Publication Ethics

Journal of University Medical and Dental College (JUMDC) strongly believes in research integrity and follows the principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing as suggested by leading organizations like  International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), Council of Science Editors (CSE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME).

Article Assessment: All the articles intended for publication in journals are examined for soundness, accuracy, significance to the profession, thorough literature reviews, and methodological sophistication of any research methods used. All articles undergo a “blind review” process. An editorial board made up of scholars in the field, reviews and edits all articles submitted to the journal and either reject articles or accepts the articles and usually with recommendations for various changes.

Plagiarism:

Authors must not use the same words, figures, or thoughts of others without acknowledgement. All references must be quoted at the point they are used, and reuse of wording must be limited. Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will be rejected and the author will be asked to review the article.

Duplicate Submission:

It is immoral to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at a time. It is basically a wastage of time for editors and peer reviews and it questions the reputation of the authors and the journals if published in more than one journal as the later publication will have to be recanted.

Redundant Publication (Salami Publication):

It is also against the rules to publish similar manuscripts based on the same experiment. Editors are likely to refuse such suspected paper.

Citation Manipulation:

Citation manipulation is a problem when references do not contribute to the scholarly content of the article and are included solely to increase citation. Sanctions for citation manipulation may include dismissal of editors from editorial roles or removal or rejection of journals from citation indexes.

Fabrication and Falsification: Data fabrication means the researcher did not actually do the research work but faked the data. Data falsification means the researcher did the investigation, but then manipulated some of the data.

Authorship and Acknowledgements:

All persons appointed as authors of a scientific manuscript should be able for authorship, and all those who qualify should be noted down. Each author should have played their roles in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content, and have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the submitted manuscript. All contributors who do not meet the standards for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgements section.

Conflict of interest:

A conflict of interest in research occurs where a person may prefer, or be perceived to prefer, their own interests or objectives over their duties and responsibilities as a researcher. Conflicts of interest may be actual, potential or perceived and involve financial or non-financial benefits. It can arise due to some personal connections or having different ideologies.

Authors:

All authors should disclose all their potential conflicts of interest to the editors of the journal at the time of submission. These include all sort of financial and non-financial interests and relationships. Authors should also disclose any conflict of interest that may have affected either the conduct or the presentation of the research to the editors. Proclaimed conflicts of interest will be cogitated by the editor and reviewers and included in the published article.

Editors and Reviewers

  • Fair play:
    The editors should be fair in their ways and they must not prioritize any race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
  • Confidentiality:
    The editors, members of the Editorial Boards, and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone except the authors of the paper, reviewers, potential reviewers, and the publisher, for appropriate reasons.
  • Disclosure:
    Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper should not be used in the own research of the editors or the members of the Editorial Board without the written permission of the author.

Editors and reviewers should refuse to be involved with a submission when they

  • Have a current or recent submission with any author.
  • Have or recently had an affiliation with any author.
  • Collaborate or recently collaborated with any author.
  • Have a personal connection to any author.
  • Have financial regard in the subject of the work.

Sanctions:

If the Ethical board becomes aware of breaches of the publication ethics policies, the following sanctions may be applied:
  • Rejection of the document and all other documents submitted by the author(s).
  • Dismissing submission for 1–3 years.
  • A prohibition from working as an editor or reviewer.

Additional sanctions may also be applied for severe ethical violations.

 Investigations:

Investigating committee may ask the authors to provide the underlying data and images, consult editors, and contact institutions or employers to ask for an investigation or to raise concerns.

Corrections and retractions:

When errors are marked in published articles, the publisher will consider what action is required and may consult the editors and the authors. Errors and mistakes by the authors may be rectified by a corrigendum and errors by the publisher by an erratum. All authors will be asked to accept the content of the notice.