Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

P-ISSN: 3117-3284 E-ISSN: 3117-3292
Publication Ethics Statement

Believers Journal of Health Sciences (BJHS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical scholarly publishing. The journal promotes integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, and respect throughout the editorial, peer-review, and publication process. This statement outlines the ethical responsibilities of all stakeholders. The journal’s procedures are strictly guided by recognized principles of publication ethics, including the core practices promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Editorial Core Responsibilities

Editors make independent decisions based solely on scholarly merit, novelty, and methodological quality. The editorial office is committed to the following mandates:

• Evaluate manuscripts fairly without discrimination based on nationality, gender, ethnicity, or professional status.
• Maintain confidentiality of submitted materials and protect the confidentiality of the peer-review process.
• Strictly avoid using unpublished data, findings, or arguments for personal or professional benefit.
• Ensure that editorial and publication decisions remain independent of commercial, sponsorship, or advertising influence.
Reviewer Commitments & Codes

Reviewers provide independent, objective, and constructive evaluations of submitted manuscripts under the following conditions:

• Accept review assignments only when the manuscript falls within their area of expertise.
• Declare any personal, professional, financial, institutional, or other conflicts of interest before accepting an assignment.
• Provide timely, evidence-based, constructive, and respectful review comments.
• Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscript content to third-party platforms or generative AI tools.
Author Responsibilities and Conflict of Interest
Author Accountabilities & Requirements
• Submit original work that is not under consideration by any other journal
• Ensure raw data, analytical summaries, and conclusions are accurately stated
• Provide ethics committee or Institutional Review Board approval details and informed consent information, where required
• Ensure listed contributors accurately meet accepted authorship criteria frameworks
• Cite references properly to prevent text recycling or citation manipulation
• Obtain written permission to reproduce third-party copyrighted figures, tables, images, or other material

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest in accordance with the journal’s Conflict of Interest Policy.

Misconduct Defenses (Plagiarism, Fabrication & Manipulation)

BJHS does not tolerate plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, selective reporting, citation manipulation, or inappropriate image manipulation. All suspected cases of misconduct are assessed fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with the journal’s established procedures and COPE guidance. Authors may be asked to provide raw data, supporting documents, or explanations where necessary and will be given an appropriate opportunity to respond before a final editorial decision is made.

Clinical Trials, Patient Privacy & Bioethics Standards

Clinical Trials: Prospective clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry before participant enrolment. The registry name and registration number must be included in the manuscript. Patient names, initials, hospital numbers, and other directly identifiable information must not be included. Written informed consent for publication must be obtained when case details, photographs, or videos could identify a patient.

Human and Animal Research: Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and must include ethics committee or Institutional Review Board approval details and informed consent information, where required. Research involving animals must comply with relevant institutional, national, and international animal welfare regulations and must state approval details where applicable.

Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or originality of scholarly work. Any material use of AI for writing, translation assistance, coding, or image generation must be clearly disclosed within the manuscript. AI must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, manipulate images improperly, or alter research findings.

Editors and reviewers must not upload, analyse, summarise, or use confidential manuscript material in generative AI tools without appropriate safeguards and human oversight.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

BJHS systematically protects the historical literature record via three distinct corrective channels:

• Corrections: Published for technical or editorial errors that do not invalidate the overall findings, including factual, typographical, author-information, or metadata errors.
• Expressions of Concern: Issued where serious indicators of potential anomalies exist but institutional investigations remain active, unresolved, or inconclusive.
• Retractions: Issued when findings are unreliable because of serious error or misconduct, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical research. Retraction notices remain permanently linked to the original article.
Complaints, Appeals & Misconduct Procedures

Authors may submit an appeal when they believe that an editorial decision involved a procedural error or an unmanaged conflict of interest. Concerns or allegations raised by authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, or other parties are handled confidentially and in accordance with COPE guidance. Where necessary, the Editorial Board may contact the authors, institutions, ethics committees, reviewers, or other relevant bodies to investigate a serious concern. Complaints and appeals should be submitted in writing to the official journal email address.

Editorial Independence & Academic Merit Clause
BJHS maintains editorial independence in all publication decisions. Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Decisions are made independently of personal relationships, institutional influence, commercial sponsors, advertising, or author fee waivers. All submissions are subject to the same rigorous editorial screening and double-blind peer-review process.