Research Ethics

Human Research

• All studies involving human participants must adhere to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki and comply with relevant national guidelines such as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Policy on Research Integrity and Publication Ethics (2019).

• Prior approval from an Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC)/Institutional Review Board (IRB) is mandatory for all studies involving human subjects or biological material.

• Case reports, case series, reviews, short communications, and letters to the editor require intimation to the IEC/IRB, with a statement of approval or exemption included in the manuscript.

• Clinical trials or systematic reviews must include the registration number from appropriate registries (e.g., CTRI, PROSPERO, ClinicalTrials.gov).

• Authors must ensure informed consent, voluntary participation, confidentiality, and data anonymization of participants.

Animal Research

• Research involving animals must comply with internationally accepted standards for animal care and use, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

• Authors must provide details of Animal Ethics Committee approval/registration, including reference numbers.

• Ethical considerations regarding welfare, humane treatment, and justification for use of animals must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Publication Ethics

IJPRMH upholds strict standards of publication integrity. Authors, reviewers, and editors must adhere to the principles of transparency, accountability, and honesty.

Examples of Publication Misconduct

• Plagiarism: Reproduction of others’ work (text, ideas, images, figures, or data) without proper citation.

• Fabrication: Making up data or results that do not exist.

• Falsification: Manipulating data, images, or results to mislead.

• Inappropriate Authorship: Inclusion of individuals who did not contribute, or exclusion of genuine contributors.

• Duplicate Submission/Multiple Submissions: Submitting the same or modified versions of a manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

• Overlapping/Redundant Publication: Publishing substantially similar work across multiple platforms without acknowledgment.

• Salami Slicing: Fragmenting findings from one study into multiple small publications.

• Improper Citations: Inflating, misrepresenting, or coercively citing references.

Handling of Misconduct

All allegations of research or publication misconduct will be investigated according to COPE flowcharts and best practice guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject, retract, or issue corrections/expressions of concern as necessary.

Plagiarism Policy

• IJPRMH has zero tolerance for plagiarism.

• All manuscripts are screened using advanced plagiarism detection software prior to peer review.

• Any manuscript found with >15% similarity (excluding references and methodology) may be rejected or sent back for revision.

• Authors are responsible for ensuring originality and appropriate attribution of all sources.

Copyright & Licensing

• Upon acceptance, authors retain the copyright of their work but grant IJPRMH a license to publish and disseminate the article.

• Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, allowing unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided proper credit is given to the authors and the journal.

• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for reuse of any third-party material (figures, tables, images).

Open Access Policy

IJPRMH follows a fully open access model:

• All published articles are freely available online without subscription barriers.

• No registration is required for readers to access articles.

• Open access promotes wider dissemination, visibility, and citation of research.

• The journal may levy an Article Processing Charge (APC), details of which are provided on the website.

  Plagiarism Policy, and Copyright/Licensing

  
  The International Journal of Public Research in Medicine and Health (IJPRMH) maintains a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism, with all submissions screened using plagiarism detection software prior to review. The journal strictly follows the principles and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure integrity, transparency, and accountability in all stages of the publication process. Authors retain the copyright of their work while granting IJPRMH the right to publish and disseminate it. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work and source are appropriately cited.

  Editorial Oversight

• The Editor-in-Chief, supported by the editorial board, ensures strict adherence to ethical guidelines.

• Peer review is conducted with fairness, confidentiality, and objectivity.

• The journal reserves the right to retract, correct, or issue editorial expressions of concern for published articles when misconduct or errors are identified.