Gujarat Medical Journal (pISSN: 0971-9342) is an official publication of Indian Medical Association, Gujarat State Branch. It provides the platform to share the research works of the doctors & students from all the fields of modern medical sciences.

Open Access

What does BOAI mean by "open access"?

Here is the definition of "open access" from the BOAI: "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited."

 

Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals

Prepared by the WAME Publication Ethics Committee

 

The purpose of a policy on ethical principles

Medical journals aspire to select, through peer review, the highest quality science. To achieve this, the entire peer review and publication process must be thorough, objective, and fair. Almost every aspect of this process involves important ethical principles and decisions, which are seldom explicitly stated and even less often shared with the readership. Journals' reputations depend on the trust of readers, authors, researchers, reviewers, editors, patients, research subjects, funding agencies, and administrators of public health policy. This trust is enhanced by describing as explicitly as possible the journal's policies to ensure the ethical treatment of all participants in the publication process.

 

The peer review process

Gujarat Medical Journal editorial board operates double blind peer review process. All submitted manuscripts will be first assessed by the editor for their completeness & appropiateness for the journal. Papers found suitable are then sent to two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The responses / queries / suggestions of the peer reviewers are informed to the author; which the author needs to comply. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Entire peer review process remains double blinded.