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Trust and transparency
OMJ is committed to ethical conduct throughout submission, review, editorial decision, publication, correction, and long-term access.
The journal follows the principles and best-practice guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). It adheres to COPE's Core Practices and follows the principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing developed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA).
Authors must disclose authorship contributions, funding, competing interests, institutional ethics approval, informed consent, permissions, and any prior or related publication. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and inappropriate authorship are not acceptable.
Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, validity, and ethical compliance. Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions will be considered when the integrity of the published record requires them.
Decisions are independent of commercial interests, financial considerations, political influence, and personal relationships. Authors, editors, reviewers, and the editorial office are expected to uphold honesty, transparency, accountability, and professional conduct. OMJ may use COPE flowcharts and guidance to address misconduct, authorship disputes, complaints, retractions, and other ethical concerns.
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Every manuscript is first reviewed by the editorial board. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's scope and standards are rejected within one week of submission, helping authors refine and resubmit their work or choose another journal promptly.
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Suitable articles are normally assigned to at least two external reviewers. Author and reviewer identities remain confidential from each other throughout evaluation, and identifying manuscript information is withheld from reviewers. All research manuscripts undergo appropriate review by qualified experts independent of the editorial team. External review takes about two weeks.
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Review comments are emailed to the corresponding author once at least two reviewers have submitted their assessments. Decisions may require revision, further review, acceptance, or rejection; editorial approval remains final. OMJ does not guarantee acceptance or promise unrealistically short review or publication times.
Publication ethics and malpractice statement
Reviewers must maintain manuscript confidentiality, provide objective and constructive assessments, and declare conflicts of interest. They must not use unpublished information for personal or professional advantage and must alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated data, or other ethical concerns.
OMJ follows all four ICMJE authorship criteria. Every author must make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; draft the manuscript or critically revise it for important intellectual content; approve the final version; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions about its accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Contributors who do not meet all four criteria may be acknowledged but must not be listed as authors. Gift, guest, and ghost authorship are unacceptable. Changes in authorship after submission require justification and approval from all authors and, where appropriate, the Editor-in-Chief.
Submissions must be original, must not have been published previously, and must not be under consideration by another journal. OMJ does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, duplicate or redundant publication, salami publication, citation manipulation, or image manipulation intended to misrepresent findings.
Manuscripts may be screened using appropriate plagiarism-detection software. Suspected misconduct is investigated according to applicable COPE guidance; authors' institutions or other relevant authorities may be contacted when necessary.
OMJ will use iThenticate to screen submitted manuscripts for text similarity as part of its editorial assessment. Editors will review identified matches in context, considering citations, quotations, and attribution. A similarity score alone does not determine whether plagiarism has occurred.
Research involving human participants must comply with internationally accepted ethical principles and applicable national regulations. Authors must provide details of Institutional Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approval, informed consent where applicable, protection of participant confidentiality, and clinical trial registration where applicable.
Animal research must meet applicable institutional and national standards for ethical treatment. The Editor may request supporting documentation when ethical compliance is unclear.
Written informed consent is required whenever individuals can be identified from case reports, photographs, videos, pedigrees, or other identifiable information. Authors must anonymize personal information wherever possible.
Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose financial, personal, professional, or other relationships that could influence, or appear to influence, the conduct, review, or publication of the work. OMJ encourages use of the ICMJE Disclosure Form. Reviewers and editors with a significant conflict must recuse themselves from the relevant manuscript.
Editors must not participate in decisions about manuscripts in which they have a personal, professional, or financial interest. An independent editor will be assigned when necessary to ensure an impartial process.
Authors must declare all financial and material support. Where applicable, they must state the funder's role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and the decision to publish.
Authors should retain research data and supporting documentation and make data available when ethically and legally permissible. Authors are encouraged to follow established reporting guidelines and register clinical trials and other prospective studies where appropriate.
The journal may request clarification, underlying data, or supporting information when concerns arise about the integrity or reproducibility of published findings.
Authors must disclose AI or generative AI tools used in manuscript preparation when relevant to the submitted work. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for accuracy, integrity, and originality.
Authors remain fully responsible for all manuscript content, including verifying AI-generated material, references, and statements. Any use of AI to generate or manipulate research data, images, or results must be disclosed and comply with applicable research-integrity requirements.
Authors and other stakeholders may raise concerns or appeal editorial decisions. Complaints concerning the journal, editors, reviewers, or editorial processes should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and will be handled fairly, confidentially, and in a timely manner.
Where appropriate, unresolved matters may be referred to the journal's governing body or the relevant institutional or professional authority.
OMJ takes allegations seriously before and after publication. These may concern plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, unethical research, authorship manipulation, undisclosed conflicts, or inappropriate manipulation of images or data.
Allegations are assessed objectively. The journal may seek explanations from authors, reviewers, institutions, or other relevant parties, and will take appropriate corrective action when misconduct is confirmed.
A correction or erratum addresses a significant error that does not invalidate the main conclusions. A retraction addresses unreliable findings arising from major error or misconduct, or serious violations of publication ethics. An expression of concern addresses substantial unresolved concerns requiring further investigation.
Corrections and retractions will be clearly linked to the original article to maintain the integrity and transparency of the published scientific record.
OMJ welcomes responsible scholarly discussion of published articles. Readers may communicate substantive concerns through correspondence or letters to the editor. The editorial team assesses these concerns and, where appropriate, investigates them according to relevant publication-ethics guidance.
Open access and copyright
OMJ provides immediate and unrestricted diamond open access. All published articles are freely available online without subscription, registration, or access fees. The journal supports transparency, accessibility, ethical publishing, and responsible reuse of scholarly work.
Articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Readers may share and adapt the work non-commercially with appropriate attribution and the same licence applied to new creations.
Copyright and licensing terms are stated on the journal website and in each published article. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce third-party copyrighted material. The journal maintains appropriate arrangements for the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published content.
Read the licenceAuthor charges
OMJ currently does not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs), submission fees, or any other publication charges. Access to published articles is immediate and free to readers. Financial considerations, including the absence or presence of publication charges, do not influence editorial decisions.
Advertising supports free access but remains operationally and editorially separate from journal content.
Advertisements may rotate across the site. Advertisers do not control placement and are not given access to manuscripts or unpublished content.
The Editorial Board retains full and final approval over advertising content. Commercial relationships do not influence peer review or publication decisions.
OMJ may accept appropriate, ethical advertising and sponsorships for pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products, medical equipment and gadgets, medical institutions, and medical events and conferences, both digitally and in print.
The journal and publisher reserve the right to decline deceptive or misleading advertisements. Advertisements are not placed alongside the journal's scientific content. Advertising clients and sponsors do not compromise editorial content or influence article selection, peer review, acceptance, or publication.
Last updated: September 2026
