Ethics in Publications

To ensure the integrity of the documents and the publication process, the Portuguese Journal of Midwives (PJM)  takes allegations of misconduct seriously before and after publication. If misconduct is detected, PMJ will take the necessary measures to rectify the situation, issuing a correction or retraction, to ensure that compliance with the ethical standard is fulfilled by all parties involved.

Publishing articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals is essential to ensure scientific and knowledge evolution. It is also the recognition of the quality of the authors work and the institutions that support them. Thus, by publishing in PJM, authors must commit to scrupulously  adopting high standards of ethical behavior throughout the process.

In this sense, the following ethical aspects must be respected by all parties in the publication process in PJM:

  • Authorship of the article: Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed to its writing;
  • Originality and plagiarism: authors must ensure that their work is in entirely original; in the case the author(s) use the scientific production of third parties, they must ensure that these parts are correctly identified and cited.
  • Data Access and Retention: Authors may be asked to provide raw data related to the article that is under editorial review and must be prepared to provide public access to such data.
  • Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: an author should not publish articles that essentially describes the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. The following uses of a work are not considered as previous publication: publication in the form of an abstract at a scientific event; publication as a thesis or academic report.
  • Recognition of sources: the use of the work of other researchers in the preparation of the article must always be explicitly indicated, properly recognizing the sources used.
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All submissions must include disclosure of all links that may be considered a potential conflict of interest.
  • Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their articles, they must immediately notify the RAPEO editor and actively cooperate to correct the article. The article may be provisionally removed.
  • Research involving humans or animals: studies involving humans or animals always require the prior approval of an ethics committee and keeping the respect for the Declaration of Helsinki. When humans participate in the study, informed consent must always be explicitly referenced in the article. The use of images of people, as well as the description of particular cases, requires the authorization of themselves or their legal guardians. Images with individuals must be used in such a way taht ensures the participant's anonymity. For human beings, the author must ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association's Code of Ethics (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving human beings. All animal experiments must be carried out in accordance with EU Directive 2010/63 / EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

 

In particular, the different authors must respect the following obligations:

  • Authors must comply with the best practices in publishing ethics, specifically with regard to authorship, duplicate submission, originality and plagiarism, font recognition, manufacturing, digital image manipulation, competing financial interests, disclosure of conflicts of interest, risks to human beings or animals, and fundamental errors in published works. In addition, authors must present their work with sufficient details and references in a clear and objective manner so that replication of the research is possible.
  • Editors must ensure an impartial and fair review of manuscripts for publication and declare any conflicting interests. They must protect the integrity of the publication, carrying out due diligence whenever there is suspicion of alleged misconduct in the publication, and issuing corrections and retractions when necessary. Editors must also follow strict editorial policies that not only promote the transparency and objectivity of peer review, but also avoid editorial and reviewer misconduct.