Publication Ethics

Medox Journal of Public Health is dedicated to promoting integrity, transparency, and responsibility in scholarly publishing. The following terms represent the MJPH essential ethical elements of publication that are mainly based on Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) which should be taken into account by all the parties involved in the publication process including editors, reviewers, authors, and editorial staff to adhere to professional standards of honesty, fairness, and accountability.

Editors Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that every submitted manuscript undergoes an impartial and fair double-blind peer-review process. Decisions regarding acceptance or rejection are based solely on academic merit, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Editors will also ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing. Editor-in-Chief will coordinate the work of the editors and ensure adherence to ethical standards throughout the review and publication stages.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Reviewers assist editors by providing independent, objective, and constructive evaluations of submitted manuscripts. They must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential. Reviewers must bring to the attention of any information that may be reason to reject publication of a manuscript.

Timeliness: Reviewers are encouraged to complete their evaluations within the agreed timeframe to maintain an efficient review cycle. On the other hand, fast response by the reviewers will help in fast decisions on rejected manuscripts.

Ethical Vigilance: Reviewers are required to evaluate the sources of information cited in the manuscript with scrutiny. If reviewers detect substantial similarity with other works or suspect misconduct, they should inform the editorial team for further examination.

Reviewers’ Professional Feedback: The reviewers are expected to provide their edits and comments in a respectful, clear, constructive and unbiased manner using a clear language. The reviewers’ written feedback should also avoid any personal criticism and offensive language that may deter the peer review process and harm the scientific community.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are treated as confidential documents. Information contained in submissions must not be disclosed or shared with unauthorized individuals. Access is limited to the editorial team, assigned reviewers, and necessary administrative staff involved in the evaluation process.

Conflicts of Interest

Members of the editorial board and reviewers must not use unpublished material for personal research or professional advantage. Any potential conflict of interest such as financial, academic, or personal must be declared promptly, and affected individuals should withdraw from the review or decision-making process when appropriate.

Duties of Authors

Originality and Reporting Accuracy: Authors must submit only original work that is accurate and unplagiarized. The author(s) are also obliged to present their work with adequate methodological detail and proper referencing should be provided to enable reproducibility.

Data Integrity: Falsification, manipulation of the research process or the arbitrary alteration or omission of data which leads to the distortion of the contents or the results of the research are serious ethical concerns and should not be done. For data transparency, authors should retain supporting data and be prepared to provide clarification if requested by the editorial office.

Multiple Submission: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is considered unethical and is prohibited.

Authorship Criteria: Authorship of the manuscript should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution and intellectual input to the research submitted to the journal, including design, performance, interpretation of the reported study, and writing the manuscript. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.

Individuals who provided a certain substantive aspect of the manuscript but without intellectual input should only be recognized in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Also, one of the authors should be selected as the corresponding author to communicate with the journal and approve the final version of the manuscript for publication in the Medox Journal of Public Health.

Adding or removing authors during the revision stages is generally not allowed but may be justified in certain cases. Detailed explanations for changes in authorship must be provided with a signed letter by all authors, indicating their agreement with the change. Note that changes to authorship are not permitted after the manuscript has been accepted.

Disclosure of Conflicts: All financial or personal relationships that may influence interpretation of results must be disclosed within the manuscript. Authors should acknowledge all financial support in their manuscript including, honoraria, educational grants, funding sources, and involvement in speakers’ bureaus, memberships, employment, consultancies, competitive or collaborative relationships with any of the authors, equity interests, or patent-licensing agreements.

Corrections and Retractions: If significant errors are discovered after publication, authors are obliged to inform the journal promptly so that corrections or retractions can be issued when necessary.

Research Involving Humans or Animals: Studies involving human participants or animal subjects must demonstrate approval from a recognized ethics committee and should explicitly state compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors are responsible for ensuring compliance with ethical and safety standards and must confirm that informed consent and humane treatment principles have been respected.

Plagiarism Policy: The journal publishes only original content. Any form of plagiarism including copying, paraphrasing without attribution, or presenting another person’s work as one’s own is unacceptable. Manuscripts suspected of plagiarism will be rejected, and published articles found to violate originality standards may be withdrawn.