Journal: Journal of Midwifery

Publisher: UNIVED Press, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia

Academic affiliation: Faculty of Health Studies, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu

Print ISSN: 2338-7068

Online ISSN: 2722-4228

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

This statement describes the journal’s published institutional identity and its recommended governance arrangements. Specific ownership rights, appointments, and operational delegations remain subject to the University’s formally approved records.

1. Journal Identity and Institutional Affiliation

Journal of Midwifery is a peer-reviewed, free-to-read open-access scholarly journal concerned with midwifery, maternal and newborn health, reproductive health, maternity services, and related interdisciplinary research. It is associated with the Faculty of Health Studies at Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia, and is published by UNIVED Press.

The journal provides a forum for rigorous quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, clinical, epidemiological, educational, and health-services research relevant to safe pregnancy, childbirth, postnatal care, and reproductive wellbeing. Its scholarly orientation does not alter the separation of publisher responsibilities from independent editorial decisions.

2. Ownership and Publishing Authority

Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu is identified as the institutional organisation associated with the journal, while UNIVED Press is identified as its publisher. The exact legal ownership of the journal title, ISSN registrations, publishing assets, contractual rights, and intellectual property shall be determined by the University’s applicable governance documents and publisher agreements; this policy does not independently establish or transfer those rights.

The publisher is responsible for supporting lawful and sustainable publication operations, publishing infrastructure, administrative continuity, access to journal information, and appropriate safeguards for scholarly integrity.

3. Academic Management and Editorial Structure

The journal’s academic activities are supported within the Faculty of Health Studies, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu. Editorial governance is exercised through the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board, supported by designated editorial and technical personnel.

The official Editorial Team page identifies Arius Satoni Kurniawansyah as Editor-in-Chief and publishes the names and affiliations of Editorial Board members and peer reviewers. Names and role allocations must be updated on the journal website when appointments change, rather than treated as permanent provisions of this policy.

The Editor-in-Chief oversees editorial standards, manuscript suitability, peer-review integrity, publication ethics, and final editorial decisions. Handling editors coordinate independent assessment and recommend appropriate decisions. Reviewers provide confidential, competent, and impartial scholarly evaluations; reviewers do not exercise publisher authority.

4. Editorial Independence and Decision-Making

Editorial decisions must be based on originality, methodological rigour, ethical compliance, clinical relevance, scientific validity, and contribution to midwifery knowledge. The publisher, faculty, funders, advertisers, or institutional representatives must not require the acceptance, rejection, alteration, or withdrawal of a manuscript for non-scholarly reasons.

Submissions by editors, publisher-affiliated individuals, or close collaborators must be handled by an independent editor and subject to the same peer-review and publication ethics requirements as external submissions. Conflicted individuals must not select reviewers, access restricted evaluations unnecessarily, or influence decisions regarding their own manuscripts.

5. Governance Responsibilities

5.1 Publisher and institutional support

UNIVED Press should provide appropriate operational support for publication continuity, online accessibility, website security, digital preservation planning, transparent fees where applicable, and the maintenance of reliable publishing records. Institutional oversight must respect independent editorial judgement.

5.2 Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board

The editorial leadership is responsible for maintaining aims and scope, selecting qualified reviewers, overseeing double-blind peer review, evaluating ethical declarations, resolving editorial disagreements, and ensuring that corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are managed transparently where warranted.

5.3 Managing and technical personnel

Authorised staff should maintain OJS workflows, article metadata, access controls, backups, DOI records where assigned, publication files, and author communications in line with approved responsibilities and privacy obligations.

6. Peer Review and Research Ethics Oversight

The journal uses a double-blind peer-review model, with independent subject expertise and conflict-of-interest safeguards. Editorial practice should ordinarily seek assessments from at least two appropriately qualified reviewers; any minimum reviewer requirement must be incorporated into an approved Peer Review Policy and OJS workflow.

Human-participant research must comply with applicable ethics review requirements, informed-consent procedures, confidentiality obligations, and protections for pregnant women, newborns, adolescents, and other potentially vulnerable participants. Clinical trials should provide registration information when applicable and use relevant reporting guidance, such as CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, COREQ, or CARE, according to the study design.

7. Financial Transparency and Publishing Charges

Any article processing charges, submission charges, waiver arrangements, sponsorships, or other publication-related payments must be stated accurately and prominently on the official journal website. The journal’s free open-access availability to readers must not be interpreted as proof that author-facing charges do not exist; these are separate matters requiring explicit disclosure.

Financial considerations must not determine manuscript acceptance. Fees, where applicable, may only support publishing operations and must not purchase favourable peer-review outcomes, expedited acceptance, or editorial influence.

8. Copyright, Licensing and Preservation

Authors’ copyright and publication rights are governed by the journal’s published Copyright and Licensing Policy and the licence stated on each article. The publisher and editors must ensure consistent public information about reuse rights and third-party materials; a specific Creative Commons licence must not be claimed without verification of the current journal policy.

The journal should maintain accessible issue archives, accurate bibliographic metadata, and documented technical backup and preservation arrangements. Participation in independent services, including PKP Preservation Network, LOCKSS, or CLOCKSS, must only be declared after verification.

9. Transparency, Complaints and Accountability

The journal should publicly disclose its institutional affiliation, publisher, Editorial Team, aims and scope, peer-review process, author instructions, fees, licensing, and procedures for raising concerns. Complaints about editorial conduct or research integrity should be submitted through the journal’s official contact channel and handled fairly, confidentially, and without retaliation.

Concerns involving the Editor-in-Chief must be assigned to an independent senior editor or an appropriately designated publisher representative who is not conflicted. Research institutions remain responsible for institutional investigations; the journal retains responsibility for the integrity of its published record.

10. Policy Review and Official Records

The Editor-in-Chief and publisher should review this information at least annually and following any substantive change of ownership, publisher, editorial leadership, or institutional affiliation. Changes must be recorded accurately on the website and, where necessary, communicated to ISSN, DOI, indexing, and archiving services.

This document is intended for approval by the journal’s competent editorial and institutional authorities. Any proposed internal responsibilities that are not yet formally delegated should be implemented only after approval.

Official Ownership and Management Statement

Journal of Midwifery (p-ISSN 2338-7068; e-ISSN 2722-4228) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal associated with the Faculty of Health Studies, Universitas Dehasen Bengkulu, Indonesia, and published by UNIVED Press. Academic editorial decisions are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief and authorised editors, supported by the Editorial Board and qualified peer reviewers. The publisher supports ethical, transparent, and sustainable journal operations without improper interference in manuscript decisions.

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

Editorial team: https://jurnal.unived.ac.id/index.php/JM/about/editorialTeam

Document status: Proposed governance policy for editorial and institutional approval.

Reference Framework and Verification Sources

• Journal of Midwifery, About the Journal: https://jurnal.unived.ac.id/index.php/JM/about
• Journal of Midwifery, Editorial Team: https://jurnal.unived.ac.id/index.php/JM/about/editorialTeam
• ISSN International Portal, Journal of Midwifery (Bengkulu): https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2722-4228
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/
• ICMJE Recommendations: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/