Publication Ethics

The Health Sciences International Journal (HSIJ) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in publishing. Our publication ethics policy aligns with international ethical standards, including those outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the publication process—authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher—are expected to uphold these principles.

1. Responsibility of authors

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their work is original and free from plagiarism. All sources must be appropriately cited, and similarity should not exceed 20%, as verified by plagiarism detection software (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate).
  • Data Accuracy and Transparency: Authors must provide accurate, honest representations of their research findings. Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of data is strictly prohibited.
  • Authorship: Only individuals who have significantly contributed to the research and manuscript preparation should be listed as authors. All contributors must agree to the final version of the manuscript before submission.
  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of others’ work and funding sources is mandatory.
  • Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence their work.

2. Resposibility of editors

  • Fairness and Objectivity: Editors must evaluate manuscripts solely based on academic merit, without discrimination regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, or political philosophy of the authors.
  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts must be treated as confidential, and editors must not disclose any information to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, or publisher.
  • Conflict of Interest: Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have conflicts of interest.
  • Decision-Making: Editors are responsible for making final decisions on manuscript acceptance or rejection based on the peer-review process and journal policies.

3. Responsibility of reviewers

  • Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat the manuscript as confidential and not disclose its content or share it with others.
  • Constructive Feedback: Reviews should be objective, constructive, and free from personal criticism.
  • Timeliness: Reviewers must complete their evaluations within the agreed-upon timeframe.
  • Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should decline the review if they have conflicts of interest that could compromise their judgment.

4. Ethical misconduct

HSIJ takes allegations of ethical misconduct seriously. Any breaches, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or authorship disputes, will be investigated thoroughly following COPE guidelines. Actions may include:

  • Rejection of the manuscript.
  • Retraction of a published article.
  • Notification to authors’ institutions or funding bodies.

By submitting to HSIJ, all authors, reviewers, and editors agree to adhere to this publication ethics policy. HSIJ remains dedicated to fostering ethical practices in academic publishing and upholding the trust of the scientific community.

Studies in Humans

Manuscripts involving human subjects must comply with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for research involving humans. Authors should ensure that their study aligns with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and promotes inclusivity by considering representative human populations (sex, age, and ethnicity). The correct use of the terms sex and gender is required. Authors are encouraged to adhere to international publication standards for both authors and editors.

Studies in Animals

All animal research must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and adhere to relevant ethical frameworks, including the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986, EU Directive 2010/63/EU, or the National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Authors must explicitly state compliance with these guidelines in their manuscript. The sex of the animals must be reported, and, where applicable, authors should analyze and report the potential influence of sex on study results.

Registration and reporting of clinical trials

Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the manuscript. Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

Informed Consent

For research involving patients or volunteers, ethics committee approval is mandatory. Additionally, authors must obtain informed consent unless explicitly waived by the ethics committee. A statement confirming ethics approval and informed consent should be included in the manuscript. Authors must retain written consent documents, and these must be made available only upon the journal’s request in exceptional cases, such as legal inquiries.

Funding Source:

Authors are requested to identify organizations, institutions, or companies that provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. This should be documented a statement in the manuscript. Additionally, if the sponsor(s) had a role in study design (the collection, analysis and interpretation of data) or the writing of the manuscript, this should be stated.