Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics

The Annals of Multidisciplinary Research Insights (AMRI), published by Et Al Publication, is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. Our policies follow the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Chief Responsibilities of Editors

i. The Chief Editors and/or Editors are responsible for making the final decision on every manuscript submitted to the journal. These decisions are based on the validity, originality, novelty, and relevance of the research to the journal's scope. Editors also ensure that all published material is appropriately archived, with digital support from the Publisher where required.

ii. The Chief Editors and/or Editors must evaluate manuscripts impartially, on the basis of their intellectual merit, and maintain confidentiality throughout the review process. They are responsible for selecting which articles to publish and for determining the timing of publication.

Editors with the Publisher

i. Editors work closely with the Publisher to continually improve the journal, update policies as needed, and safeguard the quality of published content. They make independent decisions on the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts, based solely on quality and relevance to the journal's scope.

ii. The Chief Editors, Editors, and editorial board members are responsible for establishing procedures to resolve disagreements or conflicts among stakeholders. They assist the Publisher in investigating suspected misconduct relating to both published and unpublished papers, ensuring impartial investigation by considering the perspectives of all parties, and collaborate with the Publisher to address intellectual property violations and legal concerns.

Editors with Authors

i. Editors should engage actively with authors, addressing their needs and incorporating feedback to improve the journal's processes and management.

ii. Editors must remain vigilant for any research or publication misconduct. They must ensure that all submitted and accepted manuscripts undergo plagiarism screening using plagiarism-detection software to identify fabricated or plagiarized content.

iii. Editors are responsible for ensuring that authors properly acknowledge research funding and grants, obtain written informed consent for the publication of human data, and secure all necessary permissions (such as animal ethics approvals or research permits).

iv. Editors must ensure that publishing guidelines and author instructions are readily accessible. They should provide authors with complete peer-reviewer reports—unless a report contains offensive or inappropriate content—and allow authors to respond to reviewers' comments.

Editors with Reviewers

i. Editors ensure that all articles are reviewed promptly by qualified, impartial reviewers who have the relevant expertise and no conflicts of interest. They maintain a list of suitable reviewers and exclude those who consistently submit low-quality reports.

ii. Editors may guide reviewers in preparing their reports. Reviewers must treat the manuscript as confidential and avoid sharing it with others, and must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Editors ensure that reviewers can freely express their views, particularly on publication ethics, manuscript validity, and originality.

iii. Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript and may decline a submission if they have a conflict of interest or lack the necessary expertise.

iv. Reviewers should evaluate submissions in a fair, objective, and professional manner, report any ethical issues to the Chief Editor, and remain alert for plagiarism or redundant publication.

v. Reviewers must maintain confidentiality about the manuscript's content and adhere to the review timeline. Where necessary, they may request an extension, subject to approval by the Chief Editor or Editor(s).

Editors with Editorial Board Members

i. Chief Editors are responsible for selecting qualified editorial board members who can actively contribute to the journal's operations and management. They should provide clear guidelines on board members' roles and responsibilities and consult them on the journal's direction and challenges.

ii. Chief Editors and/or Editors must ensure that editorial board members receive appropriate training and the technological tools needed to perform their duties effectively.

iii. Editorial board members should play an active role in the journal's development, support its growth, serve as ambassadors, promote the journal, and review any tasks assigned to them.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Chief Editors and Editors must maintain confidentiality regarding any manuscript under review and must not use its data for personal advantage. They must avoid any personal or financial interests that could influence their professional judgment. Where a conflict of interest arises, they are obliged to disclose it and recuse themselves from editorial decisions on the manuscript concerned. Chief Editors and Editors may submit their own manuscripts to the journal, but must clearly declare this on submission and must not participate in the review process or in any editorial decision regarding their own work.

Timeliness of the Publication Process

Chief Editors and Editors oversee the entire publication process, from submission to final publication or rejection, ensuring that each stage is completed in a timely manner. They ensure that each issue is published on schedule, monitor the performance of reviewers and editors, address any backlog of accepted manuscripts, and provide swift responses and decisions.

Errata, Retractions, and Clarifications

In line with ICMJE guidelines, the journal will promptly publish errata, retractions, or clarifications when necessary—particularly where competing interests emerge after publication. A direct link between the original article and any erratum or correction will be provided in all online versions.

Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

Authorship

The journal defines an author as someone who has made substantial contributions to the design, execution, and interpretation of the research, as well as to writing the manuscript. All individuals who have contributed significantly should be listed as co-authors, and every co-author must agree to submission. Any request to add or remove authors, whether before or after publication, must be approved by the Chief Editors or Editors. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have consented to and approved submission.

Author Responsibilities

Authors must present their results clearly and honestly, and must not fabricate, falsify, or manipulate data. Methods should be described in enough detail for others to replicate the findings. If authors identify errors in their published work, they must promptly inform the Chief Editor or Publisher so that corrections or retractions can be made. Authors must submit only original, new work, avoiding previously published material or simultaneous submission to other journals; they may submit elsewhere only after a formal rejection or approved withdrawal. Authors must make meaningful contributions to the research and take responsibility for any shortcomings in their work.

Research Misconduct

Plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification of data constitute research misconduct, and authors must refrain from all such practices.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened for plagiarism and AI-generated content using Turnitin and iThenticate. A similarity index above 15 percent is not acceptable.

Any instance of plagiarism or research misconduct will be reported to the Chief Editors, and an investigation will be conducted with the assistance of the Publisher.

Image Manipulation

Manipulating images in a way that alters results or compromises their integrity is prohibited. Enhancements for clarity—such as adjusting brightness, contrast, or color balance—are permitted, provided they do not obscure or distort the original data. Improper manipulation may lead to rejection and further investigation. Any image suspected of manipulation will be reviewed by the Chief Editors, who may request the primary data for comparison. Manipulated images may result in rejection and be treated as research misconduct.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications

i. Authors using previously published figures, data, or copyrighted material must acknowledge the sources in the manuscript, obtain permission from the original publisher, and cite the original work and copyright holder in the relevant figure or table caption.

ii. Authors must confirm that their manuscript has not been submitted or published elsewhere (except on preprint servers).

iii. Submitting or publishing the same essential research in more than one journal simultaneously is unethical.

iv. Authors may submit or publish a similar manuscript as part of a thesis, lecture, or abstract.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

i. Transparency is essential in research and publication. Authors must disclose any financial or personal interests that could influence their professional judgment.

ii. Failure to disclose conflicts of interest may undermine the journal's credibility. All authors must declare any conflicts of interest on submission.

Availability of Materials and Data Access

i. On acceptance, authors agree to make sample materials and data available to the scientific community for non-commercial purposes. This may include biological samples, sequence data, statistical data, and similar materials.

ii. Manuscripts must provide sufficient detail for other researchers to replicate the work. Authors' legitimate interests will be protected, and appropriate agreements may restrict the use of materials or data where necessary.

Biosecurity, Animal Use, and Research Permits

The journal discourages the use of infectious agents or materials that could serve as biological weapons and may scrutinize such manuscripts. Research involving animals or humans must comply with all relevant laws; authors must obtain approval from the appropriate Institutional Animal/Human Ethics Committee and provide documentation on request. Research involving biological resources must be accompanied by permits from the relevant government department, with the permit number or reference stated in the methods section. Authors must ensure that informed consent was obtained from human subjects and must respect their privacy rights.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors should follow the recognized reporting guideline appropriate to their study design:

Reviewer Suggestions

The journal follows a double-blind peer review process. Authors may suggest suitable reviewers for their manuscript and may request the exclusion of individuals with potential conflicts of interest. The final decision on reviewers rests with the editors.

Confidential Process

All communication between authors and the journal—including email exchanges and reviewers' reports—must be treated as confidential. Authors must not post confidential material on websites or publish it without the journal's prior permission, regardless of whether the manuscript is accepted or rejected.

Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer Review Ethics

The journal operates a double-blind peer-review process. The Chief Editor/Editors select and appoint reviewers, ensuring they have relevant expertise, are willing to cooperate fully, and have adequate time to review the assigned manuscript. Reviewers' comments assist the editors in reaching publication decisions and help authors improve their manuscripts.

Reviewers must evaluate all submissions objectively, fairly, and professionally. In recommending acceptance, they should ensure that a manuscript demonstrates originality, significance, and importance to the research community, relevance to related disciplines, and conclusions supported by the evidence. Reviewers must also confirm that the methods are clearly explained and that all relevant work is properly cited.

Reviewers must avoid comments that are offensive, libelous, or discourteous, and must comply with the journal's guidelines on the scope, content, and quality of reviews, as well as the Publisher's publication policy.

Reviewers must meet the review deadlines. A manuscript should typically be reviewed within two weeks; any extension must be approved by the editors. Reviewers may also be asked to provide further feedback on a revised manuscript.

Reviewers must maintain confidentiality throughout the peer-review process. All communication between reviewers and editors, and any manuscript received for review, must be treated as confidential and not disclosed or discussed with anyone at any stage.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists where a reviewer has a financial or personal interest that could influence their professional judgment. Potential reviewers whose research competes with that of the authors will not be appointed. Reviewers must disclose any potential financial or personal conflicts to the editors before agreeing to review a manuscript, and the editors will decide whether to disqualify a reviewer on that basis. Reviewers may decline to review any manuscript where they perceive a conflict of interest or lack the necessary expertise for a fair and thorough review.

Copyright and Licensing

All articles published in the Annals of Multidisciplinary Research Insights are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

Copyright is retained by the author(s). Authors are required to submit a signed Open Access Licence Agreement Form with their manuscript. By signing this form, the author(s) confirm that:

• The author(s) retain full copyright and ownership of the article.

• The author(s) grant the Publisher a non-exclusive right to publish the article and to distribute it permanently under the CC BY 4.0 license.

• The work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and all co-authors have approved submission.

Authors may deposit the final published version (version of record) in an institutional or subject repository, on a personal or departmental website, or on a preprint server, immediately upon publication and with no embargo, provided a link to the published article on the journal's website is included and the journal and Publisher are credited as the original source with a correct citation.

Article-Processing Charges (APC)

APC Waivers: We believe article-processing charges should not hinder quality publication. Corresponding authors may request a waiver from the Editor-in-Chief. The journal does not charge any fee for withdrawal.

Authors from countries on the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries are entitled to request a waiver. Waiver applications should be made after the acceptance letter has been received. All applications are subject to approval by the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief. Discounts may not be transferred to a different author.

Handling Publication Malpractice or Research Misconduct

The journal adopts the U.S. Public Health Service's definition of research misconduct (42 CFR Part 93, June 2005), which includes:

• Fabrication: creating false data or results and reporting them.

• Falsification: altering research materials, equipment, or data to misrepresent the research.

• Plagiarism: using another person's work, ideas, or data without proper credit.

Research misconduct excludes honest error and differences of opinion. The journal also follows the COPE, WAME, and ICMJE guidelines for editors and publishers.

Complaints of research misconduct should be directed to the Chief Editors. The journal adheres to COPE's Ethical Oversight Flowcharts in handling issues such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricat