The Journal of Qualitative Research in Health Sciences (JQRHS) is a Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) member.  JQRHS also follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Click Here to Download the ICMJE Recommendations ("The Uniform Requirements") ^*

Editorial responsibilities:

• The Editor-in-Chief has the willingness to publish corrections and clarifications.
• The Editor-in-Chief is responsible and authorized for rejection/acceptance of articles.
• Editors should have no conflicts of interest regarding manuscripts they accept/reject.
• The anonymity of reviewers must be preserved.
• In case of errors in a manuscript, editors contribute to the publication of retractions or corrections.
• At the time of receiving, accepting, or rejecting the article, all authors of the article will be informed via email.

Ethical considerations for publishing/Ethical Oversight

• For publishing an original article in JQRHS, the author(s) should receive ethical permission (Ethical Approval Code) from their institute, according to which authors agree upon accepted ethical behavior. Ethical considerations should be noted in the second paragraph of the methods section.    
• The written informed consent received from all human adults or the legal guardians of minors or parents should be noted. The name of the institutional review board that confirmed the research should be mentioned.
• All studied subjects should be aware of the research objectives as well as any potential side effects of the intervention.
• In the cover letter, it must be declared that the manuscript is not published or being considered for publication in other journals; any discrepancy to this statement will result in the manuscript's rejection.
• All manuscripts are screened at submission and before publication by a plagiarism detection software (iThenticate) to verify their originality.
• Using verbatim texts from other sources with no acknowledgment is forbidden. All manuscripts must be original works by authors. In cases where plagiarism is found, COPE’s instructions and flowcharts are approached.
• An assignment form should be signed by authors indicating the original work has not yet been published and also is not under consideration for publication in other journals in electronic or printed form. 
• Data falsification/fabrication^* is considered a fraudulent act, which changes the research integrity.

* Data falsification refers to altering or omitting research data, materials, or processes in a way that the research findings are no longer precisely reflected. Data fabrication refers to inventing findings or data and reporting these data in the study.

• The content of the JQRHS is protected according to global copyright protocols, and it is for noncommercial use only. Modification, copying, distributing, transmitting, displaying, or publishing the materials of this journal is possible after obtaining written permission from the copyright owner.
• The financial support statement should be mentioned on the title page.
• Authors are encouraged to send original figures. Digital images used in manuscripts will be assessed for inappropriate manipulation. No certain feature in an image may be obscured, enhanced, removed, moved, or introduced. Color balance contrast or brightness adjustments can be accepted when they are used for the entire image. Such adjustments do not misrepresent any data in the original, including the background.
•  The author(s) of the manuscripts containing any previously published text or image, should receive authorization from copyright holders and submit it as written original permission letters.

Ethical consideration for authorship

The JQRHS follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For authorship, all below four criteria must be met simultaneously:

• The author must effectively and significantly cooperate in at least one of the sub-categories of study design OR research idea OR analysis and interpretation of data OR data collection 
• The author must cooperate in the manuscript draft preparation or in reviewing or revising it critically so that the manuscript is subject to evolution and change regarding scientific content. Scientific competence is necessary for critical review according to scientific experience and work or educational experience.
• The final manuscript must be read and approved by authors before publishing.
• Authors should be responsible for all the aspects of performing the study, such as following general and specific instructions for research ethics in the conduct, design, and publication of the manuscript. The authors must either have done a different study considering the technical, scientific, ethical, and standards or must be assured of the integrity and scientific capability of those who have done the different phases of the study.
• Removing the name of the individual(s) with the four above-mentioned criteria is not possible for authorship (ghost author).
• Authors cannot add the names of individuals who do not meet these criteria for authorship (guest author).
• Being a member of the research group or being present as a person in the research project does not create the needed criteria for authorship.
•  In the extracted manuscript from dissertations, the authors, including the advisors, supervisors, the relevant student, etc., must meet all the mentioned authorship criteria.
• Only cooperation in financing and preparing the research, offering consultations, like methodological and statistical consulting, providing or creating laboratory facilities, performing experimental procedures on research samples or patients, or introducing and referring patients to the researchers are not accepted criteria for authorship; even if the mentioned persons have not received a fee to provide such services.
• All individuals cooperating in executing, designing, supporting, or other phases of the research; however, they do not meet the all mentioned criteria for authorship must be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgment" section.
• Copy editors or translators of a manuscript do not have the authorship criteria. Such cases can be mentioned in the "Acknowledgments" section.

 Peer review/responsibility for the reviewers

• Judgments must be objective.
• Reviewers should have no conflicts of interest regarding the authors, the research, and/or the research funders.
• Reviewers should refer to related published work that has not yet been cited.
• Reviewed articles should be kept confidential.
• Editors are advised by reviewers; however, the Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision.
• Reviewers should offer constructive comments to improve the article's quality.

* International Committee of Medical Journal Editors [homepage on the Internet]. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals [insert month/day/year you accessed site] Available from: http://www.ICMJE.org.

last updated: 27-01-2024