Ethical Considerations and Plagiarism Policy

The American Journal of Health and Medical Sciences (AJHMS) upholds the highest standards of academic ethics, research integrity, and professional responsibility in all aspects of its editorial and publishing practices. The credibility of medical and scientific research depends on transparency, honesty, and respect for intellectual property. Authors, reviewers, and editors all share the responsibility of ensuring that research published in AJHMS is accurate, verifiable, and trustworthy.

AJHMS adheres to internationally recognized ethical frameworks and publishing guidelines, including those established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The journal’s policies are designed to ensure fairness in peer review, safeguard against research misconduct, and maintain the reliability and reproducibility of the scientific record.

This document outlines AJHMS’s expectations for ethical conduct across key areas, including research integrity, human and animal ethics, authorship, plagiarism prevention, conflicts of interest, data transparency, and complaint resolution.

Research Ethics and Integrity

All research published under the AJHMS name must conform to internationally accepted standards of research integrity. Authors are required to:

  • Present research findings with accuracy, honesty, and without falsification, fabrication, or selective omission of data.
  • Employ appropriate, transparent, and replicable research methodologies.
  • Clearly acknowledge all contributors, collaborators, funding sources, and institutional affiliations relevant to the research.
  • Ensure that their work complies with ethical norms and accepted medical research standards.
  • Disclose all financial or institutional support and any potential sources of conflict that may influence the study.

AJHMS emphasizes that violations such as data manipulation, image falsification, or intentional misrepresentation of results constitute serious ethical breaches that may result in rejection, retraction, or formal notification to institutional authorities.

Human and Animal Subjects Ethics

AJHMS requires that any study involving human participants or animals must be conducted in accordance with recognized ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant national regulations.

For research involving human subjects, authors must:

  • Obtain approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or independent ethics committee prior to initiating data collection.
  • Document that informed consent was obtained from all participants.
  • Ensure participant confidentiality and respect for privacy.
  • Avoid coercion, deception, or exploitation of vulnerable populations.
  • Comply with international and local data protection laws, including GDPR (for studies involving European participants).

For animal studies, authors must:

  • Adhere to established welfare standards and ethical protocols for animal research.
  • Provide details on housing, care, and experimental procedures to ensure humane treatment.
  • Confirm approval from an appropriate institutional animal ethics committee.

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship in AJHMS must reflect genuine, substantial intellectual contributions. The journal follows the ICMJE’s four criteria for authorship:

  1. Significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research.
  2. Participation in drafting or revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the submitted version prior to publication.
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring accuracy and integrity.

Authorship transparency is mandatory. All listed authors must approve the submission, and any changes to authorship (addition, removal, or order rearrangement) after submission require written consent from all contributors.

Prohibited authorship practices include:

  • Ghost authorship: omission of legitimate contributors.
  • Guest authorship: inclusion of individuals without meaningful contribution.
  • Honorary authorship: listing senior individuals to enhance credibility without actual involvement.

Violations of authorship ethics may result in rejection, correction, or retraction.

Plagiarism Policy

AJHMS enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism in all forms. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another’s work, ideas, or words as one’s own, without appropriate citation or acknowledgment. This includes:

  • Copying text, figures, or tables from published or unpublished works without citation.
  • Paraphrasing with insufficient attribution or altered wording without credit.
  • Reusing previously published content (self-plagiarism) without disclosure or citation.
  • Submitting AI-generated or machine-translated text as original content without disclosure.

All manuscripts submitted to AJHMS are screened for plagiarism using industry-standard tools such as iThenticate and Turnitin. A similarity index exceeding 15% (excluding quotations and references) may prompt revision requests, rejection, or further investigation. Authors may be asked to submit raw data or additional documentation to verify originality.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Given the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific writing and data analysis, AJHMS requires transparent disclosure of AI usage under the following conditions:

  • Authors must declare the use of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) in an “AI Acknowledgment” section.
  • AI tools cannot be listed as authors under any circumstance.
  • AI must not replace human intellectual contribution or authorship responsibility.
  • Excessive or undisclosed use of AI that compromises originality may result in rejection or retraction.

Authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy, originality, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts, regardless of AI involvement.

Data Availability and Transparency

Transparency in data is a cornerstone of AJHMS’s commitment to research integrity. Authors are encouraged to provide:

  • Data availability statements specifying where and how supporting data can be accessed.
  • Supplementary files with raw data, experimental protocols, or statistical codes.
  • Replication packages for complex biomedical or computational analyses.

Authors must retain original data for a reasonable period following publication and be prepared to supply it upon editorial or institutional request. Data falsification, fabrication, or manipulation will be treated as research misconduct, leading to possible retraction or institutional notification.

Duplicate and Redundant Publication

AJHMS strictly prohibits practices that distort the academic record, including:

  • Simultaneous submission: sending the same manuscript to multiple journals.
  • Duplicate publication: publishing identical or substantially similar content elsewhere.
  • Salami slicing: dividing one research study into multiple papers without clear justification.

Authors must disclose any prior versions (including preprints, conference papers, or institutional reports) at the time of submission. Violations of this policy may result in rejection, correction, or retraction.

Conflict of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest (COI) that could influence the interpretation or presentation of research findings. Conflicts may include:

  • Financial relationships (e.g., funding, sponsorship, consultancy, stock ownership).
  • Institutional or organizational affiliations that may bias outcomes.
  • Personal or professional relationships with individuals involved in the study.

Transparency in COI disclosure allows readers to interpret findings with full awareness of possible influences. If no conflicts exist, authors must explicitly state “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Appeals and Complaints

AJHMS provides a structured appeals process for authors who wish to contest editorial decisions. Appeals must:

  • Be submitted in writing to ethics@americanscholarly.us with detailed justification.
  • Provide clear evidence or documentation to support the claim.

All appeals are reviewed by a senior ethics panel or the Editor-in-Chief, who may seek external opinion when necessary. The decision of the appeals committee is final.

Complaints regarding publication ethics, reviewer conduct, or editorial practices are also accepted and handled confidentially, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Retractions, Corrections, and Editorial Notes

Retractions, corrections, or errata are published when necessary to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record. Retractions are reserved for cases involving proven misconduct, plagiarism, or major data errors. Minor inaccuracies are addressed through correction notices or editorial statements of clarification. All retraction notices remain permanently accessible and linked to the original publication.

Ethical Accountability Statement

AJHMS reaffirms its commitment to maintaining a culture of integrity, transparency, and accountability across all aspects of scholarly publishing. Every individual engaged in the publication process—authors, reviewers, editors, and readers—shares responsibility for upholding the principles of ethical research and academic excellence. Through adherence to these policies, AJHMS ensures that medical and health science scholarship continues to serve humanity with credibility, honesty, and purpose.