Publication Ethics, Editorial Policies and Malpractice Statement
1. Introduction
East West Medical College Journal (EWMCJ) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and transparency in scholarly publishing. EWMCJ follows internationally accepted ethical principles and editorial practices recommended by:
Full text links of all above mentioned sites are stated at the bottom of this page.
The Editorial Board, reviewers, authors, and publishers are expected to adhere to these ethical standards throughout the publication process.
2. Research Ethics and Human Participants
Research involving human participants must comply with internationally accepted ethical principles.
EWMCJ adheres to the ethical principles outlined in the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki:
"The Declaration of Helsinki is a statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, including research on identifiable human material and identifiable data."
Full text available at:
https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/
Authors must clearly state within the manuscript:
Example:
"Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of East West Medical College Hospital (Approval No: XXXX/2026)."
Studies lacking ethical approval will be rejected.
3. Informed Consent
For studies involving human participants, informed consent is mandatory.
Authors should confirm:
For case reports:
If photographs or identifying information are included, explicit permission for publication must be documented.
Editorial office may request copies of consent forms if necessary.
4. Vulnerable Populations
Research involving vulnerable populations requires additional safeguards.
This includes:
For minors:
Consent must be obtained from parents or legal guardians.
When appropriate, assent from the child should also be obtained.
Authors should describe these procedures within the Methods section.
5. Animal Research
Animal experiments must comply with institutional and national guidelines.
Authors should provide:
Studies involving unnecessary suffering of animals will not be considered.
6. Clinical Trial Registration Policy
EWMCJ supports prospective registration of clinical trials.
Clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible registry before recruitment of the first participant.
Acceptable registries include:
Authors should provide:
Example:
Clinical Trial Registration:
NCT01234567
Unregistered clinical trials may not be accepted unless adequately justified.
7. Authorship Criteria
EWMCJ follows ICMJE recommendations.
Authorship should be based on substantial contributions to:
All five conditions should be met.
Contributors not fulfilling authorship criteria should be acknowledged.
Ghost authorship, guest authorship and honorary authorship are unacceptable.
8. Conflict of Interest
All authors must disclose financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.
Examples include:
If no conflicts exist, authors should declare:
"The authors declare no conflict of interest."
Editors and reviewers must also disclose potential conflicts.
9. Funding Disclosure
Authors must declare all funding sources.
Example:
"This study was supported by the Bangladesh Medical Research Council."
If no funding was received:
"No external funding was received."
10. Data Availability Statement
Authors are encouraged to provide information regarding accessibility of datasets.
Examples:
"The data supporting the findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request."
or
"All relevant data are included within the manuscript."
11. Artificial Intelligence Policy
Use of Artificial Intelligence tools should be disclosed.
AI systems cannot be listed as authors.
Authors remain fully responsible for:
Example statement:
"ChatGPT was used for language editing purposes only."
12. Plagiarism Policy
EWMCJ maintains zero tolerance toward plagiarism.
Submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism detection software.
Plagiarism includes:
Manuscripts with significant plagiarism may be rejected immediately.
Serious misconduct may be reported to affiliated institutions.
13. Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Manuscripts submitted to EWMCJ must not be:
Authors must disclose overlapping publications.
14. Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are based exclusively on:
Editorial decisions are independent of commercial considerations.
Publishers do not influence editorial decisions.
15. Peer Review Policy
EWMCJ employs a double-blind peer review process.
Each manuscript is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.
Reviewers are expected to:
Editors make final decisions based on reviewer recommendations.
16. Corrections Policy
EWMCJ is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.
Corrections may be issued for:
Corrections will be linked to the original publication.
17. Retraction Policy
Articles may be retracted if evidence demonstrates:
Retraction notices will:
EWMCJ follows COPE Retraction Guidelines- Link: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/guideline/retraction-guidelines
18. Expression of Concern
Editors may issue an Expression of Concern when:
Such notices remain until investigations are concluded.
19. Complaints and Appeals
Authors may appeal editorial decisions.
Appeals should be submitted to:
Editor-in-Chief
East West Medical College Journal
Email: editorial.ewmcj@gmail.com
Appeals will be reviewed independently.
Complaints involving publication ethics shall be handled according to COPE recommendations.
20. Publication Malpractice
The following practices are unacceptable:
Appropriate investigations will be conducted whenever misconduct is suspected.
21. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
Editors shall:
Editors shall follow COPE Core Practices- Link: https://publication-ethics.org/resources/cope-core-practices/
22. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers should:
23. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Authors must ensure:
Authors are responsible for correcting errors discovered after publication.
24. Declarations of AI Use:
E.g:
This manuscript was prepared through the combined contributions of all author(s), including contributions to the study design, data, content development, results, interpretation, and related scholarly work. The author(s) acknowledge the use of Grammarly and ChatGPT to assist with grammar checking, language refinement, reference formatting. These AI-assisted tools were not used as authors and did not replace the intellectual contributions or scholarly judgment of the author(s). All AI-assisted outputs, including content, references, and interpretations, were carefully reviewed, revised, verified, and approved by the author(s). The author(s) accept full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and final content of the manuscript.
References and International Guidelines
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/
ICMJE Recommendations: https://www.icmje.org/
World Association of Medical Editors (WAME): https://wame.org/
Declaration of Helsinki: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/
ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov/
WHO ICTRP: https://trialsearch.who.int/
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