Ethical/Legal Considerations
Human Research
When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (available at WMA Declaration of Helsinki). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention approval of regional/ national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board.
Animal Research
When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively.
Important: The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the 'Materials and Methods' section.
Plagiarism Policy
Authors should avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism includes duplicate publication of the author's own work, in whole or in part without proper citation or mispresenting other's ideas, words, and other creative expression as one's own. The Journal follows strict anti-plagiarism policy.
Warning: If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will investigate. If plagiarism is established, the journal will notify the authors' institution and/or funding bodies and will retract the plagiarized article.
The journal adheres to the principles of transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing as recommended by:
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
- DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
Original Contribution
A submitted manuscript must be:
- An original contribution not previously published
- Not under consideration for publication elsewhere
- If accepted, not published elsewhere in similar form without Journal consent
Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent.
Although editors and referees make every effort to ensure validity, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal or its editors.
Authorship Guidelines
According to ICMJE guidelines, authorship credit should be based on ALL of the following 4 criteria:
Substantial contributions to conception/design, or acquisition/analysis/interpretation of data
Drafting or reviewing the work critically for important intellectual content
Final approval of the version to be published
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work
Contributors who don't meet all 4 criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgement section.
Author Contributions
Authors should describe contributions in these categories:
Data Sharing Requirement
For all reports of original research:
- Authors must provide a Data Sharing Statement
- Indicate whether data will or will not be shared
- If requested, authors must provide data for examination by editors
Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest may exist when an author has financial or personal relationships that could influence their work.
Disclosure Requirements
Authors must disclose:
- Employment and affiliations
- Funding and grants (received or pending)
- Consultancies and honoraria
- Stock ownership or options
- Expert testimony and royalties
- Patents (planned, pending, or issued)
Authors without conflicts should include a statement of no such interests in the Acknowledgment section.
Copyright
Each author must complete and submit the journal's agreement, which includes a section on the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. A copy of the form is made available to the submitting author within the Editorial Manager submission process. Co-authors will automatically receive an Email with instructions on completing the form upon submission.
Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY)
MAJN uses the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) for articles and content published.
The CC-BY agreement allows anyone to reuse the article and create derivatives, even for commercial purposes, provided the original authors and original source (MAJN reference) is given. Such downloading, use, reuse, and derivative creation does not require permission from either the authors or the publisher.
To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
With such open access to its content, MAJN grants users a free, irrevocable, worldwide and perpetual right to read, download and share the work subject to the terms of the applicable open access license applied to the work. Users must provide appropriate attribution to the original authors and source.
Permissions
Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher) to use direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted form elsewhere, along with complete details about the source.
Important: Any permissions fees that might be required by the copyright owner are the responsibility of the authors requesting use of the borrowed material, not the responsibility of the Journal.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Authorizing Tools
Important: Nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies do not qualify for authorship.
If these models or tools are used to create content or assist with writing or manuscript preparation, authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated by these tools. Authors should report the use of artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies to create content or assist with writing or editing of manuscripts in the Acknowledgment section or Methods section if this is part of formal research design or methods.
Disclosure Requirements
Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods of the paper how the AI tool was used, and which tool was used.
Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawing Policy
The journal adheres to the COPE Retraction Guidelines (2019) and ICMJE recommendations for maintaining accuracy in scientific communication.
Corrections
A correction is issued when a minor error is discovered in a published article that does not invalidate the study's results or conclusions but needs rectification for clarity or accuracy. Authors or readers should promptly notify the editor of any errors. The editorial team will assess the significance of the error and determine whether a correction is warranted. If approved, a correction notice will be published in the next available issue and linked to the original article online.
The correction notice will include:
- The article title, author list, and DOI
- A clear description of the correction made
- The date of publication of the correction
Retractions
A retraction is issued to formally remove an article from the scientific record when major errors or ethical breaches are identified that invalidate the findings or compromise the integrity of the publication. Retractions may occur in cases of:
- Evidence of fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism
- Unethical research, including failure to obtain ethical approval
- Duplicate or redundant publication
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest that may have influenced the findings
- Major methodological or analytical errors that invalidate results
If there is a concern for major errors or ethical breaches, the editor-in-chief initiates an investigation, and the corresponding author will be notified. If retraction is warranted, a retraction notice will be published clearly stating:
- The article title, author(s), and DOI
- The reason(s) for retraction
- Who is retracting the article (author, editor, or publisher)
- A statement about the validity of remaining findings (if any)
The original article will remain available online, watermarked or labeled as "Retracted," to preserve the scholarly record.
Withdrawals
Withdrawal applies to articles that have been accepted but not yet published online or in print. An article may be withdrawn if:
- The submission is found to violate ethical standards (e.g., plagiarism or duplicate submission)
- Authors request withdrawal before acceptance and provide valid justification
- The article was submitted fraudulently or without author consent
Requests for withdrawal must be submitted in writing to the editorial office by the corresponding author, explaining the reason.
Important: Once an article is assigned to a DOI and published online, withdrawal is replaced by formal retraction if necessary. In cases of misconduct, the editorial board reserves the right to impose a publication ban on future submissions from the responsible author(s).
Have Questions About Our Policies?
Contact our editorial team for clarification on any ethical or policy matters.