Publishing Ethics

Journal of Jilin University (Medicine Edition) adheres to internationally recognized ethical standards in publishing. In light of applicable guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editor, (ICMJE), taking into account of this journal's specific circumstances, we have developed the ethical statement for the publication of the journal. We require all authors, editors, and reviewers to abide by the following guidelines.

1. Journal’s Responsibilities

Journal of Jilin University (Medicine Edition) is dedicated to fostering the advancement of medical research and the practical application of research findings. It is our mission to provide a valuable resource for a broad community of clinicians and researchers. The journal is steadfast in our commitment to combating scientific misconduct by rigorously enforcing a three-round peer review and proofreading system for all submissions, which ensures that the content is not only innovative but also accurate and trustworthy, safeguarding against the publication of fraudulent and plagiarized work. With a robust and transparent set of standards, the journal takes great efforts to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity.

2. Editors’ Responsibilities

Editors are accountable for all content published in the journal. They are committed to continuously improving the journal's quality to satisfy the needs of readers and authors, advocating for freedom of expr‍ession, and preventing commercial interests from undermining intellectual standards. They should be always prepared to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies as necessary. Editors should be open to assisting readers in communicating with authors and pro‍mptly informing authors of peer-review suggestions and the need for revision. They must respect the opinions of peer reviewers while also encouraging the authors’ expr‍ession of viewpoints. In cases where there is a serious discrepancy between the viewpoints of authors and review experts, the journal will invite additional experts to conduct a re-examination.

Editors have the right to reject or accept articles for publication. They must ensure that they have no conflicts of interest when making decisions on articles they review. The acceptance or rejection of a manuscript for publication is based solely on its significance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope. Upon discovering errors, editors should urge authors to revise the article and publish corrections.

3. Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors' submissions must be original works without plagiarism. The data in the article should be true, reliable, and not deceptive. Should errors be found in published articles, authors should pro‍mptly withdraw the article or publish corrections. Proper citations should be made when quoting achievements made by others. Multiple submissions are prohibited.

According to the guidelines of ICMJE, authorship is based on the following 4 criteria: 1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND 2) Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND 3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND 4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be mentioned instead in the acknowledgement section. After acceptance, it is not allowed to change the authorship. When disputes arise regarding authorship and contributions, this journal will process the case in accordance with the relevant guidelines by COPE.

All authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest, i.e., when the financing/personal status/affiliation of the authors (or the authors' organization/employer) may affect the authors' decision, work or manuscript. When a product is mentioned, the author should also disclose whether there is a conflict of interest against competitive products. Authors should declare their contribution and conflict of interest in Authors Statement Form, which should be signed and submitted to the journal.

 The ethical issue and informed consent of the study must comply with common principles of medical ethics. When research participants are humans, the author should explain whether its procedure comply with the ethical standards formulated by a relevant committee (institutional, regional or national) responsible for human trials. The approval document of the committee should be submitted (the approval number should be included in the article). Consent letter from research participants or their relatives must be obtained, but not submitted to the editorial office. When reporting animal experiments, the study should comply with guidelines published by relevant committees on animal rights, and the approval document should be submitted. Clinical trials must include the Universal Trial Number (UTN) obtained from one of the Primary Registries in the WHO Registry Network. If applicable, the registration should be described and the UTN should be included in the paper.

4. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Reviewers should strictly keep the manuscript and the information contained therein confidential. Prior to the publication of the manuscript, reviewers are not allowed to publicly discuss the authors' research work or steal the authors' ideas. Reviewers are not allowed to keep the manuscript for personal use. After review, the manuscript should be destroyed or deleted by the reviewers. During the review process, if reviewers seek assistance from students or colleagues, they should express gratitude for their contributions in the written review comments submitted to the editors. Reviewers must keep the content of the manuscript confidential in accordance with the above guidelines and shall not upload the manuscript to AI software or platforms that cannot guarantee its confidentiality.

Reviewers should respond to the review invitation and submit their review comments within the designated time. The assessment of manuscripts by peer review experts should be conducted with objectivity and fairness. Should any errors in viewpoint, intellectual lapses, instances of serious plagiarism, or suspected fraudulent data be identified, they must be reported back to the journal's editorial office. Reviewers should provide a clear opinion on whether a paper meets the criteria for publication. Peer reviewers must avoid conflicts of interest related to the content of the articles they assess. The review process is conducted anonymously.

5. Handling of Academic Misconduct

To bolster the originality and innovation of scholarly articles, Journal of Jilin University (Medicine Edition) utilizes the Academic Misconduct Literature Checking System (AMLC) developed by CNKI at https://check7.cnki.net/amlc2/ for all submitted manuscripts. This full-text comparison against the Chinese Academic Literature Publishing House database effectively pinpoints instances of plagiarism, fabrication, tampering, and other forms of academic misconduct.

For a single article with a repetition rate exceeding 20%, the editors will conduct relevant investigations for suspicious articles detected by the software. If plagiarism or other academic misconduct is found, the article will be rejected. If academic misconduct, such as plagiarism, is discovered after publication, the published article will be retracted and the authors’ affiliations and related institutions will be notified. This journal will not accept submissions from relevant authors within 2 years.

During the submission process, if editors or reviewers handle your manuscript unfairly or perform any academic misconduct, or academic misconduct such as plagiarism and fraud is found in other manuscripts, authors can make complaints or allegation to the editorial office by phone or email. The editorial office will investigate the situation, and if necessary, submit the case to the editorial board for discussion. If it is confirmed that the above situation exists, the relevant personnel will be penalized.

6. Commercial Mode

Journal of Jilin University (Medicine Science) is an open-access journal funded primarily through APCs, review fees, print journal subscription fees, and grants from the sponsoring organization. The journal does not publish commercial advertisements, and all articles and online content are ad-free. The review and acceptance of manuscripts are not influenced by commercial considerations.