Journal Policies

Publication Ethics Policy

Medical Journal of IOSAT (MJIOSAT) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in scholarly publishing. The journal expects authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, and the publisher to act honestly, transparently, professionally, and responsibly throughout submission, peer review, editorial decision-making, publication, and post-publication oversight.

MJIOSAT does not tolerate plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, data fabrication, data falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, undisclosed competing interests, peer-review manipulation, unethical research, citation manipulation, or misrepresentation of authorship or contributorship. Where concerns arise, the journal may request explanations, raw data, ethics approvals, authorship confirmations, disclosure forms, original image files, or institutional clarification. Where necessary, the journal may also communicate with authors’ institutions, funders, or other relevant bodies in order to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

When misconduct or serious unreliability is confirmed, MJIOSAT may reject the manuscript, suspend editorial consideration, publish a correction, retract the article, issue an expression of concern, notify relevant stakeholders, or take any other proportionate action considered necessary.

Research Ethics Policy

All research submitted to MJIOSAT must comply with recognized ethical principles and applicable institutional, national, and international requirements.

Research involving human participants must have prior approval from an appropriate ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent body. The manuscript must state the name of the approving body and, where available, the approval number or reference number. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained where required. Research involving animals must include approval from an appropriate animal ethics body and a statement of compliance with relevant welfare standards.

Case reports, case series, clinical photographs, videos, and any material containing potentially identifiable personal information must be accompanied by appropriate consent for publication. Prospective clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible trial registry, and the registration number should be reported in the manuscript. Authors may be asked at any stage of review or after publication to provide documentary evidence of ethics approval, trial registration, or consent.

Plagiarism Policy

MJIOSAT screens submissions for textual overlap using iThenticate / Turnitin / Similarity Check before peer review and, where necessary, before final acceptance.

Plagiarism includes verbatim copying, close paraphrasing without proper attribution, translation plagiarism, unattributed reuse of text, figures, tables, ideas, or data, and inappropriate text recycling or self-plagiarism. Similarity reports are assessed case by case; no single percentage is used as an automatic basis for acceptance or rejection. A low similarity score does not by itself establish originality, and a higher score does not by itself prove plagiarism. Overlap in methods descriptions, standard terminology, references, and properly quoted or cited material may be acceptable when transparently presented. Unattributed, misleading, or deceptive overlap is not acceptable.

If minor overlap is detected, authors may be asked to revise the manuscript. If substantial plagiarism or deceptive overlap is identified, the manuscript may be rejected and further action may be taken if warranted.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication Policy

Manuscripts submitted to MJIOSAT must not be under consideration by another journal, platform, or publisher at the same time, unless this has been clearly disclosed and is explicitly permitted by the journal’s policy.

Redundant publication, duplicate publication, salami publication, and undisclosed overlap with prior or simultaneous submissions are not acceptable. Authors must disclose any related manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, reports, theses, or datasets that substantially overlap with the submitted work. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work has not been published previously in the same form and is not being reviewed elsewhere.

If overlapping content is discovered, the journal may request clarification, ask for revision, reject the manuscript, or take post-publication action where appropriate.

Data Fabrication and Falsification Policy

MJIOSAT considers data fabrication, data falsification, selective misreporting, suppression of material findings, and deliberate misrepresentation of methods or results to be serious forms of misconduct.

Authors must ensure that all submitted data are accurate, honestly obtained, and presented in a manner that faithfully reflects the underlying research. Editors may request raw data, laboratory records, statistical code, de-identified source files, or institutional verification if concerns arise regarding the integrity of a submission or published article.

Where fabricated or falsified content is suspected, the journal may pause editorial processing, seek institutional clarification, reject the manuscript, or issue post-publication notices, including correction, retraction, or expression of concern.

Image Manipulation Policy

Images submitted to MJIOSAT must accurately represent the original data. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color are permissible only when they are applied to the entire image and do not obscure, eliminate, misrepresent, or selectively enhance any feature of the original data.

Selective editing, undeclared splicing, inappropriate duplication, insertion, deletion, repositioning, or concealment of image content is not permitted. Composite images must be clearly identified as such, and any processing steps relevant to interpretation must be disclosed in the manuscript.

The journal may request original, uncropped, and unprocessed image files at any stage of review or after publication. If inappropriate manipulation is confirmed, the journal may reject the manuscript or take post-publication corrective action.

Authorship Criteria and Contributorship Policy

MJIOSAT follows the ICMJE authorship criteria. To qualify as an author, each named author must meet all four of the following conditions:

substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
final approval of the version to be published; and
agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to help resolve questions related to its accuracy or integrity.
Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged with their permission. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the author list is accurate, that all authors have approved the submission, and that all required declarations are complete.

Conflicts of Interest Policy

MJIOSAT requires transparent disclosure of all financial and non-financial relationships, activities, or interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the conduct, interpretation, review, or publication of a manuscript.

Authors must disclose funding sources, sponsor involvement, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership, patents, paid expert testimony, institutional roles, personal relationships, academic competition, and any other relevant competing interests. Reviewers and editors must also disclose relevant conflicts and recuse themselves where impartiality may reasonably be questioned.

Editorial Independence Policy

MJIOSAT is committed to editorial independence. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the journal’s editorial content, peer-review decisions, acceptance and rejection of manuscripts, publication timing, corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and related editorial notices.

The publisher, owner, sponsoring body, advertisers, institutional affiliates, or commercial partners must not interfere with the evaluation, selection, scheduling, editing, or publication of individual manuscripts. Editorial decisions are based solely on academic merit, scientific validity, ethical compliance, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

Peer Review Policy

All research manuscripts submitted to MJIOSAT undergo initial editorial screening for scope, completeness, scientific suitability, and ethical compliance. Manuscripts that pass initial screening are sent for external peer review.

MJIOSAT uses double-anonymous peer review. Research articles are ordinarily assessed by at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Reviewers are asked to evaluate originality, relevance, scientific rigor, methodology, ethical compliance, reporting quality, clarity of presentation, and the validity of the conclusions.

The final editorial decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief or an assigned handling editor. Reviewer comments may be shared with authors, and revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers at the editor’s discretion. Manuscripts submitted by editors, editorial board members, or guest editors must be handled independently by an editor with no relevant conflict of interest. If MJIOSAT publishes special issues or supplements, submissions managed by guest editors must also follow an independent editorial and peer-review process.

Article Withdrawal Policy

An article withdrawal request applies only before publication. Before peer review begins, the corresponding author may request withdrawal of a submission by sending a written request from the registered email address and stating the reason for withdrawal. Once peer review has begun, or once a manuscript has been accepted, withdrawal requests must include confirmation that all authors agree to the withdrawal.

MJIOSAT reserves the right to decline or suspend a withdrawal request if there is reason to suspect plagiarism, duplicate submission, authorship dispute, data or image integrity concerns, peer-review manipulation, or any other matter requiring editorial or institutional investigation. In such cases, the journal may continue its ethics review and may contact the relevant institution or authority where appropriate.

Corrections Policy

MJIOSAT is committed to maintaining the accuracy of the scholarly record. If an article contains an error that does not invalidate the overall findings but requires formal amendment, the journal will publish a correction notice as soon as reasonably possible.

Correction notices will be clearly linked to the original article, will describe the nature of the correction, and will indicate the date of the update. Where relevant, the corrected article version will be posted and earlier versions archived in accordance with the journal’s version-control practices.

Retractions Policy

MJIOSAT may retract a published article where there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, whether because of misconduct or honest error; where the article constitutes plagiarism; where the findings were published elsewhere without proper disclosure or justification; where the research was conducted unethically; where peer review was compromised or manipulated; or where there has been another serious breach of publication integrity.

Retraction notices will be published promptly, clearly identified as retractions, freely accessible, and linked to the original article. They will state who is retracting the article and the reason for retraction, and will be written in objective, factual language. The purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and protect readers, not to punish authors. Where feasible and appropriate, the original article will remain accessible as part of the scholarly record, with its retracted status clearly indicated.

Expressions of Concern Policy

MJIOSAT may issue an expression of concern when serious questions arise about the integrity, reliability, or ethics of a published article but the available evidence is inconclusive, an institutional investigation is pending, or a final decision on correction or retraction cannot yet be made.

An expression of concern will be linked to the relevant article and will explain the basis for the concern as clearly as the available information permits. The notice may later be followed by a correction, retraction, or statement resolving the concern, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

MJIOSAT welcomes good-faith complaints and appeals relating to editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, journal policies, reviewer conduct, editorial conduct, delays, or procedural fairness.

An author who wishes to appeal a rejection decision must submit a written appeal to [email protected] within 30 days of the decision, explaining in detail why the decision should be reconsidered and responding point by point to the editorial or reviewer concerns where appropriate. Appeals are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or by another senior editor who was not responsible for the original decision. The journal may seek additional independent review if needed. The outcome of an appeal is final.

Open Access Policy

MJIOSAT is a full open access journal. All published content is freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, without embargo, subscription, or mandatory reader registration.

Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to, and otherwise use the full text of published articles in accordance with the terms of the journal’s license. The journal’s open access statement, licensing terms, copyright terms, and any author charges must be publicly available on the website.

Copyright and Licensing Policy

Authors retain copyright in their work, subject to the journal’s publication terms.

Articles published in MJIOSAT are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The applicable license will be displayed on each article landing page and within the full-text publication file. The journal’s copyright terms must remain consistent with its open access policy and licensing terms.

Fees and Waivers Policy

MJIOSAT does not charge submission fees, editorial processing fees, article processing charges (APCs), page charges, color charges, or publication fees.

Because the journal currently charges no author fees, a waiver policy is not applicable at present. If MJIOSAT introduces any author charges in the future, those charges and any waiver conditions will be stated clearly on the website before submission, and editorial decisions will remain independent of the author’s ability to pay.

Archiving and Digital Preservation Policy

MJIOSAT is committed to the long-term preservation of its scholarly content. Published articles are preserved through PKP Preservation Network, CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, Portico, or another verifiable archive and remain part of the permanent scholarly record.

Each article is published with a stable article URL and DOI. In the event of platform failure, website migration, or journal discontinuation, preserved content will remain accessible through the journal’s archiving arrangement.

Privacy Statement

The names, affiliations, email addresses, and other personal information entered on the MJIOSAT website will be used exclusively for editorial, peer-review, production, publication, indexing, preservation, and communication purposes connected with the operation of the journal.

This information will not be used for unrelated purposes or shared with third parties except where necessary for manuscript processing, plagiarism screening, DOI registration, indexing, archiving, platform hosting, legal compliance, or protection of the scholarly record. The journal takes reasonable administrative and technical measures to protect personal data and confidentiality.

Sponsorship and Advertising Policy

MJIOSAT will disclose its owner, publisher, sponsoring bodies, and principal sources of journal revenue on the journal website. Sponsorship, institutional support, grants, advertising, supplements, or other commercial arrangements must not influence editorial decisions.

Advertising, where accepted, must be clearly distinguishable from editorial content and must not be misleading, deceptive, or inappropriate for a scholarly medical journal. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement of any product, service, or claim by MJIOSAT, its editors, or its publisher.

Data Availability Policy

MJIOSAT encourages transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors should include a Data Availability Statement describing whether the data underlying the findings are available, where they can be accessed, and under what conditions. If data cannot be shared, the reason should be stated clearly, such as participant privacy, consent limitations, legal restrictions, or proprietary constraints.

AI and Generative AI Policy

MJIOSAT requires authors to disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of a manuscript, including writing assistance, figure generation, language editing, data analysis support, or other substantive input. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, attribution, legality, and integrity of all submitted content. AI tools must not be listed as authors.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscript content to external AI systems where confidentiality cannot be assured. Any permitted AI-assisted use during peer review or editorial handling must be disclosed to the journal and must not replace human scholarly or editorial judgment.

Reviewer Confidentiality and Conduct Policy

Reviewers must treat all manuscripts and related materials as confidential. Reviewers must not share, retain, or use unpublished material for personal or professional advantage. Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest and decline review if they cannot provide an unbiased assessment.

Reviews should be objective, evidence-based, constructive, respectful, and submitted within the agreed time. Reviewers must not appropriate authors’ ideas and must not use confidential material in external AI systems unless the journal explicitly permits it and confidentiality can be protected.

MJIOSAT requires authors to confirm that informed consent was obtained from research participants where applicable. For case reports, case series, clinical photographs, videos, and any article containing identifiable personal information, authors must confirm that explicit consent for publication was obtained from the individual or an authorized representative.