Al-Shifa Journal of Ophthalmology – Policies

1. Authorship and Contributorship Policy

  • Authorship is based on substantial contributions to the research, including study design, data collection, analysis, and manuscript drafting.
  • All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission.
  • Contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria should be acknowledged separately.
  • Any changes in authorship after submission require a written request, agreement from all authors, and editorial approval.

2. Complaints and Appeals Policy

  • Complaints regarding editorial decisions, ethical concerns, or journal processes must be submitted in writing to the editorial office.
  • The journal follows a transparent three-step complaint resolution process:
    • Initial Review – The Editor-in-Chief reviews the complaint.
    • Editorial Board Assessment – If unresolved, the editorial board evaluates the issue.
    • Independent Review – In complex cases, an external ethics committee may be consulted.
  • Appeals against rejected manuscripts must be based on strong scientific arguments or evidence of procedural errors.

3. Conflict of Interest / Competing Interests Policy

  • Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including financial, personal, or institutional relationships that could influence the research.
  • Conflicts must be declared in the Conflict of Interest Statement within the manuscript.
  • The journal reserves the right to reject or retract an article if undisclosed conflicts of interest are discovered post-publication.

4. Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy

  • Authors must provide raw data, statistical methods, and study protocols upon request to ensure reproducibility.
  • If the research involves clinical or patient data, anonymization is required before sharing.
  • Authors are encouraged to deposit data in public repositories or provide supplementary material for transparency.

5. Ethical Oversight Policy

  • The journal adheres to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines for ethical publishing.
  • Studies involving human subjects must have prior approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee.
  • Informed consent must be obtained from participants, and it should be mentioned in the manuscript.
  • In cases of ethical misconduct (e.g., fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism), the journal will conduct an investigation and may take corrective actions, including retraction.

6. Intellectual Property Policy

  • Authors retain copyright of their work but grant the journal a non-exclusive publishing license.
  • The journal follows an open-access policy, allowing free access to published articles under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC).
  • Authors must ensure that they have the right to publish any third-party content (e.g., figures, tables) included in their manuscript.

7. Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections Policy

  • Readers and authors can engage in post-publication discussions through the journal’s letters to the editor section.
  • If errors are identified in a published article, corrections will be issued as:
    • Erratum (for minor errors that do not affect study conclusions).
    • Corrigendum (for author-reported errors).
    • Retraction (for serious ethical or data integrity concerns).
  • The journal follows COPE guidelines for handling retractions and corrections transparently.