Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Editorial Policies

Journal of Biomedical Sciences and Health (JBSH) is committed to integrity, transparency, accountability, and editorial independence in scholarly publishing. The journal's procedures are guided by the COPE Core Practices and internationally accepted standards for biomedical and health research.

1. Editorial Independence and Decision-Making

Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological quality, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, ethical compliance, and clarity. Decisions are not influenced by authors' nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, religion, political views, or commercial considerations. The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for editorial decisions and must manage conflicts of interest appropriately.

2. Peer Review and Confidentiality

JBSH uses double-blind peer review. Research manuscripts are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents, must not use unpublished information for personal advantage, and must disclose any relationship or interest that could reasonably be perceived as a conflict. Reviewers or editors with a relevant conflict must recuse themselves.

3. Submissions by Editors or Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members may submit manuscripts to JBSH, but they receive no preferential treatment. An editor who is an author or has another relevant conflict has no access to the editorial decision on that manuscript and does not participate in reviewer selection, peer review, or the final decision. Such manuscripts are assigned to an independent editor and independent external reviewers. JBSH monitors the proportion of editorial-board-authored content to protect editorial independence and publication diversity.

4. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to persons who made substantial scholarly contributions to the work, participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approved the final version, and accept accountability for the work. Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged. JBSH encourages use of the CRediT taxonomy to describe individual contributions. Changes to authorship after submission require a written explanation and agreement from all affected authors.

5. Competing Interests

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose financial and non-financial interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the work or editorial process. Relevant interests may include employment, consultancies, grants, honoraria, patents, close personal or professional relationships, or institutional interests. Disclosures are considered during editorial handling and, when relevant, published with the article.

6. Research Ethics, Informed Consent, and Patient Privacy

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and must state approval or exemption by an appropriate research ethics committee, including the committee name and approval/reference number where applicable. Informed consent must be obtained when required. Identifiable patient information, images, or case details may be published only when scientifically necessary and supported by explicit consent for publication. Research involving animals must state compliance with applicable institutional and national animal-welfare standards and relevant ethical approval.

7. Research Integrity and Misconduct

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, citation manipulation, undisclosed duplicate or redundant publication, ghost authorship, gift authorship, and other forms of research or publication misconduct are not acceptable. Allegations are assessed fairly and confidentially. JBSH may request original data, ethics documentation, or other supporting records. Where warranted, the journal may contact authors' institutions, funders, ethics committees, or other journals in accordance with appropriate publication-ethics guidance.

8. Originality, Plagiarism, and Duplicate Publication

Submissions must represent original work that is not under consideration elsewhere, except where transparent and ethically acceptable forms of prior dissemination are declared. Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection software. A similarity score alone does not determine misconduct; editorial assessment considers the nature, extent, and context of overlap.

9. Data Availability and Reproducibility

Authors should retain the data and materials needed to support their findings and should make them available to editors or qualified readers when ethically, legally, and practically possible. Manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement describing where supporting data can be accessed or explaining legitimate restrictions. Authors are encouraged to deposit non-sensitive data, protocols, code, and other reproducibility materials in trustworthy repositories.

10. Generative AI and Automated Tools

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for scholarly work. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, citations, confidentiality, and integrity of all submitted content. Material use of generative AI for text, images, data analysis, coding, or other scholarly tasks must be transparently disclosed when relevant. Authors must identify the tool and version where known, describe the purpose and extent of use, and state how outputs were checked. Editors may use approved tools for administrative support, but may not delegate scholarly judgment or editorial decisions to AI; material editorial use must be documented. Reviewers must not use AI to perform manuscript peer review. Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, personal information, or unpublished data to generative-AI services. AI must never be used to fabricate research, references, reviewer reports, or editorial records.

11. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

JBSH corrects the scholarly record when necessary. Minor errors that do not affect interpretation may be corrected through an appropriate correction notice. Substantial errors or unreliable findings may require a retraction. An Expression of Concern may be issued when serious questions remain unresolved while an investigation is ongoing. Notices are linked to the affected article, clearly identify the reason for the action, and preserve the integrity of the published record. Bibliographic metadata may be corrected to match the verified published version, with the change recorded internally. Changes to scientific content, authorship, analyses, or conclusions require editorial assessment and, where appropriate, a dated correction notice and a clearly identified corrected version. Original publication dates, DOI identity, and historical decision records must not be altered to simulate compliance.

12. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and readers may submit a reasoned complaint or appeal concerning editorial procedure, peer review, ethical issues, or a decision. Appeals should identify the manuscript or article and provide a concise evidence-based explanation. Complaints are reviewed by an editor who was not directly involved whenever a conflict exists. Editorial appeals do not guarantee reversal of a decision, but they are assessed fairly and documented.

13. Post-Publication Discussion

JBSH welcomes evidence-based post-publication comments, correspondence, and reports of potential errors. Concerns are assessed proportionately and authors may be invited to respond. When the published record requires amendment, the journal uses a transparent correction, retraction, or expression-of-concern process.

14. Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Licensing

Copyright and reuse rights are governed by the journal's published Copyright and Licensing Policy and the license displayed with each article. JBSH does not impose restrictions that contradict the applicable Creative Commons license. Third-party material must be clearly identified and used with appropriate permission or other lawful basis.

15. Ethical Concerns and Contact

Ethical concerns, complaints, appeals, and requests for clarification may be sent to the JBSH Editorial Office at jbsh@unkaha.ac.id. Correspondence should include sufficient information for the journal to assess the matter fairly.

Policy requirements introduced on 3 October 2026 apply prospectively. Historical compliance is evaluated using authentic records, and improvements to policy do not by themselves demonstrate that earlier articles underwent the newly specified procedures.

Last updated: 3 October 2026.