Journal Policy
Peer review
- Editor(s) will conform and control the journal’s double-blind peer review procedure.
- KAU-Med Sci Editor(s) ensure that all accepted manuscripts are peer reviewed by competent reviewers with a relevant expertise as concluded by their list of publications. Editor(s) should warrant nonexistence of any kind of conflict of interest for all peer reviewers.
- Each manuscript should be reviewed by either two independent reviewers with no or just one reviewer nominated by the author.
- Editor(s) will abide by the double-blind peer-reviewing rules, however, in certain unusual or emergent situations, Editor(s) may decide to accept publication on just one peer review statement if such report meets the peer-reviewing standards of the journal.
- Peer review responses must be in English and offer helpful critical evaluations of all aspects of the submitted manuscript. Editorial decisions will not be made upon brief, shallow peer reviewer reports.
- Manuscripts such as book reviews, opinion, or letters to the editor may be judged by the Editor(s) if the subject matter lie within their scientific capability. Otherwise, such topic should be evaluated by a single independent reviewer or assigned to a member of the Editorial or Advisory Boards.
Manuscript handling
- Editor(s) will offer a proficient assistance to authors all through the process of manuscript submission, processing, publication, and post-publication concerns.
- Editor(s) responses, inquiries, and decisions to authors will be managed in an appropriate and professional conduct.
- Editor(s) will utilize all the facilities provided by the publisher to ease the processes of online submission and peer-reviewing.
Confidentiality:
All materials submitted to the Journal will be handled in a professional and confidential manner while under review. Editor(s) will also ensure the confidentiality of all steps of peer reviewing and decision-making.
Conflicts of interest of Editor(s):
- Editor(s) are expected to disclose any aspect of conflict of interest regarding certain submissions or certain authors.
- Editor(s) of JKAU-Med Sci may publish in the journal; however, they should not involve with any decision related to manuscripts on which they are an author. The whole process should be in the custody of another member of the Editorial board.
Complaints, appeals and post-publication issues
- The journal editorial board will carefully consider pre- and post-publication complaints, appeals, and allegations according to COPE guidelines.
- Complaints and carefully evidenced and written appeals must be reported first to the journal's editor(s), who will investigate the issue in a professional manner following COPE guidelines. Where necessary, allegations will be referred to the publisher (KAU). According to the outcome of an investigation, the published record will be updated with a post-publication notice in the form of either a correction or a retraction.
- Any written complaint filed against the Editor(s) will be examined and judged by the journal’s publisher.
Research on Human subjects, Animals or Endangered plants
- Editor(s) guarantee that all accepted manuscripts conform with the JKAU-Med Sci editorial and ethical standards. Manuscripts having data from human or animal subjects, or related to endangered plants, are reviewed by Editor(s) for full compliance with the Saudi national guidelines which conform with the international standards and are proposed to protect the rights of the participants in any scientific research (See guidelines of the Saudi National Committee of BioEthics (NCBE)
- Editor(s) ensure that any research accepted for publication in JKAU-Med Sci that involves human subjects, human material, or human data must conform with the national and/or institutional code of ethics and informed consent where the research took place. Manuscripts seems to comply with their institutional requirements but still violate the international or the Saudi national guidelines of bioethics will not be considered for publication in JKAU-Med Sci.
- In certain situations, Editor(s) will seek further guidance from COPE available and published guidelines (Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations.)
- Original research manuscripts utilizing human subjects, tissues, or data should fill and sign the “Ethical compliance” and the “Informed consent” forms provided by the journal.
Archiving Policy
The Journal is committed to preserving digital content for the long term. All published articles are archived on the King Abdulaziz University database, guaranteeing their accessibility even in the event of the journal's discontinuation. Our commitment to long-term preservation ensures that valuable scholarly contributions remain available to researchers and readers worldwide.
Repository Policy
Authors are advised to refrain from posting manuscripts during pre-publishing in institutional repositories, or websites, before and during the submission process.
They may, however, post the PDF version of the publisher's final format without embargo after publication.
Open access policy
The journal is open access and does not charge authors to publish. It grants free access to all papers that have been accepted and published. It makes research information available to readers at no cost.