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The Jefferson Forum: Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

As a peer reviewed medicine journal, it is our goal to advance scientific knowledge and understanding. We adhere to a set of ethical standards to ensure that all publications represent accurate and original work and that our peer review process is structured without bias. We have outlined a set of ethical principles that must be followed by all authors, reviewers, and editors.

  1. Publication and Authorship
    • All manuscripts must have a list of accurate and complete references
    • All manuscripts should state their source of funding and disclose any potential conflict of interest
    • Plagiarism shall not be tolerated. Authors will be asked to rewrite or provide appropriate citation for taking writing from another's manuscript.
    • Fraudulent data shall not be tolerated. Any manuscript with suspected fabricated or falsified data will not be accepted. A retraction will be made for any publication which is found to have included fabricated or falsified data.
    • It will be forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal. Authors must agree not to pursue publication of their manuscript in additional journals once accepted for publication.
  2. Author's Responsibilities
    • Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process
    • All authors listed in a manuscript should have significantly contributed to the publication
    • All data submitted by the authors to the article are real and authentic
    • All authors are obliged to respond to the editors and provide retractions or corrections of mistakes
    • Authors should report they have no conflict of interest or they should clarify or report any COI if pertinent
  3. Peer Review/Responsibilities for the Reviewers
    • A description of peer review processes should be published, and Editors should be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes.
    • Reviewers must remain objective in their judgment of manuscripts
    • Reviewers should have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors, and the source of funding for the research
    • Reviewers should assist in finding relevant published work which has not yet been cited in the manuscript
    • Reviewed articles should be treated confidentially
  4. Editorial Responsibilities
    • Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article
    • Editors should have no conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject/accept. They must not have conflict of interest with the authors, funder or reviewer of the manuscript
    • Editors should be responsible for everything published in their journals and only accept a paper when reasonably certain.
    • Editors should strive to meet the needs of readers and authors and to constantly improve the journal
    • Editors should ensure the quality of the material they publish and champion freedom of expression.
    • Editors should maintain the integrity of the academic record and preclude business needs from compromising intellectual standards
    • Editors should always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
    • Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
  5. Publishing ethics Issues
    • The editorial board should monitor and safeguard publishing ethics.
    • Editors' decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based only on the paper's importance, originality, and clarity, and the study's relevance to the remit of the journal.
    • A description of peer review processes should be published, and Editors should be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes.
    • The journal should have a defined guideline for retracting articles and also for authors to appeal against editorial decisions.
    • The journal shall maintain the integrity of the academic record
    • The journal shall preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards
    • The journal should always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed
    • There shall be no tolerance for plagiarism or fraudulent data.