Journal of Midwifery

Publisher: UNIVED Press, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia

Print ISSN 2338-7068  |  Online ISSN 2722-4228

Journal website: https://jurnal.unived.ac.id/index.php/JM

EDITORIAL POLICY • Proposed for Editorial Board approval

Policy framework

This policy governs scholarly submissions and publications in midwifery, reproductive health, maternal and newborn care. It should be read with the journal’s Author Guidelines, editorial ethics requirements and applicable law. Operational measures proposed here take effect only after approval and technical implementation by the Editorial Board and publisher.

1. Statement and jurisdiction

The journal considers research integrity concerns fairly, impartially, confidentially and on the basis of evidence, informed by COPE guidance. Editorial assessment protects the publication record; formal investigation of staff or researchers’ conduct ordinarily belongs to their institutions or competent authorities.

2. Misconduct and questionable practices

Concerns include fabrication or falsification of clinical observations, trial outcomes, laboratory results, survey responses or patient records; plagiarism; undisclosed redundant publication; misleading analyses; image manipulation; invented citations; peer-review manipulation; authorship fraud; concealed conflicts; and prohibited GenAI use. Honest error and legitimate scientific disagreement must be distinguished from misconduct.

3. Patient protection

Serious concerns include research without required ethics approval, invalid or absent consent, breaches of maternal or newborn confidentiality, misrepresented intervention risks, missing safety reports and inaccurate clinical trial registration. Clinical research must never expose patient identities or sensitive reproductive-health information without lawful and appropriate justification.

4. Reporting channels

Authors, patients, readers, reviewers and others may report specific concerns to the Editor-in-Chief through the official journal contact page. Reports should identify the article or manuscript, disputed material and available evidence. Anonymous reports may be assessed when sufficiently detailed and verifiable. Retaliation against good-faith reporters is unacceptable.

5. Assessment and due process

An unconflicted editor records the allegation, checks its credibility, safeguards evidence and seeks clarification from the persons concerned. Authors receive the substance of the concern and a reasonable opportunity to respond. Independent clinical, methodological or statistical advice and institutional referral may be sought. Editors must not make unsupported public accusations.

6. Editorial action

Depending on verified facts and impact, the journal may request clarification, correct a submitted manuscript, suspend processing, reject a submission, issue a correction or expression of concern, retract an unreliable article, or refer relevant evidence to an institution. Editorial notices should be accessible, appropriately labelled, linked and reflected in metadata.

7. Conflicts, confidentiality and appeals

Editors with a material conflict must recuse themselves. Evidence, complainant identities and patient data should be disclosed only where necessary and lawful. Decisions and rationale should be securely documented. Material new evidence or procedural irregularity may justify independent reconsideration.

8. Implementation

The publisher and Editorial Board should adopt a documented misconduct workflow and review it regularly. No similarity or AI-detection score alone is conclusive evidence of misconduct.

Policy governance and references

Policy authority: Editorial Board, Journal of Midwifery. Publisher: UNIVED Press, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia. Status: proposed revised policy, pending formal approval. The Editorial Board should review the policy periodically and publish material amendments on the official journal website.

Professional guidance for adoption and periodic review:

ICMJE Recommendations: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

COPE: https://publicationethics.org/

CRediT Taxonomy: https://credit.niso.org/

EQUATOR Network: https://www.equator-network.org/

PRISMA 2020: https://www.prisma-statement.org/

Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/