Publishing Ethics & Editorial Policies

Editorial Governance & Research Integrity

Publishing Ethics & Editorial Policies

 

Dual Compliance Framework: Indian Statutory & International Standards

JPIM adheres strictly to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Domestically, all protocols comply with the National Medical Commission (NMC) benchmarks, the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research (2017), the CPCSEA rules for animal research, and the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

1. Patient Privacy & Informed Consent (Human Subjects)

1.1 Mandatory Informed Consent: In accordance with the ICMR Ethical Guidelines and international data protection laws (GDPR, HIPAA, DPDP Act), explicit, written, and fully informed consent is required for any case report, clinical photograph, pedigree, or text from which an individual could reasonably be identified. Consent must be obtained from the patient or legal guardian prior to submission.

1.2 Case Reports & Anonymization: There is no presumption of anonymity in case reports. Placing black eye bars or pixelating faces is insufficient if clinical narratives enable self-identification. Direct identifiers (names, hospital UHID/registration numbers, exact dates) must be eliminated. Verifiable written consent must be retained by authors and provided to the Editorial Office upon request.

1.3 Anonymized Clinical Images: Routine diagnostic imaging (e.g., plain X-rays, non-facial CT/MRI scans, ultrasound loops, pathology histology sections) do not require formal consent provided all patient identification labels, dates, and institutional watermarks are permanently removed.

2. Animal Care & Use Statement (CPCSEA / ARRIVE)

Studies involving animals must comply with the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) regulations (Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India) and international standards. Manuscripts must state:

  • Formal approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) with the registered approval number.
  • Adherence to the 3Rs principle: Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.
  • Humane endpoints, anesthesia, and analgesia regimens utilized to minimize distress, reported in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines.

3. Authorship Criteria, Order & Disputes (ICMJE & NMC)

3.1 Authorship Qualifications: Authorship must meet all four ICMJE conditions: 1) Substantial conception, design, or acquisition/analysis of data; 2) Drafting or critical revision; 3) Final approval of the published version; and 4) Full accountability. Individuals providing solely clinical care, general supervision, or funding are acknowledged under Acknowledgements, not authors.

3.2 Authorship Changes & Disputes: Adding, removing, or re-ordering authors post-submission requires a written statement signed by all listed authors detailing the rationale. If a dispute cannot be resolved amongst authors, the journal requires institutional arbitration (Dean / Head of Institution); editors do not adjudicate authorship claims.

3.3 Conflict of Interest (COI): Authors, peer reviewers, and editors must declare all financial relationships (pharmaceutical honoraria, consultancies, equipment grants) and non-financial ties (academic rivalry, institutional affiliations) that could influence judgment using the standardized ICMJE Disclosure Form.

4. Plagiarism, Data Fabrication & Redundant Submission

4.1 Anti-Plagiarism Screening: All submissions undergo automated similarity screening. Verbatim text copying, substantial intellectual theft, paraphrasing without attribution, and image manipulation (splicing, selective adjustment) constitute severe misconduct investigated under COPE guidelines.

4.2 Duplicate Submissions: Simultaneous submission to more than one journal is strictly prohibited. Preprints on recognized public servers (e.g., medRxiv) do not constitute prior publication, but must be cited. Secondary analyses of shared clinical datasets (e.g., NFHS, CTRI) must reference the primary publication and demonstrate distinct analytical validity.

5. Post-Publication Corrections, Retractions & Integrity Inquiries

JPIM maintains the historical permanence of the scientific record in accordance with international archiving practices:

Corrigendum / Erratum Issued for honest errors, typos, or omitted grants that do not invalidate study conclusions.
Expression of Concern Alerts readers to ongoing institutional inquiries regarding serious data or integrity allegations.
Retraction Enacted for confirmed fraud, unreplicable fabricated findings, or major copyright infringement.

Retracted articles are not deleted; the original PDF is retained with a permanent "RETRACTED" watermark and cross-linked to the signed Retraction Notice to preserve historical audit trails.

6. Open Access License & Copyright Policy (CC BY 4.0)

JPIM is a pure open-access journal adhering to the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing:

  • Licensing: All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
  • Rights Granted: Anyone is free to copy, redistribute, and adapt the material in any medium, provided proper credit is cited referencing the authors and JPIM as the original venue.
  • Institutional Data & Third-Party Copyright: If authors publish data or tools belonging to healthcare institutions or external sources, written permission from the legal rights holder must be submitted during review.