About the Journal

About the Journal

Focus and Scope

International Archives of Medical Sciences and Public Health is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to disseminating and discussing scientific literature and other health-related research. This journal is intended to serve as a forum for communication between stakeholders in health research, including researchers, educators, students, practitioners from the Health Office, Department of Health, Public Health Service centers, and members of the general public with interest in the subject. The journal is attempting to satisfy the increasing demand for health research. Journal considers submissions on any aspect of the health field across age groups and settings, these include:

  • Capacity in public health systems and workforce
  • Dentistry
  • Environmental health
  • Environmental Science
  • Health Economic and Policy Studies
  • Health law and ethics
  • Health Professions
  • Maternal and child health
  • Medical Science
  • Midwifes
  • Nursing
  • Public health nutrition
  • Public health practice and impact
  • Reproductive health
  • Islamic and health


This is not an exhaustive list, and the Editors will consider articles on any issue relating to public health.


Peer Review Process

All manuscripts will be subject to editorial review and double blind peer reviews. Papers that do not meet the criteria for inclusion or are otherwise inappropriate will be rejected without external review. Manuscripts judged to be appropriate for inclusion in the MJHR are sent for formal review. Typically two experts review each paper, however they may be subjected to more advanced scrutiny if more specialised advice is needed in regards to statistics or techniques. Based on the reviewers comments, the editors will then accept or reject the papers with the following conditions: (1) Accept and publish, with or without editorial revisions, (2) Invite the authors to revise their manuscript and address specific concerns, (3) Reject the article outright, typically on grounds of lack of originality, insufficient conceptual advancements or major technical and/or interpretational problems. Any changes made to the original manuscript will be clearly stated for the authors to review. The authors should carefully examine sentence structure, the completeness and accuracy of the text, references, tables, and graphic contents of the revised manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief will have the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit articles on all aspects of style, format, and clarity. Manuscripts with excessive errors in any aspect, i.e. spelling or punctuation, will be returned to authors for revision before resubmission or may be rejected entirely.

The MJHR welcomes recommendations from reviewers regarding edits to prospective manuscripts, however in the event of conflicting advice from reviewers, the editors will make a final decision on the course of action. Editors will evaluate the reports from each reviewer, relevant comments made by the authors, and any other information that may not be available to either party before reaching a decision. The MJHR's primary responsibilities are to our readers and the scientific community at large, and in deciding how best to serve them we must assess the validity and reliability of each paper against the many others also under consideration. We may return to reviewers for further advice, particularly in cases where they disagree with each other, or where the authors believe they have been misunderstood on certain points. Therefore reviewers should be willing to provide follow-up advice when requested. Editors are aware that reviewers may be reluctant to be drawn into prolonged disputes and will keep consultations to the minimum we judge necessary to provide a fair hearing for the authors. When reviewers agree to assess a paper, the editors consider this as a commitment to review subsequent revisions if necessary and the editors will not resubmit a paper back to the reviewers if it appears that the authors have not made a serious attempt to address the initial concerns. The MJHR take reviewers' feedback and criticisms seriously, in particular editors are very reluctant to disregard technical criticisms. In cases where one reviewer alone opposes publication, editors may consult the other reviewers as to whether he or she is applying an unduly critical standard. Editors may occasionally bring in additional reviewers to resolve disputes however we prefer to avoid doing so unless there is a specific issue, for example a specialist technical problem.

 

Publication Frequency

Makara Journal of Health Research is published 2 times per year (January and  August).

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Authorship and Plagiarism

Authorship of articles should be limited to those who have contributed sufficiently to take public responsibility for the contents. These contributions include (a) conception and design, analysis and interpretation of data, or both; (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (c) final approval of the version to be published; and (d) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work by ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Submission to the MJHR is interpreted by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed with all of the articles content. The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for having ensured that this agreement has been reached, and for managing all communication between the journal and co-authors before and after publication. Any requests for changes to the author list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors, or the deletion or addition of authors needs to be accompanied by a letter signed by all original authors. The letter should be scanned and e-mailed to mjhr@ui.ac.id by the submitting author. The MJHR editors assume that on multi-group collaborations, one member of each collaboration, usually the most senior member of each submitting group has accepted responsibility for the contributions to the manuscript from their team.

It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that:

  1. The article is an original work and does not involve fraud, fabrication, or plagiarism.
  2. The article has not been published previously and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. If accepted by the MJHR, the article will not be submitted for publication to any other journal.
  3. The article contains no defamatory or unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that infringe upon individual privacy, proprietary rights, or any statutory copyright.
  4. They have written permission from owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources from where they were obtained.
  5. All authors have made significant contributions to the study including the conception and design of the article, the analysis of the data, and the writing of the manuscript.
  6. All authors have reviewed the manuscript, take responsibility for its content and approve its publication
  7. All authors are aware of and agree to the terms of this publishing agreement.

Every article submitted to the MJHR is screened by iThenticate software.

 

Publication Ethics

For research manuscripts involving experiments on live vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates, 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 institute and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details. Manuscripts that lack proper ethical consideration for human or animal subjects will not be accepted for publication.

For experiments that involve human subjects, authors must identify the committee that approved the experiments and include in their submission a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Authors using phase II and phase III randomized controlled trials in their study should refer to the CONSORT Statement for recommendations which facilitates complete and transparent reporting of trial findings. The MJHR follows the guidelines set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in all aspects of publication ethics, in particular, protocols of research and publication misconduct. The authors must declare that all experiments on human subjects were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and that all procedures were carried out with the adequate understanding and written consent of the subjects. The authors must also certify that formal approval to conduct the experiments described was obtained from the human subjects review board of their institution and should be made available if requested by the MJHR.

All animal experiments must adhere to institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animal subjects, and this should be clearly stated within the manuscript. Manuscripts should contain a statement that advises all efforts were made to minimise animal suffering and reduce the number of animals used, and if available, efforts to utilise alternatives to in-vivo techniques. Studies involving animals should obey the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research as developed by the Council for International Organization of Medical Sciences (CIOMS).

The MJHR adheres to the COPE guidelines that ensures a high-quality standard of ethics for authors, editors, and reviewers:

Authors

  1. Authors attest that the material has not been previously published and that they have not transferred any rights to the article to another party.
  2. Authors should ensure the originality of their work and must properly cite others work in accordance with the approved references format.
  3. Authors should not engage in plagiarism or self-plagiarism.
  4. Authors should ensure that they follow the criteria for authorship as described in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
  5. The authors must not disclose any personal information that may identify their subjects, such as overt descriptions, photographs or pedigrees. If photographs of the patient are essential to the article, the authors must receive written consent and state it clearly within the article.
  6. When human subjects are involved, the authors must certify that their research is in accordance with ethical standards of The Helsinki Declaration, and domestic and foreign committees that preside over human experiments. If any doubts are raised over whether the research was conducted in accordance with the declaration, the authors must respond to those doubts. Similarly, if animals are involved in the research process, authors must certify that all domestic and foreign guidelines relating to the experiments on animals in a laboratory were adhered to.
  7. Authors should make all data and details of their work available to the editors if there are suspicions of data falsification or fabrication.
  8. Authors of the article should clarify any possible conflicts of interest such as their job role, research expenses, consultant expenses, and intellectual property.

Editors

  1. Editors are responsible for every article published in the MJHR.
  2. Editors should assist authors, where possible, to ensure their articles adhere to ICMJE guidelines.
  3. Editors may confer with other editors or reviewers when making final decisions regarding publication.
  4. An editor must evaluate manuscripts objectively for publication; judging each on its merit without bias towards nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, religion, gender, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the authors. Editors should decline articles if there is a potential conflict of interest.
  5. Editors must ensure that documents sent to reviewers do not contain private information of the authors and vice versa.
  6. The editor's final decision should be relayed to authors in a timely fashion and will be accompanied by the reviewer's comments, unless they contain offensive or libelous remarks.
  7. If authors have a well-reasoned objection to a certain individual reviewing their work, editors should respect this request.
  8. Editors and all staff should guarantee the confidentiality of the submitted manuscript.
  9. Editors will be guided by the COPE guidelines if there is a suspected misconduct or disputed authorship.

Reviewers

  1. Reviewers are required to comment on possible research, ethical, and publication misconduct if they are suspected.
  2. Reviewers must complete the work in a timely manner and should notify the editor immediately if they cannot complete the work.
  3. Reviewers are to respect the confidentiality of the manuscript.
  4. Reviewers should not accept manuscripts for assessment if they believe there is a potential conflict of interest between them and any of the authors.

 

Conflict of Interest Policy

General policy and sources of funding
Authors are required to disclose all sources of institutional, private, and corporate financial support for their study. Authors are also required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. An author's conflict of interest, or information specifying the absence of conflicts of interest, and the sources of funding for the research will be published under a separate heading entitled "Conflict of Interest". See www.icmje.org for generally accepted definitions of conflicts of interest.

Submission by an editor or by author whose relationship with editor might create the perception of bias.
If a submitting author and editor of the MJHR have a relationship that may create a perception of bias, an alternative editor from another institute will be elected to oversee the manuscript. This editor will select the reviewers and have the final decision regarding the paper. The submitting editor will not have access to any information or correspondence relating to the submission that is not meant for the authors.

Potential conflict of interest for reviewers. The invitation letter to reviewers will include the following paragraph: ‘If you know, or think you know, the identity of the author, or if you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your reviewing this paper (e.g. friendship or conflict/rivalry) please declare it immediately. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.' If a conflict of interest has been declared, standard policy declares that an alternate reviewer must be used however this is at the editors' discretion.

 

Confidentiality

Editors of the MJHR treat all submitted manuscripts and communication with authors and reviewers as confidential. It is expected that authors will also treat communication with the journal as confidential. Correspondence with the journal, reviewers' reports, and other confidential material must not be posted on any website or otherwise publicised without prior permission from the editors, regardless of if the submission is published or not.

 

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed in articles and creative pieces published in the MJHR are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board or the publisher.

 

Publication Charges

The MJHR is an open access journal; it does not charge readers or institutes for access. There are no charges for submission of a manuscript, article processing, publication of manuscripts or colour reproduction of photographs.

 

The journal and respective authors hold exclusive copyrights of all materials published in the MJHR. Any reproduction of material from the journal, without proper acknowledgement or prior permission will result an infringement of intellectual property laws. Written acceptance of the Journal Publishing Agreement (JPA) is required before the article can be published.

 

Complaints

Any authors who may have grievances about any aspect of their interaction with the MJHR should e-mail the Editor-in-Chief at mjhr@ui.ac.id. Every effort will be made to acknowledge the complaint within 7 days of receiving it. If required the Editor-in-Chief will consult with other editors regarding the complaint. The Editor-in-Chief will liaise directly with the complainant and thoroughly explain the steps they have taken to resolve the matter.