Editorial Policies

COPE – Committee on Publication Ethics
ICMJE – International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
OASPA- Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association

1. Ethical Publishing Practice
2. Redundant/Duplicate publication
3. Consent for publication
4. Authorship
5. Conflict of interest
6. Citation Manipulation
7. Funding Disclosure
8. Confidentiality
9. Addressing Allegations or Findings of Misconduct
10. Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent
11. Article Correction and Retraction 

Ethical Publishing Practices

All the Authors in International Journal of Health Care and Nursing (IJHCN) journal must comply with best practices in publication ethics. International Journal of Health Care and Nursing (IJHCN) Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is based on the guidelines and standards developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Redundant Publication

Authors need to take necessary permissions, who wish to publish translations of the articles that have been published elsewhere, permission clearly stated that the material has been translated and re-published and indicate clearly the original source of the material. The Editor-in-Chief may request copies of related publications if he/she is concerned about overlap and possible redundancy.

Consent for Publication

All authors must offer written, informed consent for any papers, indicating that the results and any associated photos can be published. They must include a statement stating that they have permission to publish any identifiable photos of individuals in the piece. If the article contains any clinical images or personally identifiable data, you must include an explicit consent statement under a separate heading in the 'Consent' section (for example, "We confirm that we have obtained permission to use [images/data] from the participants/patients/individuals included in this presentation"). Please also include the terms on which the authorization was granted.

Authorship

All those who have made a major contribution should be given the opportunity to be credited as authors, according to the writers. Other people who helped with the research should be acknowledged, but not credited as authors.

The final version of the submitted paper should be received by all authors, who should consent to its submission and take appropriate responsibility for it. A co-author should not be someone who is reluctant or unable to bear appropriate responsibility for a manuscript.

During the publication process, all authors should be consulted regarding changes to authorship (e.g., the list of authors), and it should be obvious to the journal that they have provided their approval.

To remove an author from a paper after it has been submitted, all of the authors must agree in writing.

Requests should be forwarded to icapsra@gmail.com

For more information, please read COPE Flowcharts on Changes in Authorship

Conflict of Interest

This clause requires the declaration of all financial and non-financial competing interests. "The author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper," they should write if there are no conflicts of interest. Otherwise, any potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed in this section of the article.

Funding Disclosure

Separately from declaring Competing Interests, authors must disclose the financing which made their work possible. The Funding statement is published in the final article. This disclosure provides added transparency.

Confidentiality

All information regarding a submitted manuscript should be kept confidential by editors and publication staff, who should only share it with those involved in the evaluation, review, and publication processes. Editors should not utilize confidential information for personal gain, and they should take reasonable precautions to ensure that such information is not misused for the benefit of others.

Editors should contact the affected parties and follow up on such issues until they are satisfactorily resolved in cases of breach of confidence by individuals involved in the peer-review process.

Citation Manipulation

As most metrics of the scholarly performance of journal are based on citations from published articles. Citation manipulation refers to any systematic practice that inappropriately pressures authors to cite material with the primary goal of boosting citation rates all such practices are unacceptable.

The following forms of citation manipulation (for the purpose of increasing citation rates) will be reported:

1. Coercion: At some point during the peer-review process, editors (or anyone else involved in the process) request that authors add citations from their own journal (or a journal from the same publisher).
2. Editorials: Editors write editorials in which a disproportionate number of articles from their own journal are cited.
3. Reviewers suggesting citations of their own work. Reviewers may suggest that authors cite their articles.
4. Self-citation: Authors cite large numbers of their own articles in all or most of their publications.
5. Citation swapping: A group of colleagues (perhaps students or research associates of a particular researcher) agrees to preferentially and regularly cite each other’s articles in all or most of their publications.

Addressing Allegations or Findings of Misconduct

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent

For human or animal experimental investigations, it is a prerequisite to provide a formal review and approval, or review and waiver, by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee, which should be documented in the paper. For investigations undertaken on human subjects, the manner in which the informed consent was obtained from the study participants (i.e., oral or written) should be stated in the Methods section. Authors are encouraged to obtain patient consent when they use confidential case material. Consent is not necessary in the case of very brief case vignettes which do not contain identifying information or if the case material is disguised sufficiently to prevent identification of the patient.

In obtaining consent, the author(s) should discuss the purpose(s) of publication, the possible risks and benefits to the patient and the patient’s right to withhold or withdraw consent. In the case of a minor patient, consent should be obtained from the parent(s) or guardian(s).

Article Correction and Retraction

Editor of the Journal is the authority to take approval for all the Corrections made to a published article. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. For major changes below cases are applicable.

Erratum

An error introduced by the publisher that affects the integrity of the version of record, the reputation of the authors, or the reputation of the journal, is termed as Erratum.

An Erratum is a statement by the authors of the original paper that briefly describes any correction(s) resulting from errors or omissions. Any effects on the conclusions of the paper should be noted. The corrected article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of erratum is given. The Erratum is made freely available to all readers and is linked to the corrected article

Addendum

An addendum is a notification of the addition of information to an article. Addenda are published when the editors decide that the addendum is crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published contribution. Addenda include Editorial Expression of Concern, which is an editorial statement alerting our readership to serious concerns with the published paper. Editorial Expression of Concern is typically updated with another amendment once further information is available.

Addenda do not contradict the original publication, but if the author inadvertently omitted significant information available at the time, this material can be published as an addendum. Addenda may be peer-reviewed, according to journal policy, and are normally subject to oversight by the editors of the journal. Addenda relating to the article content are published only rarely and only when the journal editors decide that an addendum is crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published article. All addenda are linked to the original article to which they relate.

Retraction

A Retraction is a notice that the paper should not be regarded as part of the scientific literature. Retractions are issued if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, this can be as a result of misconduct or honest error. Retraction takes place if:

1. The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper referencing, permission or justification.
2. If the work is plagiarized
3. If the work reports unethical research.

To protect the integrity of the record, the retracted article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of retraction is given, also it is made freely available to all readers, and is linked to the retracted article. Retractions can be published by the authors when they have discovered substantial scientific errors; in other cases, the Editors or Publisher may conclude that retraction is appropriate. In all cases, the retraction indicates the reason for the action and who is responsible for the decision. If a retraction is made without the unanimous agreement of the authors, that is also noted.

In rare and extreme cases involving legal infringement, the Publisher may redact or remove an article. Bibliographic information about the article will be retained to ensure the integrity of the scientific record.

Read COPE Guidelines for Retracting Articles 

Corrigenda

A corrigendum is a notification of a significant error made by the authors of the article. All corrigenda are normally approved by the editors of the journal. Corrigendum or Author Correction. Notification of an important error made by the author(s) that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.