Publication Ethics

Journal of Research in Midwifery and Healthcare (JRMH) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This statement applies to all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. JRMH follows ethical principles that support transparency, originality, fairness, accountability, and responsible scholarly communication in the fields of midwifery, maternal and child health, reproductive health, healthcare practice, and physical exercise in midwifery.

Duties of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are original, accurate, and have not been published or submitted elsewhere at the same time. Manuscripts must present honest and valid research findings without fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, data manipulation, or inappropriate image modification.

Authors must properly acknowledge all sources used in their work and cite relevant literature accurately. Any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, text recycling without proper citation, or unauthorized use of other people's work, is strictly prohibited.

All authors listed in the manuscript must have made significant scholarly contributions to the research, manuscript preparation, data analysis, interpretation, or critical revision of the article. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all listed authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission.

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that may influence the research process, interpretation of results, or publication of the manuscript. Sources of funding, sponsorship, or institutional support must be clearly stated.

For research involving human participants, authors must confirm that the study has received ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board. Authors must also ensure that informed consent has been obtained from participants when required, especially in studies involving patients, mothers, children, reproductive health data, clinical information, or case reports. Identifying personal information must not be published unless written consent has been obtained.

Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for making fair, objective, and independent decisions regarding manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection. Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript's academic quality, originality, relevance to the journal scope, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and contribution to knowledge.

Editors must ensure that all manuscripts are evaluated without discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, institutional affiliation, political belief, or personal background of the authors. Editors must maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished materials for personal or professional advantage.

Editors are responsible for managing the peer-review process transparently and ethically. If ethical concerns arise, including suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, authorship disputes, or conflicts of interest, editors must investigate the matter carefully and take appropriate action according to publication ethics standards.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers play an important role in maintaining the quality and integrity of published articles. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, timely, and academically sound evaluations of manuscripts.

Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents. They must not share, copy, discuss, or use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts without permission from the editor.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors when necessary. They should also inform the editor of any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, ethical problems, or substantial similarity between the submitted manuscript and other published or unpublished work.

Reviewers must decline the review invitation if they have conflicts of interest with the authors, institutions, research topics, funding sources, or any other factor that may affect their objectivity.

Originality and Plagiarism

JRMH only accepts manuscripts that are original and free from plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts may be checked using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts with unacceptable levels of similarity, copied text, unattributed content, or improper citation may be rejected before or during peer review.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all quoted, paraphrased, or adapted materials are properly cited. Any manuscript found to contain plagiarism after publication may be corrected, retracted, or subject to other editorial action.

Ethical Approval and Informed Consent

Research involving human participants, clinical data, maternal and child health records, reproductive health information, or patient-related case reports must comply with applicable ethical standards. Authors must state the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board that approved the study, including the approval number when available.

For case reports or studies containing identifiable personal information, authors must obtain written informed consent from the participant or authorized representative. Personal data, images, clinical details, or other identifying information must be anonymized unless explicit permission has been granted.

Data Integrity and Research Misconduct

Authors must present research data accurately and transparently. Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, data manipulation, inappropriate statistical reporting, and misleading interpretation of findings are considered serious forms of research misconduct.

If editors receive credible evidence of research misconduct, the journal will investigate the case. Depending on the findings, the journal may request clarification from the authors, reject the manuscript, publish a correction, issue an expression of concern, or retract the article.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity, interpretation, or evaluation of a manuscript. Conflicts of interest may include financial relationships, employment, consultancies, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, academic competition, or funding support.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest does not automatically prevent publication, but transparency is required to protect the credibility of the publication process.

Peer Review Process

All submitted manuscripts undergo editorial screening to ensure their relevance to the journal scope, compliance with author guidelines, originality, and ethical requirements. Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are sent to qualified reviewers for peer review.

The peer-review process is conducted to improve manuscript quality and ensure that published articles meet scientific and ethical standards. Final publication decisions are made by the editor based on reviewer recommendations, manuscript quality, ethical compliance, and relevance to JRMH.

Corrections, Retractions, and Withdrawal

JRMH is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. If errors are found in a published article, the journal may publish a correction or clarification.

An article may be retracted if there is clear evidence of unreliable findings, major errors, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, data fabrication, or other serious publication misconduct. Retraction notices will be published transparently and linked to the original article.

Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript must submit a formal request to the editorial office with clear reasons. Manuscript withdrawal after review or acceptance must be justified and approved by the editorial team.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain responsibility for the content of their published work. Published articles must not violate copyright, privacy rights, intellectual property rights, or other legal rights of third parties. Authors must obtain permission for any copyrighted materials used in the manuscript, including tables, figures, images, instruments, or long text excerpts.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may submit complaints or appeals related to editorial decisions, ethical concerns, peer review, conflicts of interest, or publication misconduct. All complaints will be handled fairly, confidentially, and objectively by the editorial team.

JRMH will take appropriate action to resolve ethical issues while protecting the integrity of the journal, authors, reviewers, and readers.