Publication Ethics

Reporting Standards and Scholarly Integrity

Authors submitting original research to NJHS are required to uphold the highest standards of academic rigor and ethical responsibility. Manuscripts must present an accurate, objective, and transparent account of the research conducted, accompanied by a critical and balanced discussion of its scholarly contribution and limitations.

Authors must ensure that all underlying data are represented truthfully and that methodological details, references, and contextual information are provided with sufficient clarity to enable independent verification, replication, or further investigation.

Any form of data misrepresentation, fabrication, falsification, or unethical research conduct constitutes a serious violation of publication ethics and will result in appropriate corrective actions, including rejection, retraction, or notification to relevant institutional authorities.

Data Transparency and Retention

Authors are required to maintain all primary data, research protocols, and materials related to their submitted manuscripts. Upon request by the editorial team, authors must provide timely access to the raw data for the purposes of editorial review, validation, or investigation.

Where applicable and in accordance with disciplinary best practices and institutional guidelines, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in publicly accessible repositories to promote transparency, reproducibility, and scholarly collaboration. Data should remain available for a reasonable period following publication to support verification of findings and further research.

Originality and Attribution

Submissions must constitute original scholarly contributions. Any textual, conceptual, or data-driven content derived from external sources including the authors’ prior publications, must be appropriately cited using discipline-specific citation conventions. Plagiarism in any form, including verbatim reproduction of text without attribution, paraphrased content lacking acknowledgment, or unauthorized reuse of copyrighted material, is strictly prohibited.

Publication Exclusivity

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to NJHS represent original work that is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal. Duplicate or redundant publication defined as the submission or publication of substantially overlapping content across multiple outlets is strictly prohibited unless clearly justified and transparently disclosed (e.g., secondary analyses, translational research, or systematic reviews).

Authors are required to declare any prior dissemination of related material, including conference proceedings, preprints, or theses, at the time of submission. Failure to disclose such information constitutes a breach of publication ethics and may result in manuscript rejection or retraction.

Acknowledgments and Intellectual Contributions

Authors must transparently acknowledge all entities that influenced the research design, execution, or interpretation, including funding sources, institutional support, and scholarly contributions from non-authors. Citations should reflect a comprehensive survey of relevant literature, ensuring proper attribution to works that substantively informed the study’s conceptual framework or methodology.

Authorship Criteria and Accountability

Authorship must be restricted to each researcher (ICMJE authorship criteria) available at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/ who have made significant contributions to the study’s conception, design, execution, or interpretation. All co-authors must review and approve the final manuscript prior to submission, attest to its integrity, and consent to its publication. The corresponding author assumes responsibility for ensuring inclusive and accurate authorship attribution, resolving disputes, and coordinating communication with the editorial secretariat.

Ethical Compliance in Human

The National Journal of Health Sciences (NJHS) is committed to ensuring that all research involving human participants is conducted ethically, responsibly, and in accordance with internationally recognized principles for the protection of human subjects. Manuscripts reporting research involving human participants must comply with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (19^th October 2024), applicable national laws and regulations, and internationally accepted guidelines governing research ethics.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all human research has been conducted with respect for participants’ dignity, rights, safety, privacy, and well-being throughout the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of the study.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Research Ethics Committee Approval

Research involving human participants, human biological materials, identifiable human data, or personally identifiable information must receive ethical approval from an appropriately constituted Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee (REC), or equivalent independent ethics committee before commencement of the study, unless a formal exemption has been granted under applicable regulations.

Authors must clearly state within the manuscript:

• • the full name of the approving IRB, REC, or Ethics Committee;
  • the institution with which the committee is affiliated;
  • the approval or reference number (where applicable);
  • the date of ethical approval (required); and
  • where relevant, details of any ethics exemption granted by the reviewing authority.

Authors must upload a copy of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Research Ethics Committee approval letter, or an official ethics exemption document where applicable, as a mandatory submission requirement. Manuscripts involving human participants will not be considered for peer review unless the required ethical approval documentation is provided at the time of submission. The Editorial Office reserves the right to verify the authenticity and validity of submitted ethics approval documents and to request additional information or clarification from the authors or the issuing institution whenever necessary. Submission of false, misleading, or fabricated ethical approval documentation constitutes research misconduct and may result in immediate rejection of the manuscript, notification of the authors’ institution, and other actions in accordance with the journal’s Publication Ethics Policy and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.

Informed Consent

Authors must obtain voluntary, free, and informed consent from every participant before enrollment in the study whenever required by applicable ethical standards.

Participants must receive sufficient information regarding:

• the purpose of the research;
• study procedures;
• potential risks and anticipated benefits;
• confidentiality and handling of personal information;
• voluntary participation;
• the right to refuse participation or withdraw at any time without penalty; and
• how research findings may be published.

The manuscript must clearly indicate that informed consent was obtained from all participants or explain why consent requirements were formally waived by the approving ethics committee.

Privacy, Confidentiality, and Personal Data Protection

• Researchers must protect the privacy, dignity, and confidentiality of all participants.
• Personal identifiers should not be disclosed unless publication is scientifically justified and explicit written consent has been obtained.
• Authors should remove unnecessary identifying information wherever possible.
• Publication of identifiable photographs, videos, imaging studies, clinical details, pedigree information, or other identifying materials requires explicit written informed consent from the participant or the participant’s legally authorized representative.
• Authors must comply with all applicable data protection laws and institutional requirements governing the collection, storage, processing, sharing, and publication of personal data.

Research Involving Children and Other Vulnerable Populations

NJHS recognizes that certain groups require additional ethical safeguards because they may have limited capacity to provide fully informed consent or may be at increased risk of coercion or exploitation. These groups include, but are not limited to:

• children and adolescents;
• individuals with impaired decision-making capacity;
• persons with cognitive or intellectual disabilities;
• prisoners or detained individuals;
• economically or educationally disadvantaged populations;
• refugees and displaced persons;
• pregnant women, where additional protections apply;
• elderly individuals with diminished capacity; and
• any other vulnerable population as defined by applicable ethical guidelines.

For studies involving children or other vulnerable participants, authors must ensure that:

• ethical approval specifically permits inclusion of the vulnerable population;
• written informed consent is obtained from a parent, legal guardian, or legally authorized representative where required;
• assent is obtained from children or participants capable of understanding the research whenever appropriate according to age, maturity, and local regulations;
• any refusal or dissent expressed by a participant capable of providing assent is respected whenever ethically appropriate;
• inclusion of the vulnerable population is scientifically justified and necessary to answer the research question;
• participants are not recruited solely because of ease of access, compromised autonomy, or convenience; and
• additional safeguards are implemented to protect participants’ rights, welfare, dignity, privacy, and confidentiality throughout the study.

Research involving vulnerable populations that fails to demonstrate appropriate ethical safeguards may be rejected without external peer review.

Clinical Trial Registration

The National Journal of Health Sciences (NJHS) requires prospective registration of all clinical trials involving human participants as a mandatory condition for manuscript submission and consideration for publication.

Clinical trials must be registered before the enrollment of the first participant in a publicly accessible primary registry recognized by the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) or in a clinical trial registry that meets the requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), such as ClinicalTrials.gov.

Authors must provide the following information at the time of manuscript submission:

• the name of the clinical trial registry;
• the trial registration number (registration identifier);
• the date of trial registration; and
• the trial registration details in both the Abstract (where applicable) and the Methods section of the manuscript.
  
  

National Journal of Health Sciences does not accept manuscripts reporting clinical trials that were registered after the enrollment of the first participant (retrospective registration). Clinical trials that fail to meet the journal’s prospective registration requirement will not be considered for peer review and will be rejected.

Failure to comply with the journal’s clinical trial registration policy may result in rejection of the manuscript.

Reporting Standards for Clinical and Human Research

Authors are expected to prepare manuscripts in accordance with internationally recognized reporting guidelines appropriate for the study design.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• CONSORT for randomized controlled trials;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• CARE for case reports;
• SPIRIT for clinical trial protocols;

Authors may be requested to submit completed reporting checklists and flow diagrams during manuscript submission or peer review.

Human Biological Materials and Identifiable Data

Studies involving human tissues, blood samples, DNA, RNA, genetic material, biobanks, or other biological specimens must have received appropriate ethical approval and comply with all applicable legal and institutional requirements governing their collection, storage, use, and disposal.

Where identifiable human data or biological specimens are reused in secondary analyses, authors must clearly explain the ethical basis for such use, including participant consent or ethics committee approval permitting secondary analysis.

Secondary Use of Human Data

Research involving previously collected identifiable human data, electronic health records, registries, databases, or medical records must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Authors must indicate whether additional ethics approval, participant consent, or an ethics waiver was obtained for secondary analyses.

Publication of Patient Information

Authors should avoid publishing information that could directly or indirectly identify individual participants unless scientifically essential and accompanied by explicit written permission for publication.

Patient anonymity must be preserved whenever possible.

Masking patient identity by altering or omitting essential scientific information is discouraged if it compromises the integrity of the research.

Ethical Reporting Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring accurate, honest, transparent, and complete reporting of research involving human participants.

Manuscripts should accurately disclose, where applicable:

• ethics approval information;
• informed consent procedures;
• participant recruitment methods;
• funding sources;
• conflicts of interest;
• protocol deviations;
• trial registration information;
• data availability statements; and
• any limitations relating to ethical conduct.

Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, omission of relevant ethical information, or misrepresentation of ethics approval constitutes research misconduct and will be handled in accordance with the journal’s Publication Ethics and COPE guidelines.

Editorial Assessment and Verification

The Editors reserve the right to request additional documentation supporting ethical compliance at any stage of submission, peer review, publication, or post-publication investigation.

Where ethical concerns arise, the journal may consult authors’ institutions, ethics committees, funding agencies, or other appropriate bodies in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance.

Failure to satisfy the journal’s ethical requirements may result in rejection, withdrawal, publication of an expression of concern, correction, or retraction, depending on the seriousness of the issue.

References and International Standards

NJHS follows internationally recognized guidance, including:

• World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants (latest applicable revision).
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.
• World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP).
• EQUATOR Network Reporting Guidelines.

Animal Use Policy

This policy outlines the requirements for manuscripts reporting animal research published in the National Journal of Health Sciences. The purpose is to ensure that all animal research is conducted ethically, responsibly, and in compliance with applicable regulations. This policy aims to uphold the highest standards of animal welfare and promote transparency regarding animal use (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-animal-use-in-biomedical-research/ ).

Policy Requirements

Manuscripts reporting animal research must include the following:

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval: A statement clearly affirming that the research protocol was reviewed and approved by the relevant Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or Institutional Review Board (IRB) that has the authority for animal research review. The IACUC/IRB approval documentation must be readily accessible to the Journal and will be considered part of the submission process. The name and relevant contact information for the IACUC/IRB should be included.

Justification for Animal Use: A detailed justification for the use of animals, demonstrating that no viable non-animal alternatives exist. This justification must address the following:

Necessity: Clearly articulate why animal models are essential for the specific research question, and why alternative methods are not feasible. This should specifically address the limitations of alternative approaches (in vitro, computer modeling, etc.). If possible, include a comparison of animal models to other approaches.

Reduction: Detailed rationale for the number of animals used. Show how the number was determined using appropriate methodology, such as power calculations, pilot studies, and literature review to avoid unnecessary repetition. Explicitly describe any efforts to reduce the number of animals used, and justify any exception to this goal (with justification).

Refinement: A description of the specific procedures to minimize pain, distress, and discomfort to animals. This must include details on anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia protocols, as well as detailed care considerations (housing, feeding, enrichment, environmental controls). Justify any deviation from standard procedures based on peer-reviewed evidence.

Replacement: Demonstrate a rigorous search for, and describe, alternative methods to animal research.

Animal Care: A statement affirming that the animals were housed, cared for, and handled in accordance with relevant national and international standards for animal care and the IACUC/IRB guidelines. This should include a statement ensuring adherence to relevant legislation and regulations in the country where the research was conducted.

Personnel Training and Competence: A statement confirming that all personnel involved in animal care and experimentation possessed the necessary training and qualifications, ensuring competence in procedures. Include specific training details, if any.

Compliance with Regulations: Explicit confirmation of adherence to all relevant national and international laws and regulations governing animal research.

Compliance Verification

The National Journal of Health Sciences will employ rigorous processes to confirm compliance, including:

Peer Review: Reviewers will actively assess the detailed justification and documentation provided by authors regarding animal research.

Journal Staff Review: Journal staff will scrutinize the submitted documentation and ensure compliance with the stated policy.

Potential Additional Measures: In situations requiring further investigation, the Journal may solicit independent verification or consult relevant regulatory bodies.

Ethical Considerations

Researchers are responsible for conducting animal research with the utmost respect for animal welfare, upholding the highest ethical standards, and adhering to the principles of the 3Rs (Reduction, Refinement, Replacement) outlined above.