International Community Health Journal’s (ICHJ) Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice conforms to COPE’s Code of Conduct & Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, COPE’s Core Practices, as well as ICMJE's Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and
Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. This guideline should be read in conjunction with those three sources.

Roles of the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief is mainly responsible to:

• set the tone and editorial direction for all publications and ensure that they comply with internal policies;
• ensure consistency across all issues with established measures;
• oversee budgets, strategic planning, and public relations;
• implement appropriate actions to resolve any ethical concerns associated with submitted or published manuscripts

Roles of the Managing Editor

The Managing Editor serves as a primary supervisor responsible for the daily operations of the ICHJ and reports to the editor-in-chief. This role involves:

• guiding the journal's development, establishing policies, maintaining standards, and defining its editorial scope;
• supervising the entire review, editing, and publishing processes;
• assigning Editorial Board Members to oversee the review and editing of submissions;
• monitoring the progress of submissions and assisting with any challenges that may arise;
• facilitating the editing phase, which includes copyediting, layout editing, and proofreading;
• creating journal issues, scheduling submissions for publication, organising the Table of Contents, and finalising the publication of each issue;
• reactivating archived submissions and placing them back into the In Review or In Editing categories.

Together with the Editor-in-Chief, the Managing Editor holds the responsibility for determining which submitted manuscript will be published in the journal. The Managing Editor will assess manuscripts impartially, without consideration of the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic background, citizenship, or political ideology. The evaluation will focus on the manuscript's significance, novelty, originality, and clarity, as well as the validity of the study and its alignment with the journal's scope. Additionally, current legal standards concerning libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism will be taken into account.

Responsibilities of the Editors

1. Confidentiality

The Editors are prohibited from revealing any details regarding a submitted manuscript to individuals other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher, as deemed appropriate.

2. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

The Editors shall not utilise unpublished information from a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without obtaining explicit written consent from the authors. Any privileged information or concepts acquired by editors during the manuscript review process will remain confidential and will not be exploited for personal gain. In instances where editors have conflicts of interest due to competitive, collaborative, or other affiliations with any authors, companies, or institutions related to the manuscripts, they will recuse themselves from the review process and delegate the handling of the manuscript to another editorial board member. Furthermore, the editors serve as representatives of the ICHJ and provide advisory support to the in-house editorial team as needed.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

1. Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted for review are to be regarded as confidential materials. They must not be shared or discussed with any third parties unless explicitly permitted by the editor.

2. Promptness

Any referee selected for a review who believes they are unqualified to assess the research presented in a manuscript or recognises that a timely review is unfeasible should promptly inform the editors and decline the review invitation, allowing for the selection of alternative reviewers.

3. Disclosure and conflict of interest

Confidential information or insights gained through the peer review process must remain private and should not be exploited for personal gain. Reviewers should refrain from evaluating manuscripts where they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions linked to the papers.

4. Standards of objectivity

Reviews must be conducted with objectivity, and comments should be articulated clearly with appropriate justifications, enabling authors to utilise them for manuscript improvement. Personal critiques of the authors are deemed inappropriate.

5. Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers are expected to identify pertinent published works that the authors have not referenced. Any observation, derivation, or argument that has been previously published should be cited accordingly. Additionally, reviewers should inform the editors of any significant similarities or overlaps between the manuscript in question and any other manuscripts (published or unpublished) with which they are familiar.

6. Contribution to editorial decisions

The peer-review process aids editors in making informed editorial choices and can also assist authors in enhancing their manuscripts.

Responsibilities of Authors

1. Originality, plagiarism, and acknowledgment of sources

Authors are required to submit entirely original works and to cite or quote the contributions of others properly. It is essential to reference publications that have significantly influenced the development of the reported research.

2. Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Authors must provide a statement that reveals any financial or substantial conflicts of interest that could potentially affect the outcomes or interpretations presented in their manuscript. Additionally, all sources of financial support for the research project must be disclosed.

3. Hazards and the use of human or animal subjects

In cases where the research involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with inherent unusual hazards, authors must explicitly identify these risks within the manuscript. Furthermore, if the study involves animals or human participants, authors are responsible for ensuring that all procedures comply with applicable laws and institutional guidelines and that the necessary approvals from relevant institutional committees have been obtained; this should be clearly stated in the manuscript.

4. Informed consent

Every research study must guarantee that all patients and participants are provided with thorough information regarding the study's aims and any potential adverse effects related to the medications and interventions involved. For all such research activities, written informed consent must be obtained from participants or their legal guardians. The Journal has the right to ask for relevant documentation in this context. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript confirming that informed consent was acquired for research involving human participants while ensuring that the privacy rights of these individuals are upheld.

5. Reporting standards

Authors of original research articles are expected to deliver a precise account of the work conducted, along with an impartial discussion of its significance. The underlying data must be accurately represented in the manuscript. The paper must contain sufficient detail to allow for a comprehensive understanding of the research conducted. Deceptive or intentionally false statements represent unethical conduct and are deemed unacceptable.

6. Data Access and Retention

Authors may be required to submit the raw data from their study alongside the manuscript for editorial evaluation and should be ready to make this data publicly accessible when feasible. Regardless, authors must guarantee that such data remains available to other qualified professionals for a minimum of ten years following publication, ideally through an institutional or subject-specific data repository or another data centre, as long as participant confidentiality is maintained and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not hinder its release.

7. Multiple, Duplicate, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Manuscripts presenting essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Therefore, authors should refrain from submitting a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Concurrent submission of a manuscript to multiple journals is considered unethical publishing conduct and is unacceptable. However, the publication of certain types of articles, such as clinical guidelines or translations, in more than one journal may be justified under specific conditions. The authors and editors of the involved journals must consent to the secondary publication, which should accurately reflect the same data and interpretation as the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

8. Authorship of the Manuscript

ICHJ has established a limit of five authors per article, regardless of the advantages or disadvantages associated with the maximum number of authors. This limit may be exceeded only in cases of extensive research projects conducted across multiple settings or countries. ICHJ will evaluate each authorship on a per-article basis.

It is important to emphasise that only individuals who fulfil the specified authorship criteria should be recognised as authors in the manuscript, as they are required to assume public responsibility for the content. These criteria include:

• making significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study;
• drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for substantial intellectual content; and
• having reviewed and approved the final version of the paper and consenting to its submission for publication.

Individuals who have made considerable contributions to the work presented in the manuscript, such as providing technical assistance, writing and editing support, or general help, but do not meet all the authorship criteria should not be listed as authors. Instead, they should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgments" section, provided that their written consent to be named has been obtained. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible co-authors, as defined above, are included in the author list while ensuring that no ineligible individuals are listed. Furthermore, the corresponding author must confirm that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Additionally, ICHJ reviews authorship in accordance with the statement provided by the authors on the Title Page. Therefore, it is the author's responsibility to submit the final order of the complete list of author names. Any requests for changes in authorship, such as the addition or removal of authors or alterations in the order of authorship after submission, will require editorial approval. The Editorial Board will investigate such cases and will act in accordance with COPE flowcharts.

Requests for changes in authorship must be directed to the Editorial Office along with an official letter outlining the reasons for the change. All authors must sign this letter and must include their consent regarding the proposed change in authorship.

9. Fundamental errors in published works

When an author identifies a significant mistake or inaccuracy in their published work, it is their responsibility to inform the journal editor or publisher promptly. The author must collaborate with the editor to either retract the paper or issue a correction in the form of an erratum or corrigendum.

10. Peer review

Authors are required to actively engage in the peer review process and respond swiftly to editors' requests for raw data, clarifications, and evidence of ethical approval, patient consent, and copyright permissions. In instances where the initial decision indicates that "revisions are required" or "resubmission is necessary," authors should address the reviewers' comments in a systematic and timely manner, making the necessary revisions and resubmitting their manuscript by the specified deadline.

11. Declaration of the use of AI in scientific writing

Should authors choose to utilise generative AI and AI-assisted technologies during the writing process, these tools must be employed solely to improve the clarity and language of the work. Humans must oversee the application of such technologies, and authors are obligated to meticulously review and edit the generated content, as it may be incomplete, inaccurate, or biased. Ultimately, the authors bear full responsibility for the integrity of their work. To acknowledge the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in their writing, authors must include a statement in a new section titled "Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process" at the conclusion of their manuscript, prior to the References list (see the policy here).

Responsibilities of the Publisher

1. Handling of unethical behaviours

In instances of suspected or confirmed scientific misconduct, including fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close cooperation with the editorial team, will implement all necessary actions to investigate the matter and rectify the article in question. This may involve the swift issuance of an erratum, a clarification, or, in the most severe circumstances, the retraction of the work in question. The publisher, alongside the editors, will undertake reasonable measures to detect and prevent the publication of manuscripts that involve research misconduct and will not, under any circumstances, promote or knowingly permit such misconduct to occur.

Additionally, the occurrence of endogeny within the ICHJ should be minimised. In accordance with DOAJ standards, the percentage of published articles in which at least one author is an editor, a member of the editorial board, a reviewer, or affiliated with the journal's institution must not surpass 20%, as determined by the research content of the most recent two issues.

2. Access to the journal contents

The publisher is dedicated to ensuring the enduring availability and preservation of scholarly research. It guarantees accessibility by collaborating with various organisations and maintaining its digital archive.