Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics - Ethical Guidelines for Publishing in the Primary Health Care Journal (Central Edition)

Announcement from the Development Center for Primary Health Care, Central Region, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand, Regarding the Guidelines for Ethical Practices and Publication Ethics in the Northeastern Primary Health Care Journal

The Primary Health Care Journal (Central Edition) continuously aims to enhance the quality of academic publications to improve the potential for academic development through high-quality journals. One significant aspect of this development is conducting journal operations in accordance with ethics and publication integrity. Therefore, the Primary Health Care Journal (Central Edition) considers ethical principles and integrity in line with the evaluation of ethics and integrity of Thai academic journals indexed in the Thai-Journal Citation Index: TCI. The following are the guidelines for ethical practices and publication ethics concerning various aspects:

Roles and Responsibilities of the Journal Editor

       1.The editor is responsible for reviewing, inspecting, and selecting articles for publication in the journal, ensuring that the content aligns with the journal's policies.
       2. Editors review the accuracy and quality of academic work before publication.
       3. Editors must operate the journal in accordance with its objectives, continually improving and developing it to meet standards.
       4. Editors should not have conflicting interests or gain benefits from authors or charge article processing fees (APCs) for expedited processing.
       5. Editors should not have conflicting interests or gain benefits from authors, peer reviewers, or editorial board members when using journal articles for business purposes or claiming academic works as their own.
       6. Editors must use academic reasoning to evaluate articles without bias regarding the authors' ethnicity, gender, religion, culture, politics, or affiliations.
       7. Editors must follow the workflow steps outlined by the journal.
       8. Editors must not modify or alter the content of articles, including academic works and reviewers' evaluations.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Authors

       1. Authors must be honest, ethical, and have integrity in conducting research and writing research reports.
       2. Authors must certify that the written work is based on truthful study outcomes, without distorting data or presenting false information.
       3. Authors must reference the work of others appearing in their work.
       4. Authors must not plagiarize the work of others.
       5. Authors are responsible for their work and must ensure that the work has not been previously published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
       6. Authors must list all co-owners of the work, specifying roles and responsibilities clearly in cases where the work is not solely authored.
       7. Authors must specify the funding sources for their research.
       8. Authors must pay an article assessment fee of 3,000 Baht if they withdraw or retract their articles after peer review.
       9. In cases of author misconduct, particularly in points 2, 3, 4, and 5, the journal will suspend publication rights for a minimum of 3 years and notify the author's affiliated institution or relevant authorities accordingly.

Roles and Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

       1. Peer reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of the submitted articles for evaluation.
       2. Peer reviewers must not have conflicting interests with authors or any other reasons that may impair their ability to provide impartial feedback. Reviewers must inform the journal editor and decline to review if such circumstances arise.
       3. Peer reviewers should evaluate articles in their area of expertise, considering the quality of the article based on international academic standards rather than personal opinions without supporting evidence.
       4. If peer reviewers identify any part of the assessed article that resembles or duplicates another work, they must notify the journal editor.

Ethical Principles in Human Research:

  1. Respect for free and informed consent: Providing comprehensive information and allowing volunteers to make decisions freely without coercion, intimidation, or inducement.
  2. Respect for privacy: Acknowledging the significance of personal privacy, rights to confidentiality, and behaviors indicative of privacy. Ensuring privacy by conducting consent requests and medical history screenings in discreet locations without explicit signage, such as clinics specializing in specific conditions.
  3. Respect for confidentiality: Safeguarding the privacy of volunteers' personal data through various means such as encryption for electronic communications, storage in locked cabinets or password-protected computers, and limited access to case reports, consent forms, and audiovisual recordings.
  4. Respect for vulnerable persons: Recognizing individuals who are unable to fully protect themselves, comprehend research information, or make independent decisions. Examples include those with intellectual or psychological impairments, HIV/AIDS patients, comatose individuals, handicapped persons, prisoners, students, soldiers, marginalized populations like immigrants, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, socially vulnerable groups such as sex workers, and drug addicts.
  5. CIOMS Guidelines 13 and 14 stipulate that research involving these groups must be justified, obtain legal representative consent, and seek individual consent where possible. Research involving children should avoid institutional settings unless direct benefits are expected for the participants or potential benefits for other children. Caregivers in institutional settings act as consent providers, with assent procedures also required as appropriate.

Announced on May 30, 2024