Open Access Policy

This is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available to readers without financial or access barriers. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of the articles without prior permission, provided the terms of the license are followed, supporting a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All articles published in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This license permits users to copy, redistribute, and adapt the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated. Any derivative works must be distributed under the same license terms.

All articles are assigned Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) through Crossref to ensure persistent and reliable access. The journal supports long-term digital preservation and accessibility through appropriate archiving and indexing services.

 

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain full copyright of their work published in this journal.

By submitting and accepting publication, authors grant the publisher a non-exclusive, worldwide, and perpetual license to publish, reproduce, translate, distribute, display, and archive the article in all formats and media.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).

Under this license, users are free to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material.

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution (BY): Appropriate credit must be given to the author(s) and the journal as the original publisher.
• NonCommercial (NC): The material may not be used for commercial purposes.
• ShareAlike (SA): Adapted material must be distributed under the same license.

 

Rights

Author Rights

Authors retain the following rights:

• To use, reuse, and share their published work for non-commercial purposes.
• To deposit the published version (Version of Record) in institutional repositories, personal websites, or archives.
• To reproduce the work in whole or in part in future publications, with proper citation.

User Rights

Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of articles, and to use them for any lawful non-commercial purpose, provided proper attribution is given and any derivative works follow the same license.

Publisher Rights

The publisher retains the right to:

• Publish and distribute the article as the original publisher.
• Maintain, archive, and ensure long-term preservation of published content.
• Promote and disseminate the work through indexing and abstracting services.
• Apply corrections, retractions, or updates in accordance with ethical publishing standards

 

Licensing Agreement

The corresponding authors (on behalf of all authors) are required to confirm their agreement to this Open Access and licensing policy at the time of submission through an author declaration and licensing consent.

 

Peer Review Process/ Policy

All submitted manuscripts are subjected to a double-blinded peer review process. Also, it goes through necessary plagiarism check. After ensuring the completeness of the article, it is forwarded to undisclosed reviewers for peer review and detailed responses. Authors mostly get the decision on their manuscript within 4–6 weeks (revision stages may extend this timeline by up to 2 additional weeks).

Original research in humans and animals require a letter of approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee or a letter stating that the Institutional Review Board has waived the need for informed consent. For prospective interventional trials, registration with trial registries such as Clinicaltrials.gov is mandatory.

All research shall be conducted as per the WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants (Updated in 75^th WMA General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, October 2024 - https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/). The research must adhere to the core principles of research ethics:

• informed consent,
• voluntary participation,
• privacy and confidentiality,
• justice, and beneficence,
• right to review.

 

Article Processing Charges (APC)

This journal does not charge any fees for manuscript submission, processing, or publication. Authors are not required to pay any article processing charges (APC) or submission fees at any stage of the publication process.

All articles are published free of cost as part of the journal’s commitment to open access and the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

 

Publication Frequency

The Journal is a Bi-annual periodical publishing 2 issues in a year.

 

Digital Preservation / Archiving:

The Journal provides for long-term digital preservation through PKP preservation network and other archiving systems such as LOCKSS/CLOCKSS (where applicable).

 

Self-Archiving Policy

The Journal permits authors to self-archive the published version of the record immediately without embargo on their own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories with full link to the article webpage.

 

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement is based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors as per Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011, ICMJE & WAME.

 

Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative AI in Relation to Scholarly Publications

AI tools cannot be listed as authors and their use must be disclosed in the manuscript. For Recommendations on Chatbots and GenAI in Relation to Scholarly Manuscripts, please visit the recent Guidelines by WAME and stay updated for further information.

 

Advertisement Policy

While advertisements may be crucial to the journals to be able to keep all content free for everyone, ethical considerations are in place to ensure the integrity of the journal and its content:

• "Pop-up" and "banner" ads appear on a random, rotating basis. The advertiser has no control or input over the pages where their ads appear.
• The Editorial Board has full and final approval over the content of all advertisements.
• Advertisements are clearly separated from editorial content and do not influence editorial decisions.

Editorial independence will be maintained and advertisements shall be treated separately.

Advertisements will not be accepted if they appear to be indecent or offensive in either text or artwork, or if they relate to content of a personal, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, or religious nature.

Journal will not accept advertising for products or services known to be harmful to health (e.g. tobacco and alcohol products).

 

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

 

Ahead of Print Policy

Articles published online under the Ahead of Print model are considered published and can be cited and quoted using the DOI as the reference source.

 

Plagiarism Policy

Articles will be checked for plagiarism. Manuscripts are evaluated for plagiarism using similarity tools, and editorial judgment determines acceptability. Authors are advised to run through their own plag check before submission to ensure higher possibility of acceptance. We plag check all articles to ensure the quality of articles through "Similarity check by iThenticate".

The authors must ensure their plagiarism-free manuscript. In case of any plagiarism allegation in any form in a published article, the process investigation will follow under ICMJE and COPE Guidelines. If proven, the article shall be retracted and further necessary actions may be taken.