Editorial policy

The ICMJE organization recommends that authorship should be based on the following four criteria:

1. Significant contributions to the design or conceptualization of the work, or in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data.
2. Writing the article or making critical revisions for important intellectual content.
3. Final approval of the version to be published.
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the research and ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to accountability for specific parts of the work carried out by the author, the author should be able to identify co-authors who are responsible for specific other parts of the work. Additionally, authors should trust the integrity of contributions made by their co-authors. All individuals recognized as authors must meet all four authorship criteria; those who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section. Merely providing funding, collecting data, offering technical assistance, writing support, or general supervision of the research group does not constitute authorship. Furthermore, financial and material support must be properly acknowledged. Please ensure that everyone named in the acknowledgment section has given permission to be identified.

Contribution Statement

Each research article submitted as a manuscript must include a statement specifying each author's role in the planning, execution, and reporting of the work (completion of the authorship contribution Excel file).

Acknowledgments

This section should identify individuals who contributed to the project. All funding sources and other support related to the project or study, including funds received from institutions and commercial entities, should be reported. Also, any consultations and any budget directly paid to researchers should be included here.

Changes in Authors

Any changes in authorship (including changes in order, additions, or deletions of authors) following the initial submission must be accompanied by the approval of all authors. The determination of authorship order should be agreed upon by all authors. Any changes should also be communicated to the editor or the senior editor.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest occur when professional judgment in a primary interest (such as patient welfare or research credibility) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain – employment, consultation, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, expert testimony, or personal relationships). The existence of a conflict of interest does not imply unethical behavior, but it should be identified and clearly stated. All authors should disclose any conflicts of interest in their cover letter and also in the "Conflicts of Interest" section at the end of the manuscript (before the references). Authors without conflicts of interest should clearly state this.

Research Ethics/Publication Ethics Approval

We take allegations of misconduct in publication seriously, whether before or after publication, and we reserve the right to contact the institutions, sponsors, or regulatory bodies of the authors if necessary. In the case of substantial evidence of misconduct, necessary actions will be taken to rectify the scientific record, which may include corrections or retractions of the article.

Authors are expected to be aware of ethical principles related to publication, especially regarding authorship, dual submission, plagiarism, image manipulation, conflicts of interest, and compliance with ethical research standards. In cases of suspected misconduct, we will follow COPE guidelines and seek advice if necessary.

Ethical Approval Statement

All submitted research articles should include a statement indicating that the study received ethical approval (or if this approval was not necessary, the reason should be stated). This should include the names of the institutional review boards or ethics committees, approval numbers, and statement that participants provided informed consent before participating in the study. Even if a study has been approved by ethical review boards or ethics committees, editors may request authors for further details about ethical issues pertaining to the work.

Patient and Participant Consent and Confidentiality

Any article containing personally identifiable medical information about a living individual must obtain explicit consent from the patient/participant before publication. We require the patient to sign our consent form, establishing that the patient/participant has read the article.

If consent cannot be obtained and the patient cannot be identified, publication is only possible if the information is rendered sufficiently anonymous. Anonymization means that neither the patient/participant nor any other individual can be confidently identified as the patient/participant.

If a patient has died, authors should seek permission from a relative (as a matter of respectful behavior and principles of medical ethics) for submission. If relatives are unavailable, we should balance criteria for assessing the case, likelihood of identification, and potential emotional harm from identification in the decision-making process for publication without relatives' consent.

Our policy regarding obtaining consent for publishing images of patients/participants is part of our overall confidentiality policy regarding patients/participants. In any situation where there is a chance of identifying the patient/participant through a photo or another image, or via related text or explanations, we require written consent from the patient/participant for publication by the Iranian Society for Health Education and Promotion.

Images—such as X-rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, pathology slides, or images of unspecified body parts—can be used without consent as long as they are anonymized without any identifying marks, and do not contain text that could disclose the patient's identity through clinical or personal details.

Research Reporting Guidelines

Authors are encouraged to use relevant guidance on reporting research appropriate to the type of their study provided by the EQUATOR network. This ensures you provide sufficient information for editors, peer reviewers, and readers to understand how the research was conducted and to judge whether the results are reliable.

Key reporting guidelines include:

• Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs): CONSORT guidelines
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines
• Observational Studies in Epidemiology: STROBE and MOOSE guidelines
• Diagnostic Accuracy Studies: STARD guidelines
• Quality Improvement Studies: SQUIRE guidelines
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Clinical Trials Registration

According to ICMJE recommendations, a clinical trial is defined as "any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome."

Pursuant to ICMJE agreement, journals published by the Iranian Society for Health Education and Promotion will not consider reports of clinical trials unless they are registered before the recruitment of any participants.

Trial Registration

As a condition for consideration for publication, journals published by the Iranian Society for Health Education and Promotion require all trials to be registered in a publicly accessible database that is approved by ICMJE (any primary registry that is part of the WHO registry platform).

Plagiarism Detection

Manuscripts should not contain verbatim text from previously published articles or manuscripts submitted elsewhere. Therefore, we evaluate all submitted manuscripts for plagiarism, asking authors to rewrite any that exhibit significant overlap. COPE flowcharts and guidelines will be used to address plagiarism. Instances of plagiarism will be reported through official correspondence to the research and technology departments of universities and relevant organizations.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• Direct copying of text from other sources
• Copying ideas, images, or data from other sources
• Self-plagiarism of one's own previously published text
• Using an idea from another source with minimal alterations in wording

If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we reserve the right to issue corrections or retract the article as necessary. We also have the right to inform the institutions of the authors of identified plagiarism, whether before or after publication.

Anonymized Peer Review Policy

The "Horizon of Medical Education Development" journal reviews all submitted manuscripts, both internally and externally. The peer review process at the "Horizon of Medical Education Development" journal is double-blind.

Original research articles authored by a member of the journal's editorial team are reviewed independently; an editor does not influence the peer review process or decision-making for their own article. Editorial articles and obituaries written by the journal’s editor undergo external peer review.

Review Methods

All manuscripts submitted to the "Horizon of Medical Education Development" journal undergo thorough examination. This review includes the following steps:

1. Initial submissions are reviewed by internal staff to ensure compliance with the policies of the Iranian Society for Health Education and Promotion, including ethical requirements for research involving humans and animals.

2. If the article is related to the journal's subject matter, at least two reviewers are determined by the editor,

3. After evaluation by two reviewers, the editor makes one of the following decisions:

   • Acceptance
   • Minor revision
   • Major revision
   • Rejection

4. If minor or major revisions are chosen, authors are given 15 days to resubmit the revised version. Authors may contact via email if they need an extension.

5. The submitted article goes to a new reviewer for evaluation.

Permissions

The responsibility for obtaining the necessary permissions prior to publication lies with the author.

Any written or visual material that has been previously published or will be published in the future must be appropriately credited and accompanied by the written consent of the copyright holder (this may be the publisher instead of the author). This includes materials previously published by the author if they do not hold copyright.

Publication Fees

Currently, there are no fees for publication for authors.

Open Access Agreement

When submitting their manuscript, authors are requested to indicate their agreement to comply with the Creative Commons (CC BY-NC) open access license. Under the terms of this license, authors retain copyright to their articles, but this license allows any user to download, print, extract, reuse, archive, and distribute the article, provided appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original source. This license ensures that the article will be as widely accessible as possible and can be placed in any scientific archive.

Advertising

The "Horizon of Medical Education Development" journal does not accept any form of advertising.