that is easily confused with another journal.
- Conflicts of interest: Authors are requested to evident whether impending conflicts do or do not exist while submitting their articles to JMS through Conflict of Interest Disclosure option.
- Access: All individual articles in this Journal are freely available to readers without charge. https://jms.thums.ac.ir/page/19/For-Authors
- Revenue sources: JMS has been supported by Torbat Heydariyeh university of Medical Sciences.
- Advertising: JMS has not any advertising policy.
- Publishing schedule: The periodicity of journal publication was indicated in the website
- Archiving: JMS has planned for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content (for example, access to main articles via Open Access Repository, DOAJ, Magiran and etc.) in the event JMS journal is no longer published.
- Direct marketing: JMS has not any direct marketing policy.
Complaints Policy of Journal of Torbat Heydariyeh university of Medical Sciences
This statement applies about the policies, our procedures and actions about the complaints received to the Journal. We welcome the complaints and try our best to solve the matters to the entire satisfaction of the authors.
About Complaints
- Any type of unhappiness or dissatisfaction regarding the publication and policies of the journal.
- The long delay in publication or a replies related to the author.
- The decision of the editorial board member or chief editor regarding the manuscripts of the author.
- Misjudgment of the editorial board member.
The following types of complaints
- Complaints from the author.
- Complaints about plagiarism.
- Research results misappropriations.
- Complaints regarding the research errors.
- Bias behavior of reviewers.
Editorial Complaints Policy
Our managing editors, staff and the editors will take a prompt action on every complaint, irrespective of the authors, academicians or our readers and make their full efforts to solve and satisfy the person.
We take minimum time to solve the complaints of dissatisfaction.
How to make a complaint
The complaints of the authors and readers should be sent to the editors as soon as possible on the email via; JMSthums.ac.ir
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