Editors Responsibilities

The editors of the International Journal of Tropical Medicine (IJTM) are responsible for maintaining the scientific quality, integrity, and independence of the journal. Editorial decisions are made objectively and are based on the scientific merit and relevance of each manuscript.

Editorial and Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief, together with the editorial team, is responsible for determining which manuscripts are considered for publication. Decisions are based on factors including:

  • Originality and scientific contribution

  • Methodological quality and validity

  • Clarity of presentation

  • Ethical compliance

  • Relevance to the scope of IJTM

  • Importance and potential contribution to the field

Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial interests and are not influenced by the author's nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, ethnicity, religion, or personal or political views.

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the journal's editorial content and publication schedule.

Fair and Independent Editorial Process

Editors must evaluate manuscripts fairly and consistently. Manuscripts are assessed according to the same editorial and peer-review standards regardless of the identity or institutional affiliation of the authors.

Editors should not participate in decisions concerning manuscripts in which they have a personal, professional, financial, or other conflict of interest.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts. Information relating to a manuscript should only be shared with individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process, such as the authors, reviewers, editorial advisers, and publisher, when appropriate.

Editors must not disclose unpublished information about a manuscript without authorization.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest and should withdraw from handling a manuscript where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

When an editor submits a manuscript to IJTM, the manuscript should be handled independently by another qualified editor and evaluated through the journal's normal peer-review process.

Protection of Unpublished Material

Unpublished information, data, methods, results, or ideas obtained through the editorial or peer-review process must not be used by editors or editorial board members for their own research or professional advantage without the author's appropriate permission.

Ethical Responsibilities

Editors have a responsibility to respond appropriately when concerns are raised about the ethical conduct or integrity of a submitted or published manuscript.

Where necessary, the editorial team may investigate concerns relating to:

  • Plagiarism

  • Duplicate or redundant publication

  • Fabrication or falsification of data

  • Authorship disputes

  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest

  • Ethical approval or informed-consent concerns

  • Other forms of research or publication misconduct

IJTM will follow recognized publication-ethics principles and COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidance when addressing suspected misconduct and post-publication concerns.

Corrections and Retractions

When a significant error or integrity concern is identified in a published article, the journal may publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate.

The journal's primary objective is to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the published scientific record.

Editorial Independence

The editorial team maintains responsibility for editorial decisions independently of the publisher's commercial interests. The publisher does not interfere with decisions concerning the acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts based on commercial considerations.