1. Ethical Framework

AJBM’s editorial policies are grounded in international best practices for publication ethics. The journal promotes honesty, accuracy, originality, and respect for ethical research principles in biomedical science. Any form of unethical behavior, including plagiarism, data manipulation, or fabrication, is strictly prohibited and addressed according to COPE flowcharts.

2. Duties and Responsibilities

A. Publisher Responsibilities

BM-Publisher Ltd (London, United Kingdom), as the official publisher of AJBM, guarantees editorial independence and ensures that publication decisions are made solely on academic merit, free from commercial, institutional, or political influence.

• Maintains the integrity of the academic record and the permanent availability of all published articles.
• Ensures adherence to ethical publishing standards and COPE guidelines.
• Supports the correction, retraction, or removal of content when necessary to uphold the integrity of the literature.

B. Editors’ Responsibilities

• Editors evaluate manuscripts based solely on scientific merit, originality, and ethical compliance, regardless of authors’ nationality, gender, or institutional affiliation.
• They must maintain confidentiality and avoid handling manuscripts where conflicts of interest exist.
• Editors are responsible for taking action when ethical issues or research misconduct are suspected, following COPE guidance.
• Editors may not use unpublished material for personal research or advantage without the author’s written consent.

C. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

• Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, confidentially, and within the agreed timeframe.
• Reviews should be constructive and supported by sound evidence.
• Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest or personal connections that could bias their evaluation.
• Unpublished data or ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal or professional gain.

D. Authors’ Responsibilities

• Authors must ensure that submitted work is original, accurate, and not under review elsewhere.
• All contributors must be properly credited according to ICMJE authorship criteria.
• Authors must provide details of ethical approval (IRB/REC), informed consent, and adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki or equivalent standards.
• Funding sources and potential conflicts of interest must be fully disclosed.
• Significant errors discovered after publication must be promptly reported to the editorial office for correction or retraction.
• Authors retain copyright under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

3. Principles of Transparency

AJBM maintains full transparency in its operations by ensuring:

• A double-blind peer-review process for all submissions.
• A publicly accessible editorial board with verified affiliations and ORCID identifiers.
• Editorial independence and integrity, free from external influence.
• Clear journal contact information and open communication with authors and readers.
• Regular publication frequency (quarterly, effective 2025).
• Transparent ownership and management by BM-Publisher Ltd, London, UK.

4. Research Misconduct and Ethical Violations

AJBM applies COPE flowcharts to evaluate and address suspected misconduct, including:

• Plagiarism: Detected using iThenticate; similarity above 25% may lead to revision or rejection.
• Data Fabrication / Falsification: Leads to immediate rejection or post-publication retraction.
• Duplicate or Simultaneous Submission: Prohibited; may result in sanctions or institutional notification.
• Improper Authorship: Gift, guest, or ghost authorship is unethical and grounds for rejection.
• Citation Manipulation: Excessive or irrelevant self-citation to inflate metrics constitutes misconduct.

Sanctions may include rejection, a submission ban, formal institutional notification, or removal from editorial or reviewer roles.

5. Handling Cases of Misconduct

If misconduct is suspected, the Editor-in-Chief contacts the authors for clarification. If unresolved, the matter is referred to the Publication Ethics Committee for investigation. Outcomes and sanctions are determined based on COPE recommendations and may involve institutional notification. All investigations are handled confidentially.

6. Article Withdrawal, Retraction, and Corrections

• Article Withdrawal: Pre-publication withdrawal is permitted for ethical or authorship disputes; a withdrawal notice replaces the article.
• Article Retraction: Issued for confirmed misconduct or serious errors. Retraction notices are permanent, indexed, and linked to the original article, which remains online with a “Retracted” watermark and DOI per COPE 2019 guidance.
• Article Removal: Only occurs for legal reasons (defamation, court order, or copyright violation).
• Article Replacement: Authors may replace a flawed paper with a corrected version after re-review, ensuring full transparency.
• Expression of Concern: Issued when investigations are ongoing or inconclusive.
• Corrections / Errata: Published as citable notices titled “Erratum,” “Corrigendum,” or “Addendum” with a DOI.

7. Data Integrity and Availability

Authors must ensure data accuracy, reproducibility, and availability for verification upon request. Datasets supporting published findings should be deposited in recognized public repositories when feasible or shared upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

8. Conflicts of Interest

All participants in the publication process — authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff — must declare potential conflicts of interest using the ICMJE Disclosure Form. The Conflict of Interest statement will appear in each published article to ensure transparency.

9. Compliance Statement

Advanced Journal of Biomedicine & Medicine (AJBM) confirms compliance with:

• COPE Core Practices (latest version)
• ICMJE Recommendations (2024)
• DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (2022)
• International Publication Ethics and Malpractice Guidelines (Elsevier / Scopus 2024)

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Publisher: BM-Publisher Ltd, London, United Kingdom  |
Email: ethic@ajbm.net  |
Website: https://ajbm.net