Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Publication Ethics

The publication process at Medical Times serves as a cornerstone for the enhancement and dissemination of scientific knowledge in a fair, objective, and respectful manner. This process inherently improves the quality of scholarly contributions and upholds the integrity of scientific discourse. Peer-reviewed articles are central to the validation of the scientific method. Accordingly, it is essential that all stakeholders involved in the publication process—authors, readers, researchers, publishers, reviewers, and editors—adhere to rigorous ethical standards. Medical Times expects all parties to uphold the following ethical responsibilities, which align with the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to Medical Times must adhere to the following ethical obligations:

• Originality: Manuscripts must represent original research. Any use of previously published work must be properly cited with accurate in-text and end-text references.
• Authorship: Only individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the research should be listed as authors.
• Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the time of submission.
• Data Availability: Authors may be required to provide raw data during the review process and should be prepared to submit such data to the editorial board if requested.
• Participant Consent: Authors must document informed consent from study participants and ensure that appropriate permissions have been obtained for collecting, analysing, and sharing data.
• Correction of Errors: If an author identifies errors in their published or early-release manuscript, they must inform the editorial team and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
• Exclusive Submission: Manuscripts submitted to Medical Times should not be under consideration by other journals, and previously published work should not be resubmitted.
• Authorship Changes: Once the review process has commenced, changes to authorship (e.g., adding authors or reordering names) are not permitted.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

The editors of Medical Times should hold the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open Access by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

General duties and responsibilities

Editors are responsible for each study published in Medical Times. In this respect, the editors have the following roles and responsibilities:

• Striving to meet the informational needs of both readers and authors.
• Promoting the ongoing advancement of the journal.
• Overseeing processes aimed at enhancing the quality of published research.
• Advocating for intellectual freedom.
• Upholding principles of academic integrity.
• Adhering to established protocols without compromising intellectual property rights or ethical standards.
• Maintaining transparency and clarity in matters requiring correction or clarification.

Relationships with Readers

• Editors must make decisions by carefully considering the knowledge, expertise, and expectations of readers, researchers, and practitioners.
• Editors must ensure that the published studies make a meaningful contribution to the existing body of literature and demonstrate originality.
• Editors must take into account the feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners, and provide responses that are both explanatory and informative.

Relationships with Authors

Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with authors:

• Editors are responsible for making informed decisions regarding the studies' significance, originality, validity, clarity of expression, and alignment with the journal's aims and objectives.
• Editors must initiate the pre-review process for submissions within the journal's scope, provided the manuscript does not have substantial issues.
• Editors should consider positive recommendations made by reviewers unless the manuscript contains significant problems.
• New editors should refrain from altering previous editors' decisions regarding submitted studies, barring exceptional circumstances.
• "Blind Review and Review Process" must be published and editors must prevent possible diversions from the defined processes.
• Editors must publish an "Author's Guide" that is comprehensive enough in answering queries by authors. This guide must be updated regularly.
• Authors should be provided with explanatory and informative feedback.

Relationships with Reviewers

Editors must:

• Select reviewers based on their expertise in the subject matter of the manuscript.
• Provide reviewers with the necessary information and guidance to facilitate the review process.
• Monitor potential conflicts of interest between reviewers and authors to ensure impartiality.
• Maintain the confidentiality of reviewers' identities during the blind review process.
• Encourage reviewers to evaluate the manuscript with an unbiased, scientifically rigorous, and objective approach.
• Conduct regular evaluations of reviewers based on performance metrics such as quality of feedback and timeliness.
• Implement policies and practices aimed at enhancing reviewer performance and efficiency.
• Take proactive measures to continually update and expand the reviewer pool.
• Prevent the occurrence of unprofessional or unscientific reviews.
• Strive to ensure that the reviewer pool is diverse and comprehensive.
  
  

Relationships with the Editorial Board

Moreover, editors must

• Ensure that editorial board members review manuscripts impartially and independently.
• Select new board members who are qualified and can contribute effectively to the journal.
• Assign manuscripts for review based on the expertise of the board members.
• Maintain regular communication with the editorial board.
• Organize frequent meetings to discuss the development of publication policies and the journal.

Relationships with the Journal's Owner and Publisher

The relationship between the editors and the publisher is grounded in the principle of editorial independence.

Editorial and Blind Review Processes

Editors are obliged to comply with the policies of "Blind Review and Review Process" stated in the journal's publication policies. Therefore, the editors ensure that each manuscript is reviewed in an unbiased, fair and timely manner.

Quality Assurance

Editors must make sure that articles in the journal are published in accordance with the publication policies of the journal and international standards.

Protection of Personal Information

Editors are supposed to protect the personal information related with the subjects or visuals in the studies being reviewed, and to reject the study if there is no documentation of the subjects' consent. Furthermore, editors are supposed to protect the personal information of the authors, reviewers and readers.

Encouraging Ethical Rules and Protection of Human and Animal Rights

Editors are supposed to protect human and animal rights in the studies being reviewed and must reject the experimental studies which do not have ethical and related committee’s approval about the population given in such studies.

Precautions against possible Abuse and Malpractice

Editors are supposed to take precautions against possible abuse and malpractice. They must conduct investigations meticulously and objectively in determining and evaluating complaints about such situations. They must also share the results of the investigation.

Ensuring Academic Integrity

Editors must make sure that the mistakes, inconsistencies or misdirections in studies are corrected quickly.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all articles published in the journal and the rights of the journal and author(s) in cases where these rights are violated. They must also take the necessary precautions to prevent the content of all published articles from violating the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion

Editors must

• Pay attention to the convincing criticism about studies published in the journal and have a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
• Grant the right to reply to the author(s) of the criticized study.
• Do not ignore or exclude the study that includes negative results.

Complaints

Editors must examine the complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond to them in an explanatory and enlightening manner.

Political and Economic Apprehensions

Neither the journal's owner nor publisher nor any other political or economic factor can influence the editors' independent decision-making.

Conflicting Interests

Editors, acknowledging that there may be conflicting interests between reviewers and other editors, guarantee that the manuscripts' publication process will be completed in an independent and unbiased manner.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The fact that all manuscripts are reviewed through “Blind Review” directly influences the publication quality. This process ensures confidentiality by objective and independent review. The review process at Medical Times is carried out on the principle of double-blind review. Reviewers do not contact the authors directly; the reviews and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, the reviewer comments on the evaluation forms, and the editor assigns full texts to the author(s). In this context, the reviewers doing review work for Medical Times are supposed to bear the following ethical responsibilities:

Reviewers must

• Agree to review only in their subject of expertise.
• Review in an unbiased and confidential manner.
• Inform the journal editor if they think they encounter a conflict of interest and decline to review the manuscript during the review process.
• Dispose of the manuscripts they have reviewed following the principle of confidentiality after the review process. Reviewers can use the final versions of the manuscripts they have reviewed only after publication.
• Review the manuscript objectively and only in terms of its content, ensuring that nationality, gender, religious and political beliefs, and economic apprehension do not influence the review.
• review the manuscript in a constructive and kind tone. Avoid making personal comments including hostility, slander and insult.
• Review the manuscript they have agreed to review on time and following the above ethical rules.

Ethical Responsibilities of Publisher

The University of Georgia, the publisher of Medical Times, is a non-profit foundation university. Therefore, the Board of The University of Georgia is conscious of the fact that they must observe the ethical responsibilities below and act accordingly:

• Editors are responsible for all the processes that manuscripts submitted to Medical Times undergo. Within this framework, ignoring economic or political interests, the editors are the decision-makers.
• The publisher undertakes to make an independent editorial decision.
• The publisher bears all the responsibility to take precautions against scientific abuse, fraud and plagiarism.

Unethical Behavior

Should you encounter any unethical act or content in Medical Times apart from the ethical responsibilities listed above, please notify the journal by e-mail at ninomuseridze@ivfggrc.com