Editorial Policies

JOGECA follows and endorses practices, policies, and recommendations by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Submission of manuscripts to JOGECA imply that authors have read and agree and that their manuscripts adhere to the stipulated journal policies.

Publication ethics

JOGECA follows the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of scholarly work in medical journals issued by the ICMJE, and standards defined in the World Medical Association Helsinki Declaration. JOGECA strictly adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct for editors and COPE's guidelines on research conduct, authorship, and article writing. 

Open access

JOGECA provides immediate Open Access to its content on the basis of making research universally and freely available via the internet. The author(s) retain the copyright of articles published by JOGECA. Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and the source are properly cited.

Copyright and license

Authors submitting manuscripts to JOGECA retain the copyright and allow the journal to publish and archive the article under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) 4.0 International. All authors will be required to sign an Author Agreement form detailing the agreement with the journal prior to the article being published.

Research reporting guidelines

Manuscripts submitted to the journal should conform to the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (ICMJE) and standards defined in the Helsinki Declaration. Reporting of findings should follow relevant recommendations as described in CARE, CONSORT, STROBE, SPIRIT, STARD, AGREE, SRQR, ARRIVE, SQUIRE, CHEERS, and PRISMA statements.

Originality and plagiarism

Scholarly works submitted to JOGECA should be original and free of plagiarism. Where the works of others have been used, this should be appropriately cited. Any form of plagiarism is unethical and is ground for rejection of manuscripts. All articles submitted to JOGECA are screened for plagiarism.

Dual publications

Articles submitted to JOGECA are considered for exclusive publication. Authors must provide a statement on whether the article or any of its elements have ever been published anywhere before. If so, copyright issues may be considered. This information should be as accurate and detailed as possible as it will be published in the final accepted manuscripts.

Authorship

Authors should adhere to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for study authorship of manuscripts submitted to scientific journals. Authorship credit should be based on (1) Substantial contributions to conception and design, OR acquisition of data OR analysis and interpretation of data, (2) Drafting the article OR revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (3) Final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet criteria 1, 2 and 3.

Those who have given substantial contributions to the manuscript and do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their consent. 

Editorial policy

Manuscripts submitted to JOGECA are initially reviewed by the assistant editor(s) and associate editor(s). Manuscripts that do not meet the author guidelines may be rejected at this stage. Authors may be advised on corrections to be made for resubmission. Articles that pass this stage are sent to two reviewers. 

Editorial board and staff

Editors, editorial board members, and staff are obligated to declare any competing interests that might influence editorial or peer review processes. They will be required to exclude themselves where competing interests exist. Editors, editorial board members, and staff can submit manuscripts to the journal; however, their roles and statuses do not guarantee special treatment. Where the editorial board and staff have declared competing interests in handling specific manuscripts, other members of the editorial board and staff will be assigned to oversee the editorial and peer review processes for those articles. 

Peer review policy

JOGECA operates a double-anonymous peer review approach to safeguard against peer review bias that may result from author, geographical or institutional identification. Articles submitted to JOGECA must adhere to article preparation guidelines to enable double-anonymous peer review. Separate files should be sent for the title page and an anonymized manuscript. Identifiable information, including the title page, ethical registration, acknowledgments and mentions of authors or institutions must be excluded in anonymized manuscripts.

Competing interests

Authors, editorial board members and staff are required to declare any affiliations or relationships, financial or non-financial that could be viewed as potentially competing interests. This information should be as accurate and detailed as possible to help guide handling of submitted manuscripts. Journal authors, editorial board and staff are obliged to adhere to specific recommendations.

Availability of data and material

Manuscripts submitted to JOGECA must include a statement on availability of data and materials. The statement should include information on where the supporting data can be found, including hyperlinks to datasets generated from the study or  public archived datasets.

Author misconduct

JOGECA seriously considers allegations of potential misconduct against authors publishing in the journal. The journal will handle all allegations following COPE  guidelines and relevant practices. The journal recognizes the local cultural and legal complexity that may arise in handling these cases and will remain guided by existing policies and wider consultations with the editorial board and society, and where need be, escalate the issues to relevant third parties, including institutions, ethical committees.

Reviewer misconduct

JOGECA seriously considers potential reviewer misconduct in the journal. The journal will handle all allegations following COPE  guidelines and relevant practices. The journal recognizes complexity that may arise in handling these cases and will remain guided by existing sanction policies and wider consultations with the editorial board and society, and where need be, escalate the issues to relevant third parties, including institutions, ethical committees. Measures, including education may 

Research misconduct

Authors are required to conduct research on human subjects and animals following appropriate ethical guidelines. Manuscripts may be rejected where there is deviation from appropriate ethical guidelines in conducting research, the editor may inform relevant third parties, including, institutions and ethics committees. Where there are serious ethical concerns, published articles may be withdrawn or retracted.

Publication misconduct

Authors are required to adhere to set publication ethical policies. Manuscripts may be withdrawn or retracted where there is deviation from appropriate publication ethical guidelines. This may include concerns on authorship, image/figure or data integrity, or ethics The journal will follow specific guidelines in handling allegations of publication misconduct.

Article withdrawal and retraction

Articles to be published or already published may be withdrawn or retracted, respectively where there is breach of publication or research ethics. The editor will be guided by the editorial board and society. Readers visiting the electronic resource will be notified about the withdrawal or retraction of specific articles.

Article removal

Articles may be removed from the journal’s database in cases, including defamation, infringement of legal rights or execution of a court order.  

Article correction or replacement

Authors may be allowed to provide corrected versions of withdrawn articles at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Journal readers will be redirected to the corrected copy of the article. 

Language and scientific style

Articles submitted to the journal must be written in English. The journal's preferred style is American English. Authors whose first language is not English are required to seek language or scientific editing services.

Galley proofs and corrections

Electronic galley proofs in portable document format (PDF) will be sent to corresponding authors and may share with the co-authors for their review, approval, or correction where necessary. Changes to the galley proofs may be considered at the discretion of the editor provided. 

Privacy statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Disclaimer

Statements and opinions expressed in the manuscripts are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editor(s) or publisher. The editor(s) or publisher disclaims any responsibility or liability for such information. The author(s), editor(s), and publisher do not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product or service advertised in the publication, nor do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of said product or service.