Publication Ethics

1- Publication ethics

  • Publishers and editors take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred.

  • In no case does a journal or its editors encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

  • If a journal’s publisher or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct the publisher or editor deals with allegations appropriately.

Plagiarism

African journal of gastroenterology and Hepatology takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgment, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

  • The journal has guidelines for retracting or correcting articles when needed.

  • Publishers and editors always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

2- Copyright and Access

  • Copyright and licensing information is clearly described on the journal’s Web site.

  • The journal and individual articles are freely available to readers.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. AJGH allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allows readers to use them for any other lawful purpose.

3- Archiving

  • Archiving: This journal utilizes the internet archive system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

Self-archiving

  • AJGH allows authors to self-archive their articles in institutional or other specialized repositories and their websites.

  • There is no embargo on the archiving of articles. Authors are allowed deposition of articles on institutional or other specialized depositories and their websites immediately after publication on the journal website. Accepted manuscripts can be also archived by authors on depositories and personal websites.  

Further principles of transparency and best practice:

4- Ownership and management

  • This journal is owned by Dr. Salem Youssef Mohamed, professor of internal medicine, Zagazig University.

5- Web site

  • A journal’s Web site demonstrates that care has been taken to ensure high ethical and professional standards.

6- Publishing schedule

  • The articles are published once it is ready for publication (periodical publication).

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher, and the society-owned or sponsored journals.

Duties of Editors

Publication decisions

  • Fair play

  • Confidentiality

  • Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

  • Involvement and cooperation in investigations

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

  • Promptness

  • Confidentiality

  • Standards of Objectivity

  • Acknowledgment of Sources

  • Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Duties of Authors

  • Reporting standards

  • Data Access and Retention

  • Originality and Plagiarism

  • Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

  • Acknowledgment of Sources

  • Authorship of the Paper

  • Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

  • Fundamental errors in published work

1. Author's responsibilities

  • Authors are obliged to participate in the peer-review process;

  • All authors have significantly contributed to the research;

  • Authors include a statement that all data in the article are authentic;

  • Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes;

  • Reported work is original and written by the authors;

  • Reported work has not been previously published and has been submitted only to that journal;

  • Where the material is taken from other sources (including their published writing), the source is cited and, where appropriate, permission is obtained;

  • The work does not infringe on the rights of others, including privacy rights and intellectual property rights;

  • Data are true and not manipulated;

  • Data are their own or they have permission to use data reproduced in their paper;

  • Any real or apparent conflicting or competing interest is clearly stated upon submission of the paper (this would include funding assistance);

  • Authors should adhere to all research ethics guidelines of their discipline, particularly where human or animal subjects are involved;

  • Authors should contact the editor to identify and correct any material errors upon discovery, whether prior or after the publication of their work;

  • Authorship of the paper is accurately represented, including ensuring that all individuals credited as authors participated in the actual authorship of the work and that all who participated are credited and have given consent for publication.

2. Responsibility for the reviewers

  • Judgments should be objective;

  • Reviewers should have no conflict of interest concerning the research, the authors, and/or the research funders;

  • Reviewers should point out relevant published work that is not cited;

  • Reviewed articles should be treated confidentially;

  • Reviewers should maintain the confidentiality of the review process;

  • Reviewers should immediately alert the journal editor of any real or potential competing interest that could affect the impartiality of their review and decline to review when appropriate

  • Reviewers should conduct themselves fairly and impartially;

3. Editorial responsibilities

  • Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article. They always strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;

  • Editors should have no conflict of interest for articles they reject/accept;

  • Editors should only accept a paper when reasonably certain about the content;

  • When errors are found, editors should promote the publication of a correction or retraction;

  • Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers;

  • Editors should maintain and promote consistent ethical policies for their journals;

  • Editors should oversee and act to enforce those policies as needed fairly and consistently;

  • Editors should ensure the confidentiality of the review process;

  • Editors should exercise the highest standards of personal integrity in their work as editor of the journal, recognizing and planning for instances in which they could have a competing interest or the appearance of a competing interest;

  • Editors should work with authors, reviewers, and editorial board members as necessary to ensure they are sufficiently advised regarding the journal’s ethics and publishing policies and that the journal’s stewardship on ethical matters is fair, unbiased, and timely;

  • Editors should promote fairness and equality and oppose discrimination;

  • Editors should promote transparency of and respect for the academic record;

  • Editors should respect the confidentiality of others;

  • Editors shouldn’t guide authors to certain references for their articles

4. Publishing ethics issues

  • Monitor/safeguard publishing ethics;

  • Establish guidelines for retracting articles;

  • Maintain the integrity of the academic record;

  • Preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;

  • Be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed;

  • Guard against plagiarism and/or fraudulent data;

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations for the three years before the start of the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.

Identifying Information

Participants of a study included in a manuscript are protected and should not be identifiable. It is therefore in the responsibility of the authors to remove any identifying information of their study subjects, such as clinical images and videos, names, personal and health data, details, etc. that could allow for identifying the person, unless, the authors can prove that a statement confirming that informed consent to publish identifying information/images was obtained. Please note that bars or shapes hiding the facial region or parts of it are not considered means of anonymization.

Changes to authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts. Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Editor-in-Chief to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above.

Role of the funding source Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in the study design; in the collection, in the analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

Disclaimer

Neither the editors nor the Editorial Boards of AJGH are responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views, and the contents of the published manuscripts in the journal. The originality, proofreading of manuscripts, and errors are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.

Editor in chief of AJGH assures that its content follows the basic scope of the journal, and is responsible for the scientific quality of the published papers. Editor in chief leads the peer review process and reserves the right to make the final decision on whether to publish or reject the article submitted to the journal. Making this decision, the editor may confer with the managing editor, the editorial board, or the reviewers.

Editor in chief and managing editor ensure the submitted manuscript is treated with objectivity, regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author. They guarantee that the main criteria of paper selection being used are the scientific level of the paper as well as the conformity of its topic with the focus of the journal. They also ensure the paper accepted for publication meets the publication standard criteria of the journal including plagiarism, conflict of interest, and the writing guidelines. 

Manuscripts must be submitted in English. Authors will declare that their documents are submitted to AJGH, have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis), and are not under consideration by another journal. The cover letter should designate one author as a correspondent, and all other authors should sign the cover letter. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work. The copyright is reserved for incorporating any modifications deemed necessary by the editorial board members to make contributions harmonize with the editorial standards of the journal.  

Electronic Submission: The manuscript can be submitted online. The script should be in Microsoft Word 2003 or recent format. Figures should be produced by Microsoft Excel 2003 or updated form.  

we encourage open science.  

Structure of Articles: 

The text of the Original Articles should include a title page, abstract, keywords, introduction, patients and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgment, conflict of interest, references, tables, figures, and legends, enumerated from the title page. The length of the text should not exceed 4500 words without references.

The editor solicits review Articles, but AJGH will accept submitted reviews.  Both requested and unsolicited review articles undergo peer-review and editorial processing as original papers.

Editorials must consist of no more than 1000 words apart from references.

Letters to the Editor about an AJGH article must not exceed 600 words (excluding references) and must be received within three months of publication of the subject report. If authors are responding to an Online First article that does not have a print publication date, the article will be listed under "Online Articles." A letter can have no more than five references and one figure or table. No more than three authors can sign a letter. Case Reports and Brief Reports should be limited to 2000 words. Case reports should include abstract, keywords, a brief introduction, case presentation, discussion, acknowledgment, references, and 1 - 4 figures. Necessary documentations of the case(s) such as pathology reports, laboratory test reports, and imaging should be included in the submission package. Brief descriptions contain less scientific data than the original articles and should not have more than one figure and table.

The Journal will publish Medical Education and Short Review.