Iran University of Medical Sciences • Journals
Policies & standards
Central access to the editorial, peer review, authorship, ethics, consent, rights and open science policies that govern all journals in the IUMS portfolio.
A Editorial governance & independence
Explains how Editors-in-Chief, associate editors and the publisher share responsibilities, how editorial independence is protected, and how conflicts of interest in editorial decision-making are managed.
- Role descriptions for editors and boards
- Editorship changes and handover
- Handling editor conflicts of interest
- Relationship with sponsoring societies or centres
- No direct influence of advertisers or sponsors
- Firewalls between editorial and commercial decisions
- How concerns about interference can be raised
B Peer review & decision appeals
Describes the default double-anonymous review model, reviewer selection, report use, decisions, and author appeals or queries.
- Initial editorial screening
- Criteria for inviting and excluding reviewers
- Number of reviews and decision categories
- Use of statistical or methodological reviewers
- What counts as a valid appeal
- Who reviews appeals and timelines
- Possible outcomes of an appeal
C Guidance for reviewers
Outlines expectations for confidentiality, objectivity, conflicts of interest, responsible AI use, and clear constructive reports.
- Before accepting an invitation
- Structuring comments to authors and editors
- Flagging suspected ethical issues
- Recognition and reviewer certificates
E Generative AI & digital tools
Sets guardrails for responsible AI use by authors, reviewers and editors, including disclosure and confidentiality requirements.
- Permitted uses such as language editing
- Required disclosures about AI support
- Restrictions on uploading confidential material
- Permitted AI-assisted reading or notes
- Disclosure to editors where tools are used
G Research ethics & integrity
Sets expectations for ethical conduct in studies involving humans, animals or sensitive data, and how potential integrity breaches are assessed.
- Clinical trial registration requirements
- Ethics for observational and qualitative studies
- Animal welfare standards and reporting
H Clinical trials: registration & reporting
Provides expectations for prospective registration, ethical conduct and transparent reporting of clinical trials.
- Acceptable registries such as IRCT and ClinicalTrials.gov
- Registration before first participant enrolment
- Reporting trial IDs in abstract and methods
- Updating registry records and protocol changes
I Patient consent & confidentiality
Describes when consent for publication is needed and how identifying information should be minimised.
- Standard consent language and forms
- Children, vulnerable groups and proxies
- Legacy content with limited consent
J Image integrity & figure preparation
Explains how images and scientific figures must be captured, processed and presented accurately.
- Acceptable global adjustments
- Avoiding splicing or selective enhancement
- Scale bars and multi-panel figures
- Image-screening during editorial assessment
K Misconduct, complaints & investigations
Covers responses to fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, peer-review manipulation and other concerns.
- Flowchart-based decision-making
- Interim expressions of concern
- Record-keeping and transparency
L Corrections, retractions & withdrawals
Sets out how the scholarly record is maintained through corrections, expressions of concern, retractions and withdrawals.
- When errata are sufficient
- Retraction vs. expression of concern
- Third-party correction requests
M Inclusive author name changes
Explains how authors can request updates to published name, affiliation or pronouns while protecting privacy and record integrity.
- Request channels and verification
- Silent corrections where appropriate
- Coordination with indexers and ORCID
N Accessibility & inclusive publishing
Describes the commitment to accessible content and platforms for authors, reviewers and readers using assistive technologies.
- Figures, tables and supplementary files
- Screen readers and high-contrast viewing
- Inclusive and non-discriminatory language
O Copyright, open access & reuse
Describes copyright ownership, open access options, Creative Commons licences and reuse of published articles.
- Creative Commons licence options
- Self-archiving and repository deposits
- Third-party content and permissions
P Research data & code sharing
Describes how authors should manage, preserve and share underlying research data and analytical code where appropriate.
- Open sharing vs. controlled access
- Recommended repository types
- Documentation and citation of datasets and code
Q Preprints, postprints & article sharing
Sets out how authors may share manuscript versions before and after peer review, and how preprints interact with journal submission.
- Preprint posting at or before submission
- Updating preprint records after acceptance
- Sharing accepted manuscripts and versions of record
R APCs, waivers & funding
Summarises how article processing charges, waivers and discounts are handled independently of editorial decisions.
- Eligibility for waivers or discounts
- When APCs are discussed
S Interlibrary loan & text/data mining
Clarifies use of IUMS journal content for interlibrary loan and text/data mining within copyright and licence limits.
- Open access content under Creative Commons licences
- TDM conditions for subscription content
- Attribution and responsible reuse
T Archiving & indexer readiness
Outlines long-term preservation of the scholarly record and work with indexing services such as Scopus, Web of Science and MEDLINE.
- Institutional and national repositories
- Continuity of DOIs and links
- Minimum metadata requirements
- DOI, ORCID and funder identifiers
- Indexer corrections and updates