Smart: Journal of Healthcare (SHealth) is steadfast in its commitment to maintaining the highest ethical standards in academic publishing. We strictly adhere to the guidelines and core practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

The prevention of publication malpractice, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and redundant publication, is the collective responsibility of all parties involved in the publishing process: authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher.

Below are the detailed ethical standards and duties required of each party.

1. Duties of Authors

• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their submitted manuscripts are entirely original works. SHealth maintains a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism in any form, including unacknowledged copying, paraphrasing without proper attribution, and self-plagiarism. All manuscripts undergo mandatory similarity checking (e.g., via Turnitin or iThenticate) prior to peer review.

• Ethical Approval and Informed Consent (Crucial for SHealth): * Human Subjects: Any research involving human subjects, clinical trials, or human data must clearly state that the study was approved by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or independent ethics committee. The research must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must explicitly state in the manuscript that written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

  • Animal Subjects: Research involving animals must include a statement confirming that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant local and international guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals, and approved by an institutional ethics committee.

• Authorship Criteria: Authorship must be strictly limited to individuals who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. SHealth explicitly prohibits "ghost," "guest," or "gift" authorship. All co-authors must review and approve the final version of the manuscript before submission.

• Data Access and Retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw clinical or research data supporting their paper for editorial review. Authors must be prepared to make this data publicly available (if legally and ethically permissible) and should retain such data for a reasonable number of years post-publication.

• Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. Submitting a paper describing essentially the same research to primary journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors must transparently disclose any financial, personal, or institutional conflicts of interest that could be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. Examples include pharmaceutical funding, consultancies, or patent ownership.

2. Duties of Editors

• Publication Decisions and Accountability: The Editor-in-Chief of SHealth is solely responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. This decision is driven strictly by the manuscript’s scientific merit, relevance to the journal's scope, and the outcome of the double-blind peer-review process.

• Fair Play and Impartiality: Editors will evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their intellectual content without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

• Confidentiality: The editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and the publisher, as appropriate. SHealth utilizes a strict double-blind review process to protect the identities of both authors and reviewers.

• Handling of Misconduct: Editors will take responsive measures when ethical complaints are presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper. This may include publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, or expressions of concern, following COPE flowcharts.

3. Duties of Peer Reviewers

• Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editors in making informed publication decisions and serves to help authors improve their manuscripts through objective, constructive feedback.

• Promptness: Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or who knows that a timely review will be impossible, must immediately notify the editor and decline the invitation.

• Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as highly confidential documents. They must not be shown to, or discussed with, others except as authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.

• Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is strictly prohibited. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting clinical or scientific arguments.

• Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge must be reported to the editor immediately.

• Conflict of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers must recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.

4. Duties of the Publisher (Smart)

• Safeguarding the Process: The publisher of SHealth is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint, or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.

• Maintaining Record Integrity: The publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all necessary steps to maintain the integrity of the academic record, including the prompt publication of retractions, errata, and corrections when necessary.