Ethical Publishing Practices

Overview

PDH follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct, and aspires to adhere to COPE Best Practice Guidelines. 

Journal authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to follow best practice in publication ethics.

Confidentiality

Reviewers and editors are required to keep manuscript submissions in confidence and have disclosed conflicts of interest (this includes the journal staff and volunteers) on the Editorial Team page at:

https://telehealthandmedicinetoday.com/index.php/journal/about/editorialTeam

Reviewers and editors are also asked to flag any conflict identified before peer review.  Upon welcoming a new member to the team, the publisher sends an email outlining expectations, requirements and links to COPE, ICMJE, and journal links including details regarding peer review to further emphasize familiarity with journal operations, workflow and the importance of ethics. See

https://telehealthandmedicinetoday.com/index.php/journal/authors-journal

Authorship

Authors are expected to comply with ICMJE authorship requirements. Additional details for authors are located on General Information for Authors at:

https://telehealthandmedicinetoday.com/index.php/journal/authors

Allegations of Misconduct

The journal will vigorously investigate allegations of research or publication misconduct and will contact authors, institutions and all those associated to conduct a timely proper investigation following COPE guidelines. Corrective action will be taken, noted, and time stamped on the blockchain. Any revisions or article status changes will also be noted on CrossMark.

Please email the managing editor with any concerns pre- and post-publication at j.russo@partnersindigitalhealth.com

Complaints and Appeals

Editorial

Should reviewers reject the submission or resubmission, the managing editor will alert the Editors-in-Chief (EICs) to determine whether the EICs believe the submission warrants publication and benefits the sector. The Editors-in-Chief and managing editor will, together, make a decision based on the reviewers' comments, and may contact the reviewers to discuss in more depth.

Appeals

To appeal an editorial decision, contact the Managing Editor and explain your reason(s) for the appeal. When a paper has been revised in response to the review, or when authors appeal against a decision, we ask reviewers to provide follow-up commentary.

All appeals are discussed with the Editors-in-Chief and reviewers assigned to the submission.  In the case of disagreement, BHTY may seek external advice on the appeal, but it is most likely the final decision will be left to the Editors-in-Chief.

Only one appeal will be considered. The Editors-in Chief decision will be final.

Please email the managing editor at j.russo@partnersindigitalhealth.com

Journal

To report a complaint against the journal, its staff, or editorial board, please email the publisher at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com

The journal will vigorously investigate complaints or misconduct with a timely investigation following COPE guidelines. Corrective action will be taken, noted, and time stamped on the blockchain.

Note: Partners in Digital Heath is developing a blockchain based app to facilitate transparent resolution for complaints and ethical practice for the journal.

Conflict of Interest/Competing Interest

TMT requires all authors, reviewers and editors to declare conflicts of interest to the journal’s editorial office to ensure transparency is maintained. The journal publishes any potential conflicts reported by members on the Editorial Team page.

A conflict of interest may exist if there are financial or personal interests, relationships or beliefs relating to the submitted work that could interfere with an objective assessment of research and interests. 

Examples include:

  • Involvement in a business (such as ownership, employment, contracting or speaking for) that would financially gain from the publication of the work
  • Rivalry in the same research area
  • Potential career advancement based on the publication of the research
  • Being asked to assess the work of a close colleague or relative for the journal

Editorial Team and Staff

Issues regarding research integrity and publishing ethics or legal issues relating to journal may arise pre- or post-publication. The first step for editors and staff members is to discuss an identified issue with journal and staff team members where issues involve legal, defamation, breach of contract, privacy, or copyright infringement. The process for resolution may include: 

  • Seeking guidance or advice from sources such as COPE
  • Involving institutions, employers, or funders to investigate author disputes and alleged misconduct
  • Consult with other journal editors being mindful of confidentiality

Editors or Journal Staff as Authors

Board members are not involved in editorial decisions about their work and are excluded from publication decisions when they are authors or have contributed to a manuscript. A statement may be published listing board members as authors to confirm no involvement in the editorial decision of a published manuscript. This includes journal ambassadors. Fair and unbiased peer review is conducted with double blind peer review.

If the editor is first author on an accepted manuscript, the APC is waived. Is is not waived if the editor is not the first author. The journal editorial board is comprised of volunteers. The journal recognizes their efforts and has chosen to waive the APC in appreciation of the editor’s time.

Intellectual Property

Authors are copyright owners of their articles and retain all rights to IP, patents, and trademarks for their work(s). All rights to the owner of IP, patents and trademarks are retained by the owner. Sharing articles for professional and personal use is strongly encouraged with the scientific community, time stamped on the blockchain for provenance, reproducibility and sharing additional work.

The journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The journal APC is $650.00 USD for research articles and $250.00 for currently enrolled students, collected at the galley stage of manuscript production. The journal has a waiver policy.  

The journal has a waiver policy. Contact the publisher to submit a request.

Only papers related to Covid-19 are considered for pre-publication and will be peer reviewed.

Human and Animal Subjects 

TMT follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors .

When reporting research involving human data, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed have been assessed by the responsible review committee (institutional and national), and/or in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration (revised in 2013). Authors must explain rationale for their approach and demonstrate the institutional review body explicitly approved any doubtful aspects of the study. Approval by a responsible review committee does not preclude editors from forming their own judgment as to whether the conduct of the research was appropriate. Authirs must remember to add the trial registration number to the end of the abstract.

For manuscripts reporting experiments on animals, the corresponding author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The manuscript must include a statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details.

Informed Consent

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects, observing privacy rights of human subjects. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent requires an identifiable patient is shown the manuscript to be published. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should provide assurance that such changes do not distort scientific meaning.

Diversity Commitment

Partners in Digital Health (PDH) is committed to supporting diversity, inclusion and egalitarianism across scientific and academic communication and in publishing practices.

This belief is reflected in our internal journal practices, editorial and peer review boards, in published content, journal and community outreach and ambassador chapters to demonstrate the portfolio’s integrity, trust and values to communities far and wide in tearing down any barriers and borders relating to knowledge, economics, age, race, gender, geography and political views. The founder and publisher has stated repeatedly since the journal’s inception, “all are welcome to the table.” The journal maintains an objective, unbiased and fair balanced posture at all times. 

Priorities and actions include:

  • Manuscript submission and Authorship 
  • Peer reviewers
  • Editorial and Advisory Board Members
  • ConV2X Conference and Pitch Competition
  • Fees and business model
  • Ambassador Chapters

We encourage all global citizens from all countries to learn, share and participate as equals. 

We continuously address equity and inclusion in our portfolio in these areas and others as needed, to ensure our ongoing commitment to global equality, diversity and inclusion.

Journal Management

To maintain editorial independence Editors-in-Chief, board members and the managing editor make editorial decisions, not the journal owner and publisher. If legal or ethical issues arise with regarding an article or the journal, the owner/publisher will engage.

The owner/publisher adheres to guidelines based on COPE, ICMJE, WAME and ISMPP.

Preprints via a preprint server will be accepted and evaluated as to whether the journal will place the manuscript in peer review. Previous publication as a preprint should be disclosed in the paper.

Article corrections will be made on CrossMark and stamped on the blockchain. Retractions will be stamped on the blockchain and CrossMark.

Expressions of concern should be brought to the attention of EiCs, managing editor or publisher as soon as possible to info@partnersindigitalhealth.com and j.russo@partnersindigitalhealth.com

Production is outsourced and typically takes 10-14 days after a manuscript is accepted for publication. If authors are tardy responsding to queries it will take longer. Accepted versions may be published in the interim and replaced with the production ready article when available.

The journal platform and workflow is provided by OJS/PKP services and runs on version: Open Journal Systems 3.2

New members to the team are sent details regarding basic journal workflow and operations, expectations, requirements and links to COPE, ICMJE to further emphasize familiarity with journal operations, workflow, the importance of ethics and peer review.

Journal staff keeps up with industry trends and developments and keeps staff and all editors informed. Staff seeks guidance from its editors and ventures to push boundaries of traditional scholarly publishing with features such as the Blockchain Ethics App that is in development and the Artifacts Blockchain Research Portal at

TMT https://core.artifacts.ai/journal/tmt

Revenue Sources may include advertising support for the journal, reprints, article publication fees, special editions, supplements, summits, advisory, roundtable proceedings, or custom projects.  The journal curates an annual Converge2Xcelerate (#ConV2X) conference. Under no circumstance does commercial support impact editorial decisions for journal manuscript review or acceptance.

Ownership and management

Partners in Digital Health (PDH), owns and manages the peer review journal with offices located at:

241 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 21
Stamford, CT 06902
USA

Contact

Tory Cenaj
Founder and Publisher
t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com