PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
The Cross River Journal of Medicine (CRJMED) is committed to maintaining high standards of honesty, fairness, transparency and accountability in scholarly publishing. Everyone involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers and editors, shares responsibility for protecting the integrity of research and the reliability of the scientific record.
CRJMED’s approach to publication ethics is guided by internationally recognised standards, including recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
This policy applies to manuscripts submitted to the Journal as well as articles already published by CRJMED.
1. AUTHORSHIP AND CONTRIBUTORSHIP
Authorship should be reserved for individuals who have made meaningful intellectual contributions to the work.
CRJMED applies the four ICMJE criteria for authorship. Each listed author should:
have contributed substantially to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data;
have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
have approved the version submitted for publication; and
be willing to take responsibility for the work and respond appropriately to questions concerning its accuracy or integrity.
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet all four authorship criteria should be recognised in the acknowledgements where appropriate.
Honorary, guest and ghost authorship are not acceptable.
Requests to add, remove or change the order of authors after submission must be accompanied by an explanation and evidence that all affected authors agree to the proposed change. Where an authorship disagreement cannot be resolved among the authors, the Journal may refer the matter to the authors’ institution or another appropriate body rather than attempt to adjudicate the dispute itself.
2. ORIGINALITY, PLAGIARISM AND DUPLICATE PUBLICATION
Manuscripts submitted to CRJMED must represent original work and must not be under simultaneous consideration by another journal.
Plagiarism, including the unattributed use of another person’s words, ideas, images or data, is unacceptable.
Authors must disclose substantial overlap between the submitted manuscript and any work that has previously been published, submitted or made publicly available. Duplicate publication, redundant publication and inappropriate fragmentation of a single study into several substantially similar papers may be regarded as breaches of publication ethics.
Previously published material may be reused only where appropriate acknowledgement is provided and any required copyright permission has been obtained.
CRJMED may use plagiarism-detection software and other appropriate editorial checks when assessing submitted manuscripts.
3. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION MISCONDUCT
CRJMED will take reasonable steps to investigate credible concerns about research or publication misconduct, whether these concerns arise before or after publication.
Such concerns may include, but are not limited to:
fabrication or falsification of data;
plagiarism;
inappropriate alteration or manipulation of images or data;
duplicate or redundant publication that has not been disclosed;
inappropriate authorship practices;
failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest;
manipulation of citations;
false or misleading statements about methods, results or ethical approval; and
other serious departures from accepted standards of research or publication practice.
Concerns will be considered fairly and with appropriate regard for confidentiality. Authors may be asked to provide explanations, ethics documents, source data or other material needed to clarify the issue.
Where the matter cannot appropriately be resolved by the Journal alone, CRJMED may contact the relevant institution, research ethics committee, funding organisation or other responsible authority.
Editorial action will depend on the circumstances and may include rejection of a manuscript, publication of a correction, retraction or another response considered proportionate to the evidence.
4. PEER REVIEW AND EDITORIAL INTEGRITY
CRJMED operates a double-blind peer-review system. Manuscripts considered suitable following initial editorial assessment are normally evaluated by independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise.
Editorial decisions should be based on the scientific quality, originality, relevance, clarity and suitability of the manuscript for the Journal.
Manuscripts under review are confidential documents. Editors and reviewers must not disclose, use or exploit unpublished information obtained through the review process for personal, academic, professional or commercial advantage.
Reviewers are expected to:
provide objective, constructive and timely assessments;
review only manuscripts for which they have appropriate expertise;
disclose any relevant conflict of interest;
decline an invitation where impartial review is not reasonably possible;
protect the confidentiality of the manuscript and review process; and
alert the Editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication or other ethical concerns.
An editor who has a conflict of interest in relation to a manuscript should not participate in the editorial decision on that submission. Responsibility should be transferred to another suitably qualified editor who can handle the manuscript independently.
5. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND FUNDING
Authors must disclose financial and non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, its interpretation or its presentation.
Sources of funding should be stated. Where relevant, authors should also describe whether the funder had any role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation or decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewers and editors should similarly disclose relationships or interests that may affect, or appear to affect, their objectivity. Where such a conflict is significant, the individual should withdraw from the review or editorial decision.
6. ETHICAL OVERSIGHT OF RESEARCH
Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and should receive approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board where such approval is required.
Authors should identify the approving body in the manuscript and provide the approval or reference number where one has been issued.
Appropriate informed consent should be obtained when required by the nature of the research and applicable ethical standards.
Authors should take particular care to protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of research participants, especially children, persons with impaired decision-making capacity and other potentially vulnerable populations.
Identifiable clinical information, photographs or case details should not be published without appropriate consent for publication unless there is a clear and defensible ethical and legal basis for publication without such consent.
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national and internationally accepted standards for animal welfare and ethical research.
CRJMED may request documentary evidence of ethical approval where clarification is required.
7. DATA INTEGRITY, AVAILABILITY AND REPRODUCIBILITY
Authors are responsible for ensuring that the data reported in their manuscript are accurate and presented honestly.
Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation or presentation of data in a manner that materially misrepresents the findings is unacceptable.
Where appropriate, and subject to ethical, legal and confidentiality requirements, authors are encouraged to make supporting data available or include a clear statement explaining whether and under what conditions the data may be accessed.
The Journal may request relevant datasets, ethics documentation, analysis records or other supporting material when this is reasonably necessary to investigate questions about a submitted or published article.
8. CLINICAL TRIALS AND REPORTING STANDARDS
Clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible trial registry in accordance with accepted international standards.
Authors should follow recognised reporting guidelines appropriate to the design of their study. These may include CONSORT for randomised trials, STROBE for observational research, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, CARE for case reports and other relevant guidelines available through the EQUATOR Network.
Where prospective trial registration is required, authors should provide the registration details. Undisclosed absence of required registration, or significant unexplained deviation from an approved protocol, may require clarification before the manuscript can proceed.
9. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AI-ASSISTED TOOLS
CRJMED recognises that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies are increasingly used in research and scholarly writing. Such tools may assist with activities including language improvement, translation, manuscript organisation, literature management, coding, data visualisation and drafting based on author-provided material.
Responsibility for the manuscript, however, remains entirely with the human authors. Authors must verify the accuracy, originality, references, analysis and interpretation of all submitted material.
Artificial intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work, approve the final manuscript or meet the accountability requirements of authorship.
AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, invent references, misrepresent findings or compromise patient privacy, confidentiality, copyright or research integrity.
Substantive use of generative AI in preparing a manuscript should be disclosed, preferably in the acknowledgement section, with the tool and purpose of its use stated. Routine spelling, punctuation and grammar correction does not require disclosure.
AI-assisted diagrams, figures or visualisations may be used where their underlying content can be verified and their use is appropriately disclosed. Generative AI should not be used to create, fabricate or misleadingly modify primary research, clinical or evidential images.
Editors and reviewers may use appropriate AI tools to support activities such as language review, manuscript organisation, reporting checklists, literature exploration or critical reflection, provided that confidentiality is preserved and editorial judgement is not delegated to the technology. Confidential manuscripts or manuscript information should not be uploaded to public or unsecured AI systems.
10. CITATION PRACTICES
References should be selected because they are relevant to the work and contribute meaningfully to the scholarly discussion.
Authors should not add references solely to increase citations to themselves, particular researchers, institutions or journals.
Likewise, reviewers and editors should not ask authors to add unnecessary references for the purpose of increasing citation counts.
Any recommendation to include an additional reference should be based on its genuine relevance to the manuscript.
11. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS
Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe that an important factual, scientific or procedural issue was overlooked or misunderstood.
An appeal should explain clearly why reconsideration is being requested and should provide relevant evidence or supporting information.
Complaints about the editorial process, publication ethics, reviewer conduct or the conduct of members of the editorial team will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, confidentially.
Where a complaint or appeal concerns the Editor-in-Chief, responsibility for handling the matter should be transferred to an appropriate senior editor or other responsible person who was not involved in the original decision.
Submission of an appeal does not, by itself, require an editorial decision to be reversed.
12. CORRECTIONS, RETRACTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN
CRJMED is committed to preserving the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
Where a significant error is identified after publication, the Journal may publish a correction or another appropriate notice.
Retraction may be considered where there is reliable evidence that the findings are substantially unreliable because of error or misconduct, where serious plagiarism or redundant publication has occurred, or where another problem fundamentally undermines confidence in the article.
An expression of concern may be published where serious questions have been raised about an article but an investigation remains incomplete or the available evidence does not yet justify a definitive conclusion.
Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern should be clearly linked to the affected article and should explain the reason for the editorial action.
Published articles should not normally disappear from the scholarly record simply because an error has been discovered. Where a correction adequately resolves the problem, the preferred approach is to correct the record transparently while retaining the original publication history.
13. ARTICLE WITHDRAWAL
Before publication, a manuscript may be withdrawn where there is a legitimate reason and the appropriate authors and editorial office have been informed.
Withdrawal should not be confused with retraction.
Removal or withdrawal of an article after formal publication should be reserved for exceptional circumstances, particularly where continued public availability creates serious legal, privacy or safety concerns that cannot reasonably be addressed through correction, retraction or another transparent notice.
14. POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSION
CRJMED encourages responsible scholarly discussion of work published in the Journal.
Readers who identify a possible error, methodological concern or ethical issue may contact the Journal. Where appropriate, the authors of the article may be invited to respond.
Substantive concerns affecting the reliability or integrity of a publication will be considered under the Journal’s publication-ethics procedures and may result in a correction, expression of concern, retraction or other appropriate editorial action.
15. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT
Authors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted to CRJMED does not improperly infringe the copyright or intellectual-property rights of another person or organisation.
Permission should be obtained where required before reproducing or substantially adapting previously published tables, figures, illustrations, photographs or other copyrighted material.
This section should be read together with CRJMED’s applicable copyright and licensing policies.
16. EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE
Editorial decisions must be made on scholarly, scientific and ethical grounds.
Commercial considerations, institutional pressure, personal relationships or political interests should not determine whether a manuscript is accepted or rejected.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board have a responsibility to safeguard the independence of the editorial process and the integrity of the Journal’s published content.
17. HANDLING ETHICAL CONCERNS
Anyone who becomes aware of a possible ethical problem involving a manuscript submitted to, or an article published by, CRJMED may contact the Journal through the contact information provided on its website.
A concern should identify the manuscript or article involved and provide sufficient information for the Journal to understand and assess the matter.
CRJMED will consider credible concerns objectively, protect confidentiality where appropriate, obtain clarification from relevant parties when necessary and take action proportionate to the available evidence.
Where appropriate, the Journal may consult established COPE procedures, ICMJE recommendations and other recognised standards of publication ethics when determining how a matter should be handled.
18. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SCHOLARLY RECORD
CRJMED’s responsibility for publication integrity continues after an article has been published.
Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to cooperate with reasonable enquiries concerning published or submitted work and with legitimate efforts to correct the scholarly record.
Where credible concerns arise about the ethics, integrity, accuracy or reliability of material submitted to or published by CRJMED, the Journal reserves the right to investigate the matter and take appropriate editorial action.
