PUBLICATION ETHICS & RESEARCH INTEGRITY

Archives of Allied Health Sciences (Arch AHS) commits to upholding the highest ethical standards in academic publication. The journal employs a double-blind peer review policy; authors and reviewers remain anonymous to one another throughout the process to ensure fairness and minimize bias. All parties involved in the publication process must adhere to the principles of our Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement, which are based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The roles and responsibilities of each participant are outlined below.

ROLES AND DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Authors submitting to Arch AHS are expected to uphold the highest standards of research integrity and compliance throughout the publication process. To maintain these standards, authors must fulfill the following responsibilities:

Manuscript Preparation & Ethical Compliance: Authors must adhere to all relevant ethical guidelines governing their research. Authorship is strictly limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, experimental design, data interpretation, or drafting of the manuscript. All co-authors share collective accountability for the scientific accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work. Arch AHS encourages authors to specify the contributions of each individual who participated in the submitted work according to the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).

Originality & Misconduct Prevention: Authors must ensure their submissions represent original, unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere. Data fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, and all forms of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism without proper citation, are strictly prohibited. Authors are responsible for securing all necessary permissions for copyrighted materials prior to submission.

Plagiarism Screening & Similarity Limits: Authors must comply with mandatory screening via the Copycatch and Turnitin plagiarism checker. Submissions exceeding a 30% similarity index will be returned for revision. Failure to reduce the similarity index below this threshold will result in the immediate termination of the review process and outright rejection.

Peer Review & Revisions: The corresponding author must manage the revision process and ensure that all reviewer comments are accurately addressed. If authors disagree with reviewer's feedback, they must provide clear evidence-based justification in their point-by-point response. Final publication decisions remain exclusively with the assigned editor and Editor-in-Chief.

Authorship Changes & Copyright Transfer: Authors must adhere strictly to policies regarding post-submission authorship modifications. Any addition, deletion, or reordering of author names requires written approval and signatures from all listed authors. Upon acceptance, the corresponding author must complete and sign the journal's Copyright Transfer Agreement.

GENERATIVE AI AND AI-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGIES FOR AUTHORS

Arch AHS policy strictly governs the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation. AI tools should not be used for data analysis or the generation of scientific insights. Authors may, however, use AI tools to improve language and readability, and may also incorporate AI as an integral part of the research methodology itself (e.g., image editing or processing).

Regardless of how AI tools are used, authors must thoroughly review and edit all AI-generated content and take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the final output, as such tools can produce incorrect, biased, or misleadingly authoritative information. When AI is used in image processing, raw or unprocessed images must be retained and made available for submission upon request.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, nor cited as references, since authorship requires human accountability and oversight.

Any use of AI beyond standard language and grammar enhancement must be transparently disclosed in the manuscript under a "Generative AI Declaration" section, using the following format:

"This manuscript utilized [Tool/Service Name] to [state purpose, e.g., improve language and readability]. Following the use of this tool, the author(s) thoroughly reviewed and edited the material as necessary and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article."

ROLES AND DUTIES OF THE REVIEWERS

Reviewers play a critical role in the publication process. Their expert evaluations and constructive suggestions enhance the quality of manuscripts and advance academic knowledge. To maintain these standards, reviewers are expected to uphold the following responsibilities:

Expertise & Conflicts of Interest: Prospective reviewers must decline invitations if the manuscript’s subject matter falls outside their area of expertise, or if any potential conflicts of interest exist. Reviews and recommendations must be impartial and grounded solely in academic judgment.

Standardized Evaluation: Reviewers are encouraged to follow international peer-review recommendations, including the use of standard reporting checklists, to effectively evaluate and address variability in scholarly quality.

Misconduct Reporting: Reviewers must promptly notify the editor if they suspect plagiarism, data manipulation, or duplicate publication.

Confidentiality: Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality regarding all manuscript details and results, and must not disclose, share, or use any unreleased information prior to publication.

USE OF GENERATIVE AI AND AI-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGIES IN PEER REVIEW

Peer review relies on human judgment and critical expertise; therefore, reviewers must not use AI tools to assist in evaluating manuscripts. AI systems lack analytical depth and risk generating biased, inaccurate, or fabricated conclusions. Reviewers remain fully responsible and accountable for the content and quality of their reviews.

To protect author confidentiality, proprietary rights, and data privacy, uploading manuscripts or any portion of them into AI tools is strictly prohibited. This restriction also applies to review reports, which often contain sensitive information. Reviewers must not upload review materials into AI tools, even for language or readability improvement.

Arch AHS policies permit authors to use AI tools solely to improve language and readability during manuscript preparation, provided such use is explicitly disclosed in a "Generative AI Declaration" section before the references. Reviewers who suspect undisclosed AI usage or other AI-related misconduct must report the issue directly to the journal editor.

ROLES AND DUTIES OF THE EDITOR

Journal editors are responsible for the following core duties:

Responsibility & Accountability: Editors oversee the entire publication process from submission to final release. They implement transparent procedures and enforce editorial policies to maintain the journal's quality, integrity, and academic rigor.

Fair Evaluation: Manuscripts are evaluated strictly on scholarly merit and intellectual content, without bias regarding the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, or political philosophy.

Publication Decisions: Editors hold final authority on manuscript acceptance for Arch AHS, guided by journal policies, editorial board directives, and legal mandates regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editors may consult reviewers or editorial team members during the evaluation process.

Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must maintain strict confidentiality regarding all submitted manuscripts, sharing details only with the authors, designated reviewers, editorial advisors, and the publisher as necessary.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors may not use unpublished manuscript data for their own research without the authors' explicit written consent. Editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling impacted manuscripts.

Publication Integrity: Arch AHS publishes only original, unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere. All submissions undergo plagiarism screening using Copycatch and Turnitin, and must maintain a similarity index of 30% or less. Editors ensure these standards are upheld in accordance with legal and ethical frameworks.

GENERATIVE AI AND AI-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGIES IN THE JOURNAL EDITORIAL PROCESS

All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Editors must not upload a submitted manuscript, or any portion of it, into generative AI or AI-assisted tools, as doing so may compromise author confidentiality, proprietary rights, and data privacy, particularly when manuscripts contain personally identifiable information.

Editors are also prohibited from uploading authors’ correspondence, including letters to the editor, into AI-assisted tools, even for the purpose of improving language or readability. Editors remain fully responsible and accountable for the editorial process, all editorial decisions, and all communications with authors.

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be used to support or conduct the scientific evaluation of manuscripts. The critical judgment and independent assessment required for editorial and peer review cannot be replicated by such technologies, which may produce incorrect, incomplete, or biased conclusions. Ultimately, editors bear full responsibility and accountability for the integrity, content, and handling of all submitted work throughout the editorial process.

ROLES AND DUTIES OF THE JOURNAL OWNER

The Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, provides financial support allowing Arch AHS to maintain high publication standards, a rigorous peer-review process, and open-access availability for researchers and readers worldwide. The faculty does not, however, exert any influence over editorial decisions or the selection of articles for publication.

ETHICAL CONCERNS FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL RESEARCH

Research involving human participants or animals must be conducted in accordance with internationally recognized ethical standards, including the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant COPE guidelines. Authors are responsible for ensuring the safety, rights, and welfare of all research participants. To uphold these standards, authors must fulfill the following requirements:

Institutional Approval & Documentation: Authors must secure prior approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee for all research involving humans or animals. An ethics statement must be included in the Materials and Methods section, clearly stating the name of the approving body and the approval reference number (or providing written authorization as a confidential supplemental file if a reference number is unavailable).

Informed Consent: For human studies, authors must obtain informed consent from all participants prior to their involvement. Participants must be fully informed of the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits, and their participation must remain entirely voluntary.

Privacy & Data Confidentiality: Authors must protect participant privacy and maintain strict confidentiality regarding all personal data.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATION

Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest (COI) at the time of initial manuscript submission. This includes any financial interests, funding sources, and professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing the reported work. Such disclosures must be placed in a dedicated section at the end of the manuscript, prior to the reference list.

Authors who have no conflicts of interest to declare must explicitly include a standard confirmation statement in their manuscript, such as: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest" or "The author(s) confirm(s) that there are no conflicts of interest related to this manuscript."

DATA AVAILABILITY AND SHARING POLICY

Arch AHS encourages transparency and reproducibility in scientific research. To support this, authors are expected to make their research data available upon reasonable request. To comply with this policy, authors must adhere to the following guidelines:

Data Sharing Statements: If data cannot be shared publicly due to participant privacy, confidentiality obligations, or legal constraints, authors must clearly outline these restrictions in a formal Data Sharing Statement within the manuscript.

Legal and Ethical Compliance: Authors must ensure they possess the legal rights to share the data and that doing so does not violate any applicable laws, institutional regulations, or third-party agreements.

CORRECTIONS AND RETRACTIONS

When errors are identified in published articles, the editors will assess the appropriate course of action to preserve the integrity and accuracy of the scholarly record. Errors attributable to authors may be corrected through a corrigendum, while errors introduced by the publisher may be addressed through an erratum.

In cases where errors substantially affect the validity of the findings, or where there is evidence of research or publication misconduct, the editors may issue a retraction or an expression of concern in accordance with COPE Retraction Guidelines.

SANCTIONS AND ENFORCEMENT

If Arch AHS identifies breaches of its publication ethics policies, appropriate sanctions will be imposed in accordance with the severity of the misconduct. Depending on the nature of the violation, enforcement measures may include:

Manuscript Rejection: The journal reserves the right to immediately reject the affected manuscript as well as any other active manuscripts submitted by the implicated author(s).

Submission Bans: The journal may impose temporary or permanent prohibition on new submissions from the responsible author(s), with a minimum period of one year, depending on the nature of the violation.

Editorial Service Disqualification: The journal will disqualify non-compliant individuals from serving as peer reviewers, guest editors, or editorial board members for Arch AHS.