Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The Journal of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (JMID) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research and publication ethics and to ensuring the integrity, transparency, and reliability of the scholarly record.
JMID follows recognized principles and best practices in scholarly publishing, including the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), as applicable to biomedical publishing.
The journal expects all authors, editors, reviewers, Editorial Board Members, and the publisher to uphold high standards of professional and ethical conduct.
1. Editorial Independence and Integrity
JMID maintains editorial independence in decisions concerning the evaluation, acceptance, revision, rejection, and publication of manuscripts.
Editorial decisions are based on scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance to the journal's scope, and other appropriate scholarly considerations. Decisions are not influenced by authors' nationality, ethnicity, gender, institutional affiliation, academic status, political views, or commercial interests.
The publisher respects the independence of the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team and does not interfere with editorial decisions concerning the scientific content of the journal.
2. Responsibilities of Authors
Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts represent original work and that all sources, data, ideas, and contributions from other researchers are appropriately acknowledged and cited.
Authors must ensure that:
the manuscript has not been published previously except where appropriately disclosed and permitted;
the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal at the same time;
all listed authors have made appropriate contributions to the work and have approved the submitted and final versions of the manuscript;
authorship and contributorship are accurately reported;
all relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest are disclosed;
sources of funding and the role of sponsors are appropriately disclosed;
research methods, data, and results are reported accurately and transparently;
ethical approval and informed consent are obtained where required;
plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, and other forms of research or publication misconduct are avoided; and
significant errors discovered after publication are promptly reported to the journal and authors cooperate with the journal in correcting the published record when necessary.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts comply with JMID's submission, ethical, reporting, authorship, and licensing requirements.
3. Authorship and Contributorship
JMID follows internationally recognized principles for authorship and contributorship.
Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the work and participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approval of the final version, and accountability for the work.
Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.
JMID does not support guest, gift, honorary, or ghost authorship.
Further details are provided in the Authorship and Contributorship Policy.
4. Conflicts of Interest
All authors, reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board Members must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the research, peer review, editorial decision, or interpretation of published findings.
Conflicts may include financial, personal, professional, institutional, academic, or other relationships and activities.
Authors must disclose relevant conflicts in the manuscript and/or the journal's required disclosure documentation.
Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves from handling or reviewing manuscripts where a conflict of interest could compromise impartiality.
Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may be considered a publication-ethics concern.
5. Research Ethics and Protection of Research Participants
Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements and should have received approval from an appropriate independent ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent body where required.
JMID follows the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 2024 for research involving human participants, as applicable.
Where informed consent is required, authors must state in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained.
Identifying information concerning patients or research participants must not be published unless scientifically necessary and appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.
For research involving animals, authors must provide evidence of approval by an appropriate institutional or ethics committee where required and confirm compliance with applicable national and institutional standards for the care and use of animals in research.
6. Funding and Sponsorship
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research.
The funding statement should identify the funding organization(s) and, where applicable, describe the role of the funder in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Authors should disclose any restrictions imposed by sponsors on access to data or publication of research findings.
7. Plagiarism, Duplicate Publication, and Research Misconduct
JMID screens submitted manuscripts for plagiarism, inappropriate text reuse, duplicate or redundant publication, and other forms of inappropriate overlap using appropriate similarity-detection software, including iThenticate, where applicable.
Similarity-detection results are considered as part of the editorial assessment and are not, by themselves, conclusive evidence of plagiarism or misconduct.
JMID considers the following, among others, to constitute serious research or publication-ethics concerns:
plagiarism;
fabrication of data;
falsification or manipulation of data;
inappropriate manipulation of images;
duplicate or redundant publication;
inappropriate or fraudulent authorship;
manipulation of peer review;
undisclosed conflicts of interest;
unethical research involving humans or animals; and
other serious forms of research or publication misconduct.
Where concerns are identified, JMID may request clarification or supporting documentation from the authors and may conduct an appropriate investigation in accordance with recognized publication-ethics principles.
8. Peer Review Ethics
JMID uses a double-blind peer-review process.
The identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed during the peer-review process. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest and should decline an invitation where they cannot provide an impartial assessment.
Editors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are handled fairly and confidentially and that individuals with relevant conflicts of interest do not participate in editorial decisions.
Detailed procedures are provided in the Peer Review Policy.
9. Editorial Responsibilities
Editors are responsible for:
ensuring fair, objective, and confidential evaluation of manuscripts;
selecting appropriate peer reviewers;
managing conflicts of interest;
protecting the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts;
making editorial decisions based on appropriate scholarly considerations;
responding appropriately to ethical concerns and allegations of misconduct; and
maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record.
Editors must not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for personal or professional advantage.
10. Reviewer Responsibilities
Reviewers must:
evaluate manuscripts objectively and constructively;
maintain confidentiality;
disclose relevant conflicts of interest;
decline reviews when they lack appropriate expertise or cannot provide an impartial assessment;
identify important scientific, ethical, methodological, or reporting concerns;
provide clear and evidence-based comments; and
avoid using unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional benefit.
Reviewers must not contact authors directly regarding manuscripts under review unless authorized by the journal.
11. Artificial Intelligence and Publication Ethics
JMID recognizes that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may be used in research and manuscript preparation.
Authors, reviewers, and editors must comply with the journal's Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI Policy.
AI tools must not replace human responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and accountability of scholarly work.
AI tools must not be listed as authors. Where disclosure is required, authors should transparently report the use of AI-assisted technologies in accordance with JMID's AI policy and applicable international publishing standards.
12. Complaints and Appeals
JMID provides mechanisms for authors, reviewers, Editorial Board Members, and other stakeholders to raise legitimate complaints or appeal editorial decisions.
Complaints and appeals are handled fairly, objectively, and as confidentially as reasonably possible.
Individuals involved in reviewing a complaint or appeal must declare and manage any relevant conflict of interest.
Further details are provided in the Complaints and Appeals Policy.
13. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
JMID is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the published scholarly record.
If a published article is found to contain a significant error, JMID may publish a correction or other appropriate notice.
Where there is reliable evidence of serious research or publication misconduct, unreliable findings, unethical research, or other circumstances that substantially affect the integrity of a published article, JMID may issue an Expression of Concern, Retraction, or other appropriate post-publication notice.
Decisions concerning corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are made in accordance with the circumstances of each case and recognized publication-ethics principles.
14. Post-Publication Discussion
JMID welcomes substantive scholarly discussion concerning published articles.
Readers and researchers may submit comments, concerns, or corrections concerning published work through the journal's established communication channels.
The journal may investigate credible concerns raised after publication and may take appropriate action when necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
15. Confidentiality and Data Protection
Information contained in submitted manuscripts, peer-review reports, correspondence, and editorial records is treated as confidential.
JMID will take reasonable measures to protect confidential information and personal data obtained during the submission, peer-review, and publication processes, subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
16. Handling Allegations of Misconduct
Allegations of research or publication misconduct are assessed seriously and investigated in a fair and appropriate manner.
Where necessary, JMID may request supporting documentation from authors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, or other relevant parties.
The journal may communicate with the authors' institutions or other appropriate authorities when serious concerns cannot be adequately resolved through the journal's editorial processes or where institutional investigation is required.
Where misconduct is confirmed or reliable evidence demonstrates that the published record is unreliable, JMID may take appropriate corrective action, including rejection of a manuscript, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other measures.
17. Continuous Review of Publication Ethics
JMID periodically reviews its publication-ethics policies to ensure continued alignment with developments in biomedical publishing, research-integrity standards, and recognized international best practices.
The journal may update its policies when necessary and will communicate significant changes through the journal website.
Commitment to Publication Integrity
JMID is committed to maintaining a trustworthy, transparent, and ethically responsible scholarly record. All parties involved in the publication process—authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board Members, and the publisher—are expected to cooperate in maintaining the highest standards of research and publication integrity.
