Principles of Transparency and Best Practice
As an open access journal, Korean Journal of Medical Ethics (KJME) will follow the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing version 4.0 (https://doaj.org/bestpractice) developed by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
1. Name of Journal
The official journal title is Korean Journal of Medical Ethics (herein “KJME”), the abbreviation of ISO is Korean J Med Ethics.
2. Website
The URL of official journal web site is https://www.e-kjme.org.
The editorial team endeavors to make a good website. Our website demonstrates that care has been taken to ensure high ethical and professional standards. It does not contain any misleading information, including any attempt to mimic another journal/publisher’s site.
3. Publishing Schedule
KJME is published quarterly (March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31).
4. Archiving
It is accessible without barrier from Korea Citation Index (https://kci.go.kr) or National Library of Korea (http://nl.go.kr) in the event a journal is no longer published. Authors cannot archive pre-print (i.e., pre-refereeing), and they can archive post-print (i.e., final draft post-refereeing). Authors can archive publisher’s version/PDF.
5. Copyright
Copyright to all published materials is owned by The Korean Society For Medical Ethics. All authors should agree to the copyright transfer during the submission process.
6. Licensing
KJME is an open access journal. Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To use the tables or figures of KJME in other journals, books or media for scholarly, educational purposes, the process of permission request to the publisher is not necessary.
7. Publication ethics and related editorial policies
KJME follows the Guideline on Good Publication of COPE (https://publicationethics.org) and Recommendations of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations).
Our publication ethics are displayed on the Research and Publication Ethics of journal homepage.
The Editorial Board carefully examines whether all submitted manuscripts abide the ethical guidelines of ICMJE and COPE.
When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. KJME will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
8. Peer review
KJME has an online submission and peer review system at http://submission.e-kjme.org.
KJME reviews all manuscripts received. A manuscript is first reviewed for its format and adherence to the aims and scope of the journal. If the manuscript meets these two criteria, it is dispatched to two or more reviewers in the field with relevant knowledge.
Before reviewing, all submitted manuscripts are inspected by Similarity Check powered by iThenticate (https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/), a plagiarism-screening tool.
KJME adopts double blind review, which means that the reviewers and authors cannot identify each others’ information. The authors’ names and affiliations are removed during peer review.
Assuming the manuscript is sent to reviewers, KJME waits to receive opinions from at least two reviewers. In addition, if deemed necessary, a review of statistics may be requested. The acceptance criteria for all papers are based on the quality and originality of the research and its scientific significance. Acceptance of the manuscript is decided based on the critiques and recommended decision of the reviewers.
An initial decision will normally be made within 4 weeks of receipt of a manuscript, and the reviewers’ comments are sent to the corresponding author by e-mail and submission system. The corresponding author must indicate the alterations that have been made in response to the reviewers’ comments item by item. Failure to resubmit the revised manuscript within 8 weeks of the editorial decision is regarded as a withdrawal. A final decision on acceptance/rejection for publication is forwarded to the corresponding author from the editor.
All manuscripts from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board are processed same to other unsolicited manuscripts. During the review process, submitters will not engage in the decision process. Editors will not handle their own manuscripts although they are commissioned ones.
We neither guarantee the acceptance without review nor very short peer review times for unsolicited manuscripts. Commissioned manuscripts also reviewed before publication.
9. Access
KJME is an open access journal. A free full-text service, both in XML and PDF formats, is available immediately upon publication without an embargo period.
10. Ownership and management
This journal is owned by the publisher, the The Korean Society For Medical Ethics.
The journal is managed by the editorial board.
11. Advisory body
The advisory body is the journal's editorial board. The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors are displayed on the Editorial Board of the journal website.
12. Editorial team and contact information
The full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors and members of journal management team are displayed on the Editorial Board of journal homepage, and the contact information for the editorial office is on the Contact Information.
13. Author fees
The article processing charge (APC) is 200,000 Korean Won (200 USD) and is paid by the author. However, if the article is supported by a research grant, APC is 400,000 Korean Won (400 USD). For articles solicited by the editorial board, no publication fee is charged unless the article is supported by a research grant.
14. Other revenue
Revenue sources of journal are from the support of publisher (The Korean Society For Medical Ethics) , author fees, and advertising rates.
15. Advertising
KJME accepts advertisements. Any individuals or organizations who are interested in advertising their products or services in the print copies of the journal or on its website are encouraged to contact the editorial office. The acceptance of advertisement will be discussed by the editorial board and will be ultimately approved by the publisher.
Advertising is separate from content. Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial contents, nor do the editors have advance knowledge of advertisers. Content is never altered, added, or deleted to accommodate advertising. Advertisers and sponsors have no input regarding any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies.
Disclaimer: Neither the publisher nor the authors will be legally liable for any of the content of advertisements, so readers must keep this in mind when reading or seeing advertisements
16. Direct marketing
Journal propagation has been done through the journal web site and distribution of an introduction pamphlet. Invitations to submit a manuscript are usually focused on the presenters at conferences, seminars, or workshops if the topic is related to the journal's aims and scope.