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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
