Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Publication Ethics & Policies (SEEMEDJ)

For all parties involved in the act of publishing (the author, the journal editor(s), the peer reviewer and the publisher) it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. Southeastern European Medical Journal (SEEMEDJ) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and preventing any form of malpractice in the publishing process. This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement outlines the ethical guidelines for all parties involved in the publication of research articles in the field of biomedicine and health.

Author Responsibilities

Authors submitting manuscripts to SEEMEDJ accept the rights and responsibilities inherent to the evaluation and potential publication process. An author is someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to the work; authors are those with significant contributions, and all authors approve the final version. Authors bear collective responsibility for determining authorship order. Individuals who contributed but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be named with affiliations in the Acknowledgments. An authorship contribution statement is required and is published with each article. Authors warrant that the submission is original, not published elsewhere, and not under consideration elsewhere. Data and results must be presented accurately, and any potential conflicts of interest must be declared; all sources of financial support and conflicts of interest appear in the funding and COI statements in the article. Where provided, author’s ORCID is listed. Authors must include a data availability statement indicating where data, code, and protocols can be accessed or explaining restrictions for privacy, legal, or intellectual property reasons. Authors must comply with the journals AI usage (see section Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools).

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers are expected to conduct objective, constructive reviews that assist editorial decisions and guide improvements. Invited experts should promptly inform the editor if they cannot meet timelines or if the submission lies outside their expertise, enabling reassignment. Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that could affect impartiality and decline reviews when such relationships exist. The review process is confidential; manuscripts may not be shared or discussed with others. Reviews should be clear, well argued, and should highlight ethical concerns, overlooked citations, and any substantial overlap with other publications. Where appropriate, reviewers may request clarifications of methods, data availability, or analysis steps to assess reproducibility and compliance with the AI.

SEEMEDJ Editor Responsibilities

The Editor in Chief and editorial team decide which submissions to publish, maintaining accountability for journal content and ensuring decisions reflect peer review, editorial board input, and applicable legal requirements, including copyright and plagiarism. Editors uphold academic integrity, prioritize intellectual and ethical standards, and publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, or apologies when necessary, including for potential misconduct by any party. Manuscripts are evaluated solely on intellectual content without discrimination by race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or institutional affiliation. Editorial staff must not disclose submission information beyond authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, and board members as required; confidential content must not be used for editors own research. Commercial revenue does not influence editorial decisions. Editors ensure fair, unbiased peer review and recuse themselves when conflicts of interest exist, including competitive or collaborative relationships with authors. Editors require transparent author disclosures and publish COI statements with articles. Editors may request documentation of adherence to the AI usage policy and the essay paragraph writing requirement during peer review or post acceptance checks.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure their work is entirely original; where the work or words of others are used, appropriate citation or quotation is mandatory. SEEMEDJ employs plagiarism detection software to identify and prevent plagiarism and redundant publication. Manuscripts violating ethical standards, including plagiarism, duplication, or undeclared AI generated content, will be rejected. If serious concerns arise after publication, SEEMEDJ may issue a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction consistent with post publication policies.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

Manuscripts involving chemicals, procedures, or equipment with unusual hazards must clearly identify such risks. Studies involving human or animal subjects must include statements confirming compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and approvals by appropriate committees. For human research, informed consent must be obtained and documented, and privacy rights strictly observed. Authors must provide ethics approval identifiers, consent procedures, and de-identification measures; see Ethical Oversight for detailed requirements.

Ethical Conduct of Research

Human studies must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision) and be approved by institutional ethics committees; consent from participants or legal guardians is mandatory. Animal studies must confirm adherence to institutional and national standards for animal care and use. Clinical trials require prospective registration in a public registry and applicable reporting checklists (e.g., CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE, ARRIVE). Potential dual use or biosecurity concerns must be disclosed; the editorial office may seek additional review or decline publication if misuse risks outweigh benefits.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy post publication, they must promptly notify the editor or publisher and cooperate to retract or correct the work. Authors should respond to editorial inquiries concerning suspected errors or image manipulation within ten business days to facilitate timely resolution.

Publishers Confirmation

In cases of alleged or proven misconduct, fraudulent publication, plagiarism, or undisclosed AI-generated content, the publisher, in collaboration with the editors, will clarify the situation and amend the record as appropriate, including prompt errata or, in severe cases, retractions. Complaints or appeals regarding editorial decisions or potential misconduct should be submitted by email to seemedj@mefos.hr, including a clear explanation and any supporting evidence.

Complaints and Appeals

SEEMEDJ welcomes complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review conduct, publication timelines, and alleged breaches of journal policies. Complaints must be submitted to seemedj@mefos.hr with a factual description, desired outcome, and supporting evidence. The journal acknowledges receipt in reasonable time period consulting independent experts without conflicts of interest as needed. Written outcomes include rationale and remedies, which may comprise reconsideration, renewed review, apology or correction, or escalation to the publisher or relevant institution. One appeal is permitted within fourteen days when new, material information is provided; appeals are adjudicated independently of the original decision and are final. Confidentiality is preserved, and individuals with conflicts are recused.

Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests

All participants must disclose relationships, activities, and interests that could be perceived to influence the work. Authors disclose financial interests (employment, stock, grants, consulting, paid testimony), non-financial interests (advisory roles, advocacy, personal relationships), and intellectual property (patents) over the prior three years, together with funding statements, the role of the funder, and data access notes. Editors and reviewers recuse themselves where conflicts exist (recent co-authorship, same institution within three years, supervisory relationships, relevant financial interests). Non-compliance can result in corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, and notification of institutions or funders where warranted.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility

SEEMEDJ authors are strongly encouraged to share data and to demonstrate results and allow validation. Authors can deposit data, code, and protocols in trusted domain repositories or generalist repositories (e.g., Zenodo, Dryad, Dabar) with persistent identifiers and permissive licenses where feasible.  

Ethical Oversight

Human research requires prior ethics committee approval, documented informed consent, and robust privacy protections; animal research requires approval and adherence to welfare standards emphasizing Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement (3Rs). Clinical trials must be prospectively registered and adhere to reporting guidelines. Authors disclose potential dual-use or biosecurity concerns, and the journal may seek specialist review or decline publication when societal risks are disproportionate.

Intellectual Property (IP) and Licensing

Authors retain copyright; SEEMEDJ publishes under CC BY 4.0 unless funder mandates necessitate another Creative Commons license by prior agreement. Third-party content requires permissions and accurate credit; reused content must be clearly labeled. Preprints on recognized servers are allowed, and authors must disclose preprint DOIs and link the Version of Record post-publication. Data and code should carry explicit licenses enabling lawful reuse with attribution (e.g., CC0/CC BY for data; MIT/Apache/GPL for code). Patent applications or pending filings must be disclosed to avoid inadvertent public disclosure of confidential information.

Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections

SEEMEDJ supports post-publication dialogue via Letters to the Editor (up to 1000 words and ten references) within six months of publication; corresponding authors may respond, and both items undergo peer review and are cross-linked to the article. Corrections address honest errors; expressions of concern are issued during investigations of serious issues; retractions occur for unreliable findings due to pervasive errors, misconduct, redundant publication, or unethical research. Retraction notices state reasons and link to the original, which remains watermarked as Retracted to preserve the scholarly record. For living reviews or data descriptors, updated versions may be issued with change logs and distinct DOIs. SEEMEDJ promptly updates indexers (e.g., Crossref, DOAJ) following post-publication changes.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

SEEMEDJ prohibits the use of AI or automated tools for content generation in manuscripts, including drafting text, generating figures, tables, or creating substantive analytical or interpretive content. Authors may use AI-assisted tools only for text checking such as grammar, spelling, typography, reference formatting, and language quality improvements provided that such use does not introduce or alter scientific claims, interpretations, or data. Undisclosed or prohibited AI-generated content constitutes a breach of ethical policy and may result in rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction. Reviewers and editors are similarly prohibited from using AI tools to generate review content or editorial decisions; they may employ AI solely for text checking under the same disclosure and integrity constraints.