PUBLICATION ETHICS

Imelda's Scientific Journal of Midwifery follows the guidelines of the Ethics Publication Committee (COPE) in dealing with all aspects of publication ethics and, in particular, on how to handle research cases and publication irregularities. All articles in this journal involving human subjects must respect the ethical principles of research as described in the Declaration of Helsinki and research involving animals must comply with the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research developed by the Council for the International Organization of Medical Sciences (CIOMS).

Imelda's Scientific Journal of Midwifery adopted COPE to meet high-quality ethical standards for publishers, editors, authors and reviewers. As an important issue, publication ethics needs to be clearly defined to improve the quality of research around the world. In this section, we'll describe the standards for editors, writers, and reviewers. In addition, the publisher has no right to compromise the integrity of the content and only supports publishing in a timely manner.

For Editors

• The editor must be responsible for every article published in Imelda's Journal of Midwifery.
• Editors can communicate with other editors or reviewers when making final decisions.
• Editors must evaluate the manuscripts to be published objectively, judging each article according to quality regardless of the author's nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, religion, gender, seniority, or institutional affiliation. He or she must refuse assignments when there is a potential conflict of interest.
• Editors must ensure that documents sent to reviewers do not contain information about the author, and vice versa.
• Editors 'decisions must be communicated to the author, accompanied by reviewers' comments, unless the comments contain offensive or defamatory statements.
• The editor should respect the author's request that one should not review his / her writing, if the reasons are reasonable and practical.
• Editors and all staff must ensure the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts
• Editors will be guided by the COPE flowchart if there is any suspicion of fraud or authorship disputes. 

For Reviewers

• Reviewers need to comment on ethical questions and possible errors in research and publication.
• Reviewers will perform their work in a timely manner and are obliged to notify editors if they cannot complete the assignment.
• The reviewer must maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript.
• Reviewers should refuse the assignment if they find a potential conflict of interest between themselves and the author. 

For Authors

Reporting Standards
Authors must present accurate reports and data from the research results. The research articles must contain detailed information and sufficient references. Deliberate fraud of the contents of a text is unethical and unacceptable behavior.

Originality and Plagiarism
Writers must ensure the originality of their written works and provide clear information / sources when using citations. Authors are not allowed to publish their research papers in more than one journal because sending the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is unethical and unacceptable behavior.

Acknowledgment of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of other parties must always be included. Authors must cite publications that have been used to base the making of a scientific work.

Authorship of the Paper
Written work should be limited to researchers who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, implementation, or interpretation of the reported research. All researchers who have made a significant contribution should be listed as co-authors. Researchers who participate in substantive aspects of a study must be recognized or registered as contributors. The lead author must ensure that the co-author is eligible for inclusion on the list of researchers and all authors must view and agree to the final version of the manuscript to be published.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Each author must disclose in their text any substantive financial or interest that might be interpreted to affect the outcome of a text.

Fundamental errors in published works
If the author finds errors or inaccuracies in the published manuscript, the author is expected to notify the journal editor or publisher and work with the editor to retract or correct the manuscript.