Journal of Integrative Islamic Medicine (JIIM) upholds honesty, transparency, fairness, confidentiality, accountability, and respect for research participants in scholarly publishing. These principles apply to authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher throughout the submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication processes.

Authors' Responsibilities

Authors must report their research accurately and provide sufficient methodological detail to enable scientific evaluation. Data fabrication, falsification, misleading image manipulation, misleading selective reporting, fabricated references, and conclusions unsupported by evidence are prohibited.

Manuscripts must be original works and must not be under consideration by another journal. Ideas, texts, data, tables, figures, or materials belonging to others must be appropriately attributed. Any relationship between the manuscript and relevant theses, dissertations, reports, preprints, conference papers, or previous publications must be disclosed.

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions, approved the final version, and agreed to take responsibility for the work. Authors' contributions must be described in accordance with the journal's authorship and contribution policies. Funding sources, financial and non-financial conflicts of interest, and data availability must be declared. Restrictions on access to data must be explained, particularly when related to patient confidentiality, participant consent, or legal and institutional requirements.

Ethics of Medical and Health Research

Research involving human participants must report approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board, or a valid exemption where applicable. Authors must explain informed consent, privacy and confidentiality protections, and additional safeguards for vulnerable participants.

Clinical information, photographs, videos, pedigrees, quotations, or documents that could identify patients or research participants require appropriate consent for publication. Personal data must be protected throughout collection, analysis, storage, sharing, and publication.

Animal research must comply with applicable institutional and national animal welfare standards. Clinical trials must be prospectively registered in an appropriate public registry and reported consistently with the registered protocol and relevant reporting guidelines. Where applicable, manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement and, for clinical trials, an appropriate data-sharing statement.

Editors' Responsibilities

Editors evaluate manuscripts based on relevance, originality, methodological quality, clarity of reporting, ethical compliance, and scientific contribution. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliation, disability, political views, or other personal characteristics unrelated to scientific merit.

Editors and editorial staff must maintain manuscript confidentiality and restrict access to individuals directly involved in the editorial process. Unpublished information must not be used for personal advantage. Editors must manage conflicts of interest and address suspected misconduct fairly, confidentially, and on the basis of evidence.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers must provide objective, specific, evidence-based, and constructive evaluations within their areas of expertise. Review invitations must be declined when reviewers lack the appropriate expertise, cannot complete the review within the requested timeframe, or have conflicts of interest that could compromise their independence.

Submitted manuscripts are confidential documents. Reviewers must not distribute, reproduce, or use unpublished materials outside the review process without editorial permission. Suspected plagiarism, ethical concerns, inconsistencies in clinical trial registration, data-related problems, or other integrity issues must be reported confidentially to the editor. Reviewers' responsibilities are further detailed in the Reviewer Guidelines .

Publisher's Responsibilities

The publisher supports editorial independence, transparent journal governance, preservation of the scholarly record, and fair complaint handling. Institutional, financial, advertising, sponsorship, or other interests must not determine manuscript acceptance or rejection. The publisher supports the editorial team in issuing corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other appropriate notices when necessary.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Tools

Artificial intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot approve manuscripts, disclose conflicts of interest, or assume accountability for the work. Human authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, validity, references, and integrity of all submitted content.

Substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in writing, analysis, code generation, image creation or modification, or other research activities must be transparently disclosed by identifying the tools used and their purposes. Authors must verify all AI-assisted outputs. AI must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, conceal manipulation, or mislead readers.

Editors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts, patient information, unpublished data, images, tables, or supplementary materials to publicly accessible AI services. Tools used in editorial or review workflows must provide adequate confidentiality and data protection and comply with journal policies.

Complaints, Appeals, and Allegations of Misconduct

Complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing through the journal's official contact channels, with clear reasons and relevant supporting information. Complaints concerning an editor must be handled by an individual who was not directly involved in the disputed decision.

Allegations of research or publication misconduct will be examined fairly and confidentially, with the parties concerned given an opportunity to respond. The editorial team may request raw data, ethics documentation, clinical trial registration records, or additional explanations and may contact authors' institutions when necessary. Editorial actions will be determined based on the available evidence and the seriousness of the concerns.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

Authors who discover material errors after publication must promptly contact the editorial office. Corrections may be published when errors can be rectified without invalidating the main findings. Expressions of concern may be issued when serious issues remain under investigation. Retractions may be issued when findings are unreliable, publication is redundant, serious misconduct is established, or fundamental ethical violations have occurred.

Every post-publication notice must clearly explain the reasons for the editorial action and remain linked to the relevant article so that readers can trace changes to the scholarly record.