Ethical norms
Ethics guidelines of the Editorial Board of "Intermedical journal"
General provisions
Ethics guidelines of the editorial board are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
The editorial board considers the monitoring of ethics of the manuscripts as one of the aspects of its activities and the peer-review process.
Editors don’t approve the materials which contain insulting statements, manifestations of aggression or any discrimination, or incite ethnic and racial hatred, violate international legal norms and current legislation of Ukraine.
Editors are not responsible for opinions, judgments, results and conclusions made by the authors of articles and published in the journal. They do not represent the point of view of the editorial board.
Editors are not liable to the authors and/or third parties and organizations for possible damage caused by the publication of the article.
The authors are responsible for the originality or any unfair use of the intellectual property of other authors, as well as for the reliability of information, the accuracy of names, surnames, etc.
Editors reserve the right to review the above ethical principles to amend them.
Ethical guidelines for editors
▶ editors take responsibility for everything they publish and thus, all submitted materials are subject to careful selection and peer review. Editors reserve the right to reject an article or send back for improving;
▶ editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process within a reasonable time;
▶ editors are entitled to reject a manuscript without peer-reviewing if it doesn’t meet the editorial policy, ethics and requirements for manuscripts;
▶ editors shall not provide information related to the content of a manuscript under consideration to other persons, except ones involved in the professional evaluation of this manuscript;
▶ editors are authorized to withdraw the electronic version of the article published in the printed version of the journal, if someone’s rights or generally accepted rules of scientific ethics are violated. The editors inform the author who provided the article and the organization where the work was performed about the fact of withdrawal of the article. Editors also publish a notice of the fact of withdrawal of the article in the next issue of the journal;
▶ editors allow distributing any articles or extracts from the journal in electronic social networks, but reference to the original source is mandatory. The third parties or organizations are prohibited to publish and / or distribute the journal materials in paper form and data storage devices.
Ethical guidelines for authors
▶ the research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. Authors should mention dangerous manifestations and risks associated with the research;
▶ researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
▶ researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere;
▶ a manuscript can involve scientifically grounded criticism of a paper of another researcher. The personal comments are not regarded as relevant;
▶ funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed. Authors should guarantee a lack of the contractual relations or
property considerations, which could influence the publication of information contained in a manuscript;
▶ authors should indicate the sources of cited information, which should be properly acknowledged and referenced.
Ethical guidelines for peer-reviews
▶ if an appointed peer-reviewer is not confident that his qualification meets the level of research, he/she should give the manuscript back immediately;
▶ a reviewer should be impartial when evaluating a manuscript, its experimental and theoretical parts, interpretation and statement, as well as take into account the correspondence of the research compliance with the high scientific and literature standards. The reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of authors.
▶ a reviewer should take into account a possibility of the conflict of interests if a particular manuscript closely relates to the reviewer’s current or published paper. If there are doubts, the reviewer should refuse to review the manuscripts referring to the conflict of interests;
▶ a reviewer should assess a manuscript if he/she has personal or professional relations and if such relations can influence the impartiality;
▶ a reviewer shouldn’t show a manuscript under review others or discuss it with colleagues, only if the reviewer needs professional advice;
▶ reviewers should adequately explain and justify their judgments so that editors and authors can understand the reasons their comments are based on;
▶ a reviewer should indicate any cases of a lack of citations of the papers of other scholars, any significant similarity between the relevant manuscript and any published article or any manuscript simultaneously submitted to another journal;
▶ a reviewer should provide a review without undue delay;
▶ reviewers should not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the manuscript without the consent of the author.
Copyright and Licensing
All materials published in the scientific journal are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International (CC-BY) license. This means that:
Copyright: Authors retain the copyright for their works published in the journal, in accordance with the terms of the CC-BY license.
Permissions: The license allows users to freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, cite, or reference scientific articles, provided the authorship is properly attributed, in compliance with the requirements of the license.
Conditions of use: The use of materials for any commercial or non-commercial purposes is permitted, provided that proper attribution is given, and the content of the articles is not altered unless otherwise stated.
User obligations: When using materials published in the journal, users are required to provide correct attribution to the authors and the source of publication, indicating accurate details of authorship and publication, and not to alter the content of the articles.
Other rights: The license does not restrict authors from publishing their works in other publications or using their materials under different conditions, as long as this does not contradict the requirements of the CC-BY license.
This policy ensures open access to scientific materials and promotes the dissemination of knowledge while protecting the authors' rights.
Conflict of Interest Policy
Intermedical journal adheres to the ethical principles outlined in the Code of Conduct for Research Publication Ethics, developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and strives to ensure transparency and integrity at every stage of the publication process.
A conflict of interest arises when financial, personal, or professional interests of the author, reviewer, or editor may influence their decisions or actions in the publication process, thereby questioning their impartiality and objectivity. The publication of articles with potential conflicts of interest can undermine trust in scientific research and compromise academic integrity.
Author’s Obligations:
Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional interests that may affect the outcome of their research or the scientific opinion expressed in their article. This includes any sponsorship agreements, funding, competing interests, or personal relationships that may be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Authors are required to inform the editorial board of any conflicts of interest prior to submitting an article for review, as well as after publication, if new circumstances arise that may create a conflict of interest.
Reviewer’s Obligations:
Reviewers must inform the editorial board of any potential conflicts of interest that may affect their ability to provide an objective and impartial assessment of the article. If a reviewer has financial or personal relationships with the author or other factors that may introduce bias, they must decline to review the article.
Editor’s Obligations:
Editors of the journal must adhere to standards of impartiality and transparency when evaluating articles and making decisions about publication. They are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may affect the publication process.
If a conflict of interest is discovered during the review process or after publication, the journal's editorial team may take appropriate measures, including retracting the article or publishing a clarification to ensure transparency for readers.
In the case of a serious conflict of interest, the editorial team may refuse to publish the article or recognize its findings if the research has been distorted due to undisclosed or hidden interests.
Anti-plagiarism policy
Intermedical journal accepts only original manuscripts that have not been previously published and have not been submitted to other journals.
All articles are checked for plagiarism using StrikePlagiarism.com, provided by the Polish company Plagiat.pl. Manuscripts that contain plagiarism or textual borrowing without proper references to the original sources will be rejected by the editorial board, and further investigation into the causes and circumstances of the borrowing will be conducted.
The editorial board thoroughly examines any instance of plagiarism. If plagiarism or textual borrowing is identified by the editors or reviewers at any stage before the manuscript is published, the author(s) will be informed and asked to clarify whether the detected plagiarism is indeed their own work or whether it is original work of theirs that has been borrowed by another person and published (i.e., not plagiarism in the case of the peer-reviewed article). If this is not the case, the author is asked to rewrite the text or provide proper references to their original source. If plagiarism exceeds 40%, the article may be rejected.
Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be assessed based on the extent of the plagiarism. If plagiarism is below 40%, the manuscript will be returned to the authors for revision. The author(s) are advised to review the borrowed text in the manuscript and resubmit the updated version. If plagiarism exceeds 40%, the manuscript will be rejected without further editorial review.
The percentage of plagiarism is determined using the appropriate software and is also reviewed by the editorial board.
If plagiarism is detected after publication, the editorial board may decide to retract the article from the journal’s electronic resources.
The editorial board does not support excessive self-citation but acknowledges the justified use of self-references for clarifying a previously expressed opinion or properly citing earlier conducted and published research.
Statement on the Use of Generative AI
Intermedical journal adheres to the principles of transparency, academic integrity, and research ethics in all stages of manuscript preparation, submission, and publication. In light of the growing use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools we provide the following statement regarding their acceptable use.
Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors of manuscripts. Responsibility for the content of the manuscript, including its accuracy, originality, and ethical compliance, rests solely with the human authors.
Authors may use GenAI tools for limited purposes such as improving language, grammar, or style, provided that:
Such use does not alter the scientific content or interpretation of data.
Authors critically review and validate all AI-generated outputs.
The use of GenAI is disclosed in the manuscript (e.g., in the Acknowledgments or a dedicated Methods section), specifying the tool used and the purpose of its application.
The use of GenAI for generating data, conducting literature reviews without verification, fabricating references, or creating original content (e.g., abstracts, conclusions, or results) without human oversight is strictly prohibited. Such practices may be considered a breach of publication ethics.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that the use of GenAI tools complies with all applicable ethical standards, including those concerning data privacy, consent, and intellectual property rights.
Editors and reviewers may use GenAI tools to assist in their work (e.g., for grammar checking or summarizing content), but such use must not compromise the confidentiality or integrity of the peer-review process. Any AI-assisted evaluation should always be accompanied by human judgment.
