Archiving Policy

 The articles published by AHIT are archived on our website and also in multiple international databases around the world to guarantee long-term digital preservation. These archives include:

• Index Copernicus
• Google scholar
• Magiran
• Civilica

 

Retraction Policy

As is discussed in COPE’s Retraction Guidelines, retraction is a mechanism for correcting the literature and notifying readers of major concerns about the integrity, validity, or reliability of an article.

• Authors may request retraction of their own work if issues come to light post-publication which call into question the scientific validity of the article, or which align with criteria listed in the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Any author-originated retraction request is subject to review and approval by the AHIT Publication Ethics team and/or Editor(s)-in-Chief, and will be denied if the issues raised do not align with COPE guidance and/or AHIT standards for retraction.
• When concerns are noted internally or are raised by third parties, AHIT follows up in accordance with COPE guidance and will retract an article if the editors determine that issues which are not resolved in post-publication discussions warrant retraction per COPE guidance. AHIT may also retract an article if we conclude that it does not adhere to key aspects of the journal’s requirements or editorial policies; or if there are image or data concerns for which the original raw data are not provided, not available, or not sufficient (per our editorial assessment) to address the issues.

We may retract an article whether the issues have arisen due to honest error(s) or misconduct. In accordance with COPE guidance, AHIT does not adjudicate on intent or individual-level responsibility for issues raised, and we do not issue partial retractions.

When retracting an article, AHIT publishes a notice of retraction that explains the reason(s) for the retraction. The notice is posted at the top of the affected article’s AHIT webpage and is linked to the article’s publication record. AHIT editors have final say on the retraction notice contents, but depending on case details we may collaborate with the authors in preparing the notice and/or give the article’s authors the option to be listed as authors of the retraction notice.

We attempt to notify all authors of a retraction decision and the notice text before completing a retraction. AHIT may also notify other affected third parties of a retraction; this could include, for example, the authors’ institution(s), an affected data repository, or another journal/publisher that has an article or submission involved in the case.

After an article is retracted, it is no longer considered to be part of the standing published record. Except in rare circumstances (see “Removal of AHIT Content”), retracted AHIT articles remain online and available as per COPE guidance, with the retracted status clearly indicated. At the time of retraction we update the downloadable PDF that is available at the article’s AHIT webpage, so that for subsequent downloads the retracted status is clearly noted on the PDF.

If a retracted article contains select elements (e.g. figures or tables) that are similar to or that duplicate published content, and if the original publication of that content is not available under a Creative Commons (CC) open access license, we may update the AHIT article’s copyright statement at the time of retraction to exclude those elements from the CC-BY license.

 

Publication of Previously Retracted Work

After a retraction, if authors are able to resolve all issues underlying the retraction decision and wish to pursue republication in a AHIT journal, they should contact the relevant journal office and inquire about AHIT’ requirements for submissions of previously retracted work. We will not consider a revised version of an article for publication if there are unresolved concerns involving potential misconduct.

If a revised version of a retracted article is peer reviewed and accepted for publication it will receive a new DOI and the original (retracted) article will remain available online, clearly marked as retracted unless the case warrants consideration for removal (see ‘Removal of AHIT Content’). The original article, retraction notice, and updated article will be linked as related content via their AHIT journal webpages.

Removal of AHIT Content

AHIT reserves the right to remove contents from our journal webpages in exceptional circumstances such as:

• a court or government order has requested the removal;
• the content presents a risk to personal privacy or to a third party’s legal rights, and the risk cannot be suitably mitigated by an editorial notice or other article updates;
• the research was not lawfully conducted or published, and/or its continued availability presents potential legal or personal privacy risk(s);
• cases of dual publication in which the AHIT content duplicates previously published material that is not available under an open access (Creative Commons) license; or
• per AHIT editors’ assessment, the contents - even if marked as retracted - may present a substantial risk, for example to public health or to a specific community or ecosystem.

When AHIT removes an article, the title, author list, and article metadata remain available on the article’s AHIT webpage, along with an editorial notice.

Appeals of Post-Publication Decisions

AHIT will only consider appeals of Retraction or Expression of Concern decisions if both of the following criteria are met:

• new information and/or data are provided that directly address the issue(s) underlying the decision (e.g. original raw data for cases involving image or data concerns, documentation of an investigation outcome from an institutional official), and
• the appeal is received before the specified commenting deadline.

Appeals are considered by the AHIT Publication Ethics team, and may be discussed with the journal’s Editor(s)-in-Chief, Executive Editor, or Division Editor, and/or with external scientific advisors or members of the journal’s Editorial Board.

Decisions on retraction and Expression of Concern appeals are final. We will not consider further rounds of appeal.

 

Conflicts of Interest Guidelines for Reviewer

 

The following situations are considered conflicts and should be avoided:

• Co-authoring publications with at least one of the authors in the past 3 years
• Being colleagues within the same section/department or similar organisational unit in the past 3 years
• Supervising/having supervised the doctoral work of the author (s) or being supervised/having been supervised by the author(s)
• Receiving professional or personal benefit resulting from the review
• Having a personal relationship (e.g. family, close friend) with the author(s)
• Having a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed

 

Ethics of scientific publishing

• Duplicate Submission

Submission of a paper implies that it reports unpublished work and that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts that are found to have been submitted elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission sanctions. If previously published tables, illustrations or text are to be included, this should be clearly indicated in the manuscript and the copyright holder's permission must be obtained. Previously published material can be cited in a later review or commentary article, but it must be indicated, using quotation marks if necessary.

• Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts that have been published elsewhere with the same intellectual material are considered duplicate publication. If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.

• Selective Reporting of Data

Selective reporting of data is inappropriate, especially if unreported data are in disagreement with the findings of the selectively reported data. In accordance with the ICMJE, the AHIT supports publication of negative studies. Authors should cite publications in the literature that are relevant to the uniqueness of the research, publications by others, as well as of their own research. Previous publication of a preliminary report on the data is permissible, if it is stated clearly as a footnote.

• Conflicts of Interest

Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees from, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper.

Scientific Misconducts

There are differing definitions of scientific misconduct. At AHIT, we deal with these problems on a case by case basis while following guidance produced by bodies that include the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

WAME gives a useful overview of misconduct, using a slightly amended version of the US Office of Research Integrity definition of scientific misconduct and including these behaviours:

Falsification of data	Ranging from fabrication to deceptive selective reporting of findings and omission of conflicting data, or willful suppression and/or distortion of data.
Plagiarism	The appropriation of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another without crediting their true source, and representation of them as one's own original work.
Improprieties of authorship	Improper assignment of credit, such as excluding others, misrepresentation of the same material as original in more than one publication, inclusion of individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published; or submission of multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.
Misappropriation of the ideas of others	An important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.
Violation of generally accepted research practices	Serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.
Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research:	Including but not limited to serious or substantial, repeated, willful violations of applicable local regulations and law involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biologic, or chemical materials.
Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct	This includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, failure to report known or suspected misconduct, withholding or destruction of information relevant to a claim of misconduct and retaliation against persons involved in the allegation or investigation.

Many journals, including AHIT, also consider redundant and duplicate publication, lack of declaration of competing interests and of funding/sponsorship, and other failures of transparency to be forms of misconduct.

If we suspect misconduct

We take seriously all possible misconduct.

If an editor has concerns that a submitted article describes something that might be considered to constitute misconduct in research, publication, or professional behaviour, we may discuss the case in confidence with AHIT ethics committee

If the case cannot be resolved by discussion with the author(s), and the editor still has concerns, s/he may report the case to the appropriate authorities. If, during the course of reviewing an article, an editor is alerted to possible problems (for example, fraudulent data) in another publication, AHIT editor may contact the journal in which the previous publication appeared to raise the concern.

AHIT is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Cases of research or publication misconduct may also be referred to COPE in an anonymised format.

 

Complaints Procedures

This procedure applies to complaints about the policies, procedures, or actions of The AHIT Editorial Board. We welcome complaints as they provide an opportunity and a spur for improvement, and we aim to respond quickly, courteously, and constructively. The following procedures are followed:
Our definition of a complaint is as follows:

• The complainant expresses his or her expression of unhappiness as a complaint.
•  We infer that the complainant is not simply disagreeing with a decision we have made or something we have published (which happens every day) but thinks that there has been a failure of process; for example, a long delay, a rude response, or a severe misjudgment.
•  The complaint must be about something that is within the responsibility of The AHIT editorial board  - content or process

 

How to Make a Complaint

• The best way to reach us is by email. Complaints should ideally be made to the person the complainant is already in contact with over the matter being complained about. If that is not appropriate, please email ahit.ssu.ac.ir
•  Whenever possible, complaints will be processed by the relevant member of the Editorial Board. If that person cannot deal with the complaint, it will be referred to the appropriate section editor or the executive editor.
•  Complaints that are not under the control of the AHIT Editorial Board will be sent to chairman of the AHIT.
•  All complaints will be acknowledged within seven working days.
• If possible, a full response will be made within four weeks. If this is not possible, an interim response will be given within four weeks. Further interim responses will be provided until the complaint is resolved.
•  If the complainant is not happy with the resolution, s/he can ask for the complaint to be forwarded to the Ethics Committee at School of Public Health at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences.
• If the complainant remains unhappy, complaints should be forwarded to the Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee, whose decision is final.
•  If a complainant remains unhappy after what the university Ethics Committee's final decision, the complainant may complain to The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). COPE publishes a code of practice for editors of scientific, technical, and medical journals http://www.publicationethics.org. It will consider complaints against editors but only once a journal's own complaints procedures have been exhausted.

 

Ethical Considerations

Papers should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior are unacceptable.

• If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
• Ethical considerations must be addressed in the “Methods” section.
• If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) (i.e., institutional review board or ethics review committee) has approved them. The reference number should be mentioned in the Ethical considerations sub- section.
• The principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki  should be followed and it should be mentioned in the Ethical considerations sub- section.
• Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that the written informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. Please state that written informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Also, please state the manner in which a written informed consent was obtained from the study participants.
• The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.
• Editors may request that authors provide documentation of the formal review and recommendation from the institutional review board or ethics committee responsible for oversight of the study.
• The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
• When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.

Informed consent

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. This is especially true concerning images of vulnerable people (e.g. minors, patients, refugees, etc) or the use of images in sensitive contexts. In many instances authors will need to secure written consent before including images.
Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, biometrical characteristics (such as facial features, fingerprint, writing style, voice pattern, DNA or other distinguishing characteristic) and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or parent/guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable or legal representative) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases. Detailed descriptions of individual participants, whether of their whole bodies or of body sections, may lead to disclosure of their identity. Under certain circumstances consent is not required as long as information is anonymized and the submission does not include images that may identify the person.
Informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of participants is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort meaning.

Exceptions where it is not necessary to obtain consent:  
 
•    Images such as x rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, brain scans, pathology slides unless there is a concern about identifying information in which case, authors should ensure that consent is obtained.   
 
•    Reuse of images: If images are being reused from prior publications, the Publisher will assume that the prior publication obtained the relevant information regarding consent. Authors should provide the appropriate attribution for republished images.
 

Consent and already available data and/or biologic material

Regardless of whether material is collected from living or dead patients, they (family or guardian if the deceased has not made a pre-mortem decision) must have given prior written consent. The aspect of confidentiality as well as any wishes from the deceased should be respected. 
 

Data protection, confidentiality and privacy

When biological material is donated for or data is generated as part of a research project authors should ensure, as part of the informed consent procedure, that the participants are made aware what kind of (personal) data will be processed, how it will be used and for what purpose. In case of data acquired via a biobank/biorepository, it is possible they apply a broad consent which allows research participants to consent to a broad range of uses of their data and samples which is regarded by research ethics committees as specific enough to be considered “informed”. However, authors should always check the specific biobank/biorepository policies or any other type of data provider policies (in case of non-bio research) to be sure that this is the case.

Consent to participate

For all research involving human subjects, freely-given, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. 

In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. 

For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable groups where there is the potential for coercion or where consent may not have been fully informed, extra care will be taken by the editor and may be referred to the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group.
 

Consent to publish

Individuals may consent to participate in a study, but object to having their data published in a journal article. Authors should make sure to also seek consent from individuals to publish their data prior to submitting their paper to a journal. This is in particular applicable to case studies.

 

 All clinical trials must be registered prior to submission to the AHIT at one of the registration sites listed below. The registration number should be included in the Methods section.

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials -www.IRCT.ir

U.S. National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry - http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

EU Clinical Trials Register - https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu

WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform - https://apps.who.int/trialsearch/

 

Authorship Criteria

In accordance with the ICMJE recommendations, authorship in the AHIT is based on the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; and the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data.
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
• Approval of the final version of the manuscript.
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolve

 

Copyright Policy 

Applied health information technology journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.

All CC Licenses allow others to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, display, perform, and copy the content of the work as long as the original authors and source are cited correctly. No permission is required for these usages. The CC Attribution-Non-Commercial License allows others to use the works for any non-commercial purposes; the editor’s permission is required for commercial purposes. Under the CC Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, authors retain the ownership of the copyright for their works but agree with the above-mentioned usage of their works by others.

 

Acknowledgments 

 The authors are encouraged to acknowledge the people and/or entities that supported the conduct of the study. 

 

 Advertising Policy

 The journal does not carry advertising.

 

Plagiarism

A reliable and standard software is used to determine the plagiarism of articles. articles are checked for plagiarism in two stages, before publication and before submission. Plagiarism of text from a previously published manuscript by the same or another author is a serious publication offence. Small amounts of text may be used, but only where the source of the material is quoted and clearly acknowledged. Fraudulent data or data stolen from other authors is also unethical and will be treated accordingly. Any alleged offence is considered initially by the Editorial Board.

 

Article Sharing Guidelines

The following points are our policies regarding manuscripts submitted to the Applied Health Information Technology (AHIT)

1- Submitted version of the article: The authors submitting articles are banned from publishing the submitted data (except for registries required for clinical trials) in an open repository before its acceptance.

2- Accepted version of the article: The authors can deposit their manuscript in E-prints and our university (Pajohan) repositories after acceptance without any penalty policy.

3- Final version of the article (PDF format): We encourage authors to share the final PDF version of their article in E-prints and our university (Pajohan) repositories.