Editorship

IJMAID adheres to internationally recognized standards of editorial conduct and best practices. Editors and all individuals involved in the publication process are expected to uphold fairness, professionalism, transparency, and ethical responsibility at every stage.

Editorial decisions are made objectively and are based solely on the academic merit, technical quality, and relevance of the submitted work.

Ethical Standards

All research articles submitted to IJMAID must comply with rigorous ethical standards. The journal expects authors, reviewers, and editors to follow accepted international guidelines for responsible authorship, AI research ethics, clinical research reporting, and editorial decision-making.

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice

The journal is committed to promoting transparency, inclusivity, accessibility, and scholarly merit. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by nationality, ethnicity, religion, race, gender, political beliefs, or institutional affiliation.

IJMAID ensures that all editorial policies are fair, unbiased, and clearly communicated to all stakeholders

Plagiarism Policy

All submissions are screened for originality using standard plagiarism detection tools. Any form of plagiarism or unethical reuse of content is strictly prohibited.

Key Expectations:

• Submitted work must be original
• Proper citation of all sources is mandatory
• Unauthorized reuse of text, figures, data, or algorithms is unacceptable
• Suspected misconduct may lead to rejection or further investigation

Conflict of Interest

All participants in the publication process must disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Authors
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence their research and clearly state competing interests.

Researchers
Researchers must ensure independence in study design, data analysis, algorithm development, interpretation, and reporting, especially when external funding is involved.

Editors
Editors must avoid handling manuscripts where conflicts of interest exist and must recuse themselves when necessary.

Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any conflicts that may bias their evaluation and decline review assignments where impartiality cannot be maintained.

Informed Consent

For research involving human participants or clinical data, authors must obtain appropriate informed consent.

Authors must ensure that:

• Participants are fully informed about the use of their data
• Written and legally valid consent is obtained
• Special care is taken when involving vulnerable populations
• Privacy and data protection standards are strictly maintained

Anonymity should be preserved wherever possible without compromising scientific accuracy

Particular Considerations

• Personal identifiers (names, initials, dates of birth, ID numbers) should not be used unnecessarily
• Medical images or datasets should only be used when scientifically essential and with explicit consent
• Modifications to protect identity must not alter scientific meaning
• Fully anonymized data may not require formal consent, but ethical standards must still be followed
• In AI datasets, care must be taken to avoid re-identification risks

Confidentiality

All manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Editors and reviewers must not disclose any information about submissions except to those directly involved in the editorial process.

Unpublished data must not be used for personal, academic, or professional advantage.

Role of Funding Sources

Authors must clearly identify all sources of financial support and describe the role of funding agencies in study design, data collection, algorithm development, analysis, interpretation, and publication decisions.

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

Research involving human participants must comply with recognized ethical standards and include appropriate approvals and informed consent.

Research involving animals must follow institutional and national guidelines for care and use.

Studies involving healthcare data, AI systems, or public health datasets must demonstrate ethical responsibility, fairness, and compliance with relevant regulations.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

IJMAID encourages transparency and reproducibility in research.

Authors should provide a clear data availability statement, indicating whether data are:

• Available in public repositories
• Included in supplementary materials
• Available upon reasonable request

Where applicable, authors are encouraged to share code, models, and algorithms

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions if they believe there has been an error in the review or evaluation process. Appeals must include clear justification.

The editorial board will review the appeal and may:

• Uphold the original decision
• Seek an independent additional review
• Reconsider the manuscript based on merit

All appeal decisions are final.

Citation Practices

Authors, editors, and reviewers share responsibility for maintaining accurate and appropriate citation practices.

• All claims are supported by reliable references
• Original sources are cited wherever possible
• Citations are relevant and not excessive
• Unverified or unread sources are avoided

Citation manipulation is considered unethical and strictly prohibited.

Reviewer Suggestions

Authors may suggest potential reviewers or request exclusion of certain individuals. Suggested reviewers must be independent, qualified, and free from conflicts of interest.

Post-Publication Corrections

The published article constitutes the final Version of Record. Where necessary, post-publication changes may be made following careful editorial review to preserve the integrity and transparency of the scholarly record.

Corrections

Corrections are issued when errors affect interpretation or publication details but do not invalidate the research.

• A correction notice may be linked to the original article
• Minor typographical errors may not require correction

Retractions

Retractions are issued to correct the literature when major concerns arise regarding the validity, reliability, or integrity of an article.

• Applied in cases of serious errors, misconduct, plagiarism, or invalid results
• Retracted articles are clearly marked and accompanied by a retraction notice

Expressions of Concern

Expressions of Concern may be published to alert readers to serious unresolved issues about a publication while investigations are ongoing.

These notices are linked to the relevant article and may later lead to correction, retraction, or other editorial action depending on the outcome.