Purpose and Scope

The Dinkum Journal of Medical Innovations (DJMI) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication integrity, transparency, accountability, scientific accuracy, and ethical conduct throughout all stages of the publishing process. The journal recognizes that responsible scholarly communication is essential for advancing medical knowledge and protecting the trust of researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, and the wider scientific community.

This publication ethics policy applies to all individuals involved in the journal’s activities, including authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, journal staff, and any other contributors engaged in manuscript submission, peer review, editorial assessment, production, and publication.

DJMI’s ethical framework is guided by internationally recognized standards and recommendations, including those established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki, the EQUATOR Network, and relevant discipline-specific reporting standards.

The journal evaluates ethical issues objectively and independently, without discrimination based on an author’s nationality, institutional affiliation, professional position, geographical location, gender, or any other personal characteristic. All editorial decisions are based solely on academic and ethical principles.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions at DJMI are based exclusively on the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical acceptability, relevance to the journal’s scope, clarity of reporting, significance of the research question, and contribution of the manuscript to medical and healthcare knowledge.

The journal maintains complete editorial independence. Decisions regarding manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection are not influenced by article processing charges, advertising arrangements, sponsorship agreements, commercial interests, political considerations, institutional reputation, personal relationships, geographical factors, or the author’s ability to pay publication fees.

Payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) does not guarantee acceptance or publication. All submitted manuscripts must undergo appropriate editorial evaluation and peer review according to DJMI’s established procedures before a final publication decision is made.

The publisher shall respect the independence of the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team and shall not interfere with decisions regarding individual manuscripts. Editorial judgments remain the responsibility of qualified editors based on scientific and ethical evaluation.

Authorship and Contributorship

DJMI follows responsible authorship principles based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contribution to the research and should include only individuals who accept responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and transparency of the published work.

An author should have made significant contributions to the conception or design of the study, acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content; approved the final version submitted for publication; and agreed to take responsibility for all aspects of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the research but do not fulfil authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged through an acknowledgment or contributorship statement. Such contributions may include technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, data entry, general supervision, medical writing assistance, or financial support without substantial intellectual involvement.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the authors and the journal and carries responsibility for ensuring compliance with authorship and publication requirements. The corresponding author must confirm that all listed authors meet authorship criteria, have approved the submitted manuscript, and agree with the final version.

The corresponding author must also ensure that author affiliations and names are accurate, conflicts of interest are fully disclosed, funding sources are reported, ethical approvals and informed consent requirements have been satisfied, research findings are accurately presented, and all authors are informed about editorial decisions throughout the publication process.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after manuscript submission must include a clear justification and written approval from all authors, including confirmation from any individual being added or removed. Authorship modifications after acceptance will generally be considered only under exceptional circumstances.

Where authors cannot resolve an authorship dispute independently, DJMI may contact the relevant institution or appropriate authority for further investigation.

ORCID Identification

DJMI strongly encourages authors to provide an ORCID identifier to support accurate attribution of scholarly contributions. The journal recommends that corresponding authors and, where possible, all co-authors include verified ORCID iDs during submission.

Author Contributions

For original research articles and other appropriate manuscript categories, DJMI encourages authors to provide a detailed Author Contributions statement describing individual roles within the research process.

Authors should specify contributions using recognized categories, including conceptualization, methodology development, investigation, data collection, formal analysis, software development, validation, visualization, resource management, manuscript preparation, critical review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

The order of authorship remains the responsibility of the authors. However, all authors must ensure that contributions are accurately represented and that appropriate credit is assigned.

Originality, Plagiarism, and Text Reuse

Manuscripts submitted to DJMI must represent original scholarly work that has not been published previously or submitted simultaneously elsewhere. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submissions respect intellectual property rights and accurately acknowledge the contributions of other researchers.

Authors must not engage in plagiarism, including copying another person’s words, ideas, images, results, or intellectual property without appropriate acknowledgment. Authors must also avoid substantial text reuse, inappropriate duplication of their previous publications, fabricated references, manipulated quotations, misleading paraphrasing, or submission of copyrighted material without permission.

DJMI may use plagiarism detection and similarity assessment software during editorial evaluation. However, similarity scores alone will not determine whether plagiarism has occurred. Editorial decisions will consider the nature, source, extent, and context of overlapping content.

If plagiarism is identified before publication, the manuscript may be rejected. If significant plagiarism is discovered after publication, DJMI may take appropriate corrective action, including issuing a correction, publishing an expression of concern, or retracting the article depending on the seriousness of the violation.

Duplicate and Simultaneous Submission

A manuscript submitted to the Dinkum Journal of Medical Innovations (DJMI) must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time. Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals is considered unethical publishing practice and is inconsistent with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Authors must disclose any related publications, manuscripts under review, conference presentations, abstracts, preprints, previous publications in another language, or research outputs based on the same dataset that may overlap with the submitted manuscript. Such disclosure enables editors to evaluate potential redundancy and determine whether the submission represents a legitimate contribution.

Secondary publication may be considered when it provides important scientific or clinical value and meets recognized ethical requirements. In such cases, authors must obtain appropriate permission, clearly disclose the previous publication, provide proper citation, and ensure transparency regarding the relationship between the two publications.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

DJMI maintains a strict policy of zero tolerance toward research misconduct involving fabrication or falsification of scientific data. The accuracy and reliability of published research are fundamental principles of medical science, and authors are responsible for ensuring that all reported findings accurately represent the research conducted.

Fabrication refers to the creation of false research data, including invented participants, observations, laboratory results, survey responses, measurements, clinical outcomes, or any other findings that did not actually occur.

Falsification refers to the deliberate manipulation, alteration, omission, or selective reporting of research materials, procedures, images, datasets, statistical analyses, or results in a manner that creates a misleading representation of the research.

When concerns arise regarding the integrity of reported findings, editors may request supporting documentation, including anonymized raw datasets, laboratory records, study protocols, statistical outputs, ethics approval documents, original images, or other relevant evidence.

Failure to provide appropriate supporting information may influence editorial decisions and may result in referral of the matter to the authors’ institution, research organization, or relevant regulatory authority.

Image Integrity

Images submitted for publication must accurately represent the original research data and must not be manipulated in a manner that could mislead readers or alter scientific interpretation.

Authors must not selectively remove, add, conceal, or modify image features; combine images without appropriate disclosure; duplicate images from different experiments; reuse previously published images without permission; or make alterations that change the meaning or interpretation of clinical or scientific findings.

Adjustments to brightness, contrast, color balance, or similar image parameters may be acceptable when they are applied consistently and do not obscure, remove, or distort relevant information.

Editors reserve the right to request original, unprocessed image files or supporting documentation when questions arise regarding image authenticity or accuracy. Failure to provide satisfactory evidence may result in rejection of the manuscript or further investigation after publication.

Research Involving Human Participants

All research involving human participants, identifiable human tissues, biological materials, or identifiable personal health information must comply with internationally accepted ethical standards, applicable laws, institutional requirements, and principles of responsible medical research.

DJMI expects studies involving human participants to follow the ethical principles outlined in the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, including respect for participant autonomy, protection of vulnerable individuals, appropriate assessment of risks and benefits, scientific validity, independent ethical review, and transparency in research reporting.

Authors must provide details of ethical approval, including the name of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee (REC), or equivalent authority; approval reference number where available; and relevant dates or approval status.

Manuscripts should include a statement confirming that the research was conducted according to applicable ethical standards. If formal ethics approval was not required, authors must provide a clear explanation and identify the relevant authority or institutional policy supporting this exemption.

The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject research that does not meet internationally accepted ethical principles, even if approval has been obtained from a local authority.

Informed Consent

Authors must obtain informed consent from research participants whenever required by ethical standards, institutional policies, or applicable regulations. The manuscript should clearly describe the process through which consent was obtained.

Valid informed consent requires that participation is voluntary, individuals receive sufficient information regarding the purpose, procedures, potential risks, benefits, and alternatives of the research, and participants have the opportunity to make an informed decision without coercion or undue influence.

Consent should normally be obtained before participation begins and should be documented according to relevant ethical and legal requirements.

Additional safeguards must be applied when research involves individuals with limited decision-making capacity, including children, individuals with cognitive impairment, or other groups requiring additional protection. Researchers must demonstrate that appropriate measures were implemented to protect participant rights, dignity, and welfare.

Patient Privacy and Consent for Publication

DJMI recognizes the importance of protecting patient privacy and confidentiality. Authors must ensure that identifiable personal, clinical, or medical information is not published without appropriate consent and ethical justification.

Manuscripts containing case reports, clinical photographs, radiological images, videos, genetic information, pedigrees, facial images, detailed medical histories, or any other potentially identifiable information must include appropriate consent for publication when there is a reasonable possibility that an individual could be recognized.

Removal of a patient’s name alone may not be sufficient to ensure anonymity. Authors should remove all unnecessary identifying details and carefully consider whether combinations of information could allow identification of the participant.

Authors are responsible for obtaining and securely retaining documented consent for publication and must provide confirmation to DJMI if requested. The journal will generally not publish signed consent forms because they may contain confidential personal information.

The responsibility for protecting patient confidentiality remains with the authors throughout manuscript preparation, submission, and publication.

Vulnerable Participants

Research involving vulnerable individuals or populations requires additional ethical consideration to ensure protection of dignity, autonomy, welfare, privacy, and fundamental rights.

Vulnerable groups may include children, individuals with impaired decision-making capacity, prisoners, economically disadvantaged populations, institutionalized individuals, displaced communities, patients in dependent relationships with healthcare providers or researchers, and groups at increased risk of exploitation or coercion.

Authors conducting research involving vulnerable participants must clearly describe the safeguards implemented to minimize risks and protect participants from harm. These safeguards should include appropriate consent procedures, additional ethical oversight where required, protection of confidentiality, and measures to ensure voluntary participation.

DJMI expects researchers to demonstrate that vulnerable individuals were included only when scientifically justified and that the benefits and risks of participation were carefully evaluated.

Clinical Trial Registration

DJMI strongly supports prospective registration of clinical trials to promote transparency, accountability, and responsible reporting of clinical research.

Interventional clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry before enrollment of the first participant, in accordance with internationally recognized recommendations, including those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Authors submitting clinical trial manuscripts should provide the registry name, registration number, registration date, and appropriate identifier or link where available.

Acceptable registration systems may include ClinicalTrials.gov and other World Health Organization (WHO)-recognized primary clinical trial registries.

Retrospective registration must be clearly identified, including an explanation of why registration occurred after participant enrollment. The Editor-in-Chief will determine whether a retrospectively registered trial meets the journal’s ethical and reporting requirements.

Failure to provide appropriate trial registration information may affect editorial consideration of the manuscript.

Clinical Trial Data Sharing

DJMI supports responsible sharing of clinical trial data to improve transparency, reproducibility, and scientific advancement while maintaining participant confidentiality and ethical protections.

Clinical trial reports should include a Data Sharing Statement describing whether deidentified participant-level data and related research materials will be available. The statement should specify what data will be shared, what additional documents may be available, the expected timeframe for access, duration of availability, and conditions governing access.

Where data sharing is possible, authors may provide a statement indicating that deidentified participant-level data, study protocols, or related materials will be made available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request and subject to appropriate ethical and institutional requirements.

Where data cannot be publicly shared because of privacy concerns, legal restrictions, participant consent limitations, contractual obligations, or ethical considerations, authors should clearly explain the restrictions and describe whether controlled access options are available.

Authors must not make commitments regarding data sharing that could compromise participant confidentiality, violate regulations, or conflict with institutional requirements.

Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with internationally recognized standards for animal welfare and must be conducted according to applicable institutional, national, and international regulations.

Authors must provide information regarding approval from the relevant animal ethics committee or institutional review body, including approval reference numbers where available. Manuscripts should also describe the animal species, relevant characteristics, experimental procedures, and methods used to minimize pain, distress, or unnecessary suffering.

Researchers must provide scientific justification for animal use and demonstrate that appropriate measures were taken to apply the principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement wherever possible.

DJMI encourages authors to follow the ARRIVE 2.0 Guidelines for reporting animal research. These guidelines promote transparent reporting and help readers and reviewers evaluate the reliability, reproducibility, and ethical acceptability of animal studies.

The journal reserves the right to reject manuscripts where animal welfare standards appear inadequate, even if local ethical approval has been obtained.

Reporting Guidelines

DJMI encourages and, where appropriate, requires authors to follow internationally recognized reporting guidelines to improve the transparency, completeness, reproducibility, and reliability of published research.

Reporting guidelines assist authors, reviewers, and readers in evaluating how research was designed, conducted, analyzed, and reported. Authors should select guidelines appropriate to their study design and provide completed checklists or flow diagrams where required.

Relevant reporting standards may include:

• CONSORT for randomized controlled trials;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• CARE for case reports;
• STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies;
• COREQ for qualitative research;
• SQUIRE for quality improvement studies;
• SPIRIT for clinical trial protocols;
• ARRIVE for animal research; and
• other recognized discipline-specific reporting standards.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that manuscripts provide sufficient methodological detail to allow appropriate evaluation, interpretation, and replication of the research.

Statistical and Methodological Integrity

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the statistical methods and research methodologies used in their studies are appropriate, accurately described, and transparently reported.

Original research articles should provide sufficient methodological information, including study design, participant selection criteria, sampling methods, sample-size justification, outcome definitions, statistical analyses, assumptions underlying statistical tests, management of missing data, confidence intervals, effect estimates, statistical software used, significance thresholds, and relevant sensitivity or subgroup analyses where applicable.

Researchers must ensure that statistical findings are reported accurately and that numerical information presented in abstracts, tables, figures, supplementary materials, and the main text is consistent.

DJMI may request additional methodological clarification or independent statistical review when concerns arise regarding study design, analysis, interpretation, or reporting accuracy.

Manuscripts containing unresolved statistical inconsistencies, methodological weaknesses, or inaccurate reporting may be delayed, returned for revision, or rejected.

Data Availability and Research Reproducibility

DJMI supports responsible research transparency and encourages authors to make relevant research materials available whenever ethically, legally, and practically possible.

Authors should retain research data according to applicable institutional policies, funding requirements, ethical obligations, and legal regulations. Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to share datasets, analytical code, research protocols, statistical analysis plans, questionnaires, laboratory procedures, and other supporting materials through recognized repositories or controlled-access systems.

All original research articles should include a Data Availability Statement describing whether and how research data can be accessed. If data cannot be shared publicly due to privacy, confidentiality, ethical, or legal restrictions, authors should clearly explain the limitations.

Where datasets are publicly available, authors should provide persistent identifiers, such as repository accession numbers or digital object identifiers (DOIs), to support transparency and reproducibility. DJMI encourages proper citation of datasets used in published research.

Conflicts of Interest

DJMI requires all authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose any financial, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation of findings, or editorial decision-making process.

Potential conflicts of interest may include employment relationships, consultancy agreements, financial investments, stock ownership, patents, intellectual property interests, research funding, honoraria, speaking fees, advisory roles, travel support, professional competition, academic rivalry, personal relationships, or other relevant associations.

Disclosure of conflicts does not automatically prevent publication. Transparent reporting allows editors, reviewers, and readers to evaluate potential influences appropriately.

If no competing interests exist, authors should include a statement such as:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

Editors and reviewers must also disclose relevant conflicts and avoid involvement in decisions where impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Funding and Sponsor Role

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support, materials, equipment, or other resources that contributed to the research or manuscript preparation.

Funding statements should include the name of the funding organization, grant numbers where applicable, and a clear description of the funder’s involvement in the research process.

Where relevant, authors should specify whether sponsors or funding organizations influenced study design, participant recruitment, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation, approval of the final manuscript, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

If funders had no involvement in these activities, authors should clearly state this.

DJMI requires transparency regarding financial support to maintain trust in the scientific record and allow readers to assess potential sources of influence.

Peer Review Ethics

DJMI considers peer review an essential component of maintaining scientific quality, integrity, and credibility in medical publishing. The journal uses a peer-review process designed to provide independent, objective, and constructive evaluation of submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers are expected to assess manuscripts objectively and professionally based on scientific quality, methodological rigor, originality, ethical compliance, relevance, and clarity of reporting. Personal criticism of authors or inappropriate comments unrelated to the scientific content of the manuscript are unacceptable.

Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality throughout the review process. Manuscripts and associated information must not be shared, discussed with unauthorized individuals, or used for personal, academic, commercial, or competitive advantage.

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest and decline review assignments where personal, professional, financial, or intellectual relationships could compromise impartiality. Reviewers should accept assignments only when they possess appropriate expertise and should complete reviews within the agreed timeframe.

Reviewers should inform the Editor of any suspected ethical concerns, including possible plagiarism, data manipulation, inappropriate methodology, duplicate publication, or other forms of research misconduct.

Reviewers must not recommend unnecessary citations to their own publications or other sources solely to increase citation counts or influence journal metrics. Citation recommendations should only be made when scientifically relevant and necessary.

Reviewer Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must decline to evaluate manuscripts when a relationship, affiliation, or competing interest may reasonably affect their ability to provide an unbiased assessment.

Potential conflicts may include recent collaboration with one or more authors, employment at the same institution, close personal relationships, direct professional competition, financial interests, involvement in the research being evaluated, or significant intellectual disagreements that may affect objectivity.

Reviewers should disclose any possible conflicts to the Editor, who will determine whether the reviewer can participate in the evaluation process.

The presence of a conflict does not necessarily indicate misconduct; however, transparency is required to protect the integrity of the peer-review process.

Editorial Conflicts of Interest

Editors and editorial board members must maintain independence, fairness, and transparency when handling manuscripts. Editorial decisions must be based solely on scientific merit, ethical standards, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

Editors must withdraw from handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest, including situations where they are authors of the manuscript, have recently collaborated with authors, have close personal relationships with authors, have financial interests related to the research, were directly involved in the study, or cannot provide an independent assessment.

When an editor has a conflict, the manuscript should be assigned to an independent editor who can manage the evaluation process objectively.

Membership of the editorial board does not provide authors with preferential treatment, and all manuscripts must undergo the same ethical and scientific assessment procedures.

Research Misconduct

DJMI is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record and takes all allegations of research misconduct seriously. Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, image manipulation, fraudulent authorship, manipulated peer review, fabricated reviewers, false ethics approval, undisclosed conflicts of interest, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, paper-mill activities, data theft, unauthorized use of confidential information, intentional misrepresentation, and serious misuse of artificial intelligence in research or manuscript preparation.

When potential misconduct is identified, DJMI will investigate concerns through a fair, confidential, and transparent process. The journal may request explanations from authors, obtain original data or supporting documents, contact co-authors, consult institutional authorities, or seek advice from relevant ethical organizations.

Depending on the severity and circumstances of the case, DJMI may take appropriate actions, including:

• requesting clarification or additional evidence from authors;
• requesting original research materials or documentation;
• suspending manuscript evaluation;
• rejecting the manuscript;
• contacting the authors’ institution or responsible authority;
• publishing a correction;
• issuing an Expression of Concern; or
• retracting the published article.
• Because journals generally do not have investigative authority over institutions or laboratories, DJMI may refer serious allegations to the appropriate research institution or regulatory body.

Corrections

DJMI is committed to maintaining an accurate and reliable scientific record. Published articles may be corrected when errors are identified that affect the accuracy, interpretation, indexing, author information, or understanding of the published work but do not invalidate the overall findings.

Corrections will be published transparently and linked directly to the original article. The correction notice will clearly identify the affected information and explain the changes made.

Minor typographical or formatting errors that do not influence the scientific meaning, interpretation, or indexing of an article may not require formal correction.

Authors, readers, and editors are encouraged to notify the journal promptly when significant errors are identified after publication.

Retractions

DJMI recognizes retraction as an important mechanism for correcting the scientific record when published research is found to be unreliable or seriously compromised. Retraction decisions are made carefully and transparently to protect the integrity of medical literature while preserving the scholarly record.

An article may be considered for retraction when there is reliable evidence that the findings are substantially unreliable due to errors, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unethical research practices, duplicate publication, manipulated peer review, fraudulent authorship, serious methodological flaws, or other major breaches of publication ethics.

Retraction may also be considered when continued reliance on the article could mislead researchers, clinicians, policymakers, or the public.

Retracted articles will remain available as part of the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as retracted. Retraction notices will explain the reason for retraction and provide sufficient information to maintain transparency.

Expressions of Concern

DJMI may publish an Expression of Concern when serious questions arise regarding the reliability, ethics, or integrity of a published article, but available evidence is insufficient to justify immediate correction or retraction.

An Expression of Concern may be issued while an investigation is ongoing by the journal, the authors’ institution, regulatory authorities, or other relevant organizations.

The notice will remain associated with the article until sufficient evidence becomes available to determine whether further action, such as correction or retraction, is required.

Complaints and Appeals

DJMI welcomes legitimate complaints and appeals related to editorial procedures, peer review processes, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, inappropriate conduct, published content, or journal operations.

Complaints should include sufficient details to identify the relevant manuscript or publication and should provide a clear explanation supported by available evidence.

Authors wishing to appeal an editorial decision should provide a reasoned explanation addressing significant scientific, ethical, or procedural concerns rather than simply expressing disagreement with the decision.

Appeals will normally be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or an independent editor who was not involved in the original decision-making process. Submission of an appeal does not guarantee reconsideration, acceptance, or publication.

DJMI aims to handle complaints and appeals fairly, confidentially, and within a reasonable timeframe.

Preprints

DJMI may consider manuscripts that have previously been deposited on recognized scholarly preprint servers, provided that authors disclose the existence of the preprint during submission.

Authors must provide relevant information about the preprint, including its identifier or permanent link, during the submission process.

A preprint represents an early version of research that has not undergone formal peer review and must not be presented as an officially validated or peer-reviewed publication.

After publication in DJMI, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with the citation details and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the final published article.

The existence of a preprint does not guarantee acceptance, and all submissions must undergo the journal’s standard editorial and peer-review procedures.

Citation Ethics

Authors are responsible for ensuring that references accurately represent the scientific literature and appropriately support statements made within the manuscript.

Authors must not include unnecessary citations for the purpose of increasing citation counts, participating in citation cartels, satisfying inappropriate citation requests, or improving journal metrics artificially.

References should be selected based on scientific relevance, accuracy, and contribution to the research. Authors must not fabricate references, misrepresent the findings of cited sources, or deliberately omit relevant prior work.

Editors and reviewers must not pressure authors to cite their own publications or specific articles unless such citations are genuinely relevant and necessary for scientific accuracy.

Responsible citation practices support fairness, transparency, and the advancement of reliable medical knowledge.

Article Processing Charges and Editorial Decisions

DJMI maintains a clear separation between Article Processing Charges (APCs) and editorial decision-making. The payment, amount, waiver status, or availability of publication fees must never influence peer review outcomes or editorial decisions.

APCs do not represent payment for acceptance or guaranteed publication. Manuscripts submitted to DJMI are evaluated solely according to scientific quality, ethical compliance, originality, methodological strength, and relevance to the journal.

Information regarding APCs, available discounts, waivers, and payment requirements should be clearly communicated to authors before manuscript submission.

Neither editors nor reviewers should consider an author’s ability or inability to pay publication fees when making editorial decisions.

Advertising and Sponsorship

DJMI ensures that advertising, sponsorship, and commercial relationships remain completely separate from editorial activities.

Advertisers, sponsors, and commercial partners must not influence manuscript selection, reviewer appointment, editorial decisions, scientific interpretation, or publication outcomes.

Sponsored supplements, special issues, or collections must be clearly identified and must undergo appropriate editorial oversight to maintain scientific independence and transparency.

The journal will not permit commercial interests to compromise the accuracy, objectivity, or integrity of published research.

Confidentiality

All submitted manuscripts are considered confidential documents. Editors, reviewers, editorial staff, and other individuals involved in manuscript handling must protect unpublished information and use it only for legitimate editorial purposes.

Unpublished manuscript content, research findings, data, methods, and interpretations must not be disclosed to unauthorized individuals or used for personal, academic, commercial, or competitive advantage.

Information obtained during peer review must remain confidential even after the review process has concluded.

DJMI expects all individuals involved in publication activities to respect the confidentiality and intellectual property rights of authors.

Post-Publication Discussion

DJMI supports responsible scientific discussion after publication and recognizes that ongoing evaluation contributes to improving the reliability of medical knowledge.

Readers, researchers, and other stakeholders are encouraged to report concerns regarding published articles, including possible errors, ethical issues, statistical inconsistencies, methodological concerns, or inaccuracies.

The journal will consider credible concerns regardless of the identity, professional status, or institutional affiliation of the person raising the concern. Anonymous reports may also be considered when sufficient verifiable evidence is provided.

Where appropriate, DJMI may initiate further assessment, publish corrections, issue Expressions of Concern, or undertake retraction procedures to maintain the integrity of the scientific record.

Editorial Quality-Control Review Before Publication

Before final publication, DJMI conducts an editorial quality-control assessment to ensure that manuscripts meet scientific, ethical, and production standards.

The quality-control process may include verification of author names and affiliations, corresponding author details, ORCID identifiers, ethical approval statements, informed consent requirements, clinical trial registration information, funding disclosures, conflict-of-interest declarations, artificial intelligence disclosure statements, data availability statements, tables, figures, references, DOI information, and citation metadata.

Editors may also review numerical consistency, including sample sizes, percentages, totals, statistical values, p-values, confidence intervals, and consistency between the title, abstract, main text, figures, and supplementary materials.

Manuscripts should not proceed to publication until major unresolved scientific, ethical, numerical, or metadata issues have been appropriately addressed.

Authors must approve final proofs before publication to confirm accuracy and completeness of the published version.

Policy Updates

Publication ethics standards continue to evolve with developments in medical research, technology, data protection, artificial intelligence, and scholarly communication practices.

DJMI may periodically revise this publication ethics policy in response to changes in international ethical standards, recommendations from recognized organizations, developments in research methodology, emerging forms of publication misconduct, and changes in applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

The most recent version of this policy published on the DJMI website will apply to all new manuscript submissions unless otherwise stated.

DJMI remains committed to promoting ethical, transparent, responsible, and trustworthy medical publishing practices that support the advancement of global healthcare knowledge.

Copyrights Policy
The content of all journals are protected under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. We give the rights to the corresponding author to make necessary changes and he/she will act as the guarantor for the manuscript on our behalf. We grant all the users the right to access the content that is published and also to stimulate use of the data for any sane and non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. Author receives 1st acknowledgement mail within 24 hours of submission regarding receipt of article (In case you don’t receive an acknowledgement mail, please mail on editorial email address mention on journal home page.

Plagiarism Policy
All submitted manuscripts checks for plagiarism, all journals strictly follows the plagiarism policy and uses “Turnitin” software to detect instances of overlapping or similar text in all manuscripts submissions. Similarity Index by Turnitin must be <19%, and from a single source, it must be <5%. Plagiarism, data fabrication, and image/figure/table manipulation are not acceptable. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images/figures/graphs/tables, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source. Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotes and the original source must be cited. If a study’s design or the manuscript’s structure or language has been inspired by previous works, these works must be explicitly cited. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected/major revision will claim. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may publish a correction or retract the paper. Image/figures/Graphs files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image/figure/table. Irregular manipulation includes: 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image/figure/graphs/tables; 2) grouping of images/figures/graphs/tables that should obviously be presented separately (e.g., from different parts of the same image/figure/graph/table, or from different image/figure/graph/table); or 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information. If irregular image/figure/graph/table manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image/figure/graph/table manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the paper.

Indemnity Policy
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of Dinkum Journal of Medical Innovations and/or the editor(s) and/or Dinkum Publishers. Dinkum Journals and/or the editor(s) and/or Dinkum Publishers disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content published.

Citation Policy
It expects authors to avoid any misconduct related to citations, such as using self-citation excessively or making improper prearrangements among author groups to manipulate citation metrics. This practice is known as citation manipulation, and it is not acceptable. For more information, please refer to the COPE Guidance Relating to Citation Manipulation. Authors should always cite relevant and appropriate literature to support their claims in all types of articles, including original research and non-research articles, such as viewpoints. The journal will reject manuscripts that contain citation manipulation. Please include only published manuscripts as references for your manuscript. Authors are requested to provide sequential list of references at the end of the text.

Author Self-Archiving Policy
For all Dinkum journals, authors retain the copyright of their material and are allowed to self-archive their work as HTML or Word files in institutional repositories and on the web. Authors can republish the material, for example, as a book chapter. It is important to note that publication in another scholarly journal, while possible from a copyright point of view, is generally considered duplicate publication and scientific misconduct. In all cases of republication or self-archiving, the original source (citation) should be provided, including the link to the original published article and a note should be included that the work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0.

Open Access Policy
All articles published in the Dinkum Journal of Medical Innovations (DJMI) are published under the terms of a CC BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Peer Review Policy

Key principles

• Rigour and ethics first: All submissions must meet ethical standards (IRB/consent for human/animal studies/ethical approval), data availability, and formatting. We run plagiarism detection on every submission.
• Transparent by default: For all accepted research papers, author receive comprehensive details of peer reviewer feedback about the submitted manuscript and also track each correction.
• Flexible peer review models: We support double-blind peer review that involve couple of peer reviewers to review the submitted manuscript.
• Dedicated methodological/statistical review: Submissions involving complex statistics, clinical trials, or large datasets will receive an independent statistical/methodology review by relevant expert.
• Data & code policy: Authors must provide data and code or deposit in an appropriate repository (or give a justified data-access statement). Reviewers can request access to raw data under confidentiality for verification.
• Reviewer timeframes & accountability: Reviewers are asked to submit reports within 2 weeks (14 days) for rapid review; typical review windows are 14–21 days depending on article type but it might exceed as per paper. Reminders and editorial follow-ups are standard practice.
• Reviewer recognition & standards: We offer training resources, an annual reviewer honor roll, and the option to have signed reviews linked to reviewers’ ORCID profiles as credit.
• Conflict of interest & appeals: Reviewers must declare COIs; authors must disclose funding and conflicts. Authors may appeal decisions via a formal decorum by email to managing editor of journal. Valid reasons & solid ground will required for proceed appeal, however it will sole prerogative of journal editorial team to accept the appeal or not.
• Post-publication review & corrections: We support post-publication comments, corrigenda, and retractions per COPE guidelines; all versions have DOIs to preserve scholarly record.

Step-by-Step Procedure

• Submission: Author to provide complete details of all author, funding, COI, data/code availability, ethics approvals including manuscript as well as covering letter.
• Editorial Screening: Plagiarism check, basic formatting, completeness check, ethics checklist. Handling Editor checks scope, novelty threshold, ethical compliance, and whether statistical review is needed. If manuscript fail in basic checks, rapid rejection will issue with reasons.
• Assign Reviewers: Managing Editors Assign multiple reviewers (minimum 2) chosen for expertise, diversity (geography/gender/career stage), with at least one statistical/methodology reviewer when needed It reduces false positives and increases reproducibility. Reviewers are selected based on subject expertise and prior experience.
• Reviewer Reports: Reviewers submit structured reports via an online form to managing editor. Managing Editors monitor and chase late reviews.
• Consolidated Editorial Decision: Editor synthesizes reviewers’ comments into an editorial decision: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject. Managing Editors may seek an additional review or mediate a consensus if need.
• Author Revision (Resubmission): If case of revision (major or minor) authors respond point-by-point with a response matrix and revised manuscript with tracked changes. For major revisions, resubmission returns to reviewers (or to the Managing Editors if changes are minor).
• Second Review / Final Editorial Check: If reviewers requested re-review, they have to evaluate the revision resubmitted by author.
• Acceptance: Once the manuscript meets all ethical standards and revised according to feedback of peer reviewers, Managing Editors issues a formal acceptance letter to corresponding author along with acceptance letter (in PDF format). Managing Editors also request corresponding author to pay article processing charge (APC).
• Production: Journal volume number, issue number and page numbers will mention on the manuscript by journal editorial team. Copyediting, formatting, figure checks, data/code repository links verification, DOI assignment.
• Publication: After that Article published in online& print versions with metadata, DOI, data/code links. Official email along with accredited copy of manuscript has been provide to all authors by email.