Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics  
     Phetchabun Medical Journal is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics in accordance with academic principles and research integrity. The journal establishes ethical guidelines for editors, authors, and reviewers to ensure a transparent, fair, and trustworthy peer review and publication process.

Duties of Editors
1. Editors are responsible for deciding whether to accept or reject manuscripts based on their relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, academic quality, originality, significance, and clarity.
2. Editors must evaluate manuscripts solely on academic merit without discrimination regarding race, gender, religion, culture, political belief, or institutional affiliation.
3. Editors must ensure that submitted manuscripts undergo plagiarism screening using reliable tools. If plagiarism is detected, the review process will be terminated and the authors will be contacted for clarification.
4. Editors must have no conflicts of interest with authors or reviewers and must not use submitted manuscripts for personal or commercial benefit.
5. Editors must not alter or misrepresent reviewers’ comments or authors’ content.
6. Editors must maintain the confidentiality of authors and reviewers throughout the review process.
7. Editors are responsible for upholding and continuously improving the academic quality of the journal.
8. Editors must take appropriate action, including clarification, correction, retraction, or apology, when ethical issues arise.

Duties of Authors
1. Authors must submit original manuscripts that have not been published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere.
2. Authors must disclose all sources of research funding and any potential conflicts of interest.
3. Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study, and all authors must approve the final manuscript.
4. Research involving human subjects must have received approval from an appropriate research ethics committee.
5. Authors must not engage in plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or misrepresentation of research findings.
6. Proper citation must be provided for all referenced works, figures, or tables, and permission must be obtained when required.
7. Authors must not selectively report data to support predetermined conclusions.
8. Individuals acknowledged in the manuscript should have given consent to be named.

Duties of Reviewers
1. Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively and constructively based on academic merit, without personal bias or conflicts of interest.
2. Reviewers who identify a potential conflict of interest must inform the editor and decline the review.
3. Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents and must not use the information for personal advantage.
4. Reviewers should notify the editor immediately if they detect plagiarism, duplication, or substantial similarity to other published works.
5. Reviewers are expected to complete their evaluations within the specified timeframe.

Responsibility 
     The opinions and conclusions expressed in published articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board or affiliated institutions. Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their published work.